Like A Swan - by J.G. Smith

Like a Swan, Serian glides serenely through life providing guests with an unforgettable bush experience. However, like a Swan, it is paddling hard beneath the water to appear serene to others. The people who are paddling hard are the staff who make everything happen, despite the glitches, that life remote from all the resources that we usually take for granted, thrown at them.

The milkman doesn't deliver the milk before you rise and there isn't a supermarket just down the road. Everything has to be ordered a week in advance and transported over gradually worsening roads from Nairobi - the journey takes up to 6 hours. But things don't stop there, there has to be fuel to power the generator that provides the electricity for the fridge, kerosene to fuel the hurricane lamps, replacement wine glasses for those smashed by a careless hand, washing powder for the laundry and the myriad of other items that make life in the bush what it is.

Behind the scenes there are the mechanics that keep the fleet of four different vehicle types ready and available to ensure that guests get their own vehicle every day. There's the sewing machine expert that can produce anything with canvas & material from a large tent for a mobile camp, unique tailor made book covers to delicate mosquito covers for the four poster beds.

Even more people make sure that the tents are always ready for guests' arrival /return, place the kerosene lamps on the paths to provide a soft illumination at night, plan ever appetising menus, wait on table. Then there are the Askaris with their torches (and more importantly spears and bows & arrows) who ensure the safety of guests as the go to and from their tents during the evening.

Definitely the unsung heroes.

All this is taken to a further level when guests opt for a mobile camp and everything that is made to happen in the main camp has to be faithfully replicated in the depths of the Mara wilderness.

But what would any successful safari be without drivers and guides ? They can spot a twitching ear above the grass at phenomenal distances, tell you the gestation period of the most obscure animal, get you to the right place at the right time to take a stunning picture and make you feel perfectly safe whether you are in direct eye contact with a Lion from the vehicle or making your way quietly on foot through the bush.

Co-ordinating all this is the management, oiling the cogs, placing the orders, paying the wages and meeting the requests - reasonable and otherwise - of guests.

Next time you see a Swan serene on a river, peer below the surface to see how fast it is paddling.

Wine Tasting in the Bush

By Lara Palmer & Alexandra Ross-Taylor




With the privilege of Nikki Pain to educate, the camp gathered on the veranda one afternoon to learn about and discuss wine. All members of staff became instant wine enthusiasts, even though cultural differences prevent some from dinking it. Everyone had some form of knowledge from being around guests regularly drinking it. We went through the wines the camp offers, tasting, discussing and participating in the “5 S’s”: Swirl, Sniff, Sip, Suck and Swallow. The cooks wanted to know what was the best wine to use for marinades, waiters asked what the best temperature to serve the wine is, the lady in charge of the stores wanted to know what the best method of storage is and the man in charge of the laundry wished to know how to get red wine stains out of clothes.

Some interesting facts we learnt:

• Two ways in which wine can go off, neither of which are harmful to your health: by oxidation and by becoming corked.

o Oxidation: two much contact with oxygen causes a reaction within the wine that makes it taste bad

o Corked wine: if the natural cork is not cleaned properly in the making of it, there could be a bacteria in it that causes the wine to become off

• White wine should be drunk as young as possible; red wine should be no more than 5 years old, unless it’s expensive wine that should no more than 50 years old.

• Temperature to drink wines : 16˚C for red wine and 10˚C for white wine

• Different methods of maturing depending on the grape and the quality and price of the wine. For example, a cheaper Chardonnay is matured within stainless steel barrels and chippings of oak are then added to give the wine its signature oaky flavour, whereas a better quality bottle will be matured in oak barrels.

• Sugar content: Dry white wine contains less than 5 grams of sugar; semi sweet rose has 15 grams of sugar, sweet wines have more than 15grams. The sugar is present in the grape naturally and the quantity in the wine is dependent on the length of time the grapes are on the vine.

• Rose is made from a red grape where the skin is removed from the pulp after 4 hours to get the red colouring

• Cork trees are grown only in Portugal and Spain, where corks have been made for hundreds of years. There were not enough corks produced one year for the amount of wine being made worldwide, so that’s why we have plastic corks!

The wine class of 2010 was a success with participants leaving the afternoon light headed with full bodies.

The Leopard that came to tea

By Lara Palmer and Alexandra Ross-Taylor




Guided by a trail of flickering flames, our guests approached their bush supper with a welcome of wine and bittings around a roaring fire and settled down under the stars. Suddenly there was a call over a radio and a mad rush of excitement spread through those gathered. We were bundled into vehicles and drove to the other side of some bushes, where we saw her: Zawadi; the famous resident leopard from “Big Cat Diaries”. Zawadi had not been spotted in almost a month until a few days early her paws prints had been found just outside a guest tent, whenever she makes an appearances its met with total enthusiasm from everyone around her.



We watched as she stalked a scrub hare for fun, before her attentions were drawn to our bush supper. We then observed her gracefully prowling towards our fire and candle-lit table. Our chiefs bravely carried on cooking with the knowledge of Zawadi closing in on the smells of roast fillet wafting over the bushing. We sat in utter amazement whilst wondering whether she was actually going to join for us for supper. Eventually her interest was lost and she wondered off into the darkness of the night.



Although Zawadi’s appearance has been the highlight of the week, we have actually had some pretty exciting wildlife encounters. We tracked an aardvark back from sundowners, to the amazement of guides who had only seen it once before. The lions around camp have been extremely vocal and conversations at meals times have had to compete with the roars which have been carried from a safe distance.