Travel

NEW PLACES TO LOVE BEAUTIFUL BEASTS

If you’d like to experience Beautiful Beasts in the wild, we found three fabulous new places to do it with flourish in Kenya.

Every season offers its own special beauty, but the Great Migration, which happens from July to November, is the prime time to go. Millions of beasts move from Tanzania's Serengeti National Park to Kenya’s Masai Mara National Reserve.

Richard Branson just opened Mahali Mzuri. Its name means “beautiful place” in Swahili. It is every bit as gorgeous as his other Beautiful Beast-viewing property, Ulusaba Private Game Reserve, in South Africa.

The property consists of 12 tented suites located within the Motorogi Conservancy in the Maasai Mara region of Kenya. Mahali Mzuri has been set up in collaboration with the local Maasai communities. A key priority is to leave as minimal a footprint as possible on the land and to promote low density tourism which creates less pressure on the environment.

Branson was made a Maasai Elder, a traditional honour the tribe chose to bestow on him in return for bringing prosperity to the land. The traditional ceremony, known in the Maasai language as ‘Ipayiani’, was conducted by the Maasai Elders in the presence of around 30 members of the local tribal community.

You can enjoy game drives, hot air ballooning, walking safaris and more, seeing things you are unlikely to see on other safari experiences. You’ll dine well, live well and be well pampered among the Beautiful Beasts. Even the spa uses line of ethically sourced skin-care product (Africology), so no Beautiful Beasts are harmed.

Speke's Camp is a new safari camp, related to the Maasai Trails' Jan's Camp, near the Loita Forest, adjacent to the Masai Mara. It’s small -- only eight tents on the property. It offers privacy and seclusion even during the busiest season.

The traditional style tents, complete with hot-bucket showers in their en-suite loos, are located alongside the Olare Orok River.

The property’s prime location enables excellent access to the best game viewing spots, including Musiara swamp, Rhino Ridge, Paradise Plains and the Talek River.

Speke’s is the perfect place to take begin an epic walking adventure across the Maasai plains to the Loita Hills. It’s a ten-day adventure with local Maasai guides. You’ll walk along ancient trails left by the Maasai tribe to Jan’s Camp in the Loita Hills wilderness.

And Speke’s is a wonderful place to view the bird migrations as well.

Sand River Maasai Mara Camp just opened along the banks of its namesake river within Maasai Mara National Reserve. It is Elewana Collection's first camp in Kenya.

It has an old world Out of Africa feel, with sixteen1920’s-old-Hollywood-style tents, outfitted with private sun decks. It exudes bygone glamour and elegance.

After a day of seeing loads of big beautiful beasts -- leopards, cheetahs, lions, elephants, and giraffes -- you can kick back with a vintage cocktail and enjoy good old-fashioned big beautiful romance à la Redford and Streep -- or perhaps Bogart and Hepburn.