Here’s an idea of a day at Ol Seki. You might want to take things easy and relax in the privacy of the camp, or you can pack your days with activities and tirelessly explore Naboisho Conservancy and the Masai Mara Reserve. We’ll tailor every day to suit your mood.
Arise before the sun and drive out in our custom-built safari 4x4 across the cool plains. Wrap up warm in a bright red woollen Masai shuka (blanket), the windows of the vehicle are wide open to the fresh air. As you drive, Barufa, your spotter, will shine his lamp onto the bushes and grasses, highlighting nocturnal creatures - you might see the glinting spines of a shy porcupine trundling through the darkness or the intense red glow of a bush baby’s eyes.
Soon, you hear the hot roar of the gas jet of your air balloon, poised to fly you up into the sunrise. Away with the sandbags and up you go into the clear morning air. Beneath your basket the dark shadows of whistling thorn trees become clearer as the sunlight breathes colour into the landscape, deep green riverine valleys and golden whispering grasses awake below you. It’s time to open the safari cooler and toast the morning with a glass of chilled champagne.
Evans is ready with his barbecue in his bush kitchen to make your eggs exactly as you like them - perhaps you’ll choose one of his famous omelettes - while Josephat takes care of helping you to the buffet’s home-made muesli and fresh, diced mangos. You watch the impala and the Thompson’s gazelle foraging in the bushes around you while you crunch hot buttered toast surrounded by the wilderness of the conservancy.
On the game drive back to camp the herds of zebra are shaking their tails and stretching their legs in the open savannah, relieved to have survived another night, unscathed by the claws of feline predators. The multicoloured topi is distinctive in the sunlight - he’s already dressed in bright orange socks topped with a black trim, denim blue bottoms and a silver cardigan draped over his loins.
Spend the late morning relaxing in your private domed tent. Revive in a hot shower and find your freshly laundered clothes folded on the bed, prepared by the camp staff. From your deck you spot the lilac breasted roller and the black-and-white casqued hornbill and you spend a while exploring the trees with your binoculars, a bird book at hand.
The afternoon sees you driving through the conservancy for a picnic lunch in the shade of a desert date tree. David, your driver, has a nose that can scent a kill and after your feast, he heads to the bank of the river where you see a croc lunge and strike, snapping a wildebeest and dragging it into the swampy waters. Your camera is fully charged and you spend the whole afternoon photographing game from the roof of the safari car - big cats, herds of elephant, hippos, bat-eared foxes and silver backed jackals all gaze into your lens and there are no other vehicles in sight.
On the way back to camp, you stop for a sundowner on a kopje and watch the Ngama Hills to the east turn purple as the light fades. It’s dark by 7pm but night drives are permitted in your private conservancy so you see the spring hares print long paces through the grass and you worry about the fate of a baby impala, separated from the herd as the pack of spotted hyena tightens its circle, whooping and laughing under the moon.
Supper in the mess tent is a convivial time of conversation with Melinda the manager and other guests as you compare your stories and amaze each other with the day’s adventures. Evans has prepared a four course finale to the day from soup to cheeseboard and Josephat attentively keeps your glass half-full with wine. After supper, you sit around the camp fire with a scotch and soda, watching the herd of eland taking a nightcap at the waterhole. In the library, you angle the telescope to the heavens and gaze at the diamond-studded night sky.
When you eventually retire to the velvety white cotton sheets of your bed, you might forget that you’re in a tent. But the low growl of a lion, somewhere beyond your deck, reminds you that this is the wildest luxury you’ll ever experience and never forget.