Flying to Kicheche from Brisbane is hardly a short break, regular contributor and multi alumni Bill and Babs Westbook will tell you that with over 100 Kicheche nights to their name, but meet their Queensland neighbours: the Pattearsons. A family of fourteen across three generations.
Kicheche Spot of the Week
On Wednesday night, at the RGS in London, James Nampaso picked up the prestigious accolade of Best Safari Guide at the Wanderlust World Guide Awards 2019.
I have not been to Kenya for a dozen years and coming back always filled me with trepidation as I had great memories from the past, not just from wildlife but also the landscapes and not least because the desperate old romantic in me always yearned for the cinematography from Out of Africa.
Meet Ian Jones, he books a miserly short stay but somehow strikes gold on every drive (not uncommon in Mara Conservancies) so it is with much loathing that Spot resorts to gauging by numerical value.
There is little or no compassion in the animal world but this does not stop our emotional bonds with animals.
Sandy coloured, in an impossible situation, everything against it, little chance of survival in this fertile outfield, pursued across the green by the gold adversary.
It is one of the most fabled sights in nature yet the thunderous river crossings actually only make up a tiny fraction of the wildebeests and zebras long journey.
Fig. Mating. Anyone who has truffled, trawled, plied and picked their way across Olare Conservancy's fertile plains and luggas will be familiar with this titled predator.
No doubt you remember the new lion pride in Laikipia which our Northern guides recently discovered .... lions seem to be King right now ...
By Simon Reeve It can be hard to fully understand a creature unless you encounter it in its natural environment. The same can be true of friends.
Yes I know it is Bill Westbrook again and if this either vexes or irks you, please bear in mind Spot's portals are always gaping for fresh photographic meat and titillating story-lines.
Wildlife is never measured analytically, it is only rarely about accumulation and should never be about boorish point scoring. For a moment though pity Nelson Kasoe, a Bush Camp guide not without a good sprinkling of Kicheche stardust.
There are few things more satisfying on safari than being the oft-envied star who spots the quarry first.
Rains have leavened (the season has not started till I have employed that word) the parched plains.
Close season - a stoic skeleton team of askaris patrols Mara Camp with diligence and propriety, unaware of their new tawny lodgers.
In a few days canvas will be zipped tight, ignitions shut down and camp fires doused. Guides, staff and pretty much the whole Kicheche family will take several weeks off. Many will be exhausted from a long season.
When you win, yes win a safari and are the envy of friends, colleagues and indeed enemies, the correct protocol is surely to keep your head down and do your safari time .... quietly.
Close to 20 Kicheche safaris each, perhaps our favourite son and daughter …..from Queensland …. Competitive ….? …. Never!
Sometimes you can only tell people so many times ...Jenny Varley has frankly spent far too long in a holding pattern before finally getting to Kicheche. She had the grace and class to tell me: 'Graham has taken more footage in the last four days than anywhere else'
This week our favourite is Leanne Cockayne. She had had her night disturbed as some local lions (Tikki’s daughters) had brought down a zebra close to the Valley Camp massage and aromatherapy chalet.
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Kicheche Community Trust
