One of my favorite writers, Peter Matthiessen, wrote a book called At Play in the Fields of the Lord. I thought of that title when I visited this 300-square-mile area of Serengeti plains during the January and February green season: it’s an African Elysium, a sun-warmed theater for animal frolics, the sort of place many people on this fine earth might hope to go when they die. If I were reincarnated, I’d like to come back as an elephant: I saw plenty of them here, as well as cheetahs and even a pair of endangered black rhino, all of them (like the cheetahs in the picture above) moving through long grasses that nodded in the breeze. It was indescribably romantic, every minute of it. Bordered on the north by Kenya and on the south by the majestic Mara River, the Lamai Triangle gets a lot more populated in late summer and early fall, when migrating wildebeest come through. It’s an amazing spectacle, sure, but one you’ve got to share with all the other tourists who are there for the same show and staying at the seasonal tented camps. Opt for Sayari or Nomad’s Lamai Serengeti(both year-round lodges) during green season and you’ll pretty much feel you’ve got this heavenly place to yourself. Word to the wise: get the pros at Trufflepig to help organize your trip.
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East African Eden: The Lamai Triangle
One of my favorite writers, Peter Matthiessen, wrote a book called At Play in the Fields of the Lord. I thought of that title when I visited this 300-square-mile area of Serengeti plains during the January and February green season: it’s an African Elysium, a sun-warmed theater for animal frolics, the sort of place many people on this fine earth might hope to go when they die. If I were reincarnated, I’d like to come back as an elephant: I saw plenty of them here, as well as cheetahs and even a pair of endangered black rhino, all of them (like the cheetahs in the picture above) moving through long grasses that nodded in the breeze. It was indescribably romantic, every minute of it. Bordered on the north by Kenya and on the south by the majestic Mara River, the Lamai Triangle gets a lot more populated in late summer and early fall, when migrating wildebeest come through. It’s an amazing spectacle, sure, but one you’ve got to share with all the other tourists who are there for the same show and staying at the seasonal tented camps. Opt for Sayari or Nomad’s Lamai Serengeti(both year-round lodges) during green season and you’ll pretty much feel you’ve got this heavenly place to yourself. Word to the wise: get the pros at Trufflepig to help organize your trip.
