“Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams”. Ashley Smith In April Kenya received a huge amount of rain, and in some regions the flooding [...]
Mara Camps Have Two More Silver-Level Guides In April 2013 Kevin Siayalel and Duncan Lenjirr sat for the Kenya Professional Safari Guides Association’s Silver Level certification and we’re very pleased to announce that they both passed! CONGRATULATIONS, Kevin and Duncan. Duncan Lenjirr Duncan was born in 1977 in the Narok area of the greater Maasai Mara region [...]
Mara Toto camp has a new resident – a Greater Galago (bush baby) is padding around between the tent lining and fly sheet above the dining table catching months. This is the first time that he has come onto the mess while there are lights on inside. His foot prints are making indentations on the [...]
oL Donyo Lodge: The Kopjes and Kilimanjaro Exploring The Chyulu Hills is a magical experience and ol Donyo Lodge acts as the perfect starting point to explore this amazing area which rises up to 2,174m. The surrounding area is one vast volcanic geological outcrop covered by scenic and mysterious acacia forests which are the perfect place to [...]
While there’s no doubt that being alluded to as the Brangelina’s of the safari industry is quite a compliment, there’s much more substance to the work of Dereck & Beverly than appearances. Tiara Walters of South Africa’s Sunday Times weaves a story which we hope will “turn around a billion Chinese”. But it requires your [...]
March News – Plains of Change – ol Donyo Lodge, Kenya There is a fresh feeling at oL Donyo this month with the start of the rains that have brought welcome change to the Chyulu Hills. The land has awoken from a long, dry slumber and is celebrating with sounds and sights we haven’t seen for [...]
“Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in it’s beauty” Albert Einstein Happy Easter to you from the team on the plains of the Masai Mara and Kenya, where the elections and appeals have gone smoothly and peacefully. [...]
A Visit to Ol Donyo Lodge (full text and images here) So I just came back from a week in Kenya. I initially planned the trip because of a friend’s wedding and because of a Fashion Designers without Borders trip that I planned with Chrissie Lam the Founder of The Supply Change. The trip was [...]
Staying Active While on Safari – oL Donyo Lodge, Kenya Concerned about too much leisure and good eating while on safari? You needn’t worry about that at oL Donyo Lodge where we often host friendly volleyball matches with guests and staff. First, the pitch is set up… including tracing [...]
Caught on Camera, Ride Kenya Seems that still Kruger is full of beans at the stables after a recent horse safari. Ride Kenya has set up a camera trap at the stables to keep an potential predators – and see what the horses are up to during [...]
A Masai Mara sunset with topis and an ostrich As some of you may know from previous reports, as of a month ago there has been a slow and steady stream of wildlife moving into the central Mara from the east. Impala and Eland silhouette Three weeks ago we reported of these large [...]
“When the stars threw down their spears, And watered heaven with their tears, Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the lamb make thee?” William Blake In the three weeks it has been since our last report when we mentioned the wildlife moving south into this area, the herds have now [...]
The Undertakers at oL Donyo Lodge, Kenya Vultures spotted near oL Donyo Lodge, Kenya, hovering over a recent lion kill. Two different species: AFRICAN WHITE BACKED VULTURE & RUPPELL’S GRIFFON VULTURE
To all our managers, staff, colleagues, and tourism friends in Kenya Our thoughts are with you all in Kenya this week for a peaceful transition in government and on the streets. Despite CNN and BBC wanting to show footage of the old election unrest, their efforts have largely been thwarted so far and there is [...]
Yesterday morning, after just leaving Mara Toto, guests immediately bumped into three of Notch’s boys as they licked their chops from finishing up a hippo killed a couple days earlier. These brothers have, since their time as a young coalition on the Masai Mara’s Paradise Plains become specialised in killing hippos. This is quite an [...]
February here at ol Donyo Lodge has been an exciting roller-coaster of events and emotions. We have had the great fortune of being able to sight several elusive characters here over the past month with the most recent being a cheetah sighting on a game drive up to the hilltop of ol Donyo Wuas. As [...]
On 22nd February, Ride Kenya assisted a vet from the David Sheldrick foundation in darting and treating an elephant with an arrow wound wandering near ol Donyo Lodge and the Ride Kenya stables. Ride Kenya managers Paddy and Kim were on hand to track the elephant and follow it [...]
….. And all the surrounding landscape merely a playground. At ol Donyo Lodge the ‘element of surprise’ is around every corner, and when a lodge is placed upon a 270,000 acre sanctuary— anything is possible. Last night we unveiled our newest secret Bush Dinner site, and it’s [...]
On the 15th of February, after having been watching, and waiting for two months we had the first ever sighting of the Leopard cub belonging to the leopardess who has been a regular around Mara Plains and Toto for the last 5 months. On the morning of the 15th, guests out with the morning drives [...]
“To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.” – Bill Bryson One month into 2013 and so much has already happened here [...]
January has been a month full of fun activities at ol Donyo Lodge! Activities coordinator Scott Dyson and children’s program guide Elijah Morintat have been helping guests document their Chyulu Hills experience through art. Whether painting at the lodge or out on the plains, guests have been treated to dramatic views of Mt Kilimanjaro and [...]
To say that the sightings and the wildlife here have been unbelievable over the past week or so would be an understatement! The greatest treat our guests had the other evening is actually spotting two of our young local lions enjoying their version of one of our spectacular bush dinners, our guests however enjoyed a [...]
BREAKING NEWS….Mara Plains & Mara Toto status report from Richard and Lorna: We’ve done it. Mara Toto is now a fully functional seasonal camp running 100% on solar power, with no negative discharge into the environment (thanks to Biorock sewage treatment system), 5000 litres of rainwater catchment off the solar panel bank so far, all [...]
The most exciting thing happened last night when a couple of our guests along with Seki our head guide stumbled upon our well known local lion! It’s always a treat to get a sighting of a species which has been so heavily persecuted in this region. Small conservation steps matter. Today, all of the birds [...]
Our guests, the Timms party just returned from Kenya: “…out of all the accommodations not sure which was our favourite as all had something different but Ol Donyo Lodge was just amazing. The private plunge pools a real plus and everyday just sitting in our rooms looking down at the water hole watching the elephants [...]
Our beloved camp is making way for even greater things to come. Here are some photographs of what little is left of the mess area…
After a monumental storm last night, and following weeks of rain in the Mara, the land is completely saturated and drained straight into the river running past camp. The water level has risen approximately twelve feet vertically and has engulfed the bridge into camp! Consequently we have had to pause with carting furniture across the [...]
“Look deep into Nature and then you will understand everything better” – Albert Einstein After having had one of the wettest Christmas and New Years any of us can remember, on the 3rd January, as we closed the camp for the full rebuild, the sun emerged and is shining brightly on our plans for the [...]
It looks like 2013 is starting off as a great year for artists at ol Donyo! With Mt Kilimanjaro making regular appearances and lots of activity in the bush and at the waterhole, there have many opportunities to paint some great subject matter. Activities coordinator Scott and Children’s guide Elijah have been setting up easels [...]
