Golf & Game in Kenya

Sep 30, 2014

Kenya has much to offer the avid golfer, with world-class courses etched into majestic settings. This month, we give you the best of Kenya's golf scene, as well as access to some of its deservedly famous game viewing areas. This safari will have you wanting to keep your clubs and your camera with you at all times!

Day 1 Hemingways Nairobi

Arrive in Kenya's capital city Nairobi where you will be met and transferred to Hemingways Nairobi. The debut of this 45-room boutique hotel will elevate the standard of luxury service for travellers in the region. Beautiful in its symmetry and flooded with natural light, this plantation-style property is airy and spacious. Its 80 squared metre bedrooms each have a private balcony overlooking the iconic silhouette of the Ngong Hills. Hallmark Hemingways hospitality, borne out of decades of expertise in welcoming guests to Kenya, makes you the focus of their every design. This new hotel is only a 40-minute drive away from Nairobi's international airport. (B)

Day 2 Hemingways Nairobi

This morning you will remain in the leafy suburb of Karen, immortalised by Karen Blixen in the film Out of Africa. You will play 18 holes of golf at Karen Country Club followed by lunch at the Club. The idea for a club at Karen was conceived in 1933. Baroness Karen Bon Blixen, on whose former coffee plantation it would eventually be situated, had realized, some two years or so before this date that it was becoming impossible to carry on with her Ngong coffee farm.The layout of the first nine holes was completed towards the end of 1933. The clearing of the coffee trees and many of the shade grevilleas had been started in May that year.Initially, the intention had been to build only a nine-hole course, but there was so much excitement about the project, set in such beautiful surroundings and with almost unlimited land available, that plans were immediately made to extend to 18 holes. The second nine was duly laid out in 1934, and the fairways planted in the 1935 rains. The course is now 6,893 yards long and par 72. (B, L)

Day 3 Sosian Lodge – Laikipia

You will be transferred to Wilson Airport for your flight to Laikipia. On arrival met and transferred to Sosian Lodge. Sosian's original ranch house was built in the 1940's by Italian artisans, beautifully restored in recent years to accommodate up to 14 people, whilst maintaining the welcoming atmosphere of a private home, known now as Sosian Lodge. Seven cottages are dotted throughout our garden, a wonderful haven dominated by verdant greenery and flowers, all set against a back drop of Mt Kenya with views for miles over the Laikipia Plateau- true unspoilt Africa. Each cottage lies with its own private veranda and en suite fully plumbed bathroom. The lodge has a beautiful rock swimming pool, set beside a soaring open sided thatched roof house, spaced with hammocks and comfy day beds, a Tennis Court, Riding stables, and Organic Vegetable Garden. The ranch lies at high altitude (5500 ft), which makes for a perfect climate with no record of malaria. (B, L, D)

Day 4 & 5 Sosian Lodge – Laikipia

Sosian's speciality is in providing a totally private game viewing experience, away from the restrictions of National Park rules. This sense of freedom and exploration means that they can offer action packed adventures in the surrounding Laikipia wilderness. Trekking, Bush Walks, Riding, Camel Safaris, Game-Drives and Night-Drives all offer a multitude of unique ways to seeing game. The Guiding is of the highest standards which complement the huge range of activities available. As well as looking for wildlife, there are other activities available, which include Fishing, Archery, Tennis, Rafting, Tubing down the River and swimming in the rivers after jumping off Waterfalls. A visit to a nearby Samburu settlement should not be missed and provides a fascinating insight into traditional pastoral life which has not changed appreciably in hundreds of years.

As well as big herds of elephant, zebra, buffalo, numerous species of antelope, giraffe and hippo; lion, leopard, cheetah and spotted hyenas are regularly spotted. Sosian is home to some rare and endangered mammal species such as Jackson's hartebeest, Grevy's zebra, reticulated giraffe, striped hyena and aardwolf. There are three packs of African Wild Dogs in the area and sightings of these endangered predators are prolific.(B, L, D)

Day 6 Chui Lodge

After breakfast you will fly back to Nairobi and drive to Naivasha where you will be transferred to Chui house. The lodge is situated just above the shores of Lake Naivasha within the Great Rift Valley – ‘one of the true Natural Wonders of the World' – set in the privately owned 20,000 acre Oserian Wildlife Sanctuary overlooking a waterhole with the dramatic Mau Escarpment as a backdrop. The Oserian Wildlife Sanctuary plays host to a diverse number of mammalian & avian species including: White Rhino, Leopard, Buffalo, Giraffe, Cheetah, Grevy's Zebra, Oryx and a large number of plains game.

There are eight individual well-spaced, luxurious cottages, each with an en-suite bathroom and delightful verandah.

The dining room, lounge and bar area is simply unique; featuring pillars and murals with intricate African carvings, African antiques and ochre-coloured walls, creating the feel of an artist's gallery. Chui Lodge boasts a wealth of activities. Professional local guides will tailor the daily activities to guest's wishes and interests to include day & night game drives, guided bush walks, boat trips on the hippo filled lake, horse riding or a visit to the Oserian Flower Farm, one of the largest growers and producers of ‘cut flowers' in the world!

After lunch enjoy a game drive in the privately owned game reserve. Be on the lookout for rhino as well as many other species of game.(B, L, D)

Day 7 Chui Lodge

After breakfast you will be driven to Great Rift Valley Lodge and Golf Resort where a stunning 18 hole course awaits you. Since it opened in 2000, the Great Rift Valley Golf Course has earned a reputation as one of the most challenging and breathtakingly beautiful of all Africa's championship courses. Set on the slopes of a small dormant volcano with unspoilt scenery in all directions, most holes on this course enjoy stunning views of mountains, plains, lakes and both escarpments of the Rift Valley itself. The 18-hole course is laid out around the Great Rift Valley Lodge and along the fairways are 80 generously spaced privately owned homes, some of which are let out to hotel guests. The front nine holes of the course enjoy the best views, but the back nine are where guests will find the more challenging and exciting golf! One recent guest at the course wrote, “This is a great course! The four finishing holes are the best and hardest we have seen anywhere.”

The quality of the greens is very high and regarded by most golfers who have played here as the best in Kenya. There is rich birdlife on the course, and true to Kenya's reputation as the “birthplace of Safari” guests will might even see a visiting zebra wandering across the fairways!(B, L, D)

Day 8 Hemingways Ol Seki

Morning at leisure, after lunch, you are transferred to Loldia Airstrip for your scheduled flight to the Masaai Mara. The game-filled plains signal your arrival. This is, undoubtedly, Kenya's finest game reserve and your home for the next three nights.

With only 10 luxury tents, the accent is on exclusivity and comfort. Hemingways Ol Seki Mara sets new standards for luxury tented camps. Newly designed tents easily accommodate twin or full size four poster beds and include refinements not provided in other camps. The furnishings reflect the “Grand Safari” style of bygone days, coupled with modern amenities. The full bathroom, an integral part of each tent, includes private flush toilet, shower and electricity. The tents have pathways that lead from the rear to other parts of the camp, providing additional privacy.

Game viewing is provided in four-wheel drive vehicles to enhance the experience. Drivers are well schooled in the art of bush driving and game spotting.

You will also have the opportunity to take the safari of a lifetime – a hot air balloon safari. The balloon lifts off at sunrise and will then drift over the plains for approximately one hour. The opportunity of watching wildlife from above is unparalleled. Upon landing the flight is celebrated with a champagne breakfast served in the bush. You then game drive slowly back to your camp.(B, L, D)

Day 9 & 10 Hemingways Ol Seki

The Masai Mara National Reserve is Kenya's finest wildlife reserve. Everything about this reserve is outstanding. The wildlife is abundant and the gentle rolling grasslands ensure that animals are never out of sight. Birds, too, are prolific. Including migrants, well over 450 species have been recorded, among them, 57 species of birds of prey. The climate is gentle, rarely too hot and well-spread rainfall year round. The Masai Mara National Reserve lies about 270 kilometres from Nairobi and boasts about 1672 square km of unspoilt wilderness. The first sight of this natural wonderland is breathtaking.

Throughout the year the Masai Mara is a place of natural drama, a kaleidoscope of colour and life. Thomson's and Grant's gazelle, Topi and Eland and many more species of plains' game offer a rich choice of food for the dominant predators; lion, leopard and cheetah which hunt in this pristine wilderness. Here the great herds of shuffling elephants browse among the rich tree-studded grasslands with an occasional sighting of a solitary and ill-tempered rhino. In the Mara River, Hippo and Crocodile are commonly found. But for all this richness of fauna, the profusion of winged beauty and the untouched fragility of the landscape are all subordinate to the Mara's foremost attraction, the mighty march of the wildebeest. Culminating in the most spectacular annual migration in the world, with over a million and a half wildebeest and zebra making the crossings over the grand Mara River from Tanzania into Kenya, this spectacle offers one of the most fabulous game viewing opportunities in our time.

Although July, August and September are the months when the Masai Mara plains are filled with migrating wildebeest and zebra, there is a huge amount of resident wildlife year round. Apart from the better-known species there are numerous opportunities to add some of the rare and less frequently seen animals to the visitor's checklist. In the south western sector, you may be lucky enough to see roan antelope, a handsome creature regrettably rare countrywide. Bat-eared foxes peer from their burrows and there are thousands of Topi, an antelope not found in other major parks save Tsavo National Park. The combination of a gentle climate, scenic splendour and untold numbers of wildlife makes the Masai Mara Kenya's most popular inland destination park.(B, L, D)

Day 11 Masai Mara / Nairobi / Extension to the coast

This morning before you will bid ‘kwaheri', (farewell), to the friendly camp staff and fly to Nairobi on the scheduled service. Here your safari comes to an end but you might also like to consider an extension to Kenya's coast where a further 3 challenging golf courses await! (B)

Source: Unique Safari ExperiencesMaasai MaraKenya