The Hemingway Wing Safari

Kenya’s Samburu & Maasai Mara • Tanzania’s Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater & Lake Manyara 14 days door-to-door Includes days en route to/from Nairobi uch is Africa’s allure: that a bright fellow like Hemingway would lie in his tent, homesick before he’d even parted from a � All I wanted to do now was get back to Africa. place that had come to seem more like home We had not left it, yet, but than home itself. We’re told these days to stick when I would wake in the to the now, and the here, but Hemingway—like night I would lie, listening, homesick for it already. many of us lovers of Africa—knew that some—Ernest Hemingway, times you can’t micromanage your passions. Green Hills of Africa The Hemingway Wing Safari—a cherished favourite of Micato staff—is a tribute, not only to Africa’s tendency to grab hold of our hearts, but also to the old-fashioned and cozy safaris of Hemingway’s time, with three tented camps (a little more luxurious than in Ernest’s day, but he was never one to avoid intelligently offered luxury), good looks at East Africa’s most legendary game parks (and a couple of lesser-known gems), and five swooping flights that bring us into great intimacy with Africa’s landscapes.

Migration Camp

day 1 En route

days 2 & 3 Nairobi

We’ll be met by our Micato Safari Director and whisked away to a place Hemingway spent many

Hemingwayesque hours, the Fairmont Norfolk

Hotel. We’ll visit the Giraffe Centre and the illuminating National Museum, pay our respects at the newly renovated home of Karen Blixen (who,

Hemingway said more than once, should have received the Nobel Prize for literature instead of him). And we’ll have a welcoming meal at

Lavington, the home of Micato’s founders, the renowned storytellers Felix and Jane Pinto.

days 4 & 5 The Laikipia Plateau

We fly north from Nairobi to the Laikipia Plateau.

It’s a short, but momentous flight, taking us from

Nairobi’s urban whirl to a vast, animal-abounding wilderness graced with views of the more-thaniconic Mount Kenya and the monumental clouds that seem to drift up from its 17,000-foot summit.

We are, gleefully, in the Africa we’ve been carrying around in our imagination since we were children. Our haven in this marvelous world-of-its-own is the excellent Mutara Camp, set high atop a cliff overlooking the Plateau, and the only camp (or lodge or pretty much any modern artifact) in the 20,000-acre Mutara Conservancy, a fruitful partnership between the local people and Mutara’s diligently eco- and heritage-aware owners. Spiraling down from the clifftop, we make game drives in Laikipia, encountering in solitude its fabulous plentitude of large (and cunningly small) mammals (all the Big Five, including some especially svelte leopards) who are just the headliners in a fabulous cast of very natural, very intriguing characters. (Some travellers, having seen and appreciated the Big Five, begin a more difficult search for the Little Five, whose identities we will divulge a little east of here, in Tanzania Spectacular.)

There is no feeling like being absolutely alone with creation . . . with nothing spoiled or sullied or abused. . . . A whole world revolves in balance with itself more perfect than the finest symphony.

—Elspeth Huxley, The Mottled Lizard

days 6 & 7 The Maasai Mara

South by air to the Maasai Mara, the northern reaches of the Serengeti–Maasai Mara ecosystem, earth’s richest wildlife habitat. Our base for explorations in the fabled Mara is the Fairmont

Mara Safari Club, recently voted among the Top 20 in Travel+Leisure’s consequential World’s Best Hotels list. Surrounded on three sides by the lifegiving Mara River, the Mara Safari Club is a masterpiece of appropriate and generously luxurious design. And it’s a great jumping-off place for extraordinary game drives in the mixed land- and waterscapes of the

Mara. We’ll visit a traditional Maasai village as we wend our way through this natural wonderland, the kind of place that moved Hemingway to write, “I loved this country and I felt at home and where a man feels at home, outside of where he’s born, is where he’s meant to go.”

days 8 & 9 The Serengeti “How can one convey the power of Serengeti?” asked Cyril Connolly in The Evening Colonnade. “It is an immense, limitless lawn, under a marquee of sky. . . . The light is dazzling, the air delectable; kopjes rise out of the grass at far intervals, some wooded; the magic of the American prairie here blends with the other Your Safari Director magic of the animals as they existed before man.” will discuss with The Serengeti sometimes does remind us of the you a variety of individualized American prairie, but in truth it can’t be compared activity choices at with any other place on earth. Its kopje-dotted every safari location. landscape, its vast and billowing skies, and especially its astounding wealth of wildlife make it one-of-agorgeous-kind. Flying via Nairobi and Arusha, we reach our base, Migration Camp, on the hippo-haven Grumeti River. Known for its superb tents (which, one traveller wrote, “have only one thing in common with normal tents: canvas”) and its dramatic setting in rocky outcrops, Migration Camp is revered for its tranquillity (something of a Serengeti speciality).

The amazing thing was that your staff acted as though we were the only people in the world and that all their efforts were on our behalf. We were pampered. They were unbelievably caring and helpful. As we moved from place to place, we realized that everyone with Micato is caring and helpful. We were entertained, instructed, educated, and advanced along the way by the nicest group of guides and drivers that we could ever imagine. —Bill and Lee Shewry

days 10–12 Lake Manyara and the

We take a picturesque flight from the Serengeti to

Lake Manyara, then drive to our base for the next three nights, the quietly spectacular Manor at

Ngorongoro, whose 10 Cape Dutch cottages (with 20 full suites) are tranquilly set within a coffee plantation adjacent to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The Manor, much admired for its cuisine and thoughtful service, offers a wealth of activities, from horsebacking, mountain biking and swimming, to estate walks and recreative spa lounging. We’ll make the thrilling drive up to one of earth’s wonders, the great, green, animal-nurturing caldera of a once catastrophically cranky, now beneficently mellow volcano, the Ngorongoro. Winding up to the crater’s rim puts us at Vail and Aspen altitudes of well over 7,000 feet, and being up that high, figuratively and actually, we may recall Isak

Dinesen’s words in Out of Africa, “The air of the

African highlands went to my head like wine, I was all the time slightly drunk with it.” And then we zoom down to the Lost World’s lush and park-like floor (but which, make no mistake, is an animal, not a human, kingdom) for a day’s game viewing and a festive bush picnic. And we’ll game drive and view-catch at Lake Manyara, which our guy Ernest Hemingway thought “the loveliest lake in Africa.” The lake is a birder’s heaven (it’s frequented by 300 migratory species)*, and the water from its Crater Highlands-supplied springs makes it a forested redoubt for all the most glamourous large mammals, including the famed Manyara treeclimbing lions. (It’s a little irreverent, but treelounging might be a better description.)

*Manyara especially, but all of East Africa is an avian wonderland.

One of our many birdfancying safariers offers a representative tale:

“Lilac-breasted rollers are among the most beautiful sights I’ve seen in Africa, anywhere, anytime. And

I was mesmerized once watching a kingfisher power-dive into a river several times in succession, and when he came up with a fish in his beak on the third try, three of us broke into applause spontaneously.”

days 13 & 14 Nairobi and homeward bound

We’ll rest up—with our Safari Director and vehicle on call—before our late evening flights at fullservice, meals included day rooms at the Norfolk or the Four Points Sheraton, with some time to shop, visit the Micato Harambee Centre, or just kick back and savour the first, fresh memories of a classic

African safari.

Land arrangements, per person Jan-Mar May November Balance of Year Double Occupancy $19,950 $18,950 $19,950 $21,950 Single Supplement 2,950 2,450 2,950 3,350 Internal Flights 2,450 2,450 2,450 2,450

(Nairobi / Samburu / Maasai Mara / Serengeti / Lake Manyara; Lake Manyara / Nairobi) Connections may apply. For assistance booking international flights, we will be happy to refer you to our preferred air ticket purveyor.

The Hemingway Wing can easily be transformed into a fully Private Classic Safari, with your friends or family group’s own Safari Director, private bush flights, private vehicles, with the freedom to set your own schedules, to enjoy private meals in the bush, and many etceteras. In short, while your Private Classic will follow the set itinerary of any of our Classic Safaris, it offers the exclusivity and flexibility of a Custom Safari, at a lower cost. For a deeper look at Private Classics, see pages 66 and 67.

Door-to-Door from Home | Departs Thursday, returns Wednesday Every date is a guaranteed departure

Jan. 05 – Jan. 18 Jan. 12 – Jan. 25 Jan. 19 – Feb. 01 Jan. 26 – Feb. 08 Feb. 02 – Feb. 15 Feb. 09 – Feb. 22 Feb. 16 – Mar. 01 Feb. 23 – Mar. 08 Mar. 02 – Mar. 15 Mar. 09 – Mar. 22 Mar. 16 – Mar. 29 May 18 – May 31 May 25 – June 07 June 01 – June 14 June 08 – June 21 June 15 – June 28 June 22 – July 05 June 29 – July 12 July 06 – July 19 July 13 – July 26 July 20 – Aug. 02 July 27 – Aug. 09 Aug. 03 – Aug. 16 Aug. 10 – Aug. 23 Aug. 17 – Aug. 30 Aug. 24 – Sept. 06 Aug. 31 – Sept. 13 Sept. 07 – Sept. 20 Sept. 14 – Sept. 27 Sept. 21 – Oct. 04 Sept. 28 – Oct. 11 Oct. 05 – Oct. 18 Oct. 12 – Oct. 25 Oct. 19 – Nov. 01 Oct. 26 – Nov. 08 Nov. 02 – Nov. 15 Nov. 09 – Nov. 22 Nov. 16 – Nov. 29 Nov. 23 – Dec. 06 Nov. 30 – Dec. 13 Dec. 07 – Dec. 20 Dec. 14 – Dec. 27 Dec. 21 – Jan. 03 Dec. 28 – Jan. 10

Door-to-Door from Home | Departs Thursday, returns Wednesday New rates and dates may apply

Jan. 04 – Jan. 17 Jan. 11 – Jan. 24 Jan. 18 – Jan. 31 Jan. 25 – Feb. 07 Feb. 01 – Feb. 14 Feb. 08 – Feb. 21 Feb. 15 – Feb. 28 Feb. 22 – Mar. 06 Feb. 29 – Mar. 13 Mar. 07 – Mar. 20 Mar. 14 – Mar. 27 May 16 – May 29 May 23 – June 05 May 30 – June 12 June 06 – June 19 June 13 – June 26 June 20 – July 03 June 27 – July 10 July 04 – July 17 July 11 – July 24 July 18 – July 31 July 25 – Aug. 07 Aug. 01 – Aug. 14 Aug. 08 – Aug. 21 Aug. 15 – Aug. 28 Aug. 22 – Sept. 04 Aug. 29 – Sept. 11 Sept. 05 – Sept. 18 Sept. 12 – Sept. 25 Sept. 19 – Oct. 02 Sept. 26 – Oct. 09 Oct. 03 – Oct. 16 Oct. 10 – Oct. 23 Oct. 17 – Oct. 30 Oct. 24 – Nov. 06 Oct. 31 – Nov. 13 Nov. 07 – Nov. 20 Nov. 14 – Nov. 27 Nov. 21 – Dec. 04 Nov. 28 – Dec. 11 Dec. 05 – Dec. 18 Dec. 12 – Dec. 25 Dec. 19 – Jan. 01 Dec. 26 – Jan. 08