Steve and Nicky Fitzgerald grew safari outfitters andBeyond from upstart to institution before settling nicely into retirement some half a dozen years ago. Until, that is, a certain piece of land came up for grabs—the only corner of Africa the Fitzgeralds couldn’t refuse. Last summer, decades of dream, design and build culminated in the opening of Angama Mara, the couple’s 30-tent lodge perched, almost as if to hover, on the edge of Kenya’s Great Rift Valley. (Angama is Swahili for “suspended in midair.”)
With unbeatable views and a fenceless perimeter, Angama can be a safari destination or it can be a finale, a place for packing in game drives and bush walks in pursuit of elephants, rhinos, cheetahs, hippos and giraffes—or for sitting around drinking rock shandies by the pool and letting the animals come to you. Angama’s position in a less-traveled corner of the reserve means that whether you’re picnicking beneath an acacia tree on the edge of Tanzania or waking to see the sun rise over the Mara’s vast plains (without even having to move from your bed), if it feels as if there’s no one else for miles—that’s because there isn’t.
