a day at the LA fair

last day in kenya :-(

our last afternoon in kenya...lunch at the serena hotel with peter, his family, some of  our group and 4 high school kids from the group, kenya-help.org

peter, one of our fabulous guides started a group about 4 years ago to help the children of kenya. unlike america's school system, kenya's schools are only free until 8th grade, after that it costs roughly $750-$1000 for a child to go to high school. it's so hard when a child is intelligent, loves school and wants to learn but their families can not afford the tuition. so peter started this small grass roots organization to help. they've grown to 16 families in the past 4 years and after these last two safari's with val, they have added another 9 sponsors!! yay!! my oldest sister has been apart of this program for 2 years now and i am soooooo happy and excited that i too can now participate in conjunction with my brother and other sister in sponsoring a child! it's so thrilling to be able to help make a huge difference in a child's life there in kenya! we won't know until january who our child will be because their school system is year round and the kids have to apply for this program. oh, it's so cool! there are many unique ways to help, if you're interested. the sister organization here in america is kenya-help.org. anything you can give makes such a ginormous difference in these kids lives...check it out!!

the great migration in masai mara

even tho my sister is smiling, in actuality our jaws dropped down to the ground when we saw our accommodations for the next 3 days. i have to say we got pretty spoiled with the other tented camps, especially the elephant bedroom. but we adjusted to the bucket showers and the toilet that wouldn't work because being right along the river full of hippos sounding off all night was really incredibly cool...it beat Carolyn's snoring at least!!

 we had an exciting morning filled with lion cubs, cheetahs with full bellys from their zebra kill the day before, leopards stalking tommy gazelles and the migration!! yeah! we spent hours at the river sitting, watching and eating cookies, cuz at first very few animals crossed, they always came close but then to our disappointment they turned around. but when the wildebeests and zebras  finally did jump in, the binoculars came up and the cameras started clicking away to capture this wondrous sight! one baby wildebeest almost didn't make it but at the last second he unhooked himself from a dead carcass and crossed to the other side...phew! there were plenty of hungry vultures and nasty looking crocodiles in wait for the ones who weren't so lucky.

on our last evening together :-( we dressed up with all the scarves and jewelry we bought along the way (the guys wore table clothes from the tents!) opened bottles of wine and tuskers and had a party!! and let me tell you...we had a blast...as you can see!! singing, dancing...and lots of laughing!

Samburu

 our next adventure took place at samburu national reserve along the ewaso ng'iro river or brown water river. we were close enough to drive this time, and the ride totally fascinated me. the small cities along the way were quite a culture shock from the pristine scenic areas that we had been use to. lots of garbage scattered everywhere, some of it was even used for the roofs of small stick homes. i was told not to look too obvious in shooting photos, so as we were driving along, i just placed my camera on my knee and started shooting, not knowing if they would turn out at all...but to my very happy surprise most of the images turned out quite well!

we arrived at the elephant bedroom camp where we were greeted by obama. the elephant that is!!

termite mounds are everywhere, some 10 ten tall and they can burrow down as far as 200 feet below ground, depending on the level of the water table.

the birds in kenya are amazing...such brilliant colored feathers. 

 this baby elephant put on quite a show for us...which was absolutely great cuz our vehicle's battery was dead and we couldn't go anywhere anyway until another jeep came by to give us a push. while we were stuck, we were mock charged by a bull elephant, which was a bit scary as we couldn't move but luckily he found a path around us.

 we stayed here 3 glorious days (ohhhhh how i loved the elephant bedroom camp!!)...but as i said before it was very dusty and windy, altho much warmer than the previous two places. and in this place any wild animal could roam thru the camp...in fact a few people could not leave their tents as elephants were right at their doorstep, but eventually shooed away by the staff throwing stones and waving palm leaves around! the first two camps had electric fences around them so the elephants could not come in, but even there you had to be escorted around. funny to see armed guards at these last two camps!

last stop... :-(  the bush camp in masai mara game reserve in south west kenya.

white rhino

so this is funny...i discovered that i accidentally took a video when i thought i was just taking photos! so even tho the quality is not so great (and definitely not the audio) it's pretty darn cool if i say so myself...a white rhino rubbing his horn!! 

(this was on our first day at lewa downs with our conservancy guide, tom.)

62,000 acres of beauty

my family: kenny (sisters boyfriend) sue (sister) john (brother) carolyn (sister) tommy (nephew) and me!

as soon as we got off our small aircrafts we hit the ground running with guides from the conservancy, as our guides had to drive 9 hours to get to us in lewa downs. the first thing we spotted  (no pun intended!!) was the famous cheetah brothers (3 in all). as cheetahs are lone hunters these brothers are very unusual.

reticulated giraffe

blue-balled  vervet monkey

white rhinos (isn't the baby soooooo cute!!)...not shy or dangerous at all like the black rhino, we could actually get pretty close.

our fabulous guides: stanley, very funny and quite the story teller. willis, very serious but by the end we had him smiling and laughing! peter, so sweet and nice! all highly intelligent and loads of fun!!

on the second day in lewa downs we visited a real working masai village. after a very bumpy 45 minute drive to the village we were almost turned away as the men (warriors) were called to an emergency meeting that morning, so just the women and children were present. it was an incredible experience meeting these gracious people as they sang us songs, showed us the insides of their homes (smaller than my bedroom) with dirt floors to sleep on and some of the work they do in their village. colleen and linda brought colorful toys and balls for the kids, along with pens where the kids proceeded to write numbers and silly math equations on tommy, ryann and johns hands and arms! sue, carolyn and i gave out coins and small crystals, and i let the kids try on my sunglasses and hat, then took photos of them and showed them what they looked like. the young women had lovely beaded jewelry for sale, so we bought a lot of it!

grevy zebra...thinner strips with white tummy's

some of the most remarkable things about Africa...the sunrises and sunsets with those magnificent golden hues! and the stars...you could see billions of them PLUS the milky way. never in my life have i seen the milky way before!and the clouds...wow...just every sight catches your breath and you know without a doubt there's a higher power at hand!

next stop...samburu national reserve and our stay at the elephant bedroom camp!!!! my favorite place, altho very dusty!

under african skies

(a local school greeted us at the amboseli airport)

 

OMG!! let me tell you, africa was amazing!!

 

 this trip went above and beyond and surpassed all my expectations...and believe me my expectations were very high. every moment was filled with magic, wonder, beauty, laughter, surprises and joy!

we had 3 of the very best guides throughout the entire trip and they graciously answered every single question we had about animals, the people of kenya, the government, their lives and experiences and so much more. we stayed at 4 fabulous tented camps with deluxe accommodations throughout kenya. i found all the people that we encountered to be the nicest, happiest and friendliest people ever. and the other participants in the trip (15 of us all together) were such fun people, so we laughed till our sides ached! the food was to die for, especially the desserts...yummy!! AND THE ANIMALS...OMG...the animals!! every time we had an awesome animal encounter, we all said nothing else could possibly top that...and the next time or two out...bam...another absolutely incredible encounter.

  

 some of the words that come to mind when i think of everything we experienced on this trip are: awe, magical, extraordinary!

no other words could express how astonishing this trip was to me...it is by far one of the very best adventures of my life and i am soooooo grateful for it!! and i wanna do it all over again!! right now!

 and as our wonderful leader val said to us in her kenyan/british accent over and over to us...you are sooooooooooooooo lucky, that was ammmmaaaazzzziiinngggg!! i agree fully!!

 this was just some of the highlights from our two day stay at amboseli national park at the tortilis tented camp...next up lewa downs wildlife Conservancy.