| Kenya tour camps of Ol Donyo Laro | | | | cooler night play. |
| Kisidai Kenya tour camp | | | | Laro Kenya tour camp |
| At Kisidai, the jungle tour camp, trees and bush | | | | This is the highest set camp. As the most luxurious, it |
| surround each customized tent. It is hot, green and | | | | is usually saved for last. Through a gate way of |
| humid; there are enormous tamarind trees, and the | | | | traveler's palms you enter a perfect world. You stay |
| sounds of birds are everywhere. The mess tent is | | | | in imaginative comfort in tropical gardens. Behind rise |
| near a stream and a small dam has slowed the water | | | | steep hills; to the side plunge forested gorges, in |
| to form a natural swimming pool among the trees. | | | | front, the awesome spectacle of the rift. |
| Timber and canvas tents are spacious and sturdy, | | | | You pass under a bougainvillea arch, through an open |
| with screening on all sides to give a feeling of staying | | | | tent door-in front of you is the swimming pool with |
| among trees. Each has a well-designed bathroom with | | | | nothing beyond it but lounge chairs, bowls of flowers |
| hot and cold running water and flush toilets. The | | | | and old brass. Here is Victorian elegance touched by |
| shower has an innovative huge showerhead-lots of | | | | Africa-the walls are canvas, the roof a soft furry |
| hot water and pressure. The water here and in all of | | | | thatch and one entire side is completely open to the |
| the adventure camps comes straight from mountain | | | | bush and the view. |
| springs and is drinkable. At Kisidai, you notice leaves, | | | | You climb mahogany stairs to the broad veranda of |
| butterflies, trees and plants, the minutiae of the | | | | your tent raised high on sturdy poles. The furniture is |
| surrounding life with glimpses of the high Ngurumans | | | | handmade; there are bouquets of fresh flowers and |
| through the trees. | | | | oil lamps of etched glass and brass. The bathrooms |
| Olduvai Kenya tour camp | | | | are lined in African mahogany, the voluminous bath |
| This is a much higher up, right on the edge of the | | | | sheets are deep-piled, and there is even a toothbrush |
| escarpment with views over the rift valley. The | | | | with Ol Donyo Laro stamped in gold. |
| vistas are vast; you can see across to the opposite | | | | Before dinner, guests gather around a kenya tour |
| side and south into Tanzania. Dominating the view is | | | | campfire close to the escarpment edge for quiet talk |
| Shombole, its high volcanic peak and dry eroded sides | | | | and tall tales, drinks and hot snacks. At night the |
| clearly etched above the hazy golds of the rift valley | | | | romantic "drawing room" is lit by an extravagance of |
| floor. Lake Natron lies silver and pink below. | | | | large candles. Elegant tables are set for gourmet |
| The heart of Ol Duvai is an open-sided tented lounge | | | | meals. Always the service is smooth, friendly and |
| and dining area. There are yards of safari green | | | | unobtrusive. |
| canvas rising to a vaulted ceiling, chunky pale wood | | | | Nothing was spared in creating these beautiful and |
| furniture, and sculptured stone seating comfortable | | | | high quality kenya wildlife tour camps. This is |
| with cushions. All is natural, low key and well-made. | | | | particularly amazing when you consider the intricate |
| Closer to the escarpment edge is a raised swimming | | | | planning and engineering required in this rough and |
| pool made with rounded stones set in cement. As | | | | isolated terrain. The many kilometers of roads were |
| you swim in the mountain spring water, you can see | | | | hacked through the bush, cleared and contoured by |
| across the rift. | | | | hand. Water and electrical systems were custom |
| A stone path winds to a thatched gazebo on a little | | | | designed to meet the needs of each vacation camp. |
| point with the world spread below on three sides. | | | | A base has been set up where fresh fruits and |
| Guests often breakfast here. In early morning | | | | vegetables are grown. The steep roads to reach |
| sunshine they sit and watch as mist forms below and | | | | Laro meant that all materials and furnishings had to |
| slowly rises to eye level. During the day dozens of | | | | be painstakingly carted by four wheel drive vehicles. |
| dust devils whirl in tall columns on the rift floor. | | | | This wilderness sanctuary is huge. Some of the |
| Sometimes at night, a flock of flamingos might fly | | | | camps are more than an hours four wheel drive |
| just overhead-floating silhouettes in the moonlight. | | | | apart. The going can be rough and dusty. |
| At Ol Duvai guests stay in customized "tents" which | | | | Encephalitis-free tse tse-flies may invade the vehicle |
| combine canvas ceilings with stone walls. Plenty of | | | | and lead to a frenzied bout of slapping and mashing. |
| screens allow for views and breezes, and keep out | | | | You ford fast-flowing rocky streams, brave |
| the bugs. All is spacious and comfortable and the | | | | "impossible" inclines, marvel at evidence of animal |
| bathrooms boast many mirrors and more big | | | | passage and note the airborne color of birds and |
| showerheads. There is an airstrip at this kenyan | | | | butterflies. This is what you came for- the unspoiled |
| camp, as well as tennis court-floodlit, of course, for | | | | Africa. |