On Safari with Abercrombie & Kent: Our Advisors in Tanzania and Kenya

Ten minutes after their bush flight touched down in the northern Serengeti, our advisors were parked on the bank of the Mara River watching wildebeest pour into the water, with crocodiles waiting below and, thanks to Abercrombie & Kent’s (A&K’s) on-ground connections, not another vehicle on their side.

In September, five Travel Associates advisors spent 12 days with A&K across six of its Sanctuary camps and lodges, from Tarangire in Tanzania to Ol Pejeta in Kenya. A&K ran its first safari in Kenya in 1962 and has set the standard for luxury touring on the continent ever since. Read on for everything our advisors did on this one-of-a-kind itinerary, and what they'd tell a client thinking about booking.

Before their first game drive, our advisors visited Ilboru Special Needs Education Unit in Arusha, a school for deaf and disabled children supported by A&K Philanthropy. It was one of the experiences the group spoke about most after returning home. “This experience moved me greatly,” says Travel Associates advisor Ash Diprose. “A&K should be commended for the work they do in this space.”

From Arusha they travelled into Tarangire National Park and checked into Swala Camp, an A&K Sanctuary set among acacias and baobabs at the quiet southern end of the park. The tents open straight onto the landscape, and a waterhole in front of camp means the wildlife watching doesn’t stop when the game drive does.

The route north ran through the market town of Mto wa Mbu by tuk-tuk and on to lunch at Gibb’s Farm before the climb to Ngorongoro Crater Camp on the rim. Ngorongoro is a vast volcanic caldera, formed when an ancient volcano collapsed, with a wildlife-rich floor roughly 600 metres below the rim. Looking down from there, Ash gave up trying to photograph it. The sights, sounds and smells “can’t be described or captured on camera; it has to be experienced,” he says. Samantha Hartley, Relationship Manager from Reserved by Travel Associates, describes the sensation of needing to be reminded to breathe: “The moment you realise what you’re looking at, the vast expanse and the life it holds, leaves you awestruck and gives you reason to pause.”

On the crater floor the next morning, as the group was about to leave, a male lion crossed ahead of the vehicle and led them to a tree where two lionesses were sleeping off a kill. He circled the truck several times and rolled on the ground in front of them. “I could have stayed there for hours, just observing,” commented Ben Monaghan, Business Leader at Monaghan & Turner Travel Associates.

A short flight from Ndutu to Lamai delivered the group to Kichakani Camp, A&K’s mobile camp that moves with the migration, and straight into the moment they’d all flown across the world for. Over three days they were lucky enough to witness two river crossings, and both times they had their bank of the Mara to themselves.

“Seeing a crocodile take a wildebeest, live, 20 metres in front of my own eyes - it was like something out of a movie,” says Ash. Samantha remembers looking across at the vehicles crowded on the far side, “and how we were the only car on our side, with a front-row seat. It was the privilege we felt at that moment.”

Getting from the Serengeti into Kenya involves a bush flight, a road transfer across the border and another flight. It’s a complicated travel day, but A&K’s Guardian Angels made each connection feel straightforward. They guided the group through the airports and border crossing, and Samantha says there was “no anxiety at all, we felt completely looked after.”

Nairobi provided the best example of A&K’s attention to detail. Flying from the Maasai Mara to Amboseli meant a connection through the domestic airport. The group was met on arrival and led through a locked back door to the next terminal; while they waited for their flight, a picnic lunch was arranged at the gate. “Exceptional, and a surprise,” says Ash. Ben sums up the whole trip in a line: “You were never on your own, at any single step of the way.”

Across the border, Olonana Lodge sits right on the Mara River. Its suites face the water, with wide glass doors that let the view become part of the room, and the lodge’s work with the local village and school left a mark on everyone who visited. “This is a company, and specifically this lodge, that is actually making a difference to the local community,” says Samantha. “The kind of difference that results in children living in a healthy environment, able to learn and be children without illness.”

Then came Amboseli’s open plains beneath Kilimanjaro and two nights at Kitirua Plains Lodge, before the journey finished at Tambarare Camp in the Ol Pejeta Conservancy, home to Najin and Fatu, the last two known northern white rhinos on earth. The last male, Sudan, died in 2018, and neither female can carry a calf, so conservationists are working with embryos and southern white rhino surrogates in the hope of saving the subspecies. Before the group entered, their shoes and the vehicle’s wheels were washed. The rhinos have keepers around the clock, and when their names were called, their ears pricked up. “They knew they were being spoken to,” says Ben, who got close to Fatu when a keeper coaxed her out with some food. He calls it the most emotive stop of the trip.

“There are a lot of great companies out there,” says Samantha, “but the reason I would recommend A&K is the highly elevated experience, the seamless connections and the thoughtfulness of the team on the ground. The guides and the hospitality teams really wanted us to enjoy their world and could not do enough for us.” Ben points to the things you can’t see from a brochure - seamless ground operations, A&K’s own vehicles and its Sanctuary lodges. Ash puts it more simply: “To do a safari in real nature, but with the comforts of ultra luxury, cannot be beaten.”

This is a trip for the well-travelled client who has dreamed of East Africa for years - the one who grew up watching David Attenborough and wants to see it firsthand, as Ash puts it - who is happy to be active for a good portion of the trip.

“Every trip starts with quiet expectation,” Samantha reflects. “To be part of one that exceeds all of it, that gives you reason to pause and fully appreciate what could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, is humbling, emotional and a privilege.”

If East Africa is on your list, speak to a Travel Associates advisor about planning your own safari with Abercrombie & Kent. Our advisors can use what they learned on the ground to shape an East African journey around you.