Exactly where I wanted to stay in Kenya

But when I walked down the spotless corridor to sit in the comfortable chairs where polite and attentive waiters brought me everything I asked for…my skin was crawling.

I felt like a colonialist. Like I had just flown in on my private jet. I didn’t want polished mahogany, spotless linens, and international amenities. Granted “authenticity” is a fiction, at best an oversimplification that inevitably ignores someone, but….couldn’t I get a little bit closer?

Getting there from Voi was easy, a few minutes on the good highway then half an hour-ish on a dirt road within the sanctuary. Granted, it could have been twice that, since I have no sense of time on the best of days, but that’s particularly true when we’re suddenly on a safari. Buffalo watched us pass, dik diks startled down among the lower leaves, and a couple sleepy giraffes didn’t seem at all bothered by our little hatchback cruising by.

The camp was spotless and well kept, the huts were comfortable and curving paths between the buildings made everything as private as half-wire huts can be, and a some of the panoply of birds stopped by from time to time. (My favorite were the Eurasian rollers. So blue!)

We were the only tourists but a cadre of rangers in training from surrounding countries was there to learn the craft that will preserve the wildlife, landscapes, and their own lives in the brutal world of poaching and poverty. Training all day, their laughter would ring across the camp in the evenings, and mealtimes were a delight as we sat down at trestle tables together.

Voi Wildlife Lodge was swell, but Kivuli was the right choice for me.

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