We stayed only two nights at the Kicheche Valley camp in the Naboisho conservancy. This is a huge place. We had massive rains the day we arrived and everything had turned into a river. Difficult to walk in the camp and drive anywhere. Yet, things were easier the next morning and we had one of the best leopard experiences ever with a one year old male leopard snatching the kill from the mother, then dropping it from the tree, being chased by jackals and almost getting nabbed by hyenas. There were possibly just 2-3 other cars with us.
Also saw lots of cheetahs there, no elephants. Lion pride encountering a buffalo but no hunt.
Kicheche Mara in the Mara North......
Very big conservancy, almost half of the mara triangle itself. Great elephant sighting with a one week old baby, a huge tusker in masth, lots of cheetahs, one with originally seven, just a single baby now. Lot of birds (I love birds), one mating pair of lions, very close sighting of the male and female. No leopard here though - nobody saw one in the five days we were there.
One day a large lioness walked right up to our tent and past it, in broad daylight, just as the wife was going to walk to the main tent for tea before the afternoon game drive. We were in the last tent in the row. Scary moments.
Overall the experience in the conservancies is well worth the money you pay for.
As for gear, I realize this is a Canon forum (ex-Canon user myself), but I am now a Sony user. Most of my pictures were taken with a 400 2.8 prime on an a1 body, about half again with a 70-200 2.8 MkII on another a1. The 400 lens is absolutely superb. I never needed to use any TCs, just used the APS-C option a few times. The 70-200 is also a fantastic lens, much better than Mk1.
Happy to answer any questions. Will post some pictures later, too many to process right now.
Thank you for your thoughts, it sounds like you had some wonderful sightings! I'm spending 9 nights at Kicheche Bush Camp this October so I'm glad to see you had a good experience.
