Next morning, we flew to Tumaren Camp, a luxury tented camp nestled in a private 12,000-hectare wildlife conservancy in the rugged, beautiful plains of Laikipia North. This region is focused on community-driven conservation and boasts the highest biodiversity of large mammals in the country, including northern species such as Grevy’s zebra, reticulated giraffe, Beisa oryx and African wild dog.
The luxurious tents are beautifully appointed with plush beds, woven carpets, a writing desk and an indoor lounge area. All have spacious en-suite bathrooms and, outside, a private shaded canvas veranda facing the watering hole and the open grasslands of the Laikipia plateau, with Mount Kenya as the backdrop. These are front-row seats from which to watch giraffes, zebras and elephants wander past. If you are quiet, tiny antelopes called Guenther’s dik-dik come close enough for you to almost touch.
Manager Meg Budd warns us to close the zips at night, as wildlife, including hyenas, regularly roams the camp. That night, we realised she wasn’t joking, as a chorus of them lulled us to sleep.
On a KARISIA WALKING SAFARI, the landscape reveals itself at animal pace: close enough to notice the markings on wild dogs and the scars on a giraffe’s skin, while camel-back travel offers a thrilling vantage point over Laikipia’s open plains.
Tumaren Camp serves as the flagship base for award-winning Karisia Walking Safaris. At dawn – everything happens very early on safari – we take off with our guides, Adam and James, supported by Moses, who leads the camels ridden by the kids. We feel as if stepping straight into a historic, nomadic dreamscape of semi-arid savannah mixed with ancient volcanic terrain.
A walking safari allows you not only to get close to majestic animals such as giraffe – so close I could see the scars on their skin – but also to appreciate the small wonders of nature, from the dragonflies that lend their name to the camp – Tumaren means dragonfly in Maasai – to the golden-breasted starling, which flashes brilliant metallic purple, blue and gold as it flies.
The guides at Tumaren Camp are incredibly skilled at tracking micro-fauna. They turn a simple walk into an educational deep-dive by decoding tiny footprints in the dust, explaining termite mounds, or identifying the calls of local frogs.
At TUMAREN CAMP’s luxury tents, canvas walls, warm timber furniture and patterned
textiles frame uninterrupted views over the wild plains of Laikipia.
The afternoon is spent dipping into the pool, snoozing on a lounger and comparing notes about the creatures we have encountered. We also have a lesson in Maasai beadwork with experts Eunice and Alberta. Needless to say, in the time it takes any of us to do two rows of a bracelet, these ladies have completed a whole set of jewellery.
Dinner takes place in a private lounge-like area adjacent to our tents. Santos, our butler, serves us perfect G&Ts while Jennifer, a lady who is everywhere and always smiling, puts the last touches to our delicious dinner.
I can’t remember the last time I slept so well. I am up and ready to go even before Anthony, who takes turns with Santos, brings us our morning coffee and snack. Today, I ride one of the camels, as they provide the best vantage point from which to spot animals and key features of the landscape.
Left: Enjoying nature’s “tv” from the pool at TUMAREN CAMP.
Right: Our Editor-in-Chief, Julia Pasarón, observes the wildlife gathering at Tumaren Camp’s watering hole.
For lunch, we stop by the Ewaso Nyiro river – Brown River – and Jennifer is there with her contagious smile and her team, producing an outstanding meal out of nowhere.
James and Adam perform a comparable miracle when, for sundowners, they take us to Chololo Rock, a massive granite boulder from whose summit one enjoys a 360-degree view of the landscape. It is an overwhelming feeling of endless sky and space, where everything below looks beautifully miniature and to the south, rising violently against the horizon, the jagged, snow-capped peaks of Mount Kenya.
Another quick flight takes us to Seringet Mara Camp, on the border with Tanzania. […]
Author: Julia Pasarón
This is part two of Into the Blue and Wild, I-M Magazine’s four-part journey through Kenya with Seas4Life. Read part one: Kenya – Conservation Starts in Nairobi. Our next stop is: Kenya: Big-Cat Drama at Seringet Mara Camp, and last, Watamu: Swim with Turtles and Dolphins.
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