On safari, chartered flights mean more time with big game
Newborn lion cubs play in the high-contrast carrion of a malnourished zebra. Yards away, their mother stalks a wildebeest in the tall grass, Its ribcage bulges against its thick hide. She takes him down with a single bite.
Welcome to the circle of life.
After six years of poor rainfall, Kenya is experiencing its worst drought in decades and in the East African nation’s striking safari parks, the withered grass is creating winners and losers. Weak herbivores mean strong carnivores and large litters of lion cubs.
For khaki-clad visitors on safari, the sweet, sick smell of death on the Savannah can be overwhelming. But it also offers rare opportunities to spy large and diverse animal clusters around waterholes and marsh lands, as well as the chance to witness a kill — a brutal but coveted sight for safari veterans hunting for more than the Big Five.
It might not be intuitive but it’s an excellent time to climb back into the Land Rover. Thankfully, getting here to otherworldly there — from pachyderm-packed Amboseli National Park to the famed Masai Mara — finally involves oh so much less COVID consternation. Hell, it can even be downright salubrious.
Here’s our guide to safariing fast, hard and in style.
Kenya Airways flies direct from JFK to Nairobi three times a week and its the most efficient way to beam into big game country expeditiously.
But, if you want to do things right, build in a rest day in Dubai or Doha into your itinerary and fly with a more luxurious operator. It’s a good idea to do the same thing in Nairobi, which is all too often skipped over by the safari bound. We recommend Hemingways, a luxury resort in the outskirts of the buzzing capital (rooms from $545 a night).
Does the 45-suite property have any actual connection to the author of “The Snows of Kilimanjaro?”
Strangely, no. But if you must have a literary connection, the resort is located nearby the former home of Karen Blixen, whose famed autobiography “Out of Africa” gave Meryl Streep a best actress Oscar nom. Even if you have no intention of cracking a book, Hemingways’s colonial architecture and very excellent terrace bar make it a perfect place to ease into the laidback Swahili spirit.
But even in Africa, time is money, and you’ll want to get to your first game drive faster than you can say “acinonyx jubatus raineyii” (that’s the East African cheetah, FYI). The best way to do that is via a private charter, aka SkySafari.
While operators like Safarilink use a bus stop system, flying a set route from reserve to reserve and park to park, SkySafari is direct and runs on your schedule (so take as long as you want on your game drive).
Launched in 2015 as part of Elewana — a collection of 16 boutique lodges, camps and hotels — the company spun the airline off into a stand-alone entity in 2021. But here is all you really need to know: Flying SkySafari saves you up to 16 hours on travel compared to regularly scheduled bush flights. That’s essentially a full day extra in the bush tracking twiga, simba and tembo (that’s giraffes, lions and elephants, keep up).
Spun off or not, that Elewana connection still comes in handy, because it means you can book your entire itinerary in one go. Their latest is a 13-night adventure that highlights the very best camps in Kenya and Tanzania, including famed five-star depots like the thatch-roofed Tortilis Camp Amboseli, the leopard-lousy and ravishingly ritzy Loisaba Tented Camp and the nostalgic waterfront Sand River Masai Mara.
At all of these camps, the game animals you came to see are literally outside your door (so no “Here’s howing!” in the shadows sans an armed Masai Virgil to guide you home). High season rates will set you back $18,010 all in and $15,515 in the green season. But your first night watching the sun set next to Kilimanjaro with a Tusker or dawa in hand — after a long day hunting the Big Five, the Ugly Five and the Little Five with your Canon — you’ll feel like a very pampered Dr. Livingstone.
But wait, there’s more! Like skiing, safari is work. Also like skiing, après-safari is a time-honored tradition. So stay awhile longer and tack some R&R onto your trip. Elewana once again has you covered with resorts designed to ease you back into colorful clothes. Head to Afro-chic Diani Beach just south of Mombasa, or try Kilindi on the northernmost tip of the spicy isle of Zanzibar in Tanzania. The latter is laid out like private Mediterranean beach-side villas within a 50-acre central resort (rooms start at around $1,366, inclusive).
Originally designed for pop powerhouse Benny Andersson (yes, the one from ABBA), its picture-perfect pool and better-than-it-should-be service is augmented by an even rarer amenity: a bevy of ultra-cute bush babies.
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