Mara Duma Bush Camp — Hotel in Siana ward

Lured by Param ( short for Parameshwar, an advisor and Director of Maraduma Bush camp) , a group of 9 women and 6 men decided to travel on a wildlife safari to MDBC in Masai, Kenya. Coming from Bengaluru, Chennai, Coimbatore, Mumbai, and a couple from USA. (We, Usha & Ravi were the couple from Munster, Indiana, USA) . The group of 15 were accommodated in 5 tents. Each tent had 4 beds, complete with fancy mosquito nets, a sit out facing Talek river, and was self-sufficient with an EWC and fitted with a health faucet. The bathroom was fitted with a shower, and hot water was available at all times. Fresh towels and toileteries were made available every day. The rooms were cleaned, and the beds were made everyday.The rooms were comfortable and large, and the flooring was senior citizens friendly. The entire staff in the camp were very friendly and service oriented. Tea ( Ronie's masala chai was awesome) and biscuits were available on demand any time of the day. The staff had a smile for you every time you met. They were hard-working and service oriented. Tonie, Ronie, Hilda and Alice were outstanding in their hospitality.

Land Rover and Land Cruiser vehicles are so sturdy that they are best suited for this terrain. The vehicles are driven on fields and mud roads and give your entire body a wonderful massage. The drive was pretty long, as one had to travel from one spot to another for sighting. The sighting of the big five of Lion, Cape Buffalo, Leopard, Elephant, and Rhino took all of three days. Lions are a plenty, leopards are scarce, Buffaloes and Elephants were few, and Rhinoceres are just two in number. One could see hordes of Wild Beests, Zebra, Gazelle, Topi. Giraffes were concentrated in select areas and provided a wonderful sight. Cheetahs and Hyenas, Hippos and Crocodiles were also sighted. We travelled to Olchoro Conservancy to see the two surviving White Rhinos, Kofi and Elizabeth. Salemo, the 24-year-old ranger in the park, was very knowledgeable and enlightened the group in the efforts being taken to preserve the Rhinos. Efforts are on to increase their number through IVF methods. The entire group of 15 were all vegetarians, South Indian vegetarians. Obviously, local food was a 'No No'. Special arrangements were made to have a Gujarathi lady, Krishna, to cook meals for the group. The group also had brought instant rasam cubes, rice mixes, snacks, pickles, etc. By turn, each day, these were used to make the fare better. One cannot expect luxury dining in this kind of a tour and the available fare was adequate. To the credit of the staff, they managed to serve, yoghurt on all days, and this served the group well as they could have 'thair sadham' on all days. The night before we departed, a 'bush dinner' was arranged. However, a steady downpour put paid to this idea. Instead, a group of Masai tribesmen came to entertain us in the dining hall. Dressed in traditional colourful costumes, they sang and danced, the highlight being jumping high in the same spot. One tribesmen took this seriously and almost touched the roof. The drive to the airport the following day on the mud roads was tough with overnight rain, making the terrain all the more difficult. Commuting by road from Nairobi to Masaimara and back is indeed very strenuous and the Kenyan Govt has a lot of work to do to improve this infrastructure. All in all, it was an exhilarating experience to see wild animals at such close quarters from open and exposed jeeps. But the skill, experience and expertise of our guide/driver Kene made us feel safe at all times. Kene's skill and Tonie, Ronie and teams' friendliness will be etched in our memories forever. Finally , we have to thank Param for initiating this project and ensuring a memorable experience and...

Lodging: Though it is tent, once you go inside, you will forget that it is a tent. They have nicely provided the facilities. Clean interior, beds are hygienic and attended on a daily basis. Two lady staff Ms.Leena and Ms.Francis attended our in room facility on a daily basis, in evening when we come back from the safari..both of them visit the room and enquire anything else is required...I was looking for multipoint electrical sockets..they happily given me immediately. They are always willing to help||Dining: Break fast and lunch served in the forest, packed food. Primarily consists of Bread, Plain muffins, boiled eggs, packed juice, little bit of rice, dhal, boiled vegetables, oven cooked chicken pcs. Dinner at the dining hall( all are tents only). In the dinner same food only but they give soup made of dhal and some other ingredient, it is good. At the end they give cut fruits are some home made sweets..we preferred cut fruits||Safari: We are five photographers, we're given one 4x4 Land cruiser. Ben Tom is our Driver, Amos was our guide. Both are very knowledgeable about the forest and they have good contact with other guides and whenever there is an action, they get the communication and they rush us in time to the spot. No rash driving. I am 58 yrs old and my brother 62 yrs, they have taken good care of us for the entire five days. They speak very good English..no communication problem. They are very polite and talk to us with smiling face....for the entire five days. We did not face any health problems , I am writing this review after two weeks, all of us did not face any problems. water is bit scarce.. use bottled water even while brushing your teeth, gurgling. The water available for bathing appears not good, they draw this water from the nearby Talek river which is the natural habitat for hippo, crocodiles and baboons . ||On the first day itself we saw Cape buffaloes, varieties of antelopes, hyena, lion pride(21 not), male lion, cheetah, leopard, hippo, crocodile, a number of birds. On the second day we were able to see a black rhino, serval cat and we have also seen around 50 birds and we were able take photos of around 35 birds||Camera: Each of carried different camera and lens...I found the most suitable one is 100-400 mm telephoto lens...you do not need any thing more than that||Becarefull with the baboons , do not go near , keep a good distance ....lodging authorities says there were many instances of baboon attack on the visitors...||Around the camp there are a good number of trees , you can spot color full birds in the morning and evening hours||Our safari timings are 5:15 AM to 7:00 PM, once you leave the camp at 5:15 you can come back only in the evening||Our Tour was arranged by Sh.Hemanath of M/s.Wild Elysian. An excellent, profession photographer, and wild life tour organiser. He has taken good care of us right from start of the trip from Chennai through masai mara and back to Chenni. He is very knowledgable about Masai mara and has good contacts which has ensured safe travel for us. He can be contacted @09962268131.||On the whole it is very unique experience, everyone should try such trips, you will...

The experience was so excellently enjoyed.I happened to meet 02 guests from USA and 02 from INDIA, whom we enjoyed the whole safari game drive together. We got to see the big five. Enjoyed the place as it became home away from home. Hospitality exhibited by staff was amazing. Surprisingly, Sanjeev, with his partner Tonie, in ownership of the camp,arranged for one night camping deep in the heart of Masai Mara National Reserve, and it was an overwhelming opportunity/experience that was not expected though worth enjoying. It was anice adventure to have such moments away from the real camp. More surprises could not await. The next day was long day drive to Tsavo National park and had our night at Man Eaters Lodge, where we got to see historically in kenya,the oldest bridge built by British wau back 1890s and close by was a facility in a place where over 138 Indian lives who were brought in by British government to construct railway line,were claimed by two lions. That's why the lodge in that place was named man eaters Lodge. While on game drive in Tsavo, we got to see Mudanda rock, which was used by hunters as a place for frying meat after a successful hunting.we also got to see other wildlife like Red elephant, mara giraffes, common watermarks, dikdik, zebras among others. We continued to Voi county and drove along Gualana River, which was connected to Indian ocean through Malindi County. It was my first time to be at the coast as well as the Indian ocean beaches. Life is something different from what I had experienced in different locations. Got to see sand dunes for the first time as well as staying at see level line where temperatures were not tolerable almost 43°c in Malindi Mambrui area. Also, the areas of Watamu at the beach life was so enjoyable by people from different corners of the world. To me, it was once a lifetime experience. Avote of thanks to the two partners for the offer and making all this happen in my life. May they receive endless blessings. It all came true after encounters between me and the two partners of Mara Duma Bush Camp, who came for an experience in uganda(mountain gorillas tracking) in Bwindi Impenetrable National park. After their successful experience, they left with me apromise to come and visit Kenya. That's how it came about . I also thank the rest of the staff for the endless service delivery to their esteemed guests. I would recommend everyone one to visit this amazing camp for all your dreams...