by Devanshi Mody
GARDEN OF EAT-EN Sirikoi is set on a bewitching sprawl of green, ideal for al fresco meals. But if you feel your lunch shuddering on the lush lawns, it’s because the jet-setting pet giraffe (yes, Nditu was whizzed in from a giraffe orphanage on a plane) is galloping about gaily, usually pursued by suitors. Embowered in trees—where monkeys swing and birds hold court and sing—relish a cornucopia. The breakfast table is laden with produce from Sirikoi’s own gardens—a veritable A picnic site near Richard’s River Camp. Right (inset): Sirikoi bush breakfasts—a delicious spread in the midst of nature.
Image courtesy Sirikoi
Next page (inset): A mixed flower and leaf salad is one of the many tantalisingly unique dishes offered to guests.
18
Enchantment in the Bush Garden of Eden, where exotic flowers bloom and tropical mangoes and papaya flirt with multifarious berries that you can heap over gorgeous home-made granola burgeoning with dried fruits and nuts. This garden produce finds its way into a plethora of salads at lunch, nibbles with pre-prandial drinks around a mesmerising campfire at twilight, or subtle veggie creations at supper. The garden can also be packed into a picnic basket and an organic banquet unfurled under arches of towering trees at the indigenous Ngare Ndare Forest, the region’s sole canopy walk, where stunning red-crested turaco birds look like ruby raindrops on 200-year-old trees. AM-BUSHED! Richard’s River Camp is located on a stream, at a place where lions roar and hyenas have a den, which I’m told I’m being taken to visit. Then, unexpectedly, I’m walked to a stunning sunset and hijacked for a bush dinner set enchantingly on a waterbody aglitter with myriad lamps. This must be the most magical setting in the Masai Mara. Post supper, I’m taken on a night drive to see bushbabies, mini kangaroo-like hares and the largest owls in Africa. I also spot an aardvark, which is supposed to be a very rare occurrence. During my morning game drive, a bush breakfast is laid out on an embankment cleaved by a chocolate river populated with hippos. On the banks, fat slithers of crocodiles snooze and yawn unattractively. I relish homemade muesli with smoked nuts, while my guide, Lengume, concurs with other Masai guides that muesli is about the only Western breakfast food that they—compelled to participate in bush breakfasts with guests—find palatable; the Masai are abstemious and usually have only milk for breakfast.
WILDLY ROMANTIC Following hilltop sundowners with canapés and the crispiest home-roasted nuts, I’ve returned home to andBeyond Bateleur Camp and asked for Esther, who does the Mara’s best massages with all-natural Africology products, amidst roses and candles. I’m then led onto my private terrace for the Mara’s most romantic bespoke supper. Chef Meshak unveils epicurean fourcourse Masai meals that include spinach or bean stew, usually accompanying goat—a Masai staple, but fret not, for vegetarian versions are possible! Crystal wine glasses twinkle and silverware glitters in starlight, while around me blaze lamps and candles. John, the butler, asks Stanley, the manager, if he could add more. Stanley responds, “150 lamps are quite enough, John!” EPICUREAN ELEGANCE A bridge under kissing trees leads to Mara Plains Camp, which opens onto endless plains speckled with those famous Kenyan umbrella trees. Here, you get the opportunity to indulge in some of Kenya’s chicest cuisine as you bask under chandeliers from colonial dining carriages and plush zebra-striped shawls drape dining chairs. At lunch, lusty trees shade tables with myriad salads, the best you’ll have, incorporating home-grown produce. It’s luxurious, lean and clean cuisine. I confess to having had seconds here, despite humongous portions originally served.
Image courtesy Richard’s River Camp
K
enya, the original and perhaps ultimate safari destination, is legendary for its wildlife. Lesser known but only a little less delightful are the exceptionally original and extraordinarily creative dining experiences that Kenya’s premium luxury camps orchestrate, constructing culinary journeys in the midst of nature.
Image courtesy Richard’s River Camp
Epicurean
Dreaming about Africa? Here’s a glimpse of culinary creativity in the Kenyan wilderness that’ll get your juices flowing.
19
Breakfast at andBeyond Bataleur Camp. Safari experiences at the Mara Plains Camp.
20
COLONIAL delights The mess tent of Cottar’s 1920s Camp—a historic colonial-style camp founded almost 100 years ago—has a colonial air, African rugs and waiters in fez hats. Meals comprise exquisite salads at lunch and robust suppers, after which you withdraw with a drink to the fireplace in a library displaying the family’s collection. Book the honeymoon tent showcasing quaint collectibles such as an old typewriter and a gramophone. You can ask your butler to organise an en-suite massage followed by a dip in a colonial canvas bath. Proceed for the sundowners, after which you find your dining table all dressed up for a four-course supper. Nature provides the serenade. CURRY FAVOUR If you thought curry on safari in the African wilderness is an impossibility, then Sabuk
Clockwise from top left: At ol Donyo Lodge, guests can have breakfast by the side of a serene pool at sunrise.
BESPOKE IN THE BUSH Richard Branson’s new spaceship-like camp, Mahali Mzuri, offers on-arrival champagne and a champagne-stocked open bar that guests adore. On these loftiest of terraces with sensational views of the Rift Valley, try sevencourse degustations.
Image courtesy Cottar’s 1920s Camp
Lodge’s owner Verity Williams reveals that ‘curry’ has long been integral to Africa, since the time British colonisers imported Indian coolies to construct railways. Suppers here are wonderful, but better still are Verity’s bush breakfasts dispatched on camel that bear everything from food and drinks to bush toilets!
FOR MORE INFORMATION • Sirikoi: www.sirikoi.com • Richard’s Camp: www.richardscamp.com • andBeyond Bateleur Camp: www. andbeyond.com/bateleur-camp-masaimara • Mara Plains Camp: www. greatplainsconservation.com/mara-plainscamp • ol Donyo Lodge: www. greatplainsconservation.com/ol-donyolodge • Cottar’s 1920s Camp: www.cottars.com/ cottars-1920s-camp • Sabuk Lodge: www.sabuklodge.com • Mahali Mzuri: www.virginlimitededition. com/en/mahali-mzuri
Taking a long, leisurely bath at Cottar’s 1920s Camp, in the privacy of the rugged African bush, is one of the most excitingly luxurious experiences you can look forward to. Breakfast on a deck at Sabuk Lodge.
Image courtesy Sabuk Lodge
Dinner in the evenings at Mahali Mzuri is around a large communal table on the main deck.
SAVOUR THE SUNSET ol Donyo Lodge’s quirky guide, Seki, has me scale a modest peak with a majestic view. On one side, the setting sun streaks red velvet across the sky, silhouetted against which stands a giraffe. This fabled Kenyan sunset is etched for all eternity in my mind. Juxtaposed, the piercing white of Africa’s mightiest mountain, Mt. Kilimanjaro, contrasts sharply with the vivid red sunset. After this ethereal experience, one comes down to earth only for sundowners, with well-crafted bites laid out on the bonnet of your game vehicle. Sunrise bush walks culminate in champagne breakfasts in the lodge’s fantasy forested tree house or breakfast on the lodge’s pavilions, inclined over a waterhole where animals enjoy their own sundowners. Elephants pose gracefully—when not throwing their weight around, nudging out giraffes, zebras, gazelles, warthogs and other humbler creatures.
Image courtesy ol Donyo Lodge
Image courtesy andBeyond.com Image courtesy Mara Plains Camp
Image courtesy Mahali Mzuri
Clockwise from above:
Suppers here are wonderful, but better are the bush breakfasts dispatched on camel that bear everything from food and drinks to bush toilets!
21