Serian’s Kimya Kimya is set on a private riverside site in the Mara North Conservancy. This snug little setup is chock-full of character with grand views over the rushing Mara River and a lively salt lick that regularly features Elephant, Giraffe and Zebra. Throughout the day, Zebra work their way down to the nearby spring for a mid-morning tipple, often displaced by raucous kids wanting to splash around in the warm water spring. This is an active river crossing point; Elephant and Giraffe navigate their way through the maze of granite boulders to the opposite bank.

The ancestral ritual of communal fireplace and dining – the essence of sharing… we are social animals, and part of what makes things vivid and real to us is our capacity to share: the joy is dissecting your day, raking over the delicious details and unwrapping the delights over and again, over the fundamentally communal experience of breaking bread. It’s also part of absorbing and storing memories – the re-telling and re-living makes it more vivid, and sets the place of the experience in our minds. The evening is for digesting and processing the day.