Adventure Alternative

Safaris - Introduction

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We can organise family holidays, honeymoons, anniversaries, cycling tours, film crews, research groups, climbers and special interest groups - we have the experience and expertise to assist you personally.

In a sense it is creating your own perfect holiday in the best safari destination of all. Kenya and Tanzania has it all, from mountains to plains, forests to deserts and of course the golden coastline, Spice islands and an unrivalled variety of wildlife to see and experience.

Added to that a genuinely friendly and happy people, an excellent infrastructure, year round warm climate, world-class hotels and cosmopolitan capital cities. It is easy to see why East Africa has always been the grand-daddy of safari destinations in all of Africa and why we can accommodate all your needs.

Gavin Bate runs the safari company with an emphasis on quality of staff, personal attention to detail and years of experience living and working in this part of the world. He regularly guides on Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya and has been taking expeditions all over East Africa for the past fifteen years. Gavin is a proficient traveller who has worthy experience ranging from Everest expeditions to solo missions across the Sahara. He is no stranger to organising and implementing journeys and expeditions across our planet and can deliver you the perfect itinerary whether you are on a family holiday or managing an archaeological dig.

There is also a charity for street children called Moving Mountains, which he started after years running rehabilitation camps for these disadvantaged kids and building schools and clinics. The company works very much in tandem with the charity covering all of its overheads and managing project research and implementation. You can even spend a day with some of our kids and see what education and life is like in Kenya.

We have strong ethical standards and are members of Tourism Concern. We do not outsource and our equipment and vehicles are all fully owned by the company. We are huge supporters of pro poor tourism and always put back into the local people and communities where we work.

We look forward to helping you with your dream safari; it is a wonderful place to visit and you will come back with some lifelong memories, and not just of the animals. We wish to show you more than the Parks, but also the people and the culture of this country, the work we do and the flipside of life there.

Your Safari Options

There are a number of different types of safari:

Mobile Tented Safari - the 4x4 truck or 9 seater microvan or overland truck is with you all the time. On board is everything that is required for a safari full of adventure and the outdoor life. Cooking is done outside and we use large walk-in tents for accommodation. There are toilet tents and we have extra water tanks and fuel tanks on board for longer journeys into the bush. This type of safari is more 'back to Nature' and there is an element of roughing it, suited especially to walking or cycling adventures.

Luxury Tented Safari - the game drives are still in the truck or Nissan but accommodation is in static tented camps or rondavels or cottages. Generally there are lodges nearby and facilities for showers, dining and evening entertainment such as bars. The safari moves more slowly with several nights spent at a 'base' and the days out on game drive. The evening meals are supplied by the owners of the tented lodge.

Lodge Safaris - Similarly the days are spent out on game drive in the 4x4 truck or Nissan’s but overnights are in beautifully appointed lodges with prepared meals and often a staggering degree of luxury. Here you will find beds with crisp clean sheets, hot showers and a host of attentive staff members to look after your every need.

Many of our safaris actually combine some of the best of the different types of safari. It is great to get out and rough it in style for a night, then experience a permanent tented camp and spend perhaps at least one night in a lodge. A good compromise seems the best idea.

Back in Nairobi we use clean and pleasant three star hotels in and around Nairobi or travellers camps. Or we can book for you one of the city's four star hotels.

The Game Drive

For groups of 10 and more we use the fully converted 4x4 safari truck in the National Parks for the game drives. The advantage is room to move around freely within the vehicle, photography points on top of the cab, the extra height to see much more of the land, food and drinks on board kept in cool boxes and the manoeuvrability to reach more inaccessible areas.

For our walking and cycling safaris the truck is a self-contained unit with walk-in accommodation tents, toilets, showers, kitchen with all catering equipment, camp lights, generator, tables and chairs and dining area.

The tents are large and comfortable with mattresses provided and mosquito nets. Meals are multi-course and prepared in camp and served in a spacious dining shelter or sometimes under the stars. Most dietary requirements can be accommodated and there is always a supply of drinks, snacks and fresh fruit.

Outside the park and for smaller groups or family safaris we use the faster microbuses or Nissan tour vehicles to save time. These are more comfortable for road journeys and we generally send the truck on ahead to the next park destination for the coming game drive.

Most game drives start early with all the animals right before dawn. We then have breakfast and a rest followed by a mid-morning game drive and then lunch and a longish siesta during the hottest part of the day. Then in the late afternoon and early evening we go back on our game drive.

The Itinerary

Fundamental to a great safari is going to the right places at the right time and we work to provide you with the best opportunities the country has to offer. We prefer to allow a degree of flexibility to accommodate changes of plan that may ensure a particularly good game drive or walk in a special area. Safaris are also for families and children so it is important to accommodate all the interests of your group.

We also appreciate that everybody has different ambitions for their time in East Africa. Some like to be adventurous others prefer total relaxation. A family itinerary will be very different from a retirement or honeymoon safari, for this very reason we prefer to work with you and deliver exactly what you want. We don’t sell ‘seats’ on busy fixed route safaris. We want you to have the holiday of a lifetime and that starts right here, at the beginning of your journey! After all, the word safari in Swahili translates as ‘Journey’.

The beauty of a mobile safari unit is to be able to go with the flow, adjust itineraries according to game concentration and other variables such as weather. There is an adventurous quality to this that will hopefully make your holiday all the more memorable. We prefer not to cocoon you from the African experience but to be a part of it.

Climate

In any season there is always something happening with the wildlife in East Africa. January to March provide the warmest months while June to August are the coolest. From July into October is the famous Migration of wildebeest and zebra down the Rift Valley and this is a popular time, along with Christmas and New Year. There are two rainy seasons in Kenya, in November and through April and May, but rains bring new growth and plenty of animal life to see.

Health

It is important to visit your GP before coming to East Africa and get the necessary inoculations and also malarial prophylactics. Prevention is the best policy and long trousers, a long sleeved shirt and insect repellent are necessary.
We provide boiled water and bottled drinking water while on safari. All the food is fresh and the vegetables and fruit are washed carefully. Our cooks are qualified and they are well aware of the priority we have for providing clean water and good food.