My original intention was to write one post about Lamai and our safari with them, but I quickly realized that Lamai the lodge and Lamai’s safari experience are each standouts in their own right and each deserve their own spotlight. So, this is the first of a two-part article.

Nomad Tanzania

To know Lamai, you need to know a bit about Nomad. Lamai is one of ten camps owned and operated by Nomad Tanzania. Nomad has been operating in the remote areas of Tanzania for twenty years. So, not only are they considered pioneers of those areas, they are well respected for their knowledge and service. Many of Nomad’s employees have been with them for over fifteen years. As a former Human Resources professional, I know that the treatment of your employees trickles down to how your employees treat your guests. So, when our guide Lazaro told us he had been with Nomad for twenty years, I knew this group had to be doing something right.

Lamai’s Prized Position

It is a privilege to build a permanent camp in the Serengeti. Nomad was offered a plot of land (that would have been much easier to build on) not too far from where Lamai is located, but they really pushed for the Kogakuria Kopje. Simply put, a kopje is a “hill”, but in the Serengeti these are comprised of granite outcrops that are the result of volcanic activity. To want to build a lodge on this kopje was ambitious to say the least. But doing so granted Lamai a unique position perched above the rolling plains of the northern Serengeti. 

Dubbing themselves the “keepers of the Kogakuria Kopje,” they take this prized position seriously. Keep that rocky kopje in mind as you look through the photos in this post.

Pure Serengeti

From afar, you hardly notice the small camp scattered throughout the kopje. It intentionally blends with the landscape.

Image courtesy of Nomad Tanzania

Serengeti is a Maasai word meaning endless plains and the design of this camp is meant for you to take in the vast, stunning landscape from wherever you are on the property. Whether it be the main lounge area, the pool area, the dining area or your room, you have unobstructed, panoramic views of the plains.

There is a purity to Lamai that creates an environment that allows you to comfortably exist in the beautifully raw surroundings. A place to truly experience the sounds, air, light, darkness and the smell, oh my goodness that beautiful scent, of the Serengeti.

The Lodge

There are three different areas of Lamai: the main lodge has eight rooms with a couple of them set up for families , the private lodge has four rooms and is intended for larger groups, and Mkombe’s House, which is intended for families or small groups.

Lamai describes the aesthetic of the lodge as “bush chic”. I don’t think you could come up with a more spot on description! Once you are in the rooms, there is also a touch of French bohemian. There is an overall simplicity to it, so as not to distract from the star (Serengeti), with cozy textures, pops of color and even a little shimmer. There are plenty of inviting “nooks” to lounge in scattered throughout the lodge.

The nights are cool, but the days are hot. The pool (also with a view!) is a perfect place to cool off. 

Rooms

Our room was in the main lodge. The rooms are more like villas: each a stand-alone building and very private. They are unassuming from the outside and totally bush chic, French bohemian on the inside.

The interiors are primarily white with gentle pops of color.

The best part is that the side that faces the plains is completely open (with a screen to keep the bugs out). The openness allows for the rooms to be filled with tons of beautiful, natural light, and those sounds and that scent.

Facing outward are a writing desk and a daybed. On the outside, there is a large deck with two big chairs.

The large, open room is centered by a huge, plush white bed. The bed is swathed in romantic netting that is pulled down in the evenings.

As pretty as it is, it also serves to keep mosquitos out, though we did not have any mosquitos in our room.  On chilly nights, you’ll find a warm water bottle under the covers that keeps the bed warm until you climb in.

There is absolutely nothing like climbing into that bed at night, warming up from the slight chill in the air, breathing in that fresh air and listening to the sound of the animals in the distance. To me, it is the epitome of “bliss”.

The bathroom is spacious and has ample storage for your belongings. The screen exterior wall continues into the bathroom, so that you have that spectacular view no matter where you are. There is a walk-in shower and access to a second deck with seating. The bathroom amenities include lovely handmade soaps and lotions.  

Safaris come with early morning wake up calls and Lamai does those calls right. Someone gives a gentle knock and a “good morning” and then slides a tray of coffee (or tea) and biscuits through an opening in the wall created for just that purpose.

And the best part about that room: it’s the best seat in the house to see the sun rise over the Serengeti.

Dining

Lamai’s food is fantastic! And, it’s all organic. Not because they want to be trendy, but because the bush was doing organic far before the hipsters came along. Organic is the only option.

You have a couple of choices for breakfast. You can enjoy it at the lodge, which means either you leave for your morning game drive a bit later or you return from your morning game drive early.

Or, you could have a bush breakfast. Either way, you will have delicious food, but having breakfast in the bush is an experience you won’t have anywhere else. At Lamai, your guide will pull over somewhere spectacular (think Mara river overlooking hippos) and set up a table, chairs and a full breakfast spread complete with juice, coffee and/or tea. My favorites were the breakfast sandwiches and homemade granola. Coffee is one of Tanzania’s biggest exports, so if you are a coffee drinker, you are in for a treat.

Unless you decide to stay out in the bush all day (a lunch would be packed for you), you return to the lodge for lunch, which is set up buffet style, super fresh and served with chilled wine and local Tanzanian beer or any other beverage you could want.

After lunch and before the evening game drive, you have a few hours to swim, relax, nap, read a book, shop in the boutique; whatever you want.

Afternoon tea is served just before your evening game drive, which is also when your guide will come chat with you about a plan for the drive coming up and for your morning drive.

Dinner is served on one of the main decks. You can select to have a private dinner or enjoy it in a communal setting. Not only are you joined by Helen and Clyde, the camp managers, you are joined by the other guests at the lodge. I always find this an enjoyable experience as you get to chat with people from all over the world and you know you have at least one thing to talk about: “What did you see today?” As with all of the other meals, dinner was delicious. Several courses were served and it always ended with a tasty desert.

African Hospitality

As I mentioned in the OneFortyEight Nairobi post, there’s something unequivocally special about African hospitality. When you experience it, it’s more than good service, it’s a feeling of being taken care of.

Helen and Clyde are so pleasant and seem to be around when you need them, but are never too invasive. They are great camp managers and it was obvious the staff thought so! Clyde always saw us off in the morning and Helen was always there to greet us when we came in from each drive. When we arrived on our first day, Helen gave us a tour of the property and our room, explained how everything worked, and gave us some history on the lodge. I can be sarcastic at and particularly enjoyed how Helen would banter with me a bit. 

The beautiful thing about the lodge is that it is in the middle of the Serengeti; you are in the wild. Any time it is dark (or close to dark) outside, you are escorted by an Askari, who acts as your security. The Askari are from local villages and know the area (and the animals) better than anyone else. They walk you to your room when you come in from your evening game drive, walk you to dinner from your room and walk you back to your room after dinner. We were always escorted by Mr. P, who was so sweet and charming.  I read somewhere that he has a scar from a lion scratch on his face. I have no idea if this is true and may be adding to the legend being created. What I do know is he is delightful and we felt very safe in his care.

The restaurant staff and every person we came across was welcoming and friendly and genuinely wanted to know about us.

And then there is Lazaro, who was one of the best guides we have ever had. Your safari guide can make or break your entire safari experience and our time with Lazaro was flawless. This plus our amazing experience while at the lodge is why I am turning this into two posts. Stay tuned for post two!  

This was not our first visit to the northern Serengeti and it won’t be the last; it is a special place. As much as we enjoyed our first visit to this area, Lamai takes it to the next level, with spectacular views, beautiful accommodations, great food and unparalleled African hospitality. 

Check out Lamai’s website for more information!

Getting there

Because we were coming from Pemba, a remote island off the coast of Tanzania, we had a long day of airstrip hopping on bush planes. Depending on where you are coming from, there are more direct options. Fortunately, Extraordinary Journeys took care of organizing our lodging and our flights in and out of the bush. 

• A three to four night stay is recommended to fully enjoy Lamai
• There is a great little boutique on property and all proceeds go to local organizations. Save your souvenir shopping for here
• If you’re celebrating something special, let them know ahead of time and they can arrange a private dinner for you
• You don’t have to go on every game drive. You could do a bush walk, hike to the top of the Kopje to catch the sunrise/sunset, take a hot air balloon ride or just rest
• Nomad’s website is a fantastic resource to start planning your itinerary. Combine Lamai with other Nomad camps to complete your adventure!
• Use a safari outfitter like Extraordinary Journeys to create a seamless trip
• Read more about planning for a safari here
• Read more about what it’s like to be on safari here

This is the third time I have returned home from Africa and with each of  these return trips, I have noticed a trend. It seems to take me forever to work my way through pictures and share them. I’ll flip through them hundreds of times and each time, I experience an array of emotions. This process reminds  me of the Dr. Seuss quote “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened”. And then there is that part about sharing an album that truly tells the story of the experience. I get so hung up on this and struggle with trying to perfectly portray the bliss, beauty, peace and perfection of being in the African bush. But, what I am also learning, is that it is impossible to truly portray the experience, whether it be pictures or words. And, maybe that is the beauty of travel altogether. How you experience a place- what you see, feel, smell, taste, do; what you walk away with- is incredibly personal to you and soley based on your perceptions. This post and the following “Kapamba” post are my experiences in the Zambian bush.

We left Livingstone for Mfuwe with a quick stopover in Lusaka. We arrived in the afternoon and were picked up at the airport by Mishek. Mishek has been a guide for a very long time and has known Jay and Sarah for many years. When they have the choice, Mishek is their go-to guy and it doesn’t take long to realize why. Mishek not only grew up in and around the bush, he has studied long and hard to be a Ranger/Guide. He is knowledgeable, but also has this very calming way about him that just makes you feel comfortable in his presence. And, it is obvious from the first few minutes that you are with him that he has a true love of and respect for the bush. He belongs there. Cool side note: Mishek has an identical twin brother, who is also a guide at the lodge.

We drove down a long dirt road through the town of Mfuwe. The road was busy with people walking and riding their bikes and everyone, especially the children, waved as we drove by. Okay, so maybe we were waving at them from sheer excitement of being there but, they did wave back. We entered the gates of South Luangwa National Park and Mfuwe lodge wasn’t far from the gate entrance. Once we arrived, we were checked in quickly and shown to our rooms. We settled in, freshened up and then made our way back to the restaurant for afternoon tea.

Mfuwe Lodge is much bigger than the 7-10 room lodges I have stayed at in the past and is quite lovely. If you do a quick search on Mfuwe, you will see that it is famous for the family of elephants that parade through their lobby every fall. This is the path that they have taken for years to reach the Mangos from the wild mango tree. It’s just that, at some point, the lodge was built in the path. So, they just roam through it and that seems to work for everyone involved.

The rooms are spacious and cozy. Our room looked out over the watering hole and had a lovely, relaxing deck. As I listened to conversations around me during afternoon tea, I could tell that many were visiting for a second or third time. After filling up on some sandwhiches and tea, it was time to hit the road for our first game drive. I could hardly contain my excitement. There is always the excitement of going out into the bush, but this excitement was charged by knowing that my Mom was going to experience the thrill of seeing beautiful creatures running wild and free and the peace of being in the bush.

As we left the lodge, we immediately saw two hippos grazing on land. This was a first for me – to see them out of the water and this close.

We drove a bit more and moved over to our first sighting: some lions stalking prey. As we pulled up to the area, there were way more vehicles than I was accustomed to seeing. And, as we stayed for a few minutes, more and more vehicles pulled up (these were from several lodges). I started to feel uncomfortable with this, particularly when it became apparent that the hunter we were watching was a very young male.

About 10 vehicles were lined up around the cub and, some followed as he began to stalk. This was upsetting to see and, as I was with friends I hadn’t travelled with before, I wasn’t sure how to react. Before I knew it, Jay asked Mishek to leave the area and was also quite agitated with the situation. Thank goodness!! I later saw Jay give some of the other guides (that he knows well) an earful for participating in this silliness. Unfortunately, I saw similar situations throughout the couple of days we were at Mfuwe. And, just to be clear, these are not all vehicles from Mfuwe Lodge nor are they controlled by Mfuwe Lodge.

We had some magnificent sundowners and beautiful game drives at Mfuwe. One of my favorite sightings was one that we saw early on. We saw a young leopard cub in a tree feeding on an impala that his mother had caught and dragged up there for him. His mother patiently cleaned her paws on the ground below him and as he shimmied down the tree to join her, we all held our breaths and crossed our fingers that he wouldn’t make a clumsy mistake.

Another favorite was this massive pride that was quite content and full on an animal I would rather not mention. Such is the cycle of life in the bush…

The food at Mfuwe was fantastic! They had just brought in a new chef and she was quite talented. For breakfast, the jungle oats were delicious and for lunch, I loved all of the salad choices. There were some other nice surprises, but I will leave them out of this write-up in case you are reading this in preparation for your trip there.

The U Foundation also supports a large school in the town of Mfuwe. One afternoon, we were fortunate enough to visit the school, meet the head teacher and go out onto the sports field and play with the kids and their new, donated equipment.

It was such a fun experience. My favorite was watching some of the girls play Netball. I haven’t seen this game in the states, but it looks similar to basketball (but even quicker) and the girls playing were fierce!

For the most part, Mfuwe Lodge is a stopping off point before heading out to the more isolated “Bush Camps“. There are six bushcamps that are all scattered deep in the bush of the South Luangwa park (hence the name “Bush Camps”). These are much smaller and more intimate than Mfuwe Lodge and I was really looking forward to getting to our Bush Camp, Kapamba.

We stopped to say hi to some of the villagers and made our way to the school where all of the children were waiting for us at the entrance. This was their day off, but when they heard that visitors were coming, the majority of the students came to school…dressed in their uniforms. The kids who attend this school range in age from 3-5 and some of them walk several miles, from other villages, to go to school here. The U Foundation has worked hard to create a beautiful, safe place for these kids to get a start on their education and what the U foundation has created with the nursery school is revolutionary in this area.

We brought out a lot of Charlie’s donations…mostly sporting equipment and toys. Some of the toys were LEGOS, which the kids had never seen before, so we had to show them how to play with them. Of course, it took them less than 30 seconds to catch on.

We watched the kids play Mr. Wolf, set them up with some footballs (soccer balls) and Charlie taught them to play Cricket (and may or may not have hit a few kids with the ball. Charlie!). Owen, one of the teacher’s son, was celebrating his 4th birthday, so the lodge made a cake for him and the rest of the children.

We also got to put our handprints on the wall!

After a great afternoon at the school, we headed back to the lodge to freshen up and head for sundowners on the river. We had crossed to the mainland by mokoro earlier in the day, but this time, for whatever reason, we tried to attempt the local’s way, which is standing. This was difficult and terrifying and I’m pretty sure my Mom was trying to push me in.

Choongo, who is a Dr. at the local hospital and a friend of Jay and Sarah’s, joined us for the day at the school and for Sundowners that night. This time, we were able to pull up on Hippo Island.

This was also the night of the “Super Moon”.

A wonderful dinner followed the sundowners, some time by the fire then off to bed for another full day. The nights were pretty chilly, but every time we climbed into bed, our heating blankets were on and warmed for us. Warm cozy blankets, the river flowing below us and the fresh cool air…It was perfect.

We are travelling as a group of seven, so before I go any further, let me introduce our crew:

Mom (also known as Mum)-My Mom. I am so excited to have her on this adventure and she has been such a trooper in the journey to get here.

Jay (AKA Fany Pants)- Jay is…”highly affiliated” with Islands of Siankaba. He is from England but a Zambian at heart. I will elude to his nickname throughout the trip, but it came from his immense effort in putting this incredible trip together for the group of us and making it absolutely perfect.

Sarah- Sarah runs The U Foundation, which is the foundation that built and funds the nursury school that is in Sinakaba Village. She is an incredibley sweet and patient person who cares so much for the people in the village and works hard to make sure the people of Siankaba are cared for.

Charlie- Charlie has been a U Foundation supporter for many years. He works for a sporting goods company and is constantly donating sports uniforms, sports equipment and other items to go to the Siankaba Nursury School, as well as other schools in Zambia. This is his first trip to Zambia and a wonderful opportunity for him to see where all of his donations have been going and the good they are doing.

Matthew and Jessica (AKA smiley)- Matthew and Jessica are Sarah’s wonderful kiddos. Jessica is 10 and forever has a perfect dimple on each side of the smile that is always planted on her face. Matthew is almost 12 and as sweet as he can be. They are awesome kids who are such a pleasure to be around.

That being said, the entire crew has been enjoyable to be around. Several of us have met for the first time and everyone has hit it off from the beginning.

Mom and I flew from San Diego to London (10ish hour flight), spent the afternoon and next day in London and then met the rest of the crew at London Heathrow for our flight to Johannesburg.

Jay, Sarah, Charlie and the kids showed up in one car and the 30 pieces of luggage they had arrived in a van behind them. All but a few pieces of luggage were full of donations for the school. Despite Jay coordinating with the airline ahead of time, getting all of these bags checked in took several hours. To add to the chaos, Mom left her carry-on at our hotel in Kensington. After three hours of negotiating and coordinating, Mom had her carry-on and all thirty bags were on the flight. We made it to our flight just in time for boarding. Thanks to Jay (Fancy Pants) pulling some strings, our entire group of 7 was upgraded to business class. We had a great time getting to know eachother and got a little bit of sleep on the way over (11ish hour flight).

We had a couple of hours layover in Johannesburg and then hopped on a 1.5 hour flight to Livingstone, Zambia. Collecting the 30 pieces of luggage and getting them through customs in Zambia was also a lengthy process. Several pieces didn’t make it, but we were able to collect all but one of them the next day. Once we had everything (in the three vehicles that came to collect us), we were off to IOS.

We were all exhausted on the ride over, but found our second wind once we arrived at IOS and were greeted by drumming, dancing, cold drinks and an incredible boat ride over to the lodge. Four days of bliss at Islands of Siankaba had begun.

Our first trip to Africa was in 2009 and it was a “once in a lifetime” trip. The problem is that one of us came back completely obsessed with the three countries we visited: Zambia, South Africa and Mozambique. One of us came home with African footprints on her heart.

In 2012 I somehow managed to convince The Mr. to return to Africa, this time to Tanzania. And again, I came back completely obsessed.

This trip is a little different and somewhat spur of the moment. “Somewhat” because we typically plan our trips pretty far in advance. “Different” because The Mr. won’t be going this time.

On our first visit to Zambia, we were fortunate enough to meet the wonderful owners of the lodge we stayed at and have remained friends with them over the past several years. We have been lucky enough to see them on several occasions and on the occasion back in April, Jay told us of their plans to visit Zambia in August and he invited us along. How could you say no to that? Unfortunately, The Mr. is unable to go, but I (easily) convinced my Mom to go.

So, as I write this, we are about 60 hours from our departure. We will spend a night and an afternoon in London and then we will be on our way to Zambia. On our way to a tented lodge on the Zambezi that is completely connected by rope bridges, sundowners with Gin and Tonics and the most magnificent sunsets you have ever seen, the sound of grunting hippos, Victoria Falls, game drives morning and night and great friends. There is only one thing more exciting than all of these wonderful experiences and that is, I get to share the mysterious magic of Africa with my Mom.