MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS: MORE THAN JUST A PHOTO SAFARI
11 November 2024
BEHIND THE FRAME: ANIMAL IN A BIG ENVIRONMENT
19 November 2024MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS: MORE THAN JUST A PHOTO SAFARI
11 November 2024BEHIND THE FRAME: ANIMAL IN A BIG ENVIRONMENT
19 November 2024MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS
GUEST BLOG
MORE THAN JUST A PHOTO SAFARI
When a trip is named “The Great Migration with Hides & Helicopters in Kenya’s South Rift Valley,” you expect adventure.
The itinerary promises four nights at Lentorre, six nights at the Wild Eye Mara camp, two helicopter flights, a night hide, photography tuition, and more.
I’d booked the Mara portion of the trip well in advance but hesitated on the H&H side trip, primarily because of the cost — until the lure of helicopters, Mike Laubscher’s hosting, and the effort and cost involved in planning my own side trip made H&H sound more and more like a “sensible” decision (in the instance that I needed to justify the cost to anyone, including my conscience, that’s what I would say anyway).
In the first couple of days on this unforgettable trip, I began to realise that the advertised experiences were becoming just pieces in the mosaic of the adventure.
Ultimately, it was the unexpected connections, deep moments, and friendships that truly defined the experience. Here are just a few of those moments…
Running with a Maasai in the conservancy.
I love trail running and almost make an entire personality out of it. But there were a number of years where I completely stopped running and one thing that motivated me to return to it was the thought of running in the Kenyan bush. I never presumed it was a possibility but news came out that I had my running gear and Wild Eye people spoke to Lentorre people and a frighteningly fit Maasai named Roderick was made available to take me out. I don’t think anyone else but me realised how much of a dream come true moment this was.
Meeting Roderick
The running was one thing, but running with Roderick specifically was another. Running is a great sport for quickly igniting deep conversations. So, Roderick and I covered a lot of ground (metaphorically!) during our running chats - conversations I probably wouldn’t have had in any other context. Side note: I rapidly discovered that the best way to sneak in a rest break while saving face was to ask Roderick about the tracks on the trail. Thankfully there were plenty.
Deep Unspoken Connections
Lentorre is located in a conservancy where wild animals and Maasai families co-exist. One morning we had the option to visit a boma and experience the releasing of the livestock. I was immediately taken by the dusty morning light bathing on bright fabrics while curious small faces looked on at our similarly curious faces. One of the mothers in the family had a striking warrioress-like beauty. I interacted with several people in the family that morning, but I’ll never forget the prolonged silent handshake and locked eyes this lady and I shared when it was time to say goodbye.
New Friends in Mara Places
After four nights at Lentorre we were whisked away in what turned out to be a pretty luxurious little jet to join up with the other guests, Danni and the team at the Wild Eye Mara camp. There were small amounts of anxiety on my part about meeting the new people we would spend the next six nights together with.
I shouldn’t have been worried. The entire group was incredible. Everyone was exactly where they wanted to be, and it showed in the group’s collective chemistry.
I was partnered with a Canadian named Torie for the game drives and let’s just say that by the end of the first game drive the other guests assumed we had known each other for years… and by the end of the trip Torie and I had achieved a depth of friendship where we could communicate wordlessly if necessary.
Although to be fair, communicating wordlessly was rare – we had generated a string of catch phrases, and the hand signals were usually reserved for vehicle-to-vehicle communications with the other cars.
One such hand signal was the not-so-humble highly enthusiastic wave, which we offered to every vehicle that passed us whether we knew the passengers or not.
By the end of the trip, if you were to look through the photos on my phone, you’d wonder if we were actually there for the wildlife at all. The gallery is just hundreds of photos of non-stop smiles and Mara skies.
The last goodbye
(Or at least until next time).
At this point I haven’t actually said much about the Wild Eye camp team, and they are absolutely worthy of mention. But I think the best summary can be found in the moments packed into the final farewell. Such as Billy, seeing my emotions crack when I thought no one was looking and homing in to deliver a much needed hug (we had also only just met!); Dickson’s words of condolence (as if I had lost a loved one) and an embrace like a father’s; and the hug of a new lifelong friend with Danni.
What you’ve probably realised, and what I’m just realising, is that despite booking on a wildlife orientated trip, that most of the above experiences are tied to the people. When I think back on the week in the Mara, of course there was insane wildlife and brilliant photographic tuition, but I never expected a week of laughing with new friends until my legs fell away from under me. And for Lentorre, with the amazing sightings in the hide and on the helicopter, it was the spoken and unspoken conversations that actually .. (sorry, insert Wild Eye tag line) … changed the way I see the world.
A Good Story Never Starts at the Beginning
Rewind to 6am, the day I left for Kenya. I woke up with three hours sleep under my belt still dressed from the night before, exhausted after our company offsite in the Blue Mountains and the ensuing after party. My head was foggy, and someone had volunteered me to lead a trail run with some other sore heads in 20 minutes. Cue caffeine and concealer. The theme of the offsite had been ‘building high-performing, resilient teams,’ and this was not the time to show a lack of resilience. Especially since I had coordinated the offsite.
Less than 24 hours later, I’d be at Sydney airport, en route to Johannesburg, where I would unpack my suitcase (read “pandora’s box) to discover it was missing several crucial items. Exhausted from weeks of burning the candle at both ends, combined with the final push of the offsite and residual stress levels sitting at about a 13 out of 10.
Despite months of this trip infiltrating my thoughts multiple times a day… I was feeling really flat and the buzz that usually hits when I get off the plane and put my feet on African soil was completely absent. I was like a body moving through space, but the rest of me was somewhere else.
Why share this?
I think it’s an important backstory to explain the base I was coming in at when the trip - that ended up being absolutely stacked with experiences - started.
Experiences I probably wouldn’t have had the capacity to lean into (and I genuinely mean this) if it weren’t for the Wild Eye team.
Conservatively speaking I probably engaged individually with around 20 Wild Eye people from the office and the field, in the lead up to and over the course of the trip. From Randy to Mike and Danni, and everyone in between, they made me feel like part of a community—not just a tourist on a tour.
I’m so grateful for that community, the experiences I’ve had and friends I have made over the couple of Wild Eye trips I’ve been on and cannot wait for the next one….(s).
Camilla Coffey
Wild Eye Guest
TRIP REPORT: NORTHERN SERENGETI SAFARI 2023
Find out about how our 2023 iteration of the our Northern Serengeti Scheduled Safari went. While enjoying some of ther stunning images and footage that came from the trip.