Serian – Day 6 – Thursday – 2/24
Flight to Mara North was about 40 minutes and the female pilot seemed to be flying the plane. It was again a dirt airstrip and just as we pulled up to the “terminal” which looked like an enlarged bus stop shelter, we saw a Land Cruiser pull up. We deplaned and some ground people came and brought our luggage over to the opening in the split rail fence that separated the parking area from the runway. The people from the Serian loaded our bags into the vehicle and explained that they were not our driver and guide. They were substituting for them who we will meet later. We later heard from the Serian people that Aerolink (who flew this for Air Kenya) were rather casual about schedules and the camp got a call that we would be an hour earlier than expected, hence the substitutes.
We were joined by the two pilots who were staying at the Serian overnight instead of flying back to Entebbe. Our drive to the Serian was part game drive with the guide pointing out sights along the way. The sights started as we left the parking area and watched three female giraffes walking across the airstrip and down the road we were on. Welcome to the Mara!!
Here are some landscape photos of Mara.
We saw Fred the elephant who the guide estimated was about 60 years old and nearing the end of his life. His teeth were worn down so that he had trouble eating vegetation. Roads were all rutted dirt roads, and the drive took about 30 minutes.
At Serian, we were greeted by an ebullient Tonya who I took to be the site or assistant manager. We were led down a dirt and rock path to a large open air, multi-level wood patio where they had some fruit juice for us. Tonya gave us a short overview and some of the options available in terms of meals and game drives.
At this point, I am going to stop the day-to-day narrative and provide first a summary of Serian and then of our game drives. We stayed at Serian for four nights and there was a routine to each day that does not need to be repeated. What differed each day were the game drives. And just so I am clear, we heartily recommend Serian, The Original for your stay in the Mara North Conservancy.
Here is my summary.
- From the car park, you walked down a dirt path to the main patio area. This was a large multi-level deck area with lounge seating and with an adjacent roofed structure (called the mess). Breakfast and lunch were served on the patio and dinner was in the roofed structure. Our tent was down a dirt path about a 3-minute walk from the patio.
Patios pics.
- Our tent was large and quite nice and there was nothing else within sight in terms of other tents, structures, or people. There were zippered screened openings on one side and the front. The screened openings can be covered by zippered second layer of solid canvas for privacy/warmth at night. The tent was on a concrete platform and was surrounded on two sides with a multi-level wooden patio. The front of the tent faced the Mara River which looked to be only about 40 feet down below us. There was a canopy over the tent and some of the patio.
- Inside the tent, there was a four-poster bed with mosquito netting, small tables with lights on each side of the bed, a wicker chaise at the end of the bed, a second stuffed couch, a writing desk, and a rustic shelf/wardrobe for clothes. On the floor was a wicker mat type rug. Separated by a curtain was an ensuite bathroom with a flush toilet and a cold-water sink. About 10 feet from the side of the tent and down a few steps was another thatched structure that was the bathroom with a full hot water tub, shower, two sinks, and toilet.
- Staff was great, all very friendly and helpful and plentiful.
- Management consisted of Tonya, who I guessed was the site or assistant manager and then there were Roisin and Alan who manage this site and two other Serian properties that were in the area. All of them lived on-site. Roisin and Alan had two children, Charlotte (5) and Harriett (3), and their dog Widget. All were native to Africa (Kenya or Tanzania).
- At night, they put out kerosene lanterns along the path to our tent. We were told that if we wanted to go from the tent to the patio/dining area after dark, we were to shine our flashlight (supplied) up the path and wait for a staff member to escort us. We were always escorted to our tent after dinner.
- There were wild animals close by the camp. We saw both zebras and giraffe just outside the parking lot.
- There was no heat in the tent and the evenings got a little cool, but when we returned each night after dinner, the canvas flaps were closed and there were two hot water bottles in the bed, which stayed warm until morning.
- Lunch was served on the patio, between the morning game drive and the late afternoon game drive. Lunch always had one meat course and then 3 or 4 cold salad choices. Wine was available. For both breakfast and lunch, we usually saw Roisin or Tonya, Charlotte, Harriett, and Widget.
- Cocktail hour was about an hour before dinner and we always had it in front of the fire in the dining area, where there were stuffed chairs and couches. Beer, mixed drinks, and wine were available and there was always a staff member around to serve. There was always one hors d’oeuvre available.
- Dinner was a community affair at either 7:30 or 8:00 (at choice of the guests) and was served in the roofed structure adjacent to the patio. Typically, there was a soup starter followed by the main meat dish and a selection of veggies. When we were there the main dishes were chicken, pork, beef, and beef stir fry. Food was plentiful and of acceptable quality. Lighting was subdued (as we ate after sundown) so for some dishes the staff carry a flashlight so that you can see what you were serving yourself. Dessert was also served (e.g., fruit or mango cheesecake).
- Other guests – The first night there was a young couple from Boston who had just married in October and were in Kenya for the wedding of a friend. On that same night, the two pilots also joined us for dinner. And always, either Roisin or Tonya or both attended. On the second night, there were two US women (early 40’s) who were in Kenya teaching some Physical Therapy techniques to Kenyans. While they stayed two nights, they spent one night at the “Nest” and so we ate with just Roisin for two of our 4 nights as we were the only guests.
- We also had a wild guest who visited several of our cocktail hours/dinners. A wild genet (cat like animal) would appear and either try to steal food or wait to be given a sample.
- Our guide was Jonathan, a 49-year-old Masai who was married with 4 children. Our driver was Kim who was 42, married with 3 children. Jonathan was very friendly and knowledgeable about the Mara North Conservancy as he was able to find for us all the animals we expected to see. Kim as a driver was excellent. Roads and off road can be very bumpy but without exception, Kim anticipated bumps and slowed down, so we were not rocking all over the back of the Land Cruiser. Kim was also our ornithologist (he had his bird guidebook ready at hand).
- There were choices for game drives. As mentioned previously, you could start at 6:30 am and go with a box breakfast and get coffee in your tent before departing. Or you could eat breakfast on the patio and then go out more like 8 am. Typically, the morning drives ended around lunch time which was 1 pm. Then you could do a late afternoon game drive starting after teatime (4 or 4:30 pm) and end around dark (about 7 pm while we were there). There was also the option of a nighttime game drive, but we did not do this.
- Mara North Conservancy vs Serengeti – Having been to the Serengeti in 2005, we would strongly suggest going to the Mara North Conservancy for one main reason. The Serengeti is a government-controlled area and as such has strict rules about vehicles staying on established dirt roads. They do not allow vehicles to go off these roads. So, while you view the same game as in the Mara, you cannot get as close. In the Conservancy, the vehicles can go off road and so you can get right up to animals. We got within feet of lions and cheetahs and elephants.
- Weather – Days were sunny and bright, like sunburn bright. Evenings there were often showers, but typically after we had gotten back to our tent after dinner. The only consequence of the showers was that the off-road trips had to be done carefully to avoid getting stuck. Our driver, Kim, was excellent at this and we were never in any doggy situation. But we did see one Land Cruiser stuck up to its axles in a muddy patch in the road.
- One more note on weather: On the day we arrived while we were unpacking and before our first game drive, there was a torrential downpour for about 20 minutes. Luckily, there was a staff member at our tent who had brought us a late lunch and as the skies darkened and rumbled, he offered to close the canvas flaps over the screen netting. The storm was so intense that we later learned that one of the pilots was in a tent that came off its mooring due to the wind!! All we got was a bit of our rug soaked.
Game Drives
Day 6 – Thursday – 2/24
Coming from Mara North airstrip to Serian. About 40 minutes. We saw:
- 3 female giraffes walking onto the airstrip as we left the parking lot
- Herd of baboons
- Warthog (God’s strangest creature)
- Thompson Gazelle
- Elephants, especially Fred, the old male one
- Antelope
Day 6 – Thursday – 2/24
Late afternoon drive (started at 5 pm) and stayed out until dark (about 7 pm). Margi was a little angry with me when we started this drive. She had not been sleeping well so when I woke her from her nap, she was a little testy!! Didn’t last long on the drive. We saw
- Topi
- Impala
- Vultures in trees
- Guinea Fowl
- Fred, the elephant – very close up
- Lone tree on the horizon (beautiful)
- Serian pride of lions. Jonathan said that there were 19 members. We found them where they had killed a hippo the day before and were still feasting on the carcass. More of Serian pride.
- Hyena
- Herd of Cape Buffalo
- Two male cheetahs, up close and personal
- Jackal, which is a surprising small animal
Lions feeding on hippo – video
Day 7 – Friday – 2/25
Started this drive after having breakfast on the patio, around 8 am. Was about a 3-hour drive. We saw:
- Herd of female giraffe (a tower)
- Cape Buffalo with a bird cleaning its ear
- Gnu or Wildebeest
- Thompson Gazelle
- Mother Thompson Gazelle with a relatively newborn baby
- A very rare Land Cruiser stuck in the mud up to its axles. We stopped but with no tow rope or winch, all Jonathan and Kim could do was sympathize. The passenger was a youngish blond lady who said she was a co-creator of a series called “Wild”, documenting the wildest places on earth. She wanted to borrow sunscreen but we did not have any. We saw them later, safely on their way.
- Group of four young lions
- Three adult lions with a recently killed Cape Buffalo. When we got there, one lion was at the carcass and two others were some distance away under the shade of some bushes. We watched the one lion pull the carcass which had to weigh a 1000 pounds. Watching all of this was a group of 20 or 30 hyenas. As the one lion walked away from the carcass, the hyenas immediately went to it. But then the two other lions approached, and the hyenas retreated. It was as kind of funny to watch this accordion type flow.
- Lone male giraffe jumping a small stream
Lion eating cape buffalo – video
Day 7 – Friday – 2/25
This was a late afternoon game drive of about 3 hours duration. We saw:
- Giraffe near Serian
- Pretty bird with blue markings. I am sure Kim told us what it was but I don’t remember!
- Lions resting
- Eagle
- Baboons
- 20+ hippos in the Mara River.
- More baboons
- Hyena
Day 8 – Saturday – 2/26
This was the one drive where we started at 6:30 am and had a box breakfast on the Mara. We were out about 6 hours. We had our box breakfast at about 9:30 overlooking a group of hippos in the Mara River. We ate our lunch at the Nest or Chemi-Chemi, which you could opt to stay in for a night. It was located on the Mara River, about a 20-minute walk down from the main Serian camp. It was a two-story wooden structure with a living area on the first floor and a bedroom/toilet upstairs. There was a bucket shower and an outside tub both down near the water. Our lunch was trucked down from the main Serian camp.
We did not go out again that afternoon. In the morning we saw:
- Zebras – had not seen any to this point, so Jonathan made a point of finding them.
- Sunrise on the horizon
- Warthog
- Head of elephants
- Yellow thatcher and their hanging nests
- Land Cruiser full of bird watchers looking at the Yellow Thatcher through the most gigantic telephoto lenses. They had to be studying the birds eyes!!
- Cape Buffalo
- Hawk
- Ostrich
- Herd of elephants. As always, Kim drove us very close to the herd and we saw a very young baby elephant with its mother. While we could not be certain, the baby had to be just born because we could see blood glistening on the inside of the mother’s rear leg. Amazing
- Various birds – again Kim named them, and we forgot
- Margi by the Mara River watching hippos as we ate our box breakfast.
- Stork
- Lions
- Fred, the elephant
- Giraffe
Day 9 – Sunday – 2/27
After breakfast in the camp, we started about 8 am and went out for about 4 hours. We saw:
- Jackal
- Thompson Gazelles including several babies
- Grant’s Gazelles
- Warthog
- Cheetas
- Hyena
- Ducks in a pond
- Elephants
- Ostrich
- Zebras
- When trying to find leopard (didn’t), we saw a hyena resting in a cave along a gorge where leopards frequently stay
- Giraffe
- Impala
- Cheetahs trying unsuccessfully to run down a Topi. Saw two males resting/panting under a bush after failed chase.
Day 9 – Sunday – 2/27
In the afternoon, we took a short walk to Serian, Ngare which was a camp across the Mara River from where we were staying. We had to cross a rope suspension bridge over the Mara River, which was about 50 yards wide at that point. On the other side, we met site manager, Joe, who showed us one of the tent sites on their side. This one had two double beds, so for a family. But otherwise, it was very similar to our facilities.
At about 5 pm, someone arrived to take our Covid swabs for testing. We needed these within 24 hours of starting our journey home.
Day 10 – Monday – 2/28
After breakfast in camp and receipt of our negative Covid tests, we left Serian at about 9 am with our bags in the Land Cruiser as we would be doing a short game drive and then go to the Mara North airstrip. On this drive, we saw:
- Thompson Gazellas
- Impala
- Pride of lions. We almost drove over one because we saw the ones in the bushes on our left but not the others in the bushes on the right!!
- Crocodile
Hit back button and select Homeward Bound.