Lamai Nomad - Recent Visit

We were recently at Lamai Nomad:

Leaving the Serengeti Safari Camp behind us, we travelled on to our next destination; Lamai Nomad.

When you are on safari you need to be prepared to see the highs and lows of the circle of life: we passed a very young Zebra on his own without his mum, who must have been separated from the herd. Who knows, he may have caught up with the herd.

We then came across a lone lioness near a huge buffalo kill, with no other lion insight. There must have been more of the pride off in the distance and out of sight somewhere as there was a huge bull elephant who seemed to be rather put out at the dead buffalo carcass as well as the lion and perhaps the rest of the pride hiding out of sight.

Lamai Nomad is set within the side of a small kopje overlooking the Serengeti and just off in the distance you are able to see the Mara river and then into Kenya. This utterly divine camp is not only run by amazing and happy people, who are extremely helpful and want to make sure your every need is adhered to, but the location is breathtaking. The design of the rooms and how they wrap their way around the rocks within the Kopje is really satisfying. Large open and rooms with a huge bathroom and balcony that looks out onto the plains, facing east so that you capture the first rays of African sunlight creeping in when you have your morning wakeup call and coffee!

Lamai has quite a few resident guests in the form of rock hyrax who are seriously sweet. Although they look like overgrown guinea pigs, these characterful creatures are in fact closely related to the elephant – due to their 3 toed feet. Not tame, but very comfortable with humans milling around, they provide endless entertainment if you are having a quiet moment, running in and out from under the decking, lounging on the rocks catching the warm rays of sunshine and even joining you for a sunbathe down at the pool – really stretching out and enjoying themselves.

The food at Lamai is delicious also, we had a traditional Swahili dinner that evening including all sorts of yumminess! Within the walls of the dining area, they have placed pieces of cut mirrors within the walls making the candlelight twinkle.

We all finished supper and took to the fire pit, night caps in hand listening to hyena howl and lions roaring…!

My morning coffee was delivered through a hole in the wall and I was able to sit for about half an hour listening to the dawn chorus and watch the sun slowly creeping its way up over the horizon.

Off we rolled and rocked in our 4×4 over the rocks and bumpy terrain and off onto the plains. We came to rest for about an hour within a herd of elephant. Tentative at first, this large group of ellies then began to relax when we didn’t move for about 20 minutes and we were able to watch how the herds relationship was with one another and it was fascinating. There were quite a few adolescent young, or teenager and about 12 of them ranging in different ages all disappeared into a small copse area and the noise that began coming out of this small copse was hilarious – trumpeting, crashing and banging, running in and out back and forth to mum! So playful and so very sweet!

We stopped for breakfast along the banks of the Mara river, watching a small dazzle of zebra making their way on a mini migration across the water. It really is brave doing this, there were about 5 large crocs and pod of hippo on either side of the gulley they were trying to cross, and it was quite tense to watch!

Lamai Nomad is an incredibly peaceful and relaxing lodge to stay in, nothing is too much to ask and the surrounding area is simply stunning. The guides and general managers are very welcoming and friendly and the food is delicious. There is wifi at this camp, but don’t let it distract you from the scenery surrounding you, you never know what you may miss out on!