Guests enter each 1,076-square-foot suite safari picnics only the whoosh of flame as Just below my private through a butler’s vestibule, where staffers and, most background music, rise above elevated deck, I spot the discreetly deliver tea or coffee and biscuits as a memorably, the . Watching a baby welcoming committee — morning wake-up call. Inside, the decor takes a on the Out of hippo disappear in a thrash of three hyraxes rustling in scrubby backseat to a wall of glass and those forever views. Africa kopje. crocodile-stirred water below, bush. Beyond that, the land drops I take in the canvas walls and ceiling, wood parquet Dinner venues I rethink my desire to see 1,000 feet to the Mara Triangle, the floors, and John Vogel furnishings. Maasai-inspired vary even more: the cozy brick- suffer the same fate. northernmost point of the - colors, textures, and patterns — red chenille bed walled library, the dining room, When the migration is in full ngamaPerched high above Mara ’s , covering, luscious plaid woolen blankets, hand- my deck, poolside, and a magical swing, Nicky says the plains Mara ecosystem. Using the powerful Nikon binoculars supplied in my suite, a striking new safari lodge delivers front-row seats to Africa’s beaded door handles — add zing. The whole is barbecue buffet in the bush. below Angama Mara will appear I scan the sky-bordered, amber-hued beloved animal kingdom. It’s a not-to-be-missed show. handsome and inviting, sleek and contemporary, On one evening, local Maasai black with wildebeest, but they A yet rooted in local culture and brilliantly designed dance and sing in a sunset party have yet to arrive en masse. savanna. Amid solitary Balanite trees, forests splotched with murky mudholes, to maximize the 180-degree views. I can’t think of overlooking the kopje. Sammy takes me to a crossing and emerald green wetlands splashed BY HILARY NANGLE anything I might possibly need. From intriguing During previous African point near the Tanzanian with shimmery blue, I spy buffaloes, books to the Sony Xperia preloaded with info, safaris, I’ve seen the Big Five — border. Herds numbering in nibbles to sips; it’s all here. , , black rhino, the hundreds if not thousands , giraffes, and . “There’s something about this property that , and buffalo — but approach the river or mill on Welcome to Angama Mara, the makes people want to sit and be. They watch the not in such abundance. With the other side, but lacking a new luxury safari camp overlooking clouds, elephants, rainbows, snooze, open one Sammy, I sight and leader, they worry to and fro, the Great Rift Valley in Kenya’s Maasai eye, watch more,” Nicky says. “I love that.” in trees and with kills, approaching and receding. “All Mara. Veteran safari camp operators elephants parading across it takes is one to start, and they’ll Nicky and Steve Fitzgerald waited 15 but tempting as it is to cocoon in grasslands, buffalo enjoying all follow,” Sammy promises. years to gain the lease on this property, I agree, my suite, I’ve made my late-July visit here to mud baths, and twice spy the “Look at them; they’re made a location enshrined in the Out of Africa experience the Great Migration, that period rare black rhino. We see elusive with God’s leftover parts. They movie poster. Picture Redford and Streep from July into October each year when more cheetahs, jackals, and hyenas. have the slanted body of a hyena, picnicking atop the world: That’s exactly than 2 million wildebeest and zebras migrate Crocs and hippos eyeball the horns of a buffalo, the tail of where you’ll find Angama Mara. A northward from Tanzania’s Serengeti in search us from the river, baboons a horse, the thin legs of a gazelle, Swahili word for “suspended in midair,” of fresh grasslands. The major obstacle impeding frolic on hillsides, and zebras, and the face of a hartebeest.” Angama is an apt name. The resort their progress: the Mara River. Crossing it requires giraffes, and ostriches graze Silently, I will them to cross. hugs the Oloololo Escarpment’s rim descending steep banks, navigating rocky- amid various antelope species We’re abandoning hope when and floats above the wildlife-rich Mara bottomed waters, and avoiding 12- to 18-foot as birds of prey soar overhead. a dust cloud signals movement. Triangle. Framed by the escarpment on crocodiles anticipating easy feasts. “A guest had They stampede across in a the west, the Mara River on the east, and an amazing sighting yesterday,” Nicky teases. of frenzied panic, scrambling up the Tanzanian border in the south, the On the morning “The wildebeest were using the crocs as stepping the balloon flight, we depart the steep bank, then regrouping. triangle tips the Maasai Mara National stones in the river.” the lodge, descending to the Witnessing it is everything I Reserve, 580 square miles of marshes, I’m eager to see the same, and over the next five grasslands in the star-spangled imagined, if not more. open plains, and forested lands owned days, I head out on half- and full-day safaris with predawn quietude. “This is the Back in my suite, wine in by the Maasai people and managed by guide Sammy Mumbi and even take to the skies in best launch site in the whole of hand, I settle into a rocker on the Mara Conservancy. a hot-air balloon. One of the Mara’s pluses is that Africa, and these are the best my deck and absorb the “Very few places in safari Africa have the abundance of wildlife negates the necessity of panorama. As the heat of day W il d ebeest) flying conditions in the world,” this kind of grand aha!” Nicky says. “We crack-of-dawn game drives. Mornings are leisure, says pilot David Chipping, relents to the evening’s coolness feel that all the things we’ve done in our with time for massages, walks with Maasai whose 28-year ballooning and golden light cedes to smoky life, which are many, have come to this naturalists, working out, swimming laps, visiting career has taken him around rose-hued blues, I listen to a place. This is our elegant swan song.” a local Maasai village, and simply relaxing. the globe. We launch in the wildlife symphony broken only The Fitzgeralds have applied their accumulated predawn grayness, and with by snippets of conversation The Fitzgeralds, whose African knowledge to the resort’s operation, making it riding on the breeze and a hospitality career began in 1982, are far less rigid than most safari lodges. Meal times distant rumble of thunder. A lion best known for their 15-year career are flexible, menus are a la carte, and dining roars; an elephant trumpets in with CC Africa (now andBeyond), venues vary. During my stay, I enjoy breakfast and reply. I float in a state of Angama during which they not only grew lunch on the deck of the main lodge as well as on Zen, simply sitting and being the company from three to more and wanting never to depart. than 55 properties but also elevated the ann (interiors-2, Giraffes), Dreamstime ( Dreamstime Giraffes), (interiors-2, M ann tevie From $750. 615-524-6198; luxury safari experience. Here, they’ve

k), S c k), angama.com created two conjoined camps, each African perch: Clockwise from top, Angama (De with 15 suites and its own lounging Mara’s deck, the guest area, and dining lodge, and sharing a central a tented suite, a wildebeest, pavilion housing a pool, fitness center, and the camp’s unique locale NAN G LE Y gift shop, and beading workshop. H ILAR

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