AFRICA – the word itself conjures up all sorts of feelings and images. As a child, there were two places in this world I wanted to go. One was Egypt, and I have not made it there yet (but hope to soon) and the other was Kenya for a safari. In June last year I was able to go on that safari, and I am now another one of those people that say, “You just have to go!” It is impossible to truly describe how incredible it is!!
My mother and I met my sister in Atlanta for our flight to Nairobi via Amsterdam. After an uneventful flight we landed in Nairobi late in the evening and were transferred to the Grand Regency Hotel. Imagine my surprise to see a giraffe on the side of the road leaving a bustling airport!! The excitement quickly takes over and I found it very difficult to sleep.
We rose the next morning to meet the rest of the group that we would be traveling with for the next two weeks. We did a whirlwind tour of Nairobi including Karen Blixen’s house (the author of Out of Africa), the Daphne Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage, Lingita Giraffe Center, and lunch at a tea plantation. The Sheldrick Orphanage takes in baby elephants that have been orphaned, and hand rears them until they can be reintroduced into the wild. It is an amazing project with a wonderful staff of totally dedicated volunteers. At Lingita Giraffe Center you can pet and “kiss” the giraffes, which consists of being licked on the cheek with a very long blue tongue. They are so friendly and fun to interact with. The tea plantation was lovely and we learned much about the area and the agricultural history.
Nairobi’s most am
azing asset is its people. I was so impressed with the children. They go through quite an amazing daily routine just to go to school. Many rise around 4 in the morning and walk a very long way to catch the “city bus” (which is actually more like a minivan), as there is no school bus. They must struggle with grown men and others to get on the overcrowded bus, which takes all into town. After school is out they must turn around and repeat this process to get home. Many do not arrive home until after dark, then must do homework by candlelight, as there is no electricity, and go to bed to start the whole routine over aga
in. In the afternoon, we saw the little bitty children alone at the bus stops trying to get on the buses. Unfortunately, with the epidemic of AIDS, many children are orphaned. If there is no family to take them in, they eventually end up in the slums, which defy description, where continuing with their education is virtually impossible.
After a lovely dinner, it was off to bed for the real excitement to begin tomorrow! We would be off on safari at last!!! We flew from Wilson Airport to Kilimanjaro International Airport, and after passing through customs, flew to the airstrip at Tarangire. This was my first, but not last experience with commercial flights landing on dirt runways. It certainly takes getting used to. We sometimes had to buzz the runway in order to clear the animals before landing. Our 4x4 vehicles and drivers were waiting for us at touchdown with tops popped and we were off on our first game drive!
The sights, sounds, and smells assault your senses and it does not take long to feel a true sense of “mother earth” and our early roots. Everywhere you turn, you are surprised by the different kinds of amazing animals as well as all of the trees and plants that are totally foreign to you. I continuously had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.
The next day we drove to the Ngorongoro Crater. We had a very nice new paved road built by the Japanese. This was quite a surprise as most of the roads throughout the region are dirt and full of potholes. It is definitely a workout for the back and rump!! This nice road only lasts part of the way and then it becomes an extremely bumpy, bouncy and slow ride (referred to as an African massage) up to the ridge
of the Ngorongoro crater. Being up at almost 8000 feet, the view from the hotel was spectacular. We were escorted to our room from dinner, as there was a lone male cape buffalo on the walkway. Your senses stay on high alert, as you never know what animals might be around the next corner. The next day we packed box lunches and spent the whole day in the crater. As we entered we saw tree-climbing lions, which I was not aware existed in this area. Very shortly we came upon a pride of lions still working on their early morning kill. While it seems very graphic to discuss, it is part of the great circle of life and somehow just seems so natural when you are there. We were memorized and watched for quite a long time. This day we saw wildebeest, lion, zebra, ostrich, impala, cheetah, hippo, rhino, elephant, serval cat, jackal, and hyena, not to mention many bird species. We were all on a natural high as we continued to spot so many different things in each direction.
After a few days I felt like I was on sensory overload and we still had more to go. The next two parks were the Serengeti Plains and the Masaii Mara, both part of the same ecosystem, but the first in Tanzania and the second just over the border into Kenya. Here in Serengeti, we finally found the elusive leopard up in a tree with his kill. It was the only one of “big five” we had not seen to this point. They are such majestic and regal animals, and we could have watched all day.
In the Masaii Mara we followed a mother cheetah with her five cubs every day. The cubs were about one month old and precious. They would play and run around having a
ball as mom kept a close eye out for danger and food! It was also here that I discovered the pleasures of tented camps. Up to this point we had stayed in lodges, which were great, but Kitchwa Tembo, where we slept in actual tents and heard the lions roaring and other animals calling at night, was just amazing. Let me also say these are not standard tents! They have full en-suite bathrooms with showers, hot water and electricity! We also had full size beds with really soft sheets and down comforters. This is my kind of “roughin it.”
All too soon we had to leave for our return flight from Nairobi to Jacksonville, but not before our last meal at Carnivore Restaurant. This is a world famous restaurant that serves meat, meat and more meat. They come around the table with skewers of different kinds of meat and start loading your plate. There are several kinds of dipping sauces for the meat, most were tasty, but a few were a little strange. They continue to come until you tell them to stop. It is a total exercise in overindulgence. On the menu was just about every kind of meat you have ever had plus camel, ostrich and crocodile! Mom, Susan and I all liked the ostrich and were pleasantly surprised by the camel. It was very tasty. None of us however cared for the crocodile. I remember requesting a wheelbarrow to roll me out of there, but had to make do with actually walking out of that restaurant and taking a van to the airport.
As soon as we were checked in for our flight home, the let down began. I know I shed a few tears before boarding the plane. Africa was everything I had imagined and then some. It was at about this time I started trying to figure out how soon I could return. Upon arriving home I could not believe the trip I had anticipated for so many years was over. It took me about one month to begin real plans for my return. I can’t even begin to tell you how much this trip changed me and my outlook on life. Don’t take my word for it – start making your plans to go, or better yet – come with us in June 2008!