Wandering Amerrickans

Nelson’s Prophecy

Last night Jenny and Billy decided they didn’t want to wake up early to do the last game drive, but I was in. I was woken up at 4:15  to the sounds of lions – having been around them for the last eight days their sounds are recognizable. They sounded very near by but I kept telling myself that Johnson said the roar of a male’s calls can travel up to 5 mi but they sure sounded close. I was unable to go back to sleep so I laid there listening. 

At 5:50 I shown my flashlight out the tent so that the Maasai guard would come for me. I’ll be honest that I thought about not going because I was scared to death to walk the .2 mile up to the main tent, as the only thing the guard carries is a stick and a dagger for protection.

I said to the guard as soon as I saw him, “Did you hear the lions?”

“Yes,” he replied.

“Are they close by?” I enquired hoping for a negative response.

“Yes,” he confirmed.

As my heart raced faster and my eyes scanned both sides of the path I was relieved to see other guests fall in behind me…At least I wouldn’t be the first man down. 

Johnson and I sped off chasing down what was quickly proving to be one of the most glorious sunrises I have ever seen. Every minute the sky was growing more and more vivid with the pinks and oranges stretching well beyond the horizon. Johnson said he hasn’t seen a sunrise as beautiful as this one in years. Simply Spectacular!

Minutes into our drive a call came in. Johnson turned around looked at me and with a huge grin relayed the unbelievable news, “There are two leopards with a fresh kill up a tree.”

“Are you kidding me?” I responded.

“No, but it’s far away.” he said.

I figured that was the perfect time to give Johnson the same lesson we gave Brian.

“Well then Johnson you better drive it like you stole it.” 

No explanation needed apparently because he hit the gas…

As we came ripping around a bend Bully and Limpy were sitting there, just the two of them.  Johnson stopped, I took a few pictures and while it was nice with no other cars around, I was anxious to see the leopards so I kind of urged him on. He assured me that the leopards were going nowhere since they had their kill up a tree, they wouldn’t leave it.

As we continued on we came across a herd of elephants, including two babies and again Johnson stopped. While the sunrise made for beautiful photos, I told Johnson I really wanted to get to the leopards before everyone else does and we end up having to wait ( we had limited time this AM). He assured me the rangers, who let him know, didn’t tell everyone. Still he got it and began racing to the scene.

We passed a truck from another camp that was heading towards us, clearly they didn’t know about the leopards so Johnson was correct in his statement which made me feel better.

We then passed another truck stopped looking at some wildebeast. I mentioned to Johnson that that truck had to be wondering where we were headed to, racing across the savanna like we were trying to outrun a spreading fire. Funny thing is not even thirty seconds later that guide called Johnson asking exactly that – where was he going so fast, so Johnson had to tell him about the leopards. I told Johnson he should have told him that he was just giving his guest driving lessons and she doesn’t know the difference between the gas and brake pedals.

Before we knew it, there were trucks flanking us on both sides racing along with us. The guys that Johnson told shared it with other guides and so on. 

As the area where the leopards were appeared, it was obvious it was no secret. There was already the max allowance of five cars there and we were now fourth in a line of arriving cars but Johnson didn’t follow behind them when they pulled in to wait. Instead, he passed them and continued on about a half mile then turned in. I was confused by this but as we pulled in and almost came to a stop the ranger flashed us, he was allowing Johnson in without waiting his turn in line. I guess It pays to have a guide that has been in the conservancy for fifteen years.

Whatever the reason was we were allowed ahead of all the other cars, I was thrilled but I was also very sad that Billy but Jenny especially, were missing it – I knew Jenny was going to be beyond upset. Last night when we were finishing dinner Nelson, a server and soon-to-be guide, upon hearing they weren’t going this morning, jokingly said to me, “Well then I hope you see something that will make them jealous they didn’t go.” I think when he said that it gave Jenny pause but she still decided not to go because she, like Billy, was worried about the long travel day we had today.

The leopards – a mother and son – Sankuet (shy) and Oloshipa (happy) were out in the open, Oloshipa was feeding on part of the kill while Sankuet was lazing about grooming herself.

At one point they began to tussle with each other.

Eventually Sankuet got up and walked over to the tree where the freshly killed gazelle was hanging. She began scratching at the ground and Johnson explained she was trying to cover the blood trail she left behind so the hyenas wouldn’t catch hold of the scent.  Meanwhile Oloshipa was prancing around with a leg in his mouth and play stalking his mother.

Because there were so many cars waiting, after about ten minutes the ranger told Johnson it was our turn to move out. Our time with them was sadly short but oh so wonderful. “Magic” Johnson, so he is nicknamed, certainly lived up to his moniker today!

Johnson offered to take me by the hippos on our way back to camp but I told him no need – that I didn’t want to mar the memories of that incredible experience.

Back at camp went about as badly as I feared. Jenny was so upset she had missed out on it all. Tears poured down her face as she pointed out how she had made every other game drive and that she only didn’t go because of the very long travel day ahead of us… She was beyond disappointed and I believe regretful.

We said our goodbyes to everyone at camp and Nelson insisted we would be back explaining to us that, “You leave a footprint in our heart and on the land…” Touching for sure.

Johnson drove us to the airstrip where we awaited the arrival of our bush plane. When we pulled in I had noticed a group of three guys with motorcycles hanging out in the shade. As the plane was approaching one of them jumped on their motorcycle and went speeding down the runway in the direction of the descending aircraft – he was chasing off any animals on the airstrip-. He then turned around and raced back just ahead of the landing aircraft to keep the airstrip clear-crazy!

You gotta love these bush pilots. They are rugged and totally nonchalant. This time our pilot was a female, complete with long flashy fingernails. The copilot told me they had slept in Samburu last night and had already made five flights by 11:30.

As we waved goodbye to Johnson and the plane was a few minutes off of Mother Earth the cockpit warning alarm sounded loudly, “TERRAIN! PULL UP!” Not exactly what you want to hear in flight. Neither pilot seemed the least bit concerned about it, they punched a few buttons, turned a couple dials and continued on their way…

There are no towers at any of these airstrips or anyone guiding them to where nearby aircraft are. They are relying on GPS and radar. Using that info, the copilot visually locates the planes in air and points them out to the pilot. Kind of wild flying.

The approach to the small domestic airport is an unnerving one for sure as you head straight for the high rises in the city center before banking to make the landing. Once again the warning sounded loudly but this time it blared, “TOO LOW! TERRAIN!” And once again the pilots seemed completely unfazed.

We went straight to the hotel inside the airport compound. We once again had to pass through three security checkpoints before checking in to our hotel. Our scheduled 3:10 AM flight was delayed until 4:30 AM so we slept until 12:30 and then headed to the terminal. With the delay, we would miss our connecting flight in Istanbul to Brussels but thankfully Turkish Airlines rebooked us on the next flight.

We are spending the next four nights in the Netherlands. The first night we will be in Maastricht revisiting the city Jenny lived in for university for three years. We will then head to Eindhoven to spend the last three nights. Billy and I will celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary there with some of my oldest and dearest friends but the real purpose of this part of the trip is to see Zach Bryan in concert again. He is playing at Philips Stadium in Eindhoven. He will be the first musician, outside of one Dutch musician, to hold a concert at the iconic soccer stadium.

Our time in Africa was beyond rewarding. To think we almost cancelled it. The sights we saw, the connections we made, the things we learned, the pleasures we got were once again life changing. I will dream of the the babies of the Izuba family, the amber eyes of Namunyak, the spotted cubs of the Offbeat pride, and the final morning sunrise for days and years to come…

Asante Sana Rwanda and Kenya for blessing us with incredible memories.

A View to a Kill

Around 1:30 AM Billy nudged me and whispered my name. I had been half listening to sounds outside the tent – I could make out stepping sounds so I knew it wasn’t elephants and I could hear branches moving and chomping so I knew it wasn’t lions. Once completely conscious he whispered, “Look.” My head turned towards the sounds and thanks to the bright moonlight my eyes quickly locked on to a giraffe that was literally four feet from our bed and I could hear one off the other side as well. Jenny told us she had gotten up when she heard it and walked into the bathroom to look out the window. Her face and the giraffe’s face were a mere two feet apart as it was bending down to browse on a smaller tree. Babies came through with them as well as their lighter color hair reflected the moonlight more. It was such an amazing experience! 

The morning light was gorgeous and when we passed a herd of zebras it was illuminating their manes and tails in such a way as to necessitate a stop for pictures.

A few other creatures we passed along the way

This morning we were headed to a kill. Johnson had gotten word that a different pride of lions had taken down a pregnant giraffe overnight – she was apparently too burdened with the pregnancy to put up much of a fight or take flight.

Giraffes being my favorite African animal I knew it was going to be a bit sad to see but it’s the circle of life. When we arrived on scene it was a lot calmer than I anticipated. There were three lions actively feeding – a male, a lioness and a very small cub who was inside the chest cavity. There was also another male passed out nearby.

We watched a few of the lions working on the carcass for quite some time- I actually thought they’d tear chunks of flesh off with ease but they are quite methodical in how they go about feeding on it. The sounds of their teeth gnawing on skin, cartilage and bones was pretty insane. 

The lions are pretty protective of their kills. They chase off anything that tries to move in on it before they are done with it – vultures, jackals, hyenas, could be killed if they get too close.

You think by now we’d be used to the lions walking right for you but every time they do, it still gets your heart pounding…

At one point the male got up and took a poop right next to the truck. Johnson warned us it would be really smelly due to all the blood they consume but we were upwind from it and spared the brunt of it. That is…until we were trying to get a better angle of them feeding and Johnson ran over it and oh my, wow! What a potent, gag-inducing smell it was. And unfortunately it was the right front tire that hit it, the one closest to Johnson and me so it didn’t dissipate as we continued to watch them. Brutal!

Since the last creature we had failed to see was a crocodile, Johnson set out to find us one. We came across yet more hippos and eventually a few crocs sunning themselves on the far bank. We couldn’t see their faces but that was OK. I always thought the Nile crocodiles were bigger than the American crocodiles but I was incorrect.

The remainder of the morning was dedicated to us going to the school to donate the last soccer ball and about two dozen picture books I had brought. As always in Kenya, the children smiled and waved at us emphatically when they saw us. 

We were greeted by Benjamin, the head teacher who showed us around. Kicheche does so much for their local communities and schools and especially here it was evident. They created a library for the students out of an old shipping container and made it as comfy as possible. I didn’t see too many story books but plenty of books to be used for group reading. 

Like the other school, the classrooms were spartan but the smiles were abundant. The teachers were extremely appreciative of the donations. 

When the little kids saw us heading towards them they all came over for high fives, handshakes and a few hugs. They were so cute and friendly.

Education in Kenya is not free and the public schools are not even close to being adequate with most classrooms containing up to 100 pupils. Johnson said the majority of the people who are lucky enough to be employed by camps, send their children to private schools- where student numbers per classroom are half that of public (still an unbelievably high number) but costs are roughly $150 per child per trimester. That sounds reasonable until you compare that to the stone masons who worked at the camp all day building a path – they got paid $10 per day…making private school an almost impossible feat for the majority of laborers.

After school was lunch and nap time (blog work for me) and like yesterday we pushed the afternoon game drive back a bit due to the heat.

Once back out I spied a little green bee eater (that’s their real name) and received a comment of “excellent spotting,” from Johnson. They are a beautiful bird and Billy was especially thrilled because he had seen it in his bird book before coming and thought that one would be really cool to see.

We came across another herd of elephants, also with a few babies. We watched for a bit and just as we were driving away for some reason the herd was not too happy about something, maybe even us. At one point, they surrounded the littlest elephants and began making alarm calls. It was one of those “whoa” moments!

Johnson then set out to look for leopards but instead we found more lions moving about. You’d think you might get tired of seeing the same animals everyday but you don’t because every encounter is different.

We decided to go back to the kill because Johnson thought the lions would probably be done with it by now and we could witness the scavengers taking over but first Johnson asked if we wanted to go past the hyena’s den. Always wanting to see something new and different we said absolutely but we had no idea what was waiting for us.

We entered an area that looked no different than all the other areas we had driven through but immediately there were hyenas everywhere. There were loads of puppies, some only a few weeks old.  Up to this point we had not seen any pack of hyenas, we had only seen them out roaming solo so it was quite the sight.

But the real sight was all the hyenas appeared to be male as all of them had their schlongs hanging out, it seemed rather bizarre. Johnson never said anything about it even when the three of us were commenting to each other about it. Well, hold on to your hats because in wanting to understand more about it, I looked it up and Whoa… all of those hyenas we thought were males were actually females. Apparently female hyenas have a pseudo penis that they urinate from, mate with and give birth through. I’ll spare you the rest of the details, but suffice it to say… whoa .

We actually got to hear their call which has made them known as laughing hyenas-pretty wild!

We passed a huge herd of cape buffaloes on our way back to the kill.

Back at the kill, the lions were still working on it. The carcass had been moved quite a distance and it had been perfectly skinned in one area. There were a few lions there, including a little cub.

A pair of jackels were nearby but not brave enough to get too close as we watched them get run off by a younger lion.

While watching them feast Johnson got a call that there were tiny cubs, like a few weeks old just down the hill. Jenny wanted to see them do we made our way down the rock strewn hillside. Turned out there were three cubs-absolutely adorable! We couldn’t see them well either the binoculars as we couldn’t get too close and the light was fading but I managed a few shots (not the best quality though).

Jenny and I had planned to do a night drive to see things from a different perspective and to try and catch a glimpse of a few of the nocturnal animals, the aardvark in particular but as it was already getting late and we were still quite a distance from camp, we decided to stayout later with the kill and then would head back in total darkness.

It is not allowed to use regular spot lights at night in the conservancy as it can obviously be blinding but red spotlights are OK.

Using the cover of darkness, a pair of jackals tried to sneak in to get to some of the entrails that were left further from the carcass.

But the lioness was having none of it.

As we headed back for camp we stopped to admire the stars, Billy pointed out the southern cross and Jupiter and were aging brightly.

We passed a few hippos headed out to spend the evening grazing on grass before they return to the water by sun up.

We really enjoyed being out at night – it was a different experience for sure!

The Maasai guard walking us back to our room at night; me praying there are no lions hanging out in the bushes!

The Pride of Naboisho

Our sleep last night was silent, minus the sounds of the river below us.

We got to sleep in an extra two hours this morning as we will be transferring camps so we decided not to have an early morning game drive.

We said our goodbyes to the amazing staff, loaded up the truck one last time with Brian and headed out. As soon as we topped out of the canyon onto the plains, there were herds and herds of animals – zebras, Thomsen Gazelle, Grant’s Gazelle, Impala, Wildebeast, and Cape Buffalo.

As we were bouncing along a call came in that once again had Brian telling us to hold on. By this point I think Brian knew we could handle the jarring ride but this time it was more akin to taking the boat across Long Island Sound on a small craft advisory day. There’s not much to hold on to but we braced ourselves with what we could.

We were racing the clock to cover a lot of ground to a sighting of two leopards together, a mother and her seven month old cub – Endoto and Namunyak, respectively.

Brian knows the conservancy like the back of his hand and against all odds we made it in time to spend a few good minutes with the two.

Unlike Nape, Endoto is completely comfortable around cars and by the looks of it, so is her daughter. We had to warn one of the other guides that Namunyak was lying under his car so not to move. At one point, she looked right at Jenny,

One of the reasons leopards are the most difficult animals to spot is their camouflage is incredible. They literally disappear into the tall grasses and bushes, even as they are moving about.

Once the two disappeared into the bushes for good, we thanked Brian immensely for giving it his all to get there in time to see them the way we did. Our time with them was short but it was an absolute highlight.

Brian once again nailed it with a spot to enjoy our picnic breakfast and to recap the morning’s events.

Our drive out of the Mara North Conservancy and through local Maasai communities was across some of the flattest landscape I think I have traveled. About 3/4 of the way there we came across another Kicheche truck headed towards Mara North. We stopped and Brian chatted with the guide who turned out to be our guide for the next two days. His passengers boasted on how Johnson is the best guide in all of Kicheche while we begged to differ.

The drive had taken us over an incredibly dusty road and by the time we arrived to Kicheche Valley camp some two hours later, we were filthy!

We said goodbye to Brian, a very sad one actually as we had all grown very fond of him. Our first impression wasn’t a hit-it-off right off the bat moment rather he endeared himself to us in a slower but deeper manner. Jenny was actually quite upset about our goodbyes as she expressed that it’s like he’s gone forever.

We loved how he would compliment us with, “well spotted,” whenever one of us saw something before him. How you’d be talking about something and his response would be simply, “OK.” He was always checking on us, following up with Billy when he was experiencing some stomach issues and Jenny was suffering some side effects from the malaria medicine.

Billy ended up gifting Brian his US flagged Swiss Army knife a few days back. As we said goodbye Brian told us he can’t wait to get a sheath for it so he can wear it everyday.

Kicheche Valley Camp is located in the Naboisho Conservancy- another conservancy in the Maasai Mara, though smaller than Mara North but like Mara North it is a partnership between the camps and the Maasai land owners.

The terrain is a bit different than Mara North with it being less lush and though it is higher elevation it was downright hot here!

Like Kicheche Laikipia, they kindly upgraded us to their newest tent – a two bedroom family unit. And just like Mara North, our tent was the very last one down a stoned path but where the path at Mara North was wide open and cleared of all side bushes, here the path is flanked by dense bushes – just the kind of environment that lions and leopards love.

Valley camp has a bit of a different vibe than the others, feeling less like a traditional safari camp and more like a beachy vibe the staff is just as warm and welcoming here.

After settling into our tent we enjoyed lunch while taking in the views of both the landscape and the giraffes that were browsing in the trees across the way. Billy spied rodent looking creatures climbing on the branches of the whistling thorn tree (a tree with the most insane thorns). We thought they were rats but turned out they were bush hyrax. 

It felt like it had gotten even hotter since we arrived so we asked to push the afternoon game drive back 30 minutes until 4:30. We relaxed in our tent with all the fans oscillating on high. It’s remarkable that all three camps we have stayed at now, are off the grid. They all run completely on solar – you would never know it.

Johnson was there waiting for us and we loaded up and headed out. If the initial moments with Brian felt a bit uncertain than these felt like an uh-oh moment. We inched along, getting a thorough rundown of the rules – no standing up when he was driving (both Peter at Brian had said of course); keep hands inside the openings at all times (it had never been an issue). Looking back at Jenny I got the feeling she might start crying again because she missed Brian and this initial exchange lacked much of a connection.

All of these guides attend a college that specially trains them in very specific curriculum matter; because of that there is a similarity in the facts they know, the subjects they are knowledgeable on (not to say that they don’t have knowledge in additional areas of interest), and how that information is delivered. There is a lot of overlap to the point that most of the facts Johnson shared we had already learned from Peter but mostly Brian – like how to tell a Thomson’s gazelle from a Grant’s gazelle (Thomson’s is smaller with more of a brown butt and the Grant’s is bigger with an almost all white butt); that the type of giraffes we are seeing are Mara giraffes not reticulated like we saw in Laikipia, they are bigger and have more jagged spots; and that giraffes in a group are known as a journey if they are moving or a tower if they are standing still. 

We had heard about the lion prides at Naboisho- they are some of the biggest in the Mara. At one time there was a pride of 62, they ended up splitting into two prides and the larger of the two with over 30 members was lazing around so we headed over there to check them out. While seeing the Offbeat pride on the move was really cool, pulling up to a huge pride just hanging out was unreal.

This pride has two males – Limpy and Bully, brothers and both much larger than any of the previous male lions we had seen with fuller darker manes.

Bully was walking with a very distinct limp, Johnson said it was recently acquired, maybe via fighting with Limpy to maintain his dominance or maybe chasing another lion out of his territory and he stepped in a warthog burrow. In comparison, Bully clearly had seen some battles based on his scarred up face. 

Johnson said they must have feasted overnight on something as their bellies were fat and calm and happily lazing around.

We stayed and watched the pride for a solid hour, we even had sundowners with them – in the truck of course! 

On the drive back to camp, you could see lightning in the distance. We had seen it from Mara North too but at Naboisho we were closer to the area. Brian had told us, and Johnson confirmed, that the Lake Victoria basin receives rain almost every single day; usually heavy rain accompanied by thunderstorms. 

We stopped and watched it awhile and just like a few days prior where Jenny saw a lion’s face in the clouds, today I saw a lion’s paw.

When we came in yesterday we passed by a large hippo pool with lots of hippos in it. The road actually dipped down into the water a bit and we had asked Brian to stop so we could take some pictures. You could tell he wasn’t thrilled with the idea as we joked about it a hippo surfaced right next to us it would scare the crap out of us. I think Brian was thinking more along the lines of flipping the truck over… Most people think cape buffalos are the most dangerous African game animal, and while fierce, especially a solo male, hippopotamuses kill more people in Africa than any other animal (a little factoid I actually knew).

The hippos were amusing surfacing and submerging all the while keeping an eye on us. When a hippo submerges, it turns its ears inwards and lays them flat against their heads, covering their ear canals.

The water they live in has a high smell of sulfur from all their poop. It is also topped with what looks like oil slicks, apparently they sweat all day, even while floating around in the water. Babies are born on land but immediately brought into the water.

By the end of the day Johnson was growing on us. He, like Peter from the north, laughs at his own humor. He’s clearly well regarded as he is one of only a handful of Kicheche guides that are permanent in their respective camps. Most guides get rotated between camps but the ones who have a high number of guests returning requesting them specifically are left in place. Both Peter and Johnson are examples. Brian has only been with Kicheche for a year and a half, he’s one of the newest to the team, and will actually be starting his new two year assignment at Valley beginning on the 22nd of this month.

Babies Abound

Last night as we were all going to sleep, we could hear the hippos in the river below making noises. We have slept every night with our tent flaps open so hearing the sounds around us has been easy!

Our morning game drive had us back with the Offbeat Pride but unlike previous sightings, this time, the entire pride was on the move. It is a completely different perspective having all the lions moving about versus just one or two at a time while they shift napping locations.

At one point the male lion came straight for our truck. Jenny was lying on her belly watching them but as he came directly towards her she dropped her gaze and I stopped filming for a few seconds because I got quite uncomfortable watching it happen.

The morning light was too magical so we stayed with them a while taking pictures.

The lions have quickly become Jenny’s favorite, overtaking the warthogs. She loves how they interact with each other and how when one of the lionesses reunites with the pride she goes around to all the other lions and “greets” them. We followed the lions for quite some time until they eventually disappeared into the bush.

We headed over to an area that is known to be a leopard hang out but all we found were a huge water buffalo wallowing in the mud and not too pleased to see us, an eland (the largest of the antelope family), and some cheeky green faced monkeys – a sight to see from the back end.

Brian found a little belt spot for our breakfast picnic in the shade of a giant acacia tree.

We passed by this beautiful little pond and noticed that there were two hippos hanging out in it. Hippos stay in water all day long as their skin is exceptionally sun sensitive. They leave the water at night to feed on grass traveling up to 3 miles per evening.

We made it back to camp a bit early because both Billy and Jenny were feeling pretty wiped out. I ended up dining for lunch solo but don’t feel sorry for me. It was a beautiful location, a delicious meal, andand Fred took good care of me.

Billy decided to skip the afternoon game drive but Jenny joined in after recharging her batteries.

We started off across the river from our tent- an apparent leopard hang-out… but today the only thing hanging out was this little bird who was calling his heart out and hitchhiking a ride.

We ran into another large herd of elephants with lots of young ones, especially three highly entertaining little ones. The one was so entertaining as it was playing with straw and at one point got it stuck on its head while another came and plopped down on top of a smaller one.

At one point we noticed it looked like one of the littlest elephants was eating the poop from its mother. Brian said they do that in order to seed their bellies with bacteria that allows them to break down the fibrous plants they eat- a sort of probiotic.

We honestly could have sat and watched this herd until nightfall but we let them be after about 30 minutes or so.

We searched a little longer for leopards to no avail so we headed for evening sundowners. Jenny told Brian she’d like to get a picture of a giraffe on the horizon at sunset so if he saw it, to please stop and wouldn’t you know it…

Brian picked a great spot overlooking a pond with three hippos.

You ready for a little hippo entertainment?

It was our final night at Mara North Camp. We had the most incredible time here. We loved everything about it but most especially the staff. They are some of the warmest, kindest, most genuine people- we took an exceptional liking to a few of them, especially Johnathan the Maasai security guard who walked us back to our tent every evening and picked us up every morning before dawn.

U-turns and Trumpets

We woke up in the middle of the night, listening to the sound of grass being torn, but could hear nothing else. In the morning, Brian informed us that it was elephants. Apparently elephants have padding underneath their feet so they basically walk silently.

Our plan today was to head over to the Mara River to see hippopotamus and crocodile before heading to the local Maasai Village for a community visit followed by a trip to one of the schools that Kicheche sponsors, to deliver the soccer balls and school supplies.

About 20 minutes outside camp, Brian leaned in to listen to the radio call. He quickly turned it up, continued listening intently, picked up his receiver, said something in Maas and simply said, “Hold on. I’m gonna go fast,” and flipped a hard U-turn. 

We raced through the savanna – bumping in and out of deep ruts to the point of actually launching our asses off our seats. It’s a good thing we are used to riding in the buggy in Arizona as the terrain here is very similar with the fields of lava rock and rutted up tracks.

Billy, Jenny and I kept looking at each other but since Brian hadn’t said a word yet we also remained silent. It was a good five minutes before Brian told us what was going on. Up to that point I had suspected it was one of two things-either one of the other cars was in trouble, like there had been some sort of accident because he wouldn’t have been driving that way if it was just because someone was stuck in the mud or there was a leopard spotted. Turns out it was the latter!

One of the other Kicheche guides had spotted an exceptionally shy female called Nape (pronounced nap-ay) crossing the road then running into some very thick bush along a small creek. We pulled up 15 minutes or so after the announcement, just as she was crossing the creek to the other side. We managed to catch a quick glimpse of her carrying a fresh kill.

We quickly lost her and with the other cars approaching, she buried herself deep into the bush. We drove slowly along the creek bed trying to spy her in the thick undergrowth when Brian got word she was spotted by one of the other Kicheche trucks. We raced over to try and find her and with the use of binoculars, we could see her deep inside the bush but the tall grasses and branches really blocked our view. It was challenging but we managed to get a few great shots.

When yet more cars arrived, she ended up darting out of the bushes, and Brian tried to follow. We swung around one way but were unable to locate her so we turned back around and went flying past a herd of elephants that was none too pleased with the racing car. Jenny voiced concern that we were going to send them into a stampede and seconds later the dominant elephant gave out an unbelievably loud warning trumpet, a first for us, but Brian insisted we would be OK. 

We never did catch up with Nape again, but what we did see of her was magical. We had now completed the Big Five – a term that actually originated in colonial times when the big game hunters came to Africa seeking their trophies. Those hunters coined the term as a way to boast about their bravery.  The Big Five referred to the most dangerous animals for them to hunt. It includes the, elephant, cape buffalo, lion, rhinoceros, and the leopard. It seems the term should be banished, but despite its horrific origins it has morphed into a term that is associated with beneficial tourism from those seeking to photograph the Big Five.

it was hard to come off the high of seeing Nape but we continued on our way towards the Mara River. Within a half an hour we received another tip that a different cheetah from yesterday had been spotted. So in true Brian fashion, he drove it like he stole it and we arrived in plenty of time to see Ruka (which means jump in Maas) lazing around seemingly without a care in the world, not the least bit bothered by the cars around him.

When you’re at a sighting, the animals obviously will move around so the cars are constantly jostling for position, always being considerate that they aren’t blocking another truck’s view or setting up behind in the direction the picture will most likely be taken from. And in doing that, one of the Kicheche’s trucks ended up in a deep wallow where they got severely stuck. Not necessarily an issue, these guys get stuck in mud all the time, except for the fact they were stuck 20 feet from a cheetah.

They waited for Ruca to move on again and then the rest of the cars put themselves in a position to block him from seeing that people were now out of the truck working to set up a tow rope to get the stuck vehicle out. Once successful at freeing the car, we continued on to the river.

Once at the river, Brian set up our picnic breakfast overlooking the throngs of hippopotamus. Hippos are funny creatures for sure but they are also  exceptionally stinky. The good news was we were high up on the riverbank so we didn’t have to deal with the pungent smell from the hippos but instead could enjoy watching them as they surfaced for air. The babies were adorable and seemingly curious of us.

And I’ll be honest if you’ve never seen a hippo poop it’s the craziest thing in the world. If they do it when they’re in the water, it kind of reminds me of when you get an outboard engine in super shallow water and you need to trim it up a bit; on land or when their rear is out of the water, it’s something to behold!



The last creature that we could think of to see was a crocodile, but there were none present in the river at this point

After our delicious breakfast, we set out for the Maasai village cultural visit. I hadn’t been 100% certain what to expect so when we arrived, our welcome greeting was quite an experience, to say the least.

We were warmly greeted with singing and dancing followed by the traditional Maasai sport of jumping. The purpose of the jumping is for a warrior to attract a wife. The higher they can jump the more appealing they are to a future bride.

Many of the Maasai still live in traditional settings with their straw, mud and cow dung homes built around a central open area where they heard their cattle in at night to protect them from the predators. We were given a tour of the Chief’s home since he was not there. To say they live a simple life would be a massive understatement.

Jenny loved handing out instant pictures of many of the children and even had requests from a few of the adults. The Maasai had set up an area with all their crafts and we did a little shopping as well – probably overpaying a bit but Billy bargained them down some.

From there, we headed to the school, an elementary and high school combined with over 550 students presently supported. We showed up at lunchtime, every student is given a hot meal, and we’re greeted with waves and smiles and “Jambo” Swahili for hello. 

The school administrators were very appreciative of our donations.The principal also teaches geography and was thrilled with the laminated world map we brought; the lead teacher that led our tour, happened to be the math teacher, and was thrilled with all of the math table charts. Many of the teachers were curious where we were from, but we’re very complimentary of the United States and even went as far as to share that Miami was their dream place.

We toured one classroom, a first grade class like I used to teach. There were 46 students in the class with one teacher! A very basic room with a few hand drawn charts on the wall, one of which was of the water cycle. Tough conditions to imagine working under; amazing that these teachers do that.

We got back to camp a bit later today for lunch; It had been a long morning! But we were determined to make the afternoon game drive we just asked to starta little bit later.

As soon as we left the camp, we ran into a herd of elephants. We stopped and watched them for a long time. They’re such incredibly intelligent creatures and just like Brian said you could hear them tearing the grass but not walking in it. There was a little calf nursing as well, which of course held our attention for quite some time. 

We then ended up at a lion sighting, a different pride of lions than the Offbeat pride. We first saw a mother and a cub, the mother was busy digging in a warthog hole trying her might to get the warthog out. She had a pretty bad injury on her leg, and the poor thing seemed exhausted. 

From there, we headed up the hill where there were a few more lionesses with their cub and the male lion, all sleeping in the grass. Not much action with them so as Jenny said, “time to leave the lying lions.”

Brian found a beautiful spot for sundowners and we enjoyed recapping our amazing day. When it was time to pack up, I still hadn’t finished my wine but I told Brian it would be OK, I would just hold it for the ride back. He was concerned it would spill, but Billy assured him, “Don’t worry Brian, she’s a pro…” To which we all had a good laugh.

it was crazy to read on the news that there were Kenyan riots happening in Nanyuki, the city we had been in just a day previous on our flight from Laikipia to Mara North. The Kenyans are protesting the US’s request to put an Ebola facility to treat Americans there. Honestly, can’t say as I blame them…

Ch…Ch…Cheetah

Our first night here was a bit of an experience, lying in your bed at night hearing the sounds of wild animals, and knowing the only thing between you and them is nothing but a screen…

We could hear one particular animal calling and in the morning Brian replicated the sound perfectly informing us it was a hyena.

At 5:30 Amos delivered us our hot beverages and cookies and by 6:00 we were meeting up with Brian to start our morning game drive. We had filled out our picnic breakfast request at last night‘s dinner and that was already loaded into the Land Cruiser. 

It’s amazing the plethora of animals here that all mingle together, each one playing a vital role in the group’s safety. Some have better hearing than others, some have better eyesight than others, while some have better smell. In the evening, they congregate on the plain away from the bushes, hence away from an ambush by predators, and collectively protect each other.

Not far in we found a pair of warthogs, one of which was humongous, so big that even Brian said it was one of the biggest he had ever seen.

As we rambled along slowly following a river, the view across the river and a large open field became clear and just as Brian stopped the car to pull out his binoculars Jenny said, “What’s that over there on those rocks?” By the time she had finished her question, Bryan exclaimed “Cheetah…Hold on.”

Again Brian demonstrating his prowess at driving like he stole it. He flipped around, raced back to the main road, crossed the bridge and ran up along the open savanna where the cheetah was ,trying to find a clear opening to cut across.

How lucky were we that we happened upon her while she was sitting on the black lava rock because by the time we reached her, she had come off of the rocks and was walking through the tall grasses. It would’ve been much harder to spot her if that’s where she was to begin with – their camouflage is incredible!

We pulled up to Nagol, Maasai for strong, and relished a few minutes to ourselves with this magnificent creature before any of the other guides could get there in response to Brian‘s tip. 

Nagol wasn’t the least bit leary of the cars and moved around from spot to spot giving us fabulous opportunities for pictures in the early morning sunlight. We stayed with her for a full 40 minutes until a sixth car showed up at 7:50.

Not even ten minutes later we were back watching the same pride of lions we had seen yesterday evening but this time we counted five cubs and they were all up playing being completely mischievous!

We had about 25 minutes with the pride, known as the Offbeat pride (named after one of the camps in the Conservancy). We honestly could have watched those cubs all day! 

We stopped and watched mara giraffes for a while, getting a kick out of just seeing their heads up above the trees. Brian explained how giraffes have prehensile tongues, allowing them to safely remove leaves from the giant thorn trees – quite the sight through binoculars! we also learned that both sexes have horns, but the females are fuzzy and the males are usually bald because lady. They also only have seven cervical vertebrae in their neck – same as almost all mammals, including us!

At 9:30 we stopped to have our picnic breakfast on a hill overlooking the valley below and the giraffes busy feeding. We were gobsmacked at everything we had managed to see already!

Our next sighting included an endangered secretary bird who had just killed a small mammal and was feeding on it when a tawny eagle dove in to steal it, only to then have a critically endangered white-back vulture swoop down and steal it from him. Quite the entertaining scene.

Next up a small herd of African savanna elephants including a one tusker and her adorable baby, a ridiculously large herd of zebras and their too cute brown striped babies mixed in tobies who was showing signs of a brain worm infestation by shaking their heads and runnng wild for no clear reason.

Arriving back in camp we were greeted with a cold drink and a yummy lunch. After Billy’s nap we worked on getting the soccer balks blown up before heading back out for the afternoon game drive.

On our evening game drive we went out searching for the elusive leopard but instead came across a hyena chomping down on a jaw bone – exciting but…Eventually though we ended back with the lions (we just couldn’t resist) before concluding the evening in a beautiful location to enjoy sundowners.

It was another absolutely stellar day and seriously can it really get any better?

Welcome To the Land of the Maasai

We were up by 7:00 and out the door by 7:30 as we were driving back to the Nunyuki Airport for our flight on to the Mara North Conservancy. We had one of Kicheche’s employees, Jamlex with us, a local solar technician who had been at the camp doing work on their system, and William, our driver. William is one of those stories you love… started as a busboy, worked up to a server/waiter and then became a guide- no easy feat in Kenya, let alone to be hired to guide at Kicheche which requires a minimum of Silver Level accreditation (at least 6 years of training).

We weren’t but a few minutes outside camp before we ran into a herd of Cape Buffalo that numbered in the hundreds, most likely. All of the locals in the car with us said they’ve never seen such a thing before here in Ol Pejeta.

Once seated on the plane and the pilots boarded, it was quickly apparent that there was a pilot in training who was going to be flying the aircraft today, another 12 seater Cessna. I obviously wasn’t too thrilled with the idea, but not much I could do about it.

Our flight to our next destination ended up being switched from a nonstop flight to a flight with a stop again. We were flying 50 minutes north to the remote Samburu region of Kenya. The landscape changed from a vibrant green to more of a desert scrub the further north we traveled. By the time we got halfway there, if you had told me I was flying over Arizona in the high country or New Mexico I would’ve believed it. We even saw camels from the plane. It was absolutely spectacular scenery!

As we were coming into the dirt airstrip, there was a huge herd of goats crossing it. Once on the ground, Jenny asked the pilot-in-training if he had seen the goats and he said yes he thought we were gonna end up with a barbecue.

The next leg was scheduled at one hour and 10 minutes as we headed west towards the famous Maasai Mara along the Tanzania border. Once again, the landscape got greener and lusher.

Upon landing at the Mara North airstrip, we met up with our guide for the next four days, Brian, who turns out had attended university with Jamlex. 

I asked Brian about the statue I saw when we were landing- a horned animal standing on top of a mound. He quickly informed me that it was no statue, it was a topi, and he was standing on top of a termite mound, that’s how they get a view of what is going on.

The landscape here was different from that up at Laikipia being even lusher and greener with huge open savannas as far as the eye can see – actually reminding me a bit of the plains of the United States or the grasslands of Nebraska.

Within minutes, we were passing loads of zebra, impala, gazelle, and we came upon our first wildebeest of the trip as well as close-up of ostrich.

Our base for the next four days will be the Mara North Conservancy at 5.500’ elevation. A roughly 72,000 acre conservancy that was developed as a partnership between 800 Masai landowners and 12 permanent camps. Unlike Ol Pejeta Conservancy, this conservancy is not fenced at all; the animals migrate freely through it into the adjacent Mara National Reserve, and over through Tanzania’s Serengeti.

The amount of animals we passed was mind blowing. We stopped for a picture of some warthogs that were close up, but Brian told us when he shuts the engine off they’ll run.

We quickly realized that Brian was a font of knowledge about everything environmentally related to this ecosystem. He is Maasai but is also a silver accredited guide.

The welcome committee to the camp was a ginormous bull elephant, and a troop of baboons many with their babies riding on their back. Brian told us that when the baby is 0 to 3 months they ride on the mama‘s belly and from three months on they switch to their back.

Followed by Amos, enthusiastically waving.

Kicheche camp is beautiful with a huge outdoor terrace completely shaded by multiple elephant paper trees. It is a bigger camp than Laikipia but it still only has 10 tents. We were assigned mamba meaning crocodile in Swahili, the tent furthest from the main tent and the one with the best view, sitting right above the river and looking down the valley.

Like Laikipia, we were told we absolutely cannot walk alone at night – ever!. There are Masai guards here to walk you back and forth to your tents at night and during the day you are told just to keep your eyes open and your head on a swivel as ALL the animals travel freely through the camp grounds-a bit unnerving actually.

Our tent was much smaller than the previous tent with just an extra bed in it for Jenny, but the views and the privacy being located on the end, more than made up for it.

We enjoyed a few cold Tusker beers, a nice lunch, and then chilled out or in Jenny’s and Billy‘s case napped, before starting our afternoon game drive.

Where Kicheche Laikipia is known for being the best rhino spotting in all of Kenya, Kicheche Mara North is known for having some of the best cat sightings i.e. lion, cheetah, and the elusive leopard (the last of the big five for us to see).

Within 30 minutes of leaving the camp Brian received a call on the radio that there was a pride of lions spotted, so we made our way over to see. And just like Ol Pejeta, since we were staying at a camp is the conservancy, you can travel off road so we bumped along the rocky terrain in time to catch the pride in the open.

Unlike our previous lion sightings this was a full pride with a large male, multiple females and 4 cubs, that were absolutely precious. Jenny was transfixed by them and we stayed here as long as we could, about 45 minutes. The rule in the conservancy is no more than five vehicles at a sighting but when there is a sighting the guides radio to each other so it can get a bit busy. Once the max number is reached and Safari cars begin waiting the car that’s been there the longest then leaves. 

When we finally left and we’re headed to go have our sundowners another call came across that two male lions were traveling together, but they were towards the edge of the conservancy. Brian turned around and said, “You OK if I drive fast?” “Of course,” we responded. “Alright then, hold on,” and man, he wasn’t kidding. He put the pedal to the metal and tore off apparently in a race to beat them to the conservancy boundary. He ripped past them, hung a hard left then hit the brakes just in time for us to watch the two male lions pass by before heading into the bush on the adjacent conservancy. We skedaddled back over the invisible boundary line and laughed while teaching Brian about the saying, “Drive it like you stole it.”

Sundowners took place high upon a hill with a beautiful view and an amazing sunset. Jenny told us to look at the sky and notice the clouds, she said it looked just like a lion – how apropos! How lucky were we to see the adorable cubs out in the open and to think we’d only been here a few hours.

And then there was the moonrise…

Just Living his Best Life

The wake up call at 5:30 came early, but it also came with cups of hot tea and coffee and a few cookies delivered to our tent to get us going. By 6 AM we were in the jeep with Peter on our way to start our morning game drive. The sunrise was spectacular and we didn’t make it far before we ran into our first sightings of the day-a rhino, hyenas, zebras, gazelle, reticulated giraffes (with a baby), and two new ones – the adorable bat-eared fox and the jackal.

Not even 15 minutes later, Peter stops the jeep; pulls out his binoculars, scans right, puts the binoculars down then slowly turns around and looks at us, smiles wide and says excitedly, “Lions!” 

We turn off the road and start crossing the open savannah, none of us at this point see what Peter sees. A few minutes later the two lionesses come into view and I assume we are going to stop any second, but we don’t. Peter drives closer, then closer, and yet closer while my heart starts pounding harder, harder and harder. As we close in within about 10 feet of them, he stops. Billy, Jenny, and I are looking at each other in astonishment, or maybe it was total fear, as we are staring in the eyes of the king of the jungle – who could be inside our jeep before we could even blink our eyes, if the wanted. Peter assured us though that the lionesses were fine – not the least bit interested in us. 

We sat in utter amazement at the two beautiful cats sitting in front of us. We had now seen four of the big five in less than 24 hours! It was absolutely remarkable in that we were the only ones there – just us and the two lionesses, for quite some time before the other jeep from our camp made it over. 

We sat with the lioness for a good 40 minutes before the two got up and started meandering through the bush. We followed along for a short bit to see if they would give chase to anything but they didn’t. It was an unreal experience!

One of the benefits of staying in a camp in a conservancy is not only the lack of other car traffic but most importantly the camp can drive off-road, allowing to get up and close, literally!

We continued on our way as we were going to go and find a spot to set up our picnic breakfast when Peter stopped to chat with another guide. The guide told Peter he had just come from a male lion sighting. He shared the location and before you knew it we were upon him. He was absolutely gorgeous and Peter got just as close if not closer than he did to the lionesses. What an extraordinary beauty he was.

We found a place to stop and enjoy our picnic breakfast and marvel at the luck we had already had in such a short time at Laikipia.

After breakfast, we continued on our drive seeing more and more animals, including the warthogs, one of Jenny’s favorites and a grey crowned crane.

We made a stop at the chimpanzee sanctuary that had been set up by Jane Goodall in the early 90s in order to have a place to send rescued chimps. Chimpanzees are not native to Kenya, but they are to the neighboring countries of Tanzania and Uganda as well as Rwanda and Congo, Obviously it was nothing similar as seeing animals in the wild, as the chimpanzees are in a large enclosure about 900 acres, but are nonetheless behind fences. Their stories are heartbreaking, but it’s nice to know that they have a place to live out the rest of their lives.

At one point, we came across the safety facility for humans if one of the chimps were to escape. Unlike Gorillaz, chimpanzees are omnivores and are known for being vicious at times.

The last stop before returning to camp for lunch was the northern white rhino sanctuary, where the last two northern white rhinos left on earth are under 24/7 guard, having been hunted to basic extinction for their horns which are sought after by the Chinese as an aphrodisiac Years of civil war and their native lands led to them being butchered and sold as a way to raise funds for arms.

The last two are a mother and daughter. They harvested sperm from the last male who died a few years back and are in the midst of an incredible program to bring them back from the brink of extinction. They have created embryos and will implant them in a southern white rhino surrogate. The first round failed after the surrogate lost the pregnancy a few months in. They are hoping to try again this week and if all goes well in 18 months, a new northern white rhino will be born.

On the way back to camp, we passed yet more and more animals, including another herd of elephants.

After another stellar lunch, a nap for Billy, and a fly swarmed walk for Me, Jenny and Will ( another guest we befriended at camp), we headed back out at 4 o’clock for our afternoon game drive. With yet more animals and another very large herd of elephants, including some very young ones.

We ended up on top of a plain that was like a scene out of Lion King-animals as far as you could see of all types and sizes, including yet more rhinoceros. Ol Pejeta Conservancy has certainly lived up to its name as being the best place in all of Kenya to spot rhinoceros.

For the final show of the evening, we watched as two lionesses hunted down a warthog. To watch them work together, the stealth that they both exhibited was fascinating. Poor Jenny was feeling so sad for the warthog as she said, “living his best life happily prancing along having no idea he was prancing into a death trap.” The warthog literally almost stepped on the lioness but the lioness didn’t pounce,she waited for it to get a little bit more past her before she gave chase. Apparently lions know they have to be very careful when it comes to warthogs because they can get punctured by their ginormous tusks. The chase didn’t last long and the warthog ultimately got away, but the scene was unreal.

Honestly, I do not know how the day ahead can get any better.

What IS This Thing?

Our driver picked us up at 8:00 to drive us the 25 minutes to the regional airport. This drive took us through a completely different part of Nairobi- an authentic working neighborhood that demonstrated a far more challenging life than the ritzy Karen neighborhood we were in yesterday. named after Karen Blixen the author of “Out of Africa.”

Our flight on the 12 passenger Cessna Caravan turned out to have a stop north of our designated stop. The first 50 minute leg gave a great overview of Nairobi and its spread.

As we were coming in to the dirt airstrip we saw our first animals- elephants off the left for Jenny and giraffes off the right for me- Billy in the middle got to see both!

After a quick stop to drop off and then pick up passengers we were on our way to our stop. The airstrip we were originally scheduled to use went under construction a few days back so we had to use a different one that was just over an hour away.  That turned out OK as we saw a lot more of the area and local life.

It was really cool because we drove over the equator but our guide Peter said we would stop when we crossed back over it again once inside the conservancy.

Our destination for the next two nights is the Ol Pejeta conservancy in the Laikipia area of Kenya. This area is known for having the best rhino spotting in all of Kenya. The conservancy is home to African Black rhino and Southern White rhino; it is also home to the last two Northern White rhinos left on Earth. 

The conservancy is 90,000 acres, completely fenced in except for a corridor that animals can freely use to migrate – all except rhinos. They are kept here to protect them from poaching and to end up with same fate as the Northern White rhinos. Apparently rhinos have terrible eyesight and won’t cross the specially designed barrier installed just for them, while all the other species walk/hop over it. 

We made it as far as through the gate when we spotted common zebras and impalas – members of the antelope family with gorgeous twisted horns.

We quickly came upon the equator again and stopped to take pictures. Billy’s watch read latitude 0°0’.0” – so wild. We crossed into the northern hemisphere and made our way down bumpy dirt roads.

We saw rhinos, giraffes (which I love) and cape buffaloes before we even turned into Kicheche Laikipia and were warmly greeted with smiling faces and big waves.

The short list of rules were gone over – no walking anywhere in camp after dark – period- you must have an escort…even though the camp has an electric fence around it, there is still a small opening across the driveway.

Our tent was fantastic- a very authentic feeling set up with all the comforts we needed without being over the top or bougie. It had a central living area flanked by a bedroom and bathroom on each side with a long front covered deck that overlooked the watering hole. It was perfect!

Since it was later than we had originally been expected to arrive we were taken straight to the dining area where we were served an amazing three course lunch.

Billy and Jenny went for a nap afterwards and I sat on our deck working on my blog. Not even 30 minutes later, a herd of elephants came over the dam and started drinking water at the watering hole. There were eight of them plus two babies! They are so remarkable sucking up to 8 liters at a time through their trunks then pouring it in their mouths.

We met Peter at 4:00 to start the afternoon game drive. We headed out and immediately came upon large herds of zebras, impalas, Grant’s and Thompson’s gazelles, a few cape buffalo and finally a herd of elephants- which is what Billy wanted to see (since he missed them earlier). It was unreal how close to us they came!

It was a docile herd with a few babies, the youngest about 3 months old. We spent at least an hour with them as we just couldn’t get enough of the baby – it was like it was asking, “What is this thing?” as it was trying so hard to figure out its trunk!

The next sighting was some waterbuck and a few rhinoceroses- including an old one that was looking pretty haggard.

We then found a spot to enjoy our sundowners- a perfect location alongside a bull elephant. A hyena came near by seemingly on his way to something he smelled,

The culmination of the evening, at this point with almost no light left, was a match between two Grant’s gazelles locking horns until the dominant one emerged.

Back at camp we enjoyed drinks around the firepit, followed by a gourmet 3 course meal and nightcaps by the indoor fireplace and a few games of backgammon for Billy and Jenny. 

A half a day in and we had already seen three of the big five. Billy just kept looking at me in astonishment and saying how unreal the day had already been. It already truly exceeded expectations.

From The Land of a Thousand Hills to The Cradle of Mankind

It was another early morning as we had to catch our flight to Nairobi. Even though we were only 20 minutes from the airport, we were told we should be picked up at 6 AM. It only made sense once we got to the airport as to why we needed to be there three hours ahead of time. What unfolded was a first for us, even with the multiple trips through the Middle East.

As you pull up to the airport, there is a checkpoint where all passengers exit the car leaving all their belongings behind. You then walk to a building where you go through a metal detector. Meanwhile, the driver stays with the car opens the hood, the trunk, the glove box the arm console all the doors, and then the police bring over a sniffer dog, who then goes through the entire vehicle, including the engine. After that, you reach the main terminal where you go through a second security checkpoint. Quite the set up, but always happy for the added security.

The one hour and 10 minute flight to Nairobi was smooth – the highlights being flying over Lake Victoria, the second largest fresh lake in the world, and a view of Mount Kilimanjaro off to our right; it’s peak sticking up above the cloud layer with the famous snows on top completely visible -quite a sight!

I had been told that arrival into Nairobi airport was something to behold, but it was completely uneventful, quite simple, and really very civilized compared to many other airports we’ve come into. Our driver Max was waiting for us on the other side where he picked us up, drove us to our hotel so we could drop our bags. 

Arrival here was also met with strict security, but we didn’t have to open the hood and we stayed in the car as the “happy” sniffer dog checked everything out.

After dropping our bags we grabbed our duffel full of school supplies and soccer balls then proceeded to the main office of the camp company that we will be staying with for our eight nights in Kenya. After dropping the duffel bag at the headquarters Max took us to fill our grumbling bellies. He couldn’t have chosen a more perfect place- a local artists gallery and restaurant set in park like grounds. The pieces in the gallery were fantastic – Jenny and I were thrilled to each get our own hand forged Masai warrior. 

From there, we proceeded onto another local craft market where we did a little bit more damage, including a nice canvas for Jenny, a couple of note cards, some small pottery pieces, and Billy was thrilled to find a rollup backgammon board handmade in Kenya with some beautiful Kenyan bead work. 

The next and last stop for the afternoon was at Kobe Tough, a women’s empowerment co-op, bead factory and shop (this was actually Billy’s pick for a tour choice). This place was different from the one that we went to in Rwanda in that it only dealt with beads – all handmade from scratch there. The ladies welcomed us with a dance in which they quickly included Jenny supplying her with a handheld shaker. similar to a maraca.

We were then taken through the process of how the ceramic beads are made starting with the stone dust they mixed with water, then drain to form a clay. It is then formed into various bead shapes and sizes using molds, then hand finished with a knitting needle to form the hole and finally kiln dried again.

They are then hand painted and kiln dried again, then assembled by various artists to create their own piece of jewelry. A really interesting process and one in which I never would have realized the amount of work that what went into each piece. Of course we felt the need to support them as well and picked up a few items.

We arrived back in the hotel in time to enjoy drinks and dinner up on the rooftop bar before calling it a day.

Tomorrow we can sleep in till 7:45 or so before we are picked up for our transfer to the local airport for our flight to the first of the three Safari camps we will be staying in.

And a few funny pics from the trip so far;