Manda Bay Newsletter

April 2009

With another season complete at Manda Bay, we’d like to thank you for your continued support, and especially for those of you who have visited us this year, it has been lovely to see you.  Times are tough and we are tightening our belts in the hopes of riding it through without having to cut down on staff, etc.  – especially when jobs are so scarce around this area at the best of times.

The bill-fishing season has been outstanding this year in Kenya, with more Marlin being tagged and released than in living memory.  Perhaps the Somali pirates do have a positive effect on the fish populations by reducing the number of Trawlers fishing in the area!  Certainly, this is the first year we have seen Spinner dolphins in their hundreds cruising the fishing grounds and the sailfish have been spectacular as well.

The wildlife on the island seems to be still expanding and we recently heard Hyena behind the lodge.  The buffalo, bushbuck, bush pig, genet, civet, mongoose and of course the monkeys and baboons are also about and often spotted.

We have a built up a great staff team this season – Gillie Levitan is now running our back of house whilst Bimbi and Caragh keep things going in the Front.  Jay Macleod (Andy & Caragh’s nephew) has also been with us for 3 months, helping get all our stores and laundry sorted out which has been a great help, and now he is off to run Richard’s camp for the next season.  Ann and Alan Ablitt enjoyed 10 days of fun on their new acquisition, “Shakina” ( the 38 ft catamaran) this season and Ed Ghaui has skippered her through the season and done a grand job.

Fuzz and Andy have been away on and off looking into new and exciting projects and of course one of which is the planning of building our Nairobi complex which we hope to start later on in the year.

As of the 1st May, we will no longer be part of the Cheli & Peacock portfolio as we have decided to change direction and open our own booking office in Nairobi, incorporating some of the other family properties within Kenya.  Many of you are aware that we have family in North and Western Kenya and the combined Roberts and Dyer Families run Borana lodge and Laragai House on Borana Ranch, Sirikoi Camp on Lewa Downs, Richard’s Camp in the Mara and Samatian Island on Lake Baringo.  Added to this, between the two families, we also do horseback riding safaris, tented adventure trips and truly amazing flying safaris into Northern Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia by either Aeroplane or Helicopter.

We will have a Tropic Air helicopter based here at Manda next season so that we can do excursions inland exploring the wilderness areas around this northern Coastline.  It is a thrilling trip seeing the hippos and Crocodiles in their masses on the Tana River delta and enormous herds of Cape buffalo, so we are very excited to be able to start offering this option to you all.

Fuzz and Bimbi will be over in the U.K., Switzerland and probably Holland in July, meeting up with travel agents and clients and we will have a stall at the CLA Game Fair at Belvoir Castle in Grantham, Leicestershire, England from the 24th to 26th July as ‘The Safari & Conservation Company’.  Our new website for that will be up in the next 3 weeks so do check it out.

www.thesafariandconservationcompany.com

We are all very much looking forward to seeing you all again in the new season.

Well I think that’s our main news for now.  We’ll be open again on the 1st July, and do hope to see you all in the new season.

All the best,

Caragh, Andy, Bimbi & Fuzz

xx