Safari! A few highlights...

For those of you who know my mom and I, most of these will come as no surprise. Here are some of the best parts of our 5 days on safari in Kenya:

• Our guides, Boniface and Jimmy. Both indulged my endless stream of questions (“Why is that impala all by himself?” “Why do zebras have stripes?”) as well as our constant need for restrooms and shopping opportunities. Very gracious, very knowledgeable, AND they found us a leopard!

Boniface, Cindy, me, Jimmy with our sweet ride.

• #4, our tent. Sekenani Tent Camp consists of 15 platform tents furnished in a modest Colonial style, complete with a private veranda and a bathtub – which had hot water ALL THE TIME. We relished the evening hours between our game drives and dinner, enjoying gin and tonics (in honor of the British of course) and hot baths each night.

Mom's bed.

My bed.

• A literal run in with a matriarch elephant. It was morning of our full day game drive and we came upon a herd consisting of 3-4 females and about 4-5 young. We inched up the road to improve photo opportunities and the mama took a few warning steps towards us…Jimmy slowly backed away and we continued to snap. A few minutes later she began walking briskly up the road toward our vehicle and the message was clear – we needed to move. Jimmy took the hint and we drove away, but not without being completely humbled but the largest female on earth!

This picture does not do her justice...notice the little adolescent in the background making his way toward the rest of the group... "Junior, go stand with your auntie while I deal with these pesky mzungus!"

• Our first hot air balloon ride! We rose at 4:30 am in order to fly calm skies. The balloon held 16 people, and I think I heard him say we went about 7,000 feet up. There’s nothing like drifting through the clouds as the morning sunlight comes pouring over the hills of the Mara.

Mom and me in our balloon basket.
She is the cutest!
Sunrise over the Mara.

• Lions, after breakfast. The morning of our balloon ride we spotted a pride of lions from the air. Personally, I saw a blob of yellow and pretended to be interested while the Europeans with binoculars oohed and aahed. But then our pilot drove us over to the spot after landing. We got within feet of nearly a dozen lions resting lazily not far from the ravaged carcass of an eland, the lion’s breakfast. They would be continuing their feast after some napping, but when we saw them their bellies were round and the males lounged apart from the females and babies, clearly the fullest in the group. It’s no secret that lions are magnificent animals, but seeing them so close, completely nonchalant and cuddling with their young after such a savage kill was truly amazing.

"We just devoured an eland so now we're tired. Next question?"
The rest of the family.

• R&R at the Fairview. We loved the last few days of our trip together, spent lounging by the pool, reading and swimming, and (of course) eating quite a bit of delicious food. This is a lovely hotel, built in the 1930’s (during the Colonial Era) with lush gardens full of every variety of palm, immense bougainvillea, nandi flame, and pomegranate trees. When we finally departed a couple days ago we were both happily sunburned, well-fed, and rested.

Oh yes.
Lunchtime.

I got to spend about 2 weeks with my mom which made me very happy. We saw many sides of Kenya and I feel renewed after getting some quality family time. Now, back to work ☺