By Caroline Tapp-McDougall
Steve and Nicky Fitzgerald are veterans of the safari industry, so it’s no surprise that there was considerable buzz around their recent opening of Angama Mara. Suspended off the rim of Africa’s Great Rift Valley, a site that is spectacular all on its own, especially during the great migration, the lodge brings a fresh approach to both design and the overall safari experience. Delivering staggering 180 views of the legendary Maasai Mara, possibly the best-known game reserve in the world, 100-square-foot, tented suites with 11-metre wide floor to ceiling windows and grand viewing decks with red rocking chairs have been custom built. Polished parquet floors and handsome furnishings with a nod to Maasai red, including a personal drink cabinet and old-fashioned writing desk, create a beyond-comfortable atmosphere.
Two’s company
Privacy and individual attention abound, with two totally separate camps of just 15 classic tents, olive on the outside and cream on the inside, sitting alongside each other. Each is serviced by the lodge’s private hardtop airfield, just a five-minute drive away, and boasts its own common areas, kitchen and dedicated staff. The Pavilion, with its stunning swimming pool, well-equipped fitness room and unique safari shop, subtly links the two.
Dramatic guest areas in both camps that bring the inside out and the outside in were inspired by the early colonial design of Nairobi’s Muthaiga Club. There is no defined sitting room, dining room or bar—just a comfortable flow of everything according to the mood. On lovely days the action is on the deck…on cool evenings the blankets come out and guests are tucked inside.
Darn good eats
Generous and joyful and sometimes surprising, Angama’s food is not only delicious but, in Nicky’s words, “cele-brates a sense of place and is inspired by what Denys Finch Hatton’s camp chef might have prepared way back in the early days. Fresh, unfussy and pleasing.” Chefs here use the finest local produce, grass-fed beef, green beans and seafood from the coast, and pride themselves on “perfect picnics, complete with checkered table cloths” and the best bread on safari anywhere. P.S. There’s not a buffet in sight!
It’s slower here
The Out of Africa back-story adds rom-ance and nostalgia as tales are told and charming sojourns are set up on the very hills where the some of the loveliest scenes in the famous movie were shot.
The pace is one of unhurried calm. Oh yes, “game there is a-plenty” but, unlike the agenda at a traditional lodge where long sunrise and sunset game drives are pre-scheduled, the Fitzgeralds’ curated flexible viewing experiences are delightfully crafted around guests’ preferences. Covered-top, custom-designed jeeps traverse private tracks, that lead right onto the Mara Triangle. Post-lunch tailored Great Rift walking safaris with local naturalists to see resident zebra, topi and giraffes or explore native plants are great options. Or breakfast and lunch can be arranged down at the Tanzanian border without a soul in sight, to watch a solitary elephant or wait on a riverbank mesmerized by thousands of migrating wildebeests.
Up, up and away
Even the lions look up as a hot air balloon floats gently over the Mara… a truly memorable, early morning adventure. The soft dawn breezes take the balloon southwards along the forested Mara River and over the plains beyond. A photographer’s dream, only matched by the impossibly perfect rainbow that follows a monumental early evening thunderstorm.
The Fitzgeralds’ Angama Mara is a very special place, somewhere between heaven and earth. It sets new standards and is a dream come true for both the charmingly hospitable couple and their guests alike.
It’s a place that will captivate guests from around the world. And, like Karen Blixen, who said it was better to say hello than goodbye, our ever so energetic host, Nicky Fitzgerald, has a hard time bidding us farewell. She has nothing to worry about—we’ll be back and Angama Mara will be in our hearts forever.
