Masai Mara - Amboseli - Lumo
How everything began
Our last Africa safari was nearly 3 years ago now. A lot had been going on in the meantime. The world almost stood still because of the Corona pandemic. Traveling - especially long-distance travel - was out of the question for a long time. In addition, I changed my job again - hopefully for the last time - at the end of 2020.
Despite all this, however, the Africa virus never gave us a break. After the Corona situation seemed to stabilize somewhat in the summer of 2021, we started planning a new trip. We quickly decided to go to Kenya again, which in our opinion was one of the best countries to deal with the Corona pandemic on the African continent. Since our last safari trip at the turn of the year 2018/2019 in the Masai Mara remained unforgettable in our memories, we wanted to enjoy this there again.
Reports about our previous Africa trips as well as general safari tips can also be found here on this website.
The travel group
Our friends Andrea and Harry were also quickly enthusiastic about the project, so that we: my wife Simone, my daughter Luise, our friends Andrea and Harry and me started the detailed planning in August 2021.
Travel planning
We wanted to spend New Year’s Eve 2021 again in the Masai Mara at the Mara Bush Camp - Private Wing. This part of the trip was quickly decided. The further concrete planning then took place in the proven manner by e-mail with Mr. Nowak of Let’s go Africa, with whom we had already planned all our previous Africa trips.
Due to our available vacation days and the flight schedules, the days from December the 26th, 2021 to January the 7th, 2022 were finally available for our trip. In the end we decided to start with a 5-day stay at the Mara Bush Camp - Private Wing in the Masai Mara (which would be our 5th stay there).
After that, we wanted to make a third attempt at Amboseli National Park to see Mount Kilimanjaro and finally take THE archetypal safari photo: Elephants in front of the Kilimanjaro.
To save time, we would fly there from the Masai Mara on a domestic flight and stay two nights. We have been to Amboseli National Park twice before, in July 2015 and August 2017, and each time we could only glimpse the majestic mountain behind clouds.
(Spoiler: This time we should have much more luck…)
The third and for us completely new location had then been warmly recommended to us by Mr. Nowak. The partner company of Let’s go Africa in Kenya, Sunworld Safaris, had shortly before acquired a new private conservancy, the Lumo Conservancy in the Tsavo West area. We had never been to the Tsavo area before, which is especially known for its red elephants. So we wanted to finish our trip there in the comfortable Lions Bluff Lodge.
In Africa, we would again have our own safari vehicle with driver and guide for the entire trip. We were especially happy that Caleb would be our guide again, who had already accompanied us very competently twice before.
Thus, the travel sequence was fixed and we started with the concrete preparations. First, we booked the trip with Let’s go Africa and the flights with Lufthansa. This time we were able to apply for the visas directly in Kenya via eVisa online, which worked wonderfully.
Due to the strong increase in Corona numbers in the fall of 2021 and in particular due to the much more infectious Omikron variant detected for the first time in South Africa, it was uncertain until the end whether everything would work out as planned. To be on the safe side, we therefore made an additional travel cancellation insurance, which would take effect in case of Corona-related cancellations.
On December the 24th 2021 we went to the test center at Düsseldorf airport for the obligatory Corona-PCR tests before the trip. Fortunately, these tests were negative for all protagonists. On December 25th we started our malaria prophylaxis with one tablet each of Malarone for breakfast. After elaborate reporting of all necessary data via Internet to Kenya and online check-in at Lufthansa, we were able to start our journey on schedule on December the 26th, 2021.
Photo Equipment
As with every photo safari, there was once again the question of what I should take with me from my photo equipment, which has become quite extensive over the years. The telephoto lenses required for a safari are large and heavy, and the hand luggage on the plane is limited in size and weight.
Since these details may not interest every reader, I have put my thoughts and the resulting selection into a separate report this time ( you can find it here: Kenya 2021/22 - Photo Equipment).