Named after the 1910 best-selling book by Theodore Roosevelt, African Game Trails takes us through some of East Africa’s most exciting regions. We visit four different ecosystems: the lush forests of the Loita Hills; the rolling savanna of northern Serengeti’s Maasai Mara and the sandy shores of the Galana River in Tsavo East. Our safari culminates at Hemingways Hotel on the warm Indian Ocean. We avoid long, tedious drives by air chartering, thus increasing productive time on safari.

African Game Trails keeps us clear of the tourist routes. The itinerary is a wonderful blend of culture, changing landscape, and wildlife.




Loita Hills

The world has passed by the Loitas leaving it unspoiled. Situated on the edge of the Great Rift Valley this is a region of rolling green hills and dense forest, a place where the Maasai people have lived for centuries.

The Loita Hills is the spiritual hub of Maasailand, the home of the Laibon (spiritual leader), and over the years Tropical Ice has developed a unique rapport with the Maasai of the region.

From our own private deluxe camp, we walk with the Maasai morani (warriors), and see their way of life. This is no choreographed, staged tourist experience. We will be miles from tourist roads in an area only accessible to 4x4 vehicles.

Maasai Mara

One of Africa's leading wildlife photographers, Jonathan Scott remarked that if he only had twenty-four hours to spend on the African continent it would be in the Maasai Mara. We see no reason to doubt him. The Mara, which is the northern extension of the Serengeti, is home to the great herds of Africa.

Characterized by rolling grasslands as far as one can see, these plains are roamed by huge numbers of wildebeest, zebra, eland and Thomson’s gazelle. The great wildebeest migration is a wonder of the world; half a million animals and their attendant predators: lion, leopard, cheetah and hyena.

Tropical Ice's private camp is in a secluded forest grove surrounded by grassy plains, and the wildlife is at our doorstep. We game-drive the entire region of the Maasai Mara, and frequently get out on foot too. The evening campfire and the sounds of the night will remain in your memory for the rest of your life.

Tsavo

Tropical Ice’s roots may be firmly embedded in East Africa’s great snowcapped mountains, but our soul lies in the vast wild spaces of Tsavo. For over 25 years we have been operating walking safaris down the remote rivers of this huge 8,300 square mile national park - the biggest in Africa.

Tsavo’s unique wilderness gives us a chance to take our visitors back into an Africa that existed over 100 years ago, a region which has been able to withstand the encroachment of the so-called civilized world.

Writing in National Geographic Adventure (June 2000), Philip Caputo wrote:

“Iain Allan loves Tsavo - the dense palm and saltbush forests of the river valleys, the endless red and khaki plains. Africa without any fat on it, he called it. It's raw and primitive and doesn't tolerate mistakes.

The Galana, fed by the melting snows on Kilimanjaro, showed a brassy brown, as it slid slowly between galleries of saltbush and doum palm toward its distant meeting with the Indian Ocean. Beyond the river, the scorched plains rose and fell, seemingly without end. And on a far-off ridge, we saw one of Africa’s primitive, elemental sights - a procession of elephants, raising dust as they migrated to the river to drink and cool themselves in the midday heat.

We had the whole immense wild to ourselves.... What a difference to observe game animals on their own terms. To photograph them, we had to read the wind as a hunter does, practicing stealth and watching for the slightest motion. We stalked up close to a band of Cape buffalo and a small elephant herd, and the experience was far more satisfying than driving up to them. Sweating, exercising caution and bush-craft, we earned the right to bag them on film. After lunch and a welcome afternoon siesta, we game drive the final few hours of daylight, when the sandy beaches of the Galana glow golden in the setting.”

Indian Ocean

We’ve never tried to interest our visitors in a beach holiday: it's not our scene. Besides, the beaches of the Caribbean, Australia, and parts of southern Europe are as good as you could ever wish for. But the coastline of East Africa possesses a magic you will find nowhere else in the world. Visit it and you will step back through time into an ancient culture. The Kenya coast is spiced with the flavors of the Indian Ocean, and its seafaring peoples have mingled their blood and traditions with those of the Bantu peoples of the sub-Saharan Africa to create the unique Swahili culture that has survived to the present.

2008 DEPARTURE DATES:

MAXIMUM 8 PEOPLE

March 2 (Arrive in Nairobi) -March 14 (Evening departure from Nairobi)

August 10 (Arrive in Nairobi) - August 22 (Evening departure from Nairobi)

September 21 (Arrive in Nairobi) - October 3 (Evening departure from Nairobi)

Please note: if the dates above do not suit your schedule, we can easily customise departure dates for groups of four or more people.

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