Travel To Naboisho Conservancy

Today we traveled from Ol Pejeta, located near Mt. Kenya, to Naboisho Conservancy, near Masai Mara and Tanzania. We did not do a game drive in the morning so we were able to sleep in a bit and have breakfast at our camp. On the way to the air strip we saw a group of elephants drinking from a watering trough.

When we arrived at the air strip there was a man there with a motorcycle. His job was to chase away any animals from the runway so that the arriving airplane could land safely (Peter thinks this is a dream job).

We took a small, 38 passenger De Havilland Dash 8 plane to Naboisho. Compared to the charter flight from a few days ago, this plane felt massive. It had a flight attendant and a person to handle the ground operations like loading luggage onto the plane. The flight was a quick, 40 minute hop to Naboisho.

The flight was uneventful, except for the landing. On our first attempt as we got very close to the ground we suddenly felt the pilot initiate a “go-around”, where we accelerated and started to gain altitude. The pilot came on the intercom to announce that there were animals on the runway so we would need to attempt the landing again after the runway was clear. We circled around the pattern once and then were able to land without issue. While this plane was a lot bigger than our previous flight, Malia still did not care for its small size or the go-around maneuver.

Kicheche Valley Camp

Our guides met us at the air strip and took us to the Kicheche Valley Camp. The camp was similar to the previous one in Ol Pejeta. It had a central dining and common room tent and then sleeping tents in both directions. The previous camp had a fence around it which made it feel protected from wildlife. This camp had no fence and felt much more like animals could come through at any time. When we arrived at the camp there were a couple of monkeys hanging around the common area.

Kicheche Valley Camp in Naboisho Conservancy View from one of our tents Inside a tent Map of Naboisho Conservancy

Evening Game Drive

We headed out at 4PM for an evening game drive. This conservancy is much better known for its big cats than the previous conservancy. Unlike Ol Pejeta, there are no rhinos in Naboisho.

We saw some new animals on this drive.

Wildebeest Ostrich A Masai giraffe, distinguished by its irregular patch patterns Kopi, a different type of antelope A cheetah resting Elephants! Wildebeest at sunset Sundown drinks