We stood in our Capture Kenya Expeditions Land Cruiser, watching as the elephants advanced toward us. The group – called a “memory” – were graceful and elegant as they walked our way. Just as I started to wonder whether they planned to walk over us, the memory parted and elephants flowed around our vehicle on all sides, encompassing us within their herd.
It was just one of the magical moments we experienced on a bucket list safari in Kenya.
Capture Kenya Safari Highlights
- Spotting a leopard in a tree with her prey.
- Seeing thousands of elephants, giraffes, antelopes, gazelles, and Cape buffalo grazing across the savanna.
- Staying in luxury “tents” at “camps” across Kenya.
- A partnership with Uplift Travel Foundation that gives back and supports Maasai women and girls in Kenya.
- The ability to customize the tour to our specific needs and wants.
Things You Need to Know
- A safari in Africa is not for the faint of heart. Just getting to Africa can be grueling – for me, it was 24 hours of travel, including a 14-hour flight from New York City to Nairobi. In a middle seat. In economy. (If that will be you, read my survival tips for long flights before you board that plane!)
- Driving around Kenya is a challenge. Many of the roads are little more than a series of potholes held together by thin strips of asphalt. Plan ahead if you have motion sickness or back or neck issues.
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More than the Big 5: Animals to See on a Safariin Kenya
Customized Safari
Capture Kenya is a small tour company that specializes in custom itineraries. Are you a bird watcher? Elephant lover? In need of quality time with some giraffes? Whatever your goal from your Kenya safari, owner Henry Gathura will create an itinerary that delivers.
Our safari was created in partnership with Uplift Travel Foundation. We saw all the animals we wanted to see – from the Big Five to the Ugly Five. And then we got the opportunity to spend some quality time with Maasai women who are on the front line of a cultural sea change in the country’s traditionally patriarchal society.
Our Safari
There were 11 in our party – eight travel journalists and three guests. To ensure no one felt crowded, Henry set us up in three Toyota Land Cruisers outfitted for safari. He drove our vehicle while Stephen and Julius drove the other two.
Mornings started as early as 6:15am with the first of two daily game drives. The other happened at 4pm – both times set to find animals at their most active.
We were fortunate to see all of the Big Five, even the elusive leopard. One day brought a family of cheetahs and on another, a pride of lions munching on a Cape buffalo they had recently killed.
The Right Guide Matters
Henry proved to be a master multitasker who can weave in and out of highway traffic, manage the washed-out national park roads and look for wildlife, all while coordinating with his two other drivers, Not only that, he gave us a wealth of education about the animals, culture and environment; taught us Swahili; and set up the best photo shoots.
Plus, he’s an animal whisperer who, after 23 years as a guide, instinctively knows whether that elephant walking toward us will veer around the truck or ram into it.
And then there’s the tour guide humor. It was on full display the day we encountered so many animals that we wanted to review the list. As he patiently ticked off their names and told us a bit about each of them, he came to the Yellow Banded Caterpillar. Where? We asked. Right there, he said, pointing to the yellow Caterpillar grader machine on the side of the road. Just as we got the joke he added, “It’s a male.”
So. Many. Animals.
Our custom safari covered more than 2,200 kilometers over 14 days. We communed with the elephants of Amboseli National Park, saw all of the Big Five (lions, leopards, elephants, rhinos and Cape buffalo) during a single two-hour game drive in Ol Pejeta Conservancy, learned about the Special Five in Samburu National Reserve and explored the vastness and wonder of the Maasai Mara.
As someone who grew up running from the room when my family watched those nature shows on PBS and a lion was about to kill its prey, I marveled at the fact that I couldn’t stop watching as a pride of lions ate the Cape buffalo they had just killed while its buffalo friends looked on in distress.
Each day, we climbed into our Land Cruiser and told Henry what we wanted to see that day. “A cheetah.” “A leopard.” “A memory of elephants.”
He only failed to deliver once. We asked to see a kill. To actually watch a lion or leopard take down its prey. We got very close one day. We watched for several minutes as two stealthy cheetahs stalked a dazzle of zebras. But we had reservations for breakfast with some hippos, so we had to leave before we learned who won – the cheetahs or the zebras.
Our Safari “Tents”
I fully expected my safari sleeping arrangements would be in actual tents. So I was very pleasantly surprised to find that “camp” and “tent” mean something very different in Africa.
From the Tamarind Tree Hotel, where we spent our first night in Nairobi to the Serena hotels, where we slept many nights to the Ashnil Surana Buffalo Springs outside Samburu National Park, our accommodations were uniformly cushy. Even the two nights we spent glamping at Sweetwaters Serena Camp outside Ol Pejeta Conservancy were in tents with indoor plumbing.
Combining Game Drives with Cultural Immersion
Capture Kenya’s partnership with Uplift Travel makes it possible to do more than ogle animals. The foundation promises “custom itineraries that connect our visitors as travelers, not tourists, offering access to local friends, experts and projects that give back to culture and conservation needs.”
A minimum of 20 percent of the profits from any trip booked through Uplift Travel goes to sustainable projects that support and educate women and girls.
Among the projects we saw first-hand:
PadMad
This nonprofit makes and distributes reusable menstrual pads for $8 per kit. Many poor women cannot afford to buy pads each month, so they stay home from school or work for 4 or more days a month. That means the girls fall behind in school and the women lose their jobs.
We attended a training at the Olkimitare Comprehensive School in Aitong, where about 100 girls ages 9-15 giggled and looked embarrassed while a man talked to them about menstruation and a woman showed them how to use the washable pads.
Team Lioness
This female-only ranger unit stands between Kenyan wildlife and the men who want to kill them. The most successful ranger unit operated by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, they patrol the areas outside Amboseli National Park to protect the wildlife, particularly the Big 5: lions, leopards, elephants, Cape buffalo and rhinoceros.
Those are the animals most likely to be targeted by poachers and by Masai villagers angry because one of the wild animals ventured into the village and killed one of the cows, goats or sheep.
These women step between the angry villagers and the animals, diffusing the situation and protecting the fast-disappearing species.
Women’s Village
Founded by a Kenyan woman, Yianti Lerionka, as a refuge for Maasai women who have escaped early marriage or domestic violence or who have been widowed (and are not allowed to remarry in Maasai culture), the women’s village is home to the women and their children.
The women support themselves by making and selling the beautiful beaded jewelry that is a hallmark of Maasai fashion. Each month, they contribute $3 to a fund that is used to buy cows at a cost of about $200 per cow. It is all but unheard-of for Maasai women to own cows. That is the purview of men. But these women now own 17 cows.
After a tough spring with limited income, the women could not afford a cow the month we visited. So we each chipped in $20 to buy them a cow.
Mara Daima School
A generation ago, it was unlikely that Maasai kids would be in school. Maybe the boys, but rarely the girls. That is changing with schools such as Mara Daima. It has grown from just eight students when the school opened in 2019 to 179 now.
Uplift Travel has helped build new classrooms, dig a well and buy desks (at $11 each) for the schoolchildren.
Ready for Your Own African Safari Adventure?
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