Bush and Beyond Announces The Opening of Ekorian’s Mugie Camp

Dec. 4, 2012 - PRLog -- Bush and Beyond (http://www.bush-and-beyond.com/)

CONTACT: Stephanie Parnell

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NAIROBI, Kenya—Bush and Beyond (http://www.bush-and-beyond.com/), specialists in East African safaris (http://www.bush-and-beyond.com/), is announcing the opening of Ekorian’s Mugie Camp in Kenya on December 20th, 2012. Ekorian’s Mugie (named after Olive Tree in the Turkana language), is located on the Mugie Sanctuary near Mugie Dam at the northern end of the Laikipia Plateau near Mount Kenya, where opportunities for wildlife (http://www.bush-and-beyond.com/) viewing and bird watching are abundant.

The camp will have six guest tents, each en suite, with thatched roofs and wooden deck floors and a central mess and dining tent.  While staying at Ekorian’s Mugie Camp, safari (http://www.bush-and-beyond.com/) guests have access to activities like day and night game drives, guided walks, fly camping, bush meals, day to day cattle ranch activities, fishing, visits to Samburu and Pokot markets and walking with blood hounds during their daily exercises.  

Optional extra activities include camel rides and golfing at Mugie Golf Course (http://www.mugie.org/your-safari/mugie-golf-course). This is one of Kenya’s northernmost golf courses designed by Kenya’s most famous golf course designer. The beautiful course has two-tier greens and is nestled among a grove of olive trees. It offers a challenge for even the most experienced golfer. Mugie Golf Course is also conveniently fenced in from wildlife so that guests can enjoy a jog or a gentle stroll around the 3.5 km track to enjoy the views as well as playing a round of golf.

The camp is owned and operated by Josh and Donna Perrett. Josh was raised on a neighboring ranch, and it was there that he learned about life “in the bush” and developed a strong passion for adventure, wildlife, and nature.  Josh was educated in Kenya and then in Zimbabwe before doing bush craft training in South Africa.  Josh’s wife Donna was also born and raised in Kenya and trained as a chef in Cape Town before returning to Kenya to work as a caterer and manager for several lodges and camps. Josh and Donna have spent much of their lives traveling throughout East Africa and they are among the privileged few who have walked through the remote Suguta Valley to Lake Turkana.  Josh continued on to walk around Lake Turkana with a caravan of camels, being only the second expedition to succeed in circumnavigating this desert lake.

About Mugie Sanctuary

Mugie Ranch is 46,000 acres but 22,000 acres has been set aside to create Mugie Sanctuary. The Sanctuary is home to around seventy species of mammal including lion, cheetah, leopard, buffalo, elephant, eland and hyena. There are many endangered species residing in Mugie including the Grevy’s Zebra and Jackson’s Hartebeest.

About Mugie Dam

In August 2009, the construction of an enormous 500 meter long dam wall was completed in the heart of the sanctuary. This is Kenya’s third largest private dam. A flash flood filled the dam overnight resulting in a beautiful 156 acre reservoir holding 1.3 billion liters of water.  The dam fulfills a vital role in providing water for the wildlife during times of drought. Migratory birds from as far away as Siberia are attracted to the dam and are among over 280 bird species found on Mugie.  Bass and tilapia fishing is currently being introduced on the dam.

About the Predator Project

Mugie is one of the core study areas of the ‘Laikipia Predator Project’, a research study aimed at improving the conservation of large carnivores throughout Africa. Across most of Africa, people have eradicated predators such as lion, wild dog and hyena, largely because these animals are a threat to livestock. With human densities rising, even predators living inside national parks are threatened as reserve border areas are developed and settled. Laikipia District is one of the few areas where people, livestock and predators co-exist. The Laikipia Predator Project is aimed at understanding how such co-existence is possible. By studying the threat that predators pose to peoples’ livelihoods, and the threat that human activities pose to predators, the aim is to identify techniques and animal husbandry management practices that can be used to reduce the drastic rate of decline in the numbers of these now endangered animals. On Mugie, the project focuses mainly on lion, which come into the most serious conflict with livestock owners resulting in the unlawful killing of predators. Radio-collars are fitted on some individual lion to help locate, identify and monitor their movements. Within Mugie radio-collars have been deployed on various lion over the last 10 years and has helped in knowing/understanding so much more about lion population numbers, their movements and behavior. This understanding has helped in reducing the numbers of livestock killed by lions. Mugie continues to work closely with the ‘Laikipia Predator Project’ and visitors to Mugie may be able to join in tracking lion. For more on the Laikipia Predator Project you may visit : www.livingwithlions.org and/or www.lionconservation.org.”
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