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Richard Branson's Mahali Mzuri In Kenya

01:42 |


“We’re stretching the boundaries of what a ‘tent’ and a ‘camp’ can be,” says Tarn Breedveld, 
the charismatic general manager of what I’m going to call Richard Branson’s new place on the edge of the Maasai Mara National Reserve. “We wanted to do something different and make a place you could plop near London and still have people come—a destination in its own right.”
I can’t quite bring myself to call it a “camp,” or its 12 rooms “tents,” but whatever it is, Mahali Mzuri knocked my socks off.
My first impression was that I’d somehow bumped across the savannah and into a Spielberg set. The terra-cotta-color rooms are ringed by arcing steel girders, and their pointed charcoal-gray roofs poke up like little spacecraft. The sci-fi look ends with the exteriors, though, and inside, they’re a glammed-up take on safari style, as seen through the gimlet eye of a sophisticated and slightly cheeky British designer. The rubber ducky by the claw-foot bathtub, for instance, appears to be wearing Maasai cloth and beaded necklaces. And the “do not disturb” sign is a Maasai spear topped with wildebeest hair.
The rooms are fantastically stylish—with rich wood floors and vividly patterned African fabrics above and behind the bed—and practical, with mini refrigerators, reusable glass bottles of filtered water, adequate light, outlets galore, and better plumbing and Wi-Fi than I have at home in New York. Virtually everything is made in Kenya, down to the very comfy mattresses. (And bless them for simply placing pillows of different thicknesses on each bed, instead of presenting a silly pillow menu.)
Wood-frame doors lead into each room and onto its big shaded deck, and that bathtub is smack by two large screened “windows” that offer terrific views over the Motorogi Conservancy (but privacy too). The sleeping area also has more and better “windows” than many conventional tents, and it’s a joy to sleep with the shade flaps open, feeling the night breezes and waking up with the sun.
Breedveld, who is originally from Australia, has a deep background in conservation in East Africa, and that—along with the philanthropic impulses and deep pockets of Richard Branson, who was made an honorary Maasai Elder for his efforts—helps explain why Mahali Mzuri has been a powerful force in creating and supporting the conservancy (a model for other Maasai communities to protect their land and profit from tourism, which Breedveld says may eventually double the size of the Mara). They’re developing a program for guests to visit a nearby village without it becoming a hokey, borderline exploitative “tourist boma” like some others in the region. In the meantime, the gift shop sells beautiful jewelry and home items made by local women’s collectives.
Not only did all this foster excellent community relations, but it also allowed them to hire the best Maasai driver-guides. Game drives are often off-road, and the drivers navigate the rough terrain quite nimbly, while answering questions and telling stories about growing up here. The Land Cruisers are top of the line, uncommonly smooth, quiet, and open (no front windshields) for better views and photo ops. Between drives, there are bush walks into the river valley below, and a good-size swimming pool and a sweet one-room spa for massages and facials using products from the cult South African line Africology.
The pool and spa are nice, but when it comes down to it, “safari” might as well be Swahili for “eating and drinking.” Those pursuits are sublime here. My group was welcomed with 2004 Veuve Cliquot, which flowed freely throughout my preview visit, even turning up once in a granita. (I was hosted by Mahali Mzuri and Micato Safaris; the place will officially open August 1.) On-site gardens supply much of the produce, and the kitchen is run by Tarn’s talented brother Liam, who was previously Branson’s chef at Necker Island in the BVI.
The dining “tent” here is pure glamour, with contemporary lights hanging above, and votive candles flickering on, a long stretch of glass that rests atop a magnificent length of untreated cedar trunk. It’s a fitting setting for big-city-caliber mushroom risotto, homemade tagliatelle with chorizo sauce, chocolate fondant, and New York cheesecake.
But even a bush dinner—which they knew better than to call a “picnic”—was an elaborate affair, with plated French onion soup, a feast of fresh salads and all sorts of grilled meats, and fig sticky pudding for dessert. Dozens of lanterns dotted the ground and dangled from the trees. A group of Maasai sang, danced, and jumped around the fire. It was, like Mahali Mzuri in general, a night of pure joy conjured seemingly out of nothing.



by Ann Abel, 

 a night of pure joy conjured seemingly out of nothing.

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Posted by Campofrio

How to Save Africa’s Elephants

08:32 |

Photo: poachers keep off our elephants
An Elephant Caracas 

In the 1980s, I did a stint as a wildlife researcher in Kenya. I witnessed a decade of unprecedented slaughter of African elephants by poachers, out to profit from rising ivory demand in Asia’s fast-growing economies of the day.
By 1989, more than 600,000 elephants had been killed — half of Africa’s entire population (Kenya alone lost 85 percent of its herd), leading to a global ban shortly there-
after on the trade and sale of ivory by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Following the ivory ban, things started to improve: The number of elephants killed illegally declined, and their populations also began to rebound in Kenya and Tanzania.
But like a cancer that slows only to return and metastasize, the killing fields are back.
Dozens of elephants are currently being gunned down daily by high-tech poachers wielding AK-47s, part of highly organized international criminal networks. An estimated 25,000 African elephants were killed in 2011 alone (out of a population of about 500,000). And since 2007, the illegal ivory trade has more than doubled.
If the massacres do not stop, our children could be the last generation to see an African elephant in the wild. As travelers, we can — and must — do something about it. Here are the crucial actions to take.

1. Support an unequivocal and permanent ivory ban.

A few African governments with pockets of healthy herds have large stockpiles of ivory from culling operations and smuggler confiscations. Countries such as South Africa and Botswana want controlled legal sales of their ivory stocks, with the income providing funding for conservation. The argument has been that it would help drive down global prices and undercut the illegal black market trade. The problem: It hasn’t worked.
CITES already tested the sale of ivory stockpiles, with the unfortunate result that ivory prices dramatically increased. Conservationists point out that these legal ivory transactions sent mixed signals and reignited global demand, contributing to the current epidemic of “blood ivory.”
“The ivory trade has never and can never be managed sustainably, nor without total dominance of corruption, which is why we support a complete moratorium on ivory sales and the destruction of existing and future stockpiles,” reads a statement issued by a group of influential scientists, including Joyce Poole and Cynthia Moss.

2. Choose a tour operator that actively supports elephant conservation.

What can be managed sustainably is tourism, and in Africa, travelers can play a vital role. When you book a safari, ask if the tour visits community wildlife conservancies, which are one of the best hopes for saving Africa’s endangered elephants (three that do are Big Five Tours, Austin-Lehman Adventures, and our own National Geographic Expeditions).

3. Refuse to buy ivory for any reason.

It turns out that the Catholic Church is a huge consumer of ivory — used in religious icons and sold as tourist souvenirs. (Vatican City did not sign the CITES ivory ban.) And countries with large Catholic populations, such as the Philippines, are among the largest markets for ivory religious carvings.
The Vatican has recently proposed raising awareness about elephant poaching through its radio programs. But a clearly worded statement from Rome to Catholic clergy worldwide condemning any buying or selling of ivory by the faithful would be more effective. Help deliver that message by e-mailing the Rev. Federico Lombardi at the Vatican.

4. Demand that China end its use of ivory.

The future of the African elephant ultimately rests with one country — China, by far the world’s largest market for ivory products.
Ivory sales are surging right along with today’s middle-class prosperity. While hoarding ivory to drive up prices, the government is also sponsoring ivory-carving schools, licensing carving factories, and allowing more retail outlets to meet rising demand.
Arguments in defense of age-old cultural traditions of ivory use in China ring hollow when the survival of a species is at stake and synthetic substitutes are easily available.
Last year, basketball legend Yao Ming traveled to Kenya and returned shaken by the “harrowing experience” of witnessing how illegal ivory is obtained. His message: “Only elephants should own ivory.” It is a message that the Chinese Foreign Trade Management Department Economic Service needs to hear. Send an e-mail to ziming_wan@163.com.

5. Join with other elephant lovers.

Many organizations work for wildlife conservation. Two that focus on protecting African elephants are Save the Elephants and the U.K.-based Tusk Trust.
With the future of African elephants hanging by a thread, this is the moment for action.
Back in Kenya, I recall being mesmerized as the matriarch of an elephant family lumbered over to some bleached elephant bones. She picked up one in her trunk. She held it, then carried it for several feet before gently laying it down. The other elephants followed, inspecting and stroking the bones. I felt certain they recognized one of their own. Indeed, if we don’t act now, bones are all we’ll have left of these intelligent, majestic creatures.
Costas Christ is an editor at large at National Geographic Traveler, where his column, “Tales From The Frontier” (of which this is one), appears regularly. Follow his story on Twitter@CostasChrist.

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Posted by Campofrio

Serengeti's great migration: Trip of a Lifetime

21:30 |


In the latest of our series on the world’s greatest journeys, Brian Jackman tells you how to make the most of a trip to East Africa to watch the vast migration across the plains of the Serengeti.

No matter how often I visit the Serengeti its magic never palls. In this wild and open country you feel you could drive forever and never have enough of it. Out on the plains the light is dazzling. Colossal thunderheads trail shawls of rain across horizons wider than the sea, and wherever you look there are animals.
When United Nations delegates met in Stockholm in 1972 to choose the first World Heritage Sites it was the Serengeti that came top of the list. Today it is one of the most famous national parks on Earth, renowned for its magnificent lions but best known for its great migration.

The key players in this 1,200-mile odyssey are the wildebeest – 1.5 million of them – accompanied by 200,000 zebras. For them, every year is an endless journey, chasing the rains in a race for life. The action takes place across 150,000 square miles of woodlands, hills and open plains, a wilderness that includes not only the Serengeti national park and Kenya’s Maasai Mara game reserve but also the dispersal areas beyond.
The yearly cycle begins in the south of the park, where half a million calves are born between January and March. But when the rains end in May the land dries fast and the grazing animals must move on, heading for their dry season refuge in the Maasai Mara.
With the beginning of the short rains in late October the migration makes its way back into the Serengeti, so this a good time to be anywhere in the north of the park between Klein’s Camp and the Lamai Wedge. By December, having emerged from the northern woodlands, the herds return past Seronera to mass on their calving grounds again and the circle is complete.
WHEN TO TRAVEL
July to October is the time to catch the show in Kenya. The rest of the year belongs to Tanzania and the reason is the weather. Rain is the engine that drives the migration, dictating where the herds will be at different times of the year.
The rainy season normally runs from October to May. It begins with the short rains – a period of gloriously hot sunny days that end with brief torrential thunderstorms. It peaks in the long rains of April — a month to avoid when most camps close and the plains become quagmires.
When the rains end in May the wildebeest make tracks for the Maasai Mara. Some take Route One – north across the Seronera Valley. Others swing through the Western Corridor, but for all of them the journey is beset with danger. For a start there are the famous Serengeti lions – about 3,000 at the last count – to which can be added leopards and cheetahs, hungry hyena clans and monster crocodiles.
Zebras are often the first to arrive in the Mara, chomping down the tall grass with the wildebeest hot on their heels. Here they stay from July to October — the main tourist season – when visitors flock to watch the dramatic river crossings.
But as soon as the rains return the wildebeest head back to the Serengeti, drawn towards their calving grounds in the park’s deep south. In the dry season you will see nothing here but an emptiness of dust and stubble. But between January and March when the calves are born there is nowhere on Earth so vibrantly alive.
WHERE TO GO
Tanzania 
The best game-viewing areas in the Serengeti are the shortgrass plains and their granite kopjes in the south, the Seronera Valley, the Western Corridor and the far north of the park where it meets the Mara.
Ndutu Safari Lodge (ndutu.com) is ideally placed for exploring the southern plains, set on the edge of woodlands that teem with game in the rainy season. There are soda lakes, too, with pink clouds of flamingos, and marshes where serval cats love to hang out.
One of the loveliest areas lies in the heart of the park, where the Seronera river meanders across the plains, creating a linear paradise of Senegal palms and fever trees in which to look for leopards.
June is when the migration pours through the Western Corridor into Singita Grumeti, a private game-viewing stronghold the size of the Mara with only 70 guests at a time (singita.com).
The north of the park between the Lamai Wedge and Klein’s Camp is a wild, broken country of granite kopjes, hidden valleys and open savannah.
Off-track driving is still allowed and the abundance of game is reminiscent of the Mara I knew 30 years ago. During the migration in early November you can watch huge river crossings with fewer vehicles than you will see in the Mara.
Kenya
The Maasai Mara is renowned for the spectacular river crossings that take place when the migration is here from July to November. Some of the biggest crossings occur where the Mara River flows past the Mara Serena Safari Lodge on its hilltop overlooking the plains. The Mara Triangle, the area to the west of the river, has fewer lodges, and therefore fewer visitors at this busy time.
Elsewhere in the reserve you can often witness similar dramatic scenes when the herds gather along the Sand river and the Talek, and with luck you may even spot the Marsh Lions of Big Cat Diary fame hunting zebras near Governors’ Camp (governorscamp.com).
The best way to avoid the crowds that gather whenever big cats are found is to stay outside the national reserve on one of the excellent private wildlife concessions, such as Naboisho, Mara North and Olare Orok, where visitor numbers are strictly limited. The game viewing is as good as anywhere. So is the accommodation (some of Kenya’s finest bush camps are here), and you can still enter the reserve to watch the river crossings.
GETTING THERE
For Kenya fly from Heathrow to Nairobi (eight hours non-stop with British Airways; 0844 493 0787; ba.com). For Tanzania, flying from Heathrow with Kenya Airways (0208 283 1818; kenya-airways.com), it’s an extra hour to Kilimanjaro airport. After that the choice is yours: fly direct into the bush by light aircraft (saving hours of precious time) or transfer by road (long and arduous but cheaper).
If you are going to Kenya you could combine the Mara with a stay on the Indian Ocean coast, and in Tanzania you can easily visit Tarangire National Park, Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro Crater en route to the Serengeti.
First-timers may feel happier staying in safari lodges, but tented camps are not lacking in comfort and bring you closer to the wild. Best of all are mobile camping safaris that move wherever the migration is and allow you greater freedom when deciding how to spend each day. Wherever you stay, location is all-important, and good professional driver-guides can make all the difference.
HOW TO BOOK
Forget about independent travel. It’s far better to rely on the UK’s own bespoke safari tour operators who know the logistics inside and out regarding camps and lodges, internal flights and land transfers. For reliability, choose operators belonging to the African Travel and Tourism Association (atta.travel).
ON A BUDGET
Gamewatchers (0870 471 7122; porini.com) offers a six-night/seven-day safari at its exclusive Gamewatchers Adventure Camp in the private Ol Kinyei Conservancy adjoining the Maasai Mara for £1,204 per person.
Accommodation is in dome tents and the price includes all meals, park fees, game drives in customised 4WD vehicles, with professional guides and local flights direct to Ol Kinyei bush strip. International flights not included.
LUXURY CAMPS
Expert Africa (020 8232 9777; expertafrica.com) offers a five- night/seven-day fly-in safari with two nights at Klein’s Camp and three nights with Serengeti Under Canvas, whose luxury camp moves according to the position of the migration. Prices are from £3,825 per person and include all meals, drinks, game drives, park fees, local flights and transfers and international flights from London to Kilimanjaro with Kenya Airways.
WHAT TO TAKE/PACK
Binoculars are essential. So is a camera. Pack warm clothes for early morning game drives. I always take walking boots, a baseball-style bush hat, P20 last-all-day sun cream and a head torch. Don’t forget your antimalarial pills, and for currency obtain US dollars in small denominations.
FURTHER READING
Before you go, read The Great Migration by Jonathan Scott for informative text and pictures that will whet your appetite for what you are about to see. Also invest in The Kingdon Pocket Guide to African Mammals by Jonathan Kingdon.
THE INSIDE TRACK
When looking for the big cats, study the body language of prey species such as giraffes and zebras. If they are all staring fixedly in one direction they might have spotted a lion in the grass; and if you see one lion, look again. There could be more around.
Learn a few basic words of Swahili. Even if you only manage to say jambo (hello) and asante sana (thank you very much).
Listen out for the slang words guides use when meeting another driver in the bush. Examples: masharubu (moustache) for male lion; masikiu (ears) for elephant; madoadoa (speckles) for leopard and cheetah.
Learn to recognise cat tracks. All have four toes but the clincher is the heel print with its triple lobes.
Most camps offer same-day laundry (weather permitting); but washing ladies’ underwear is taboo.
Travel light. Local flights in light aircraft often have a 15kg weight limit – including hand baggage. It also helps if you pack a soft bag as opposed to a rigid suitcase.


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Posted by Campofrio

Aerial drones to be thrown into fight to save Africa's White Rhinos

04:05 |

Drones similar to those used against terrorists are to be used to help save Africa's last White Rhinos from poachers. 

By , Nairobi




Military drones to be thrown into fight to save Africa's White Rhinos
They are among the last seven of their kind in the world - and for the past three years, the four northern white rhinos that roam in the shadow of Mount Kenya, Africa's second-highest mountain, have each had their own round-the-clock armed guard to keep them safe.
As the most highly endangered sub-species of white rhino, they are the most precious of the 110 rhinos of all kinds that live within Kenya's Ol Pejeta Conservancy, a privately owned reserve where the animals roam over 90,000 acres between flat-topped acacia trees and tall savannah grasses.
But all the animals are under constant threat from poachers who are hunting rhinos across Africa with increasing ferocity for their valuable horns - a fact highlighted last week by the Duke of Cambridge, who has called for urgent action to stop the killing.

Photo: Ian Aitken www.aitkenimages.co.uk
Now a new weapon is to be added to the arsenal used to fend off the rhino poachers: remotely-piloted surveillance drones which will track the animals' whereabouts across the Ol Pejeta reserve, and give rapid warning of unwanted human encroachment, even at night.
Commercial aerial drones - similar to those used by the military in Afghanistan and elsewhere to identify terrorist targets, but smaller and unarmed - are being adapted to deploy high resolution cameras and infra-red thermal imaging for night operations over the reserve, monitoring the locations of the endangered rhinos.
The expectation is that in a single flight the electric-powered drones will be able to cover 10,000 acres, far more effectively than a team of staff on the ground, and enable armed wardens to be dispatched rapidly to the right place if an animal is at risk.
"It's really difficult to fully track animals or poachers across such a huge area even with 160 rangers – it's like finding a needle in a haystack," said Rob Breare, who works on strategy and innovation for the conservancy.
"We believe that a drone will be a significant deterrent to poachers, but it will also enable us to quickly send a highly-trained response team to an identified location if it reveals a threat."
All Africa's rhino population is under threat from the recent upsurge in poaching, which has been fuelled by growing demand for the rhinos' horns, a valued ingredient in some traditional Asian medicines as well as a prized material for ornamental use, particularly in certain Gulf states as dagger handles.
Some 633 were killed in South Africa alone last year, according to figures released last month, and the number of elephants similarly killed for their tusks was put at more than 3,000. A single horn can typically fetch $12,000, a small fortune in Kenya where many earn less than a dollar a day, and is worth far more by the time it reaches Asia.
Driven by rising demand in Asia – with increasingly prosperous China seen as the biggest consumer – combined with weak law enforcement in conflict-ridden countries like the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the slaughter is reaching levels that were last seen in the 1980s before the ivory trade was banned.
"The resurgence of poaching is a tragedy and one of the biggest reasons is that we're now talking about our last herds," William Kimosop, chief warden at a reserve in Kenya's Great Rift Valley, told The Sunday Telegraph.
"Whereas poaching might have once been about subsistence, now there is a commercial chain right from the killing fields to the ports of entry abroad," he added. "It's the responsibility of everyone here in Africa to protect our wildlife."
There were just 20,000 white rhinos remaining in the wild in 2011, almost all of them the southern variety, according to the most recent estimate by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. There were also a further 4,200 black rhinos, a slightly smaller and more aggressive species that has adapted to browse for leaves from trees and bushes, rather than grazing in grassland.
Those in Ol Pejeta include 11 southern whites and the four northern whites - two males and two females, which were returned to the wild in 2009 after being flown to Africa from a zoo in the Czech Republic.
Most of its inhabitants are black rhinos. It lost five rhinos to poachers in 2011, and has worked hard to ensure no more have been lost since then. On the neighbouring Lewa Wildlife Sanctuary, where the Duke of Cambridge has been a regular visitor since he spent time working there during his gap year, four adult rhinos and a four-year-old calf were found shot dead last month - leading a spokesman for Prince William to declare last week that he was concerned "to stem the tide before it is too late and these magnificent creatures become lost to the wild for ever".
"There's been a massive surge in poaching in the surrounding area over last six months – it's now nearly out of control," said Batian Craig, security adviser at Ol Pejeta. "If you relax for a moment then an incident could happen any time.
"It's gone from individual poachers to well-organised crime syndicates. The threat we're facing here in Kenya is massive."
The drones, described by staff as "Aerial Rangers", each of which will cost $50,000, have wingspans of around 10 feet, weigh 10lbs and can be launched by a simple catapult. They will stream live images back to base using an on-board GPS system to pinpoint the exact locations involved.
The reserve may also attach radio transmitters to each rhino so that the drone can identify and observe particular animals.
Staff hope that the drones will greatly enhance the effectiveness of other measures taken in recent years - including the granting of "police reservist" status last year which allows some of Ol Pejeta's security personnel to carry automatic weapons and make arrests.
A helicopter and assault dogs also support the security team. "The government has recognised the threat and is giving us a great deal of support," said Mr Craig. "We have capacity now that we just didn't have before."
Ol Pejeta is currently fundraising for its first Aerial Ranger using the website Indiegogo and is offering donors 15 minutes of remote drone operation as an incentive - or the possibility of a luxury safari. The team hopes to have the first of several drones in the sky by March, before expanding the fleet to neighbouring reserves - including the Lewa sanctuary.
Best of all, they believe the drones will be almost impossible for the poachers to outwit. "Not only will drones provide better surveillance of remote areas, but they will be difficult for poaching gangs to target," said Richard Vigne, CEO of Ol Pejeta.
"Eventually we feel that drones will assist conservationists to provide the sophisticated range of deterrents needed to protect wildlife not just across Africa but in many other parts of the world."
 
 

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Posted by Campofrio

What to pack on safari - her

06:49 |

Decisions, decisions, decisions: how on earth does a girl pack for a safari? In the first of our ‘Her & Him’ two-parter, Sarah Madden offers some hard-won tips.

The Bush Telegraph: What to pack on safari - her
How does a woman pack for a safari in Africa? My strained reply is always the same: 'with great difficulty.'  Photo: Rex Features

How does a woman pack for a safari in Africa? Especially when it’s going to be a year long. I am asked this question time and again by considerate fellow female travellers. My strained reply is always the same: “with great difficulty.”
There is only one thing I hate about travelling and that is packing. Why is it that men are able to just throw a few shorts, T shirts and underpants into a grab bag and emerge a few minutes later with a smug “well that’s that sorted” look on their face?
It’s a very different juggling act for most women. Especially when you pack with a “What if?” and “Just in case” scenario at the back of your mind. After you’ve dragged out all the possible options from every corner of your wardrobe, weight is always the elephant in the room that can’t be ignored any longer.
A far better option is to start by researching the best luggage, clothing, health and technical gear that will cover all eventualities. Then be rigorous about taking only essentials. And before you go any further, treat yourself to some hand-held digital weighing scales. They will save you so much grief at the airport.


Luggage bags
Efficient packing for a safari starts with choosing the best luggage. Many international airlines now only accept one piece of luggage in the hold which could be difficult if you later need to split your belongings into smaller, soft bags for internal flights in light planes.
Weight limits must be adhered to or else you get clobbered by fees which can really add up when you use more than one airline to get to your final destination. We managed to get around this ‘only one piece of luggage each’ rule by splitting our four soft bags into two pairs and wrapping each pair in the security bubble wrap service available at the airports. (Bubblewrap and/or small padlocks are always a good idea if you’re travelling to Africa anyway).
You may also find yourself on internal flights in small light aircraft which have a strict weight allowance. (Talk to your operator to find out the details beforehand to avoid unpleasant surprises.) Typically, this will be between 12-15 kg in the hold with a total baggage allowance of 20 kg per person (which includes everything you carry on as hand luggage like heavy camera equipment and binoculars).
On light planes, you must travel with soft bags so they can fit more easily into the small hold underneath the plane. Without hesitation, our favourite safari bag company is Sandstorm (sandstormkenya.com;Large Explorer bag £245). Sandstorm is a Kenya-based company with outlets all over the world that specialises in safari luggage whose safari-chic good looks are combined with a strong, rugged build quality and where aircraft cabin size is key. Sandstorm offer a full travel range of tan, safari green coloured leather and canvas bags – everything from leather holdalls, duffel bags, backpacks and wash bags. In our opinion, nobody does safari luggage better.

Clothing
Lightweight packing is essential and bringing the correct clothing to wear for the time of year is key. The only constant is heat – but you may also have to contend with wet and cold depending on the time of year. Yes, Africa’s weather can sometimes be just as complicated and varied as ours. In the rainy/summer season from Oct-March in southern Africa, for instance, temperatures often reach over 100F so a safari hat is essential to protect you from the strong African sun. Do not leave home without one. This is so important that it is worth repeating: do not leave home without one.
General recommendations are: you won’t need more than three functional shirts. Add two zip-off trousers and you will have both shorts and trousers. To this add a fleece and a safari jacket or vest so you can easily carry all your essentials. A lightweight fleece is advisable even in summer and essential in winter. And the best colours for the bush (you want to blend in, not frighten the animals away) are neutral colours: sand, stone, khaki, green and olive.

My recommendations
For all-round safari clothing, my personal favourite are the beautifully designed, practical clothes from Swedish outdoors clothing brand, Fjӓllrӓven (stockists: 02392 528711; fjallraven.com; long sleeve safari top £80). Lightweight, technical and with UV and bug protection, it has hardwearingfabric, cooler than cotton, and doesn’t crease. I have been living in their trousers and shorts and particularly like the styles with all the various pockets.
An alternative to taking a fleece is to pack a lightweight, down jacket for the cooler nights/early mornings that you get in the winter months. Kathmandu have an ultralight ladies-fit down jacket (kathmandu.co.uk ;£159.99) which folds into a very small sack and is feather light and comes in a slate grey neutral colour that works for the bush. Perfick!

Consider a breathable waterproof like those produced by the excellent (and environmentally responsible) Paramo (paramo.co.uk) but most lodges do provide ponchos for game drives, so they’re not absolutely critical. You also don’t need to take too many doubles of clothes as most camps will do washing and return it on the same day.
Make sure you also have a lightweight and breathable pair of walking shoes. If you’re walking in the bush, you do need your feet to be covered and the grass can be wet in the early morning but don’t bring heavyweight trekking boots. I found some very tough but lightweight and comfortable Meindl (meindl.co.uk) Rapide Lady khaki walking shoe/trainers (RRP: £119.99) which have also doubled as an evening shoe. For added comfort and support I had some Superfeet (superfeet.co.uk) insoles specifically made for the shoe and the combination is the ultimate in comfort and support
The best sunglasses for the bush have polarising lenses to reduce glare. Maui Jims (mauijim.co.uk; £245) hit the spot – if you want to spot a croc underwater before everyone else, arm yourself with a pair.

Technical kit
A good pair of binoculars should not just be an optional extra. Why spend all that money on getting there and staying there if you’re missing out on the close-up action? The top quality, top dollar, king of the optical brands is Swarovski (swarovskioptik.com). One guide recently referred to them as the ‘Ferraris of the bush’.
And for a reason. You won’t find better optics than outside the Hubble telescope. But they are expensive. One answer is to try out their less expensive newly introduced lightweight travel range (8x32) - the 8 is for magnification and the 32 is the diameter of the base lens (i.e. the larger the number the more light is let in and the clearer the image).
For most people, nothing is more essential than a camera. I took a Leica V-Lux super-zoom compact (020 7629 1351, leica-camera.co.uk; £690) which takes top-class video as well. Its main advantage for me is the magnification. I seem to be able to get fantastic close-ups. It also has some wonderful settings like Expressive, Quiet Mode (perfect for safaris), B&W film grain, 3D, that take brilliant, clear shots even in low light. I’m particularly enjoying the b & w setting giving a great reportage-style to the photos.

Getting the right picture on safari is important
As well as his Nikon, Richard also has a Panasonic HC-X900M Video Camera (shop.panasonic.com) on which he has been shooting our Bush Telegraph video reports. No doubt he will wax lyrical on the subject when he comes to write the Boy’s Toys feature at a later date. He also swears by Bushnell products (bushnell.com) and their monoculars (a one-lensed binocular) and night cameras.
If you don’t feel like taking a large camera or video, the iPhone 4S Smartphone (apple.com) is a great stand-in. You never know when you might want to film something and keeping your iPhone close is never too much trouble. I have captured some magical unexpected events/appearances which I wouldn’t have been able to if purely relying on a camera. Plus you can use Twitter and Instagram when there’s a signal. Even if you have to stand on a termite mound to get one. Which leads me on to one of the most amazing apps for the bush: Star Walk. You get some of the best (and darkest) skies in the world in the bush and when you’re new to the southern hemisphere it’s a fantastic tool for learning about unfamiliar stars, constellations, satellites – you name it.
Medical/ cosmetic/ health
Having lived and worked in the bush in my 20s, I know the importance of travelling with a good basic medical kit. Although most camps have the essentials, nothing ruins a safari quicker than an upset stomach or illness. I prefer to be totally prepared and have a well-stocked small pharmacy of first-aid items. Included are sterilised needles and waterproof plasters which came in very useful for the treatment of a nasty blister beetle sting a few weeks back. You also should include make-up, sunscreens, and face creams that protect from the sun.
Travel and sickness often go hand-in-hand for a number of reasons. Firstly, you’re often tired (repeated 4am wake-ups can take their toll) and your immune system is depleted from travelling. You’re also exposed to new bacteria that may be harmless to the locals but for us quickly leads to an upset stomach, diarrhoea, nausea, cramps or bloating.

My recommedations include: capsules from BioCare that provide both probiotics, and plant oils in a daily supplement, helping to manage the digestive system.
Nature’s Plus Krill Oil (revital.co.uk) daily for the omegas we need for essential protein building in the body.
Drinking two to three litres a day is advisable to avoid the sometimes dangerous effects of dehydration. A concentrated liquid of Elete (www.eletewater.co.uk), an electrolyte concentrate which is great to add to drinking water as an extra boost in excessive heat. Incidentally, to avoid dehydration from all the heat it’s a good idea to keep a good electrolyte balance in the water from all the salts excreted through sweat.
Talking of which, a water bottle is essential and avoids thousands of unnecessary plastic water bottles being transported into the bush every year. Wilderness Safaris give all their guests a water bottle at the beginning of their safaris for just this reason.
Anti-malarials and vaccinations: Always follow the advice of your doctor. Also catch upon different countries’ requirements for Yellow Fever vaccinations before you leave. Check the individual country advice on the Foreign Office website. MASTA (masta-travel-health.com) also has advice on malaria zones, and vaccinations.
Skin care
The African sun can be brutal. I recommend the SkinCeutical skin care range, as well as a Phyto Corrective Gel to soothe and calm sun-irritated skin, and Green People sun creams. They make a non-fragrant one which is good in the bush and doesn’t attract insects.
The basics
 You can travel  with Campofrio-Safaris (campofrio-safaris.com), which offers access to more than eight million acres of Africa’s finest wildlife reserves through the environment-friendly camps it runs in East Africa.

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Kenya and Ethiopia: Into the Great Rift Valley

03:54 |


Diana Preston travels from remote northern Kenya into Ethiopia, through the Great Rift Valley, the only stretch of the Earth's landscape that is visible from the Moon.

Great Rift Valley
The Great Rift Valley can be seen from the Moon Photo: ALAMY
The Great Rift Valley

Marabou storks barely stirred on their treetop roosts as our safari truck rumbled out of Nairobi, the start of our journey tracing the eastern arm of Africa's Great Rift Valley through remote northern Kenya and intoEthiopia.
Two hours later, we gazed from the escarpment down into the valley's golden-grassed infinity, struggling to take in the immensity of the only geological feature visible from the Moon.
The 40 million-year-old Rift stretches over 4,000 miles from the Middle East to Mozambique. The geological turbulence that forced this fissure also created volcanoes, strings of mineral-rich lakes and barren plains of volcanic ash and black basalt, as the days ahead would reveal Savannah baboons squatted by the roadside and black-and-white colobus monkeys leapt through neem trees as we reached Lake Nakuru.
Here the wildlife is prolific. Cape buffalo, zebra and waterbuck grazed the shore as a trio of white rhino ripped up grass. Hundreds of flamingos turned the shimmering lake as rosy-pink as a Monet painting.
The next day we continued northwards, crossing the Equator through terrain fast becoming desert. As we drove into the Samburu National Reserve, a platoon of warthogs shot past, the leader with his tail erect to show those following the way through the high grass, like a tour group leader brandishing an umbrella.
In Samburu, it's the wildlife not humans who rule. That night in our camp on the banks of a dry river bed we heard elephants crashing about in the undergrowth. On game drives we saw a male leopard drowsily padding in the midday heat to a waterhole and three bloody-faced young cheetahs devouring a dik-dik.
As we climbed towards the Marsabit Plateau, tarmac had long given way to dirt track. Dust devils whirled around us and camels raised their drooping heads as we passed.
Our final day in Kenya needed all the skills of Kinga, our driver, who deserved the "King of the Road" title on his T-shirt. Heading for the Ethiopian border, we rocked and rolled across the plateau, with its pimpling of volcanic cones, before descending to the Dida Galgalu – the "Plains of Darkness" – so named for the black basalt strewn across this stony, oven-hot expanse of desert. There's barely a bush and the only wildlife was the occasional skinny antelope and a few hardy Somali ostriches.
With 20 miles to go and an escarpment to climb, our truck blew a tyre on one of its double rear wheels. Somehow Kinga coaxed the vehicle onward and we reached the border at Moyale, with half an hour to spare.
Ethiopia still follows an old form of Julian Calendar, making 2011 only 2004. If we didn't immediately feel more youthful, we revived in Moyale after a St George's beer and our first taste of Ethiopian food: beef stewed in kai wat, a spicy red sauce flavoured with onions, garlic and peppers and served on an edible plate of injera, a flat bread made from fermented tef, a grain unique to Ethiopia.
Next morning, as we travelled northwards, people were streaming along the road to market. These were the Oromo, who make up some 40 per cent of Ethiopia's population. Among them walked revered tribal elders in robes of unbleached cloth, ceremonial staffs and spiked headdresses.
The market, where boys played at bar football tables, was piled with produce from vegetables, fruit and herbs to sacks of fresh green leaves – the narcotic chat, grown in northern Ethiopia, exports of which now exceed that of coffee.
At a nearby crater lake we found another much-valued commodity. The Oromo call El Sod the "House of Salt" because of the black salt beneath the lake at the bottom of the crater. Men loosen the salt with 12ft-long wooden poles, then, noses plugged with twists of cotton, plunge down to harvest the coarse, dark salt.
The Konso, who inhabit the eastern fringes of the Omo valley, live very differently. Famed for their dry stone terraces, they cultivate densely planted crops. They have no written records but showed us how they use stones to record events and how they also mark the graves of heroes with waca – wooden sculptures.
As we approached Lake Chamo, another of the Rift Valley's lakes, the vegetation became dramatically lush. The scarlet flowers of flame trees shone brightly and dark-leaved mango trees were heavy with gold fruit. Boatmen from the Rift Valley Boat Service – their motto "Peace, Love and Strength Together" – took us out on the lake to see some of its 10,000 Nile crocodiles and 2,000 hippos.
Next we skirted Lake Abaya through a pastoral landscape. Life here has a gentle but purposeful rhythm. In the fields, people were driving bullocks in circles over grain or arranging dung cakes to dry in the sun for fuel. But as we neared Lake Awassa, the smallest of the Ethiopian Rift Valley lakes, we were back among dry scrub.
Soon it was time to begin the slow ascent towards Addis Ababa, where our shadowing of the Rift Valley would end. But a spectacular two-day drive to Bahir Dar on Lake Tana in the Ethiopian highlands made for a good epilogue.
Though Lake Tana lies outside the Rift Valley, it owes its formation to the same upheavals that scored the Rift into the Earth's surface. At the waterfalls of Tis Isat, "Water that Smokes", the river plunges nearly 150 feet to meander through parts of the Rift Valley to its junction with the White Nile at Khartoum. To get here we had travelled more than 1,600 miles through a landscape of Brobdingnagian proportions; a reminder, if we needed one, of the elemental forces that shaped our world and still do.

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