Travel reviews by J and R from Bedford

"A very good base after a long flight from London.

Nice rooms and attentive staff. Breakfast was excellent."

"Having visited before I know what a great place this is. Very good food, old friends, attentive service and fine tents make for an excellent base.

Steve Carey has created a wonderful camp. Mugambi was our driver/guide and he showed great skills, sense of humour, and tried so hard to help us. He knew his birds which was very helpful. He was great fun!

Unfortunately it rained every day and this meant that animals and birds were hiding up but we made the best of it. Good leopard sighting but not the black leopard who was not seen at all by anyone while we were there.

Striped hyena was probably the most exciting thing."

"Steve Carey set up excellent tents and his crew produced really good food so we had a very comfortable base.

The forest location was very nice with plenty of birds around camp if you tried to look for them.

Steve's crew were great fun and so competent."

"I have been regularly to Lake Baringo over the past forty five years and know it well and Samatian is a special place. Wonderful rooms with wonderful views.

The birdlife is fantastic, particularly the Fish Eagles that swoop by to pick up the fish thrown out for them giving the opportunity for spectacular photographs. The boatman, Richard, whom I have known for many years is so skillful and boat trips are wonderful with him.

Woo, the resident Verreaux's Eagle Owl was in good and vocal form! We took a trip to nearby Lake Bogoria and sadly there were only a few flamingoes. Two weeks previously there had been over a million.

Again we were affected by quite a lot of rain and you have to make the best of conditions.
but their presence is sometimes just a matter of luck."

"The bandas were basic but comfortable and the clearing within the forest delightful.

Steve's crew cooked up excellent meals and it was great to sit around a roaring fire in the evening. We did visit Kitum Caves which were fascinating and the mountain is very beautiful. Again rain affected so wildlife was hiding away but I did pick up a few "lifers" among the birds. Most extraordinary of all though, was a mystery canid that came out onto the road. Initially it seemed, at first glance, to be a Side-striped Jackal but it was far too heavy for that and some features didn't look right.

We sent photos to Zarek Cockar and he was unable to make an identification. The suggestion that came back is that it is either a hybrid between a jackal and a domestic dog, or just possibly an undescribed species of wolf as has been occasionally reported. Probably the former, but intriguing nonetheless...."

"Rondo Retreat is a lovely refuge within Kakamega Forest and the perfect base for walks into the forest.

Very nice rooms, well manicured gardens and friendly. Good food but somewhat basic to what we had become accustomed to on the trip. The facilities were excellent. Kakamega is perhaps the place in Kenya with the highest rainfall but our time here was the only period when the rain stayed away.

I picked up on perhaps forty "lifers" among the birds from Black-billed Turaco to the diminutive Turner's Eremomela so a huge experience was provided. Our guide, Patrick, was brilliant. Good monkey species too. The butterflies were numerous and completely spectacular."

"Kicheche Bush Camp was magnificent.

Superb service, superb guiding, huge excellent tents and gourmet food! Didi and his staff were great fun, attentive helpful and above all interesting. Our guide Charles looked after us so well and it was very useful that he had an excellent knowledge of the birds as well as the animals. We had close encounters with leopard and cub, lion, cheetah with its topi kill. and serval with two kittens.

Charles' special ability was to get the vehicle into the best position for photos, even if there were other vehicles around, and to pre-empt the movement of the animals. He was mightily skilful! Again rain affected but a brilliant end to our trip."