the safari three

THREE SAFARI VETERANS EXCHANGE CANDID OPINIONS ON KENYA FOR bEGINNERS, TOURIST TRADE DINOSAURS, AND THE OKAVANGO DELTA. A Lexus ROUNDTAbLE.
P H OTO G R A P H Y bY S H E I L A m E T z N E R

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SCOTT GOETZ
Los aNGELEs, CaLif., Usa He left the film industry to be Travel + Leisures go-to guy for africa.

BRIAN JACKMAN

JACK SMITH

DorsEt, U.K. WayNE, PENN., Usa Britains foremost writer on wildlife Brings luxury sensibilityhoned by and safaris, says Insight Guides. writing for Robb Reportto safaris.

dont have the game that others can offer. Brian, I agree with you about Cottars. I was there two days ago, and they delivered an experience of a bygone era, complete with my own private migration river crossing. BRIAN: Its true that most of Kenyas lodges are best avoided. Tourist trade dinosaursI think that was Richard Leakeys description. But Im glad we agree about Cottars. Calvin Cottar is one of the best guides in the business, and his camp not only offers a genuine Out of Africa experience but also has all the game you could wish for.
Lets bring in Jack. JACK SMITH: Brians and Scotts safari adventures certainly eclipse mine, but I think my experiences are especially relevant for the neophyte safari-goer. It was barely two years ago that I spent my first night in the African wild, and, truth to tell, I was terrified. What should safari aspirants know about? JACK: Vumbura Plains in the Okavango Delta. Its a very stylish place, a popular backdrop for fashion shoots, and my own digs had an indoor outdoor shower, a hot tub, and a sunken living room. I would be perfectly safe, the staff told me, as long I followed the rules. First, whatever I did, I should never run. I should also never go outside my tent at night. During the daytime, I was safe as long as I stayed on the wooden walkways that led from tent to tent to the main lodge, since the big cats saw the elevated promenades as forbidden territory. That night one of the staffers, armed with nothing but a flashlight, led me back down the wooden walkway to my tent and pointed out one final amenityan air horn set next to my bed. If anything happened, he said, I should sound the air horn three times and the staff would come running. I watched balefully as the flashlight moved through the darkness back to the main lodge, which now appeared much more distant than it had that afternoon, and crawled in under the covers. A fundamental tenet of safaris, as I understood it, is that predators wont trouble anything thats inside a tent. Only, the lights against the veiled walls of my gossamer chteau made it impossible to see out, but rather easy to see in. The bed, which was placed in the middle of the room, now took on the aspect of a sacrificial slab.

Gentlemen, thanks for participating across three continents. Scott, since youre in Africa now, why dont you lead off? SCOTT GOETZ: Greetings from Nairobi. I just returned from Shompole, where the witch doctor cast evil spirits out of mea fascinating anthropological kind of doctors visit! Shompole is even better than it was two years ago. What great fun to go back and see that theres more game there than beforesaw four male lions this morning. Its a great business model where the Maasai are shareholders in the property so they directly benefit.
LEXUS:

the Masai Mara. It was in May, just after the rains, and the land was so greengreener than Irelandnot at all how I thought Africa would look. Best of all, I saw and heard my first lion. It was at first light on one of those crisp highcountry mornings and he was sitting backlit on a termite mound maybe half a mile away. Through my binoculars I could see his breath condensing like smoke every time he roared, and Africa has been in my blood ever since.
So is Kenya a good place to start? BRIAN: Yes. First, its closeless than eight hours by air from London. Second, Kenya has a good safari infrastructuretheyve been in the business since the beginning. Ill always have a soft spot for the Masai Mara. Right now its under pressure. Too many tourists, too many vehicles. But there are one or two campsRekero, Cottars 1920 Camp, Kicheche Bush Campthat can still show you a good time away from the crowds. If you want to see what the Mara looked like 30 years ago, then head up to Sayari Camp in the far northwest corner of the Serengeti. SCOTT: I was disappointed with the lodges in Kenya, but I had an incredible first game drive in the Masai Mara where I watched a pride of nine lions bring down three wildebeests beside our vehicle. From there I continued to Conservation Corporation Africas Tanzania circuit, which I liked even better. Camps in Kenya are starting to catch up with their luxury counterparts in other parts of Africa. Shompole, on the edge of the Rift Valley, and The Sanctuary at Ol Lentille, a group of four luxury homes that opened last year up in Laikipia, are excellentthey just

Hang on, well get to the lions. Some introductions are in order. Brian? BRIAN JACKMAN: I was born in 1935 and have been traveling to Africa since 1974, so I guess Im what East Africans would call a mzeea wise old manthough Im not so sure about the wise! SCOTT: Well, it looks like Im the little safari brat. I didnt come to Africa until 2001, when I thought itd be a good idea to leave the movie industry and become a luxury travel writer. Im 41 and I live in LA. BRIAN: I feel like Ive just received the latest safari-brat message dispatched in cleft stick all the way from Africa to Dorset! Brian, tell us about your first safari. BRIAN: My first safari was in 1974. I flew to Kenya and I was so green that on my first night, on the 10th floor of the Nairobi Hilton, I looked under the bed to make sure there were no snakes hiding underneath. But by the end of the trip I was hooked. I had flown down to

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I LOVE ADVENTURE, BUT THAT DOES NOT HAVE TO EQUAL A MUD-AND-DUNg HUT.
SCOTT GOETz

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BRIAN: I

love your description of the gossamer chteau. Can I steal that for a future piece? Ive been there on the ceremonial slab, way up in northern Kenya, with a lion roaring unseen in the black and silver night, and suddenly feeling unbelievably edible. Not an experience I would particularly wish to repeat. JACK: I spent an uneasy night. I finally dozed off, only to be awakened by the thump of heavy paws or hooves moving through the underbrush outside my tent, followed by sounds that could have been grunts or growls. At breakfast the next morning a couple from Seattle was complaining loudly about the absence of guards and no fences. To which the GM responded, This is a safari camp, not a zoo. My next destination, Mombo Camp, was famous for its predators: its walkways rise six feet or more off the ground, the better to ensure the guests safety while allowing the animals to move freely. There had been 40 lion sightings at Mombo alone, said a staffer as he lugged my bags to my tent. The 41st occurred as I strolled out of my tent and onto the walkway, bound for the lounge and a cup of coffee. There, moving across the parking lot and headed right toward me, was a rather large lioness. Remarkably, she didnt glance my way as she loped beneath me and disappeared into the underbrush on the other side of the walkway. Mombos manager took the news of my encounter nonchalantly. Instead of a coffee I decided to have a double scotch. BRIAN: Vumbura and Mombo? Jack, you know how to pick the crme de la crme. Little Vumbura is even bettersmaller and therefore more intimate and personalalmost as if you were staying in your own private camp. As for Mombo, what can I say about the predator capital of Botswana? To call it five-star luxury is to be parsimonious.
I know well Jacks affection for luxury. Where do you stand, Scott? Can you get an authentic safari experience the posh way? SCOTT: I love adventure, but I dont think that equals having to stay in a mud-and-dung hut. Im a luxury purist and have no problem enjoying a fabulous massage in a tricked-out tent after watching a three-hour hyena kill. If cost isnt an issue, I would tell first-time safari goers to do a combination of South Africa at Royal Malewane and Singita Sweni

Lodge, then go into true bush in Botswana at Mombo, Jao, and Kings Pool. BRIAN: Grumpy old purists like me might balk at the presence of tennis courts and the like. As for spas and massage parlors in the bushwhat is all that about? Give me a good old-fashioned bucket shower under a tree any day! Great food, a decent bottle of South African Pinotage, a soft bed, and same-day laundryI can cope with luxury as well as the next man. But keep the pampering in perspective. SCOTT: I understand your point regarding wild Africa and location. I just never found a bucket shower effective enough to clean elephant-dung dust out of my pores. After a week or two of bush, exfoliation is a welcome amenity.
Have we left out anyones favorites? BRIAN: George Adamson and his Born Free lions up at Kora. He had a lioness called Arusha who would stand on her hind legs and put her front paws over his shoulders and he would hug her like a long-lost buddie. Another unforgettable experience was going on an elephant-back safari at Abu Camp in Botswana. Here you are deep in the Okavango Delta, where an elephant is the perfect all-terrain safari vehicle, able to plow through swamps and wade belly-deep across wide lagoons. It used to be said that African elephants were untamable. JACK: I couldnt agree more with Brian about Abu Camp. I spent an enchanted afternoon on the back of one of Randall Moores elephants, and having drinks with Moore himself is also great fun, as hes one of the most colorful characters you can meet in Africa, and the meals at his lodge were marvelous. We had a torch-lit cookout on a barren plain not far from Abu. All during dinner we saw the hump-backed shapes of hyenas trotting around the periphery of the light. SCOTT: If the newcomers had their heart set on East Africa, however, I would tell them not miss Singita Grumeti Reserves, a three-camp lodge that has raised the bar on the continent. JACK: One final word regarding safaris: dont expect to be able to use your cell phone. To call home I had to buy a ticket on one of the little bush planes and fly into Maun, the Botswana frontier town. It was worth it, though. My wife was so overcome with emotion at hearing my voice that all she could say was, Do you know what time it is here?

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SOURCE NOTES
bOTSWANA > Abu Camp www.abucamp.com > Mombo Camp www.mombocamp.net > Vumbura Plains www.sunsafaris.com/vumbura.html KENYA > Cottars Camp www.cottars.com > Kicheche www.kicheche.com > Rekero Camp www.rekero.com > Sanctuary at Ol Lentille www.ol-lentille.com SOUTH AFRICA > Royal Malewani www.royalmalewani.com > Singita Sweni Lodge www.singita.com/sweni TANzANIA > Conservation Corporation Africa www.ccafrica.com > Singita Grumeti Reserves www.singita.com

AN ELEpHANT IS THE pERfEcT ALL-TERRAIN SAfARI VEHIcLE.

bRIAN jACKmAN

AbOUT THE ARTIST > Our featured photographer, SHEILA METZNER, is a born-and-bred brooklynite who made her name shooting portraits and fashion. but her affinity for African safaris is manifest, as she brings to the subject an unexpected color palette and moody, timeless romanticism, both achieved through the use of an exceedingly rare, nineteenth-century carbon printing process know as the Fresson method. metzners work has been shown at the Art Institute of Chicago and New Yorks museum of modern Art. To learn more, visit www.sheilametzner.com.

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