Inflight Magazine of Brussels Airlines

In Africa

October is one of the prime months for safari, so here s a glimpse of what to expect from the plains of Kenya

In words

As a new day dawns a black rhinoceros steals through the grass in Nairobi National Park

Safety in numbers: A herd of zebra gather together for protection against predators

A leopard jumps down from a tree in the Maasai Mara. Known for their ability to climb, leopards spend much of their day resting in trees

Good if you have… never learnt to share

Enjoy a boutique safari experience at the exclusive Porini Safari Camps

Going on safari is as much about experiencing the splendid isolation of the African wilderness as scoping out the “big five”. So it doesn’t make much sense to surround yourself with a crowd of camera-wielding tourists once you’re there. Good job, then, that safaris are now getting the boutique treatment courtesy of Porini Safari Camps. The four camps house no more than 10 tents at a time, so you’ll have the savannah (almost) to yourself – and the undivided attention of your guides. Get off the beaten track at the Amboseli Porini in the unspoilt Selenkay Conservancy, downsize at the diminutive Mara Porini, which has just six tents, go classic at the Porini Lion, based along the borders of the Masai Mara reserve, or pitch up at the Porini Rhino, set in East Africa’s largest black rhino reserve. www.porini.com

Hotel with a view

Fairmont The Norfolk Hotel

Where is it? Harry Thuku, Nairobi, , fairmont.com What’s the view? The hotel is surrounded by lush, tropical grounds. Rooms either look out over the Kijabe Gardens (bag a Duplex Suite and you can enjoy the view from your own bay seating area) or the courtyard (plump for an Acacia Deluxe room). What to expect The Norfolk Hotel bills itself as Nairobi’s only country house hotel and is traditionally the first staging post for safaris, so there’s an old colonial feel to proceedings. Suites come with palm-fringed private verandahs, deeppile carpets and heavy, dark-wood furnishings, while the Lord Delamere Terrace drips with White Mischief chic – score maximum expat points by ordering a quinine-rich gin and tonic or four. Why go there? Because you’ll be able to spend the first few days living out your idle-rich fantasies (channel a bit of that Delves Broughton chutzpah in an extravagant hat – the much missed Isabella Blow was Sir Jock’s granddaughter). And when you tire of that, you can head off to Nairobi National Park, visit Daphne Sheldrick’s elephant orphanage and spot baboons, impalas, buffalo, monkeys and warthogs at Lake Nakuru. What does it cost? From €184 a night.

Insider tip

Off set your safari

You’ve booked your hotel founded on staunchly sustainable principles, your room’s made entirely of local materials and the staff is drawn solely from the nearest indigenous community. But can you feel OK about your gas-guzzling connecting flight? Well, yes. As of this year. Safarilink has gone carbon neutral, offsetting every flight with a sapling plantation in the foothills of Mount Kenya. So you can nip from Nairobi to Kilimanjaro/Kiwayu/wherever guilt-free. www.safarilink-kenya.com

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