As the safari season kicked in this past month, I’ve had some of my best ever lion viewings. Always one the most charismatic characters of the African “big game”, lions offer everything you’d want to take away from time on safari. Their size and power, their regal beauty, and the primal energy we experience when close to one stirs some deep inner animal instinct within us. It is a raw, wild feeling of connectedness to the African bush.

At first light in the Masai Mara, we drive out from our camp along the banks of the Mara River, hippos snorting their welcome, and the sun rising over the great plains. As we emerge we find three of the finest male lions in the Mara, part of an ever larger coalition of five that dominates the northern half of the western Mara Triangle. Striding along like the jungle kings they’re known as, they run into the one species that won’t get out of their way; elephants. We then get to see who the real kings are (or queens as it happens!), as the elephant matriarch and her sisters stand firm and watch the lions meekly take a wide detour around them. What a thrill watching such an encounter with colossal wildlife!

On to the Chyulu Hills, where, twenty years ago, lions had been persecuted and severely reduced in number. In one of the great success stories of Kenyan conservation, the combined work of the Lion Guardians program and Big Life Africa have led to the rebound of lions, back to their place as an apex predator in this ecosystem. Another morning drive with stunning dawn light and we find three magnificent sub-adult males. They are not quite ready to take their place with their own pride, but old enough to have to fend for themselves and hunt their own food. Watching these future kings as they set out from the security of their natal pride makes us realize what an enormous challenge it is to enter the sometimes savagely competitive environment they call home.

And in what now has to be my grand finale to any lion tales, at our final safari location this month we witnessed a lioness stalk and take down a fully grown wildebeest. Taking place mid morning in our own private 30,000 acre Kitirua Wildlife Conservancy in Amboseli, we were observing this lioness as she digested her last meal, thinking that she and her pride mates couldn’t possibly fit any more in their bursting bellies. Yet on seeing some wildebeest move into the longer grass, that hunting instinct took over, and as she passed within meters of our safari jeep we saw that primal look come into focus in her amber lion eyes. Stalking with utter patience and stealth, this seasoned lioness was able to close in on the unsuspecting prey and take it down. It can be hard to watch nature unfold in the raw, but the ever present circle of life closed this day, and the pride’s cubs enjoyed this next meal, bringing them one day closer to successfully moving through their own tenuous journey to adulthood.

This month I’m showcasing an old favorite safari lodge. Ol Malo is owned and run by Andrew and Chyulu Francombe, good friends of mine who both grew up in Kenya and truly know how to bring their patch of wilderness to life. With unique and exhilarating helicopter tours, horse riding safaris amongst the giraffe and zebras, as well as invigorating hikes and breathtaking views across to Mt Kenya’s 17,000-foot peaks in the distance, Ol Malo is an enduring highlight for any safari. Set amidst the privately managed wildlife ranches of Kenya’s Laikipia Conservancy, Ol Malo has provided many enjoyable and memorable moments on safaris in recent years. 

With two Raven 44 Helicopters based right at the lodge the scenic flights in these fantastic machines is made especially accessible during our stays here. You can see highlights from a recent flight in another blog post – Helicopter safari to Lake Turkana. And here is a selection of images from myself and Ol Malo that I think gives you a pretty good feel for what our time there is like! Enjoy a little bit of a virtual safari from wherever you are in the world…

It’s 2am and from my bedroom here in my Mara home I hear the lion roaring. There is no other sound that evokes such a primeval sense within us; a reminder that this is an animal for whom primates are on the menu. Having spent countless hours over the past 25 years watching these apex predators, I now imagine this one, patrolling his or her territory in the African darkness, and feel privileged to live here where the wild things still roam free.

There is something about “Simba”, the largest of our big cats, that mesmerizes us. Ever since humans could record their feelings, lions have featured in our art, as evidenced by the life-size cave lions drawn in the 28,000 year old paintings at Grotte Chauvetin in France (https://www.ancient.eu/Chauvet_Cave/).

Today, we photograph, study, listen to, and watch these magnificent beasts; the fascination continues no matter where we are. Last month, in the heart of New York City and far from our home in Kenya, we took Ollie and Halina to see The Lion King on Broadway and at the movie theater. The artistry and storytelling inspired by our feared and revered feline friends are truly things to wonder at – although we still think the hyenas got a raw deal!

Over the years, I’ve been so privileged to share the joy of my guests when they see their first wild lion. Of all the places in lion country, the Masai Mara in particular is perhaps the ultimate location for spending time with lions. In Amboseli, as the local lion population has increased over the past decade, we’ve also had outstanding experiences in our private conservancy there, Kitirua. This lion recovery has been aided significantly by the fantastic conservation work being done by our friends at the Lion Guardians program. Recently, several of my safaris have had the special opportunity to visit the Lion Guardians camp in Amboseli and get some insights into how this unique and dynamic project operates. You can learn more about their work here (http://lionguardians.org).

My own safari work, as well as Steph’s carnivore research, have enabled me to learn so much about lions and the immense challenges humans face living alongside lions in the 21st century living. Sharing ideas and discussing issues related to lion conservation can bring even more to the experience of seeing one of the most impressive wild animals on the planet, which in turn will help us conserve lions, and be inspired by them, for generations to come.

Photos by Max Melesi, taken on safari with me in June, 2019.

As Halina rides up to our almost-finished Mara house on her Ethiopian pony, I pause and consider our family story, and how it has brought us to living here, on the edge of the greatest wildlife location on earth. Our home looks out over the great plains that stretch south across 10,000 square miles of Africa’s best. A region that has drawn Masai pastoralists, safari guides and carnivore biologists alike over recent centuries. Glancing from Oliver to the Masai school children nearby it strikes me that they will also play their part in the future of this great land.

We’ve just had the satellite internet connected so now I can sit at my desk looking at the giraffes and zebras outside my window and plan out next year’s expeditions and safaris. And while I tap out emails to friends and colleagues around the globe I’m reminded that gathering the family around the hearth (or the giraffes!) here at home is the most fulfilling of all feelings; shared equally by us and our Masai neighbors.

….to the Mara!!!

We LOVE the Ankole cattle – one of only three herds in Kenya!

Steph and I have just bought 5 acres of land at the northernmost tip of the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem. We plan to build our house in 2015, and we will soon be part of the Enonkishu Conservancy!

We are incredibly excited about this, as we will not only be living in the Mara but will also be helping with an important experiment for the region – determining whether diversification of local livelihoods and a holistic grazing management scheme can improve the lives of the local community AND protect biodiversity, including the guild of large carnivores found there – lions, leopards, spotted hyenas, striped hyenas, cheetahs, and African wild dogs.

“Enonkishu” is Maasai for “healthy cattle,” and the folks behind the conservancy have built the first slaughter house in the area, with the goal of improving livestock husbandry and introducing a new market to the local Maasai community – a market for healthy, grass-fed beef! On the ecological side of things, we hope to participate by applying our skill sets in new ways to measure the effects of the scheme on habitat and wildlife, and to help introduce new kinds of tourism.

We recently spent the weekend at Enonkishu and had Omondi, a big bull elephant, wade through the Mara River to access the area – including our own plot! Each time we visit we find a couple of giraffes eating the Balanites trees that mark the center of the plot and the front of our future house. There are at least three lion prides utilizing the conservancy; Steph and local guide Moses have already started identifying individuals in one of the prides, including the magnificent resident male of the Lemek Pride, who they named “Leteipa,” Maasai for “dusky.”

Building a house in the Mara, on and in thick black cotton soil, will certainly be a challenge, but we are so looking forward to working with Andy Melesi to design and build something special ‘on the ranch.’ Ollie is already picking out an Ankole calf and Halina is dreaming of her own pony…. And Steph is particularly happy to be returning to her hyenas and her original home in Kenya.

Stay tuned for updates in 2015!

The view from our future house

Showing off the plot – and one of the giraffes

This guy keeps eating the garden!

Omondi, the big bull elephant

Leteipa and his lady

The Lemek Pride, just a few kilometers south of our plot

Glorious Ankole cattle

A very exciting development for the area

A visit from the helicopter at House in the Wild, the local lodge

I am very pleased to announce the inaugural “Invitational Journey” of The Shackleton & Selous Society. Fellow Kristjan Edwards will guide a small group of intrepid S&S Travelers along an inspirational path that will include light trekking, elephant-back polo, tiger tracking, and unparalleled personal insight into the local culture and wildlife.

Stephanie or I will join this trip as well, as Nepal has always been on our list of places to get to. I can’t imagine a better introduction to the country, it’s people, and it’s wildlife than what Kristjan has to offer.

If you would like more details about this journey to Nepal please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me – the ten day itinerary begins in Kathmandu on March 5th, 2015.

The Shackleton & Selous Society is the first network of individual leaders to the world’s wild places. Our website is invitation-only: let me know if you would like to become an S&S Traveler and I will happily give you access.

Last week, several fellow partners of Ker & Downey and I visited the eastern boundary region of Tanzania’s famed Serengeti National Park. We camped in an area that has been closed to visitors for more than a decade, and enjoyed truly exclusive access to spectacular wildlife.

In five days we saw more than 100 different individual lions, 22 cheetahs, 5 leopards, 2 honey badgers, and an incredible number of herbivores. As this new camp is so distant from all other lodging in the Serengeti, we virtually had the area all to ourselves! Between December and May of each year, these short grass plains are saturated with the great herds of wildebeest and zebra that make up the celebrated migration. And it is here that several hundred thousand wildebeest calves are born each January/February, offering a windfall to the many resident carnivores that call this land home.

Surrounded by the quintessential safari landscape of endless plains dotted with acacia trees and granite kopjes, my time there reminded me of why it was the favored private camp destination of my company through the 1980s and ’90s. I am thrilled to now be able to take my guests to this secret corner of the Serengeti. We are privileged to be a part of the gentle reopening of this remote area to low-use tourism, and the next few years offer a special opportunity to join me on safari in a place I would describe as one of the final frontiers of East African wilderness.

The essence of our time in the Serengeti.

Watched as we are watching.

A stunning view of leopards out in the open.

A pair of very fit cheetahs.

A perfect place to rest and scout for the next meal.

A strong leader for a healthy pride.

These new cubs are doing very well.

The birds of prey are also fantastic in this region.

We had a rare sighting of two honey badgers.

King of the kopje.

Classic Serengeti in black and white.

Partner guides of The Original Ker & Downey Safaris.

Elephants near Amboseli National Park, Kenya.

Two of Stephanie’s stories have recently been published, and both are about conservation issues in the Amboseli area. In February, “Can Mock Hunts Save Lions’ Lives,” about a unique method being used by the Lion Guardians program, appeared in Ensia magazine. You can read it here.

Earlier this month, Steph’s story about Nick Brandt’s art and the creation of the Big Life Foundation was published in a new Scandinavian magazine called The Collection. It is not yet available online, but you can access the pdf here: Hope for Big Life in East Africa

I am proud to work with both of these organizations through my position at the Kenya Wildlife Trust, and I hope you enjoy reading about some of the conservation solutions in action in one of our favorite safari destinations.

Stephanie collects data on lion numbers in the Masai Mara in 2005.

Stephanie is one of more than 50 authors of a scientific paper on lion conservation that is published today in the journal Ecology Letters. “Conserving large carnivores: dollars and fence,” includes lion count data from more than 40 sites across Africa and analyses to test what management options will work best to conserve lions. Stephanie has also written a guest blog post about the paper for Scientific American, “From whisker spots to paradigm shifts: how to save the lions.” Have a look and let us know what you think. I’ll certainly be discussing the issues raised in the paper this week as I guide my guests on a safari through Tarangire, Ngorongoro Crater, and the Serengeti – hopefully while we are enjoying observing some of the lions that were counted for the paper!

On the Laragai front porch

During a mobile camping safari, we stay at select permanent camps and lodges while our own camp moves from one wildlife area to the next. We have a very short list of properties that we consider to be the best, and we visit them often: we know the managers, local guides, and wildlife well, and our guests are guaranteed a special experience during their stay.

One of our favorites over the past few years has been Laragai House on the Borana Conservancy. We have loved observing elephants at very close range as they drink from a small water hole next to the front porch, as well as when they swim in the dam below the house – viewable from the breakfast table.

The lodging is exquisite and exclusive: whenever we stay at Laragai we take over the entire house. Visit their website here to see what the interiors are like. While we certainly spend a lot of time relaxing by the two gigantic fireplaces in the central room, we also always enjoy horseback riding, swimming, game drives, and picnics during our stay. Tennis, a visit to the owners’ farm, and a helicopter flight to fish on a Mt. Kenya lake are also often on the itinerary.

We have had excellent viewings of wild dogs and leopards, and spend a considerable amount of time with the elephants. We also track lions here: Borana is home to a huge pride monitored by the Living with Lions team. We were also excited to recently hear that the fence between Lewa Downs and Borana may soon be taken down, in order to allow movement of rhinos throughout both conservancies. With more than 600 rhinos illegally killed for their horns in 2012, rhinos need all the help they can get, and we are happy to support Borana with their efforts by staying at Laragai often.

Riding Borana

The pool at Laragai

The Borana pride of lions

Picnic dinner near the big dam