The Beauty of El Karama Eco-lodge
The picturesque El Karma Eco-Lodge is tucked away in the rolling hills of Laikipia County in Kenya, about 30 miles north of Nanyuki. The lodge is part of a working, revenue-producing cattle ranch. They take their sustainable tourism seriously there. The wonderfully flavorful beef and much of the delicious fresh fruit and vegetables are produced on the property. And what is not produced there is sourced from local Kenyan vendors. They bake bread on the premises as well. The food is all fresh and impeccably prepared; the meals are a delight.
The lodge itself consists of very well-appointed bandas (tents, in this case), with all the luxuries you could want. The grounds are beautiful and on game drives you are likely to see the big “four”. Big cats are there but sightings are hit and miss, partly due the vegetation, which is more dense than you will find in other parks like the Masai Mara, with its distinctive open plains.
Why We Were There
Steve and I had the incredible good fortune to be “guinea pigs” of sorts in our visit to El Karama. As mentioned in this post, we were in Kenya to photograph and tell stories about the students at the Daraja Academy. Daraja Academy welcomes visitors all year around, and these visitors tend to be volunteers who contribute their labor, expertise, or other resources to help Daraja thrive. So over time, Daraja has created infrastructure and devoted resources to hosting visitors.
But lately, smart people at Daraja are asking the question “what if we could attract an entirely different sort of visitor?”. Maybe some people would come for the sheer adventure, the exquisite scenery, and the cultural “deep dive” that was a part of the Daraja experience. And maybe that sort of experience has an entirely unique and marketable value. Or, to put it more bluntly, maybe people would pay a premium price for such an experience. And maybe this could be new source of funding and awareness for Daraja.
As avid photographers, Steve and I both know the abiding, enormous appetite to photograph something “different”, to break the mold. And for us as photographers, there it was – the chance to shoot something interesting and novel – a peak photography experience every day. Make no mistake here; it was a labor of love to help Daraja. But as photographers, it was also deliciously self-indulgent as well. And all over the world as I write this, photographers are seeking this sort of experience…and paying good money for it.
El Karama would be natural stop on any tour through the Northern Kenya area surrounding the Daraja Academy. Daraja visitors could easily hop over there for a night or two. So there we were, eating an exquisite meal by the beautiful pool at El Karama Eco-lodge after a morning game drive and an afternoon chasing exotic birds around the grounds. It was our job to evaluate whether this could be part of a photography adventure package that could be a fund-raising vehicle. And the answer was a resounding “hell yes!”.
Production – What to Shoot at El Karama
Game drives are the centerpiece of the El Karama experience. As we were there for a single night, we were treated to two game drives – one afternoon and one night drive, as well as a third “unofficial” game drive on our way out. The terrain around El Karama is a bit challenging for spotting and shooting game due to fairly thick vegetation relative to other venues like the Masai Mara. There are big cats there but it is pretty rare to see them. Nevertheless, we saw plenty of wildlife, including Elephants, Zebras, Giraffes, Baboons, various Monkeys, Hippos, and Gazelles, among many others.
From a shooting perspective, I favor choosing one lens for a game drive and taking one camera with the one lens affixed. The roads are rough and you are jostled around quite a bit. It is impossible to shoot while the vehicle is moving. Minding a bag and changing lenses is impractical, in my opinion, so its best to commit to one lens. I chose my 40-150mm PRO lens with 1.4x Teleconverter – my “go to” set up for game drives. It gives me a full frame equivalent reach of 420 mm on the fast-focusing lightweight Olympus M4/3 platform. Steve shot with his A7R3 mounted with a 100-400 telephoto. So we both had the same zoom range, and it was really perfect for the application. On some rare occasions, we may have wished for a little more reach…but the hassle of changing lenses in the bumpy, dusty situation would not have been worth it.
One notable thing about El Karama from a photography perspective is that it offers so much more than the typical game drive experience. The rolling hills provide many interesting vistas and backgrounds for wildlife shots. And the looming presence of Mt. Kenya to the east makes every shot a potential landscape gem.
And when you are not out on a game drive, there is still plenty to shoot, when you are not lounging by the fantastic pool. There a many exotic birds on the grounds and well as interesting reptiles, if you look closely enough. If you are photography nut like me, you will love El Karama because you can find stuff to shoot all day long.
Many thanks to Sophie and the staff at El Karama for making our stay an unforgettable experience!