I went on the trip to Kenya in September 2018. This was something I have always dreamed of doing, as I have always been interested and watch many programmes with wildlife in them. Combined with the prospect of early retirement looming, my wife who was a non photographer and didn’t like being too close to animals, decided that she would come along to see my face light up.
The whole experience of this trip has surpassed my expectations, I had to continually nip my arm to see if I would wake up. Somehow it just didn’t seem real for the first couple of days.
The House in the Wild was a lot better than I expected and the staff are really second to none. We were treated like king and queen: much better than five star service with nothing a problem. As we were a couple, we had our own cottage to ourselves with a 4 poster bed and a huge bathroom. After the morning and afternoon drives, refreshments were always on hand. One time we arrived back in the rain and staff were there to greet us with umbrellas so we didn’t get wet. The food was simple but delicious and well varied each night.
The safari guide Moses is an absolute legend and a gentleman, it’s unbelievable how he tracks and find these fabulous animals, and his knowledge is awesome. He got us into the right spot to take our photos and would even move the car a couple inches for you to get the view.
As far as the photography went Alan was always on hand to give you tips and as much instruction time as you needed, even with the editing over a beer or two.
I did learn a lot from this trip, but not as much as my wife did! Alan went through her new point-and-shoot camera and adjusted all her settings to get the best photos and how to tweak the settings as the light etc changed. Did she enjoy it? Well, put it this way: 3,000 photos later and when it was time to leave she actually cried when the plane left the runway.
Will we endorse this trip and would we go back? Definitely!!!!
I won’t look at other holidays in the same light now after this experience. It was the first week-long holiday that seemed to last two weeks. Only downside is going through 5,000 photos after a quick culling, but the memories will last..till the next time we visit.
~ Paul & Debbie Kidd, UK: 2018 safari no. 2 with my business partner, Alan.