Gazing at Mt Kilimanjaro from Tawi Lodge Amboseli

Quite often as a quasi-travel writer when I go to a lodge, professionalism dictates that I sit down and have a chat with manager/owners who will tell me half the things that I can always find on their website.

Then they will walk me through the property, pointing at things.

“That tree is 200 years old, we call her Sarafina. And that there is where we dispose of our garbage, very eco-friendly. That over there is a solar panel. And that chap there is Loiyan.” Calling out to Loiyan, “Hey Loiyan! Loiyan, do you have a moment? Please come over and tell us about that lion you killed when you were 12 years old.”

Some of it is necessary because you will get interesting things and bobs about the lodge that offer your story a lot of girth and texture. Most times it’s dull.

Sit still

Sometimes you don’t have to struggle to get to the soul of a lodge when all you have to do is sit still. Someone wise once said that man’s problems stems from his inability to sit still in a room.

And at Tawi Eco-Lodge all you have to do is sit still because the lodge itself, located in a private conservancy of 6,000 acres of it, sits still facing Mt Kilimanjaro. It sits in complete reverence to the mountain, and so you should mirror this poise.

Have a waiter bring over a bottle of wine to your cottage where the plan will be to not move from the wooden-deck verandah. The 12 cottages are “earthen”, built with an influence of the old structures from the traditional dwellings.

Since all of them face the mountain (actually anywhere you might in the lodge, you will see Mt Kilimanjaro) you will uncork your wine as you stretch into the canvas seat.

You will most definitely see a herd of elephants not more than 100 meters from you. The conservancy is the home of elephants. Because of the flat terrain, the elephants can be seen and photographed with ease.

You will also see the Burchell’s zebra, Grant’s gazelle, buffalos, warthogs, black rhino, impala, waterbuck, dik-dik and maybe a vervet monkey.

If you are really lucky, you might see a lion or a spotted hyena. Cheetahs and leopards are not common. Are you a birder? There are 400 species including ibis, African fish eagle, crowned cranes, goliath herons, Egyptian goose and the cattle egret to mention but a few.

Move a muscle

But please, don’t move a muscle, pour some more of your wine and stare at the beautiful vista peppered with indigenous plants and shrubs. Read a book. This is how Africa is supposed to be; untouched (seemingly), raw, silent and ominous looking, should you venture further inside this jungle.

Should your back feel sore at some point, walk to the main bar and dining area which itself is an architectural genius of sorts. The main door is made from a tortillas tree. The structure framed by very aged Blue Gum tree. The bar counter? Tortillas tree.

The plaster on the walls was done from the red soil from Amboseli when the lodge was built in 2009 in 18 months by 400 strong local men and 18 wheelbarrows. This area is cosy and rustic at the same time. There is a fireplace. And a bar.

Upstairs is a stargazing area from where you can carry you drink and have an extensive view of Mt Kilimanjaro and the wetlands where the animals come to water. I hope you carried your phone because animals come so close you need to document that and Instagram immediately.

Sundowner camel ride

The manager of Tawi Eco-Lodge is this super-cool eccentric chap called Menno Bartlema. He’s a bushman; handy, innovative, passionate about the bush and ecosystem and a chef. Just call him Bushman, he won’t mind.

He got us on camels one evening and we trooped out for a sundowner in an open area surrounded by acacia trees and some thickets.

From this point you could almost touch Mount Kilimanjaro. He cracked open a bottle of wine, poured some whiskies, and we sat around this fire he had made and he regaled us with stories about the bush.

He’s a storyteller, full of witticism and dry humour. You blink you miss a Mello joke. Two drinks later, we heard a commotion and a loud trumpet and about 100 meters away, ears flaring agitatedly, trunk in the air was this monstrous elephant totally pissed off. We scattered. All of us.

The elephant charged for a few meters and stopped. It stared at us. I silently prayed to God it doesn’t crush the single-malt.

Finally, it retreated after it realised we were just cowardly city slickers in fancy hats. As we walked back to the campsite we realised none of us had spilled our drinks as we ran. We all had a good laugh at that. We still do.

Embrace nature

That’s the kind of adventure you will find at Tawi Eco-lodge, which by the way is only five minutes from Kimana gate leading to Amboseli National Park. The park literally blends into the brown environment. You go there because you love to stay close to the heartbeat of the wild.

You go to disappear in the embrace of nature.