Dream Safari Vacation

I am sorry that we haven't written on the blog, but we were away on Safari. We just got back yesterday afternoon from the most amazing adventure weekend in the Mara. A big part of what made it so great was the accomodations.
We left Kijabe and drove to Nairobi with 2 other guys from Kijabe (Greg - a visiting surgeon from Virginia who is here the same length of time as us and Shawn - a very interesting medical student from Indiana). We went to the airport and boarded a plane for the 45 min. flight to the Mara. We landed at the gravel airstrip - maybe we can attach some pictures of it. We have been having a terrible time trying to attach pictures on the blog- doesn't seem to want to work. Anyway, we were picked up by safari vehicles to go the 5-10 min. drive to Mara Safari Club. It was built in 1989 right on the Mara River. A beautiful location. There were 50 tents all right on the banks of the river as the river at that point went in a "U" shape. The tents were huge!!! Made of green canvas, but set on a stone or cement platform. Each one had electicity (a bulb in a oil lamp) to give it authenticity, a patio, showers, flush toilets and beautifully carved four poster beds!!!!! Brett said, "This is the nicest place I've ever been!!!! It was so beautiful to sit on the deck and listen to the river running, watch the sunsets and the hippos, listen to all the bird noises and Hyrax sounds, sipping coffee and tea. I could easily have stayed another week to relax. I was not ready to leave on Sunday. The food was incredible, probably similar to a cruise although I've never been on a cruise!
At night, after supper when we returned to our tents, our sheets were turned down and there was a hot water bottle in each bed. How much more luxurious can you get in the bush?? Every a.m. at 5:45, we were woken up and presented with either coffee, tea or hot chocolate and some shortbread type cookies. Our first safari was from 6:30-8:30a.m. Our driver was Samuel and we were the only ones in the jeep. He was sooo good at spotting wildlife and he was so informative. You have to go to college in Nairobi for 2 years to become a guide. He works 7 days a week but when the season is slow he can go home (near MT. Kenya) for awhile. That is a very long distance away, so he does not see his wife and kids very often.
We would return to the camp for breakfast from 8:30 - 9:30 a.m. At 10:00, we would head out again until often 11:30 or later. Then we would come back to camp and the kids would often swim in the pool. Lunch was from 12:30-2:30. Then we would usually rest as the next safari was from 3:30 - 6:30p.m. Samuel I'm sure could smell the animals and where they were. He was amazing. We found every animal except the leopard (which is very shy and elusive anyway) and the croc's.
At 7:30, they had entertainment, once a nature lecture and once was Masai men performing their traditional dances. Supper was from 8:00- 9:30 p.m. Then I hit the hay as morning came early!!!!

These are some of the animals that we saw: elephant(about 20 in a herd), giraffe (again about 20 in a herd), 3 white rhino (we walked among them) many, many hippo (my they are noisy in the morning!) a lion pride of 2 males, 7 females and about 18 cubs (we saw them on 3-4 different occasions) lots of zebra, one cheetah, some eland, topi, Thompson's gazelle, Grant's gazelle, some baboons and black faced monkeys, bats in the dining room!!, dik diks, one jackal hanging around to scavenge after the lions killed a zebra, impala, gnu, warthogs (did you know that their tails go almost 360 degrees?) hartebeasts, a hyena (they are responsible for 60% of the game killed on the Mara!!!) 5 ostrich male and female, 6 male Cape Buffalo (scary!!) and a herd of female and young Cape Buffalo, Banded Mongoose, a Hyrax that hung around IN the lodge as well as bats in the dining room and lodge area!! I didn't mention any of the birds. There were so many and I couldn't remember all the names.

Many times we were so close to the animals, we could have almost reached out and touched them. The kids had almost as much fun riding in the safari jeep as they did seeing the animals. Those jeeps can go ANYWHERE!!!!! There were many times when I thought there is no possible way he can drive through this mud or through this river or over these rocks and hills and bumps, but HE DID. I told the kids it was better than the Exhibition rides any day. Even when we would get out of the truck, it still felt like we were bouncing up and down and side to side. Not good to ride in one if you have a full bladder!!! You would not believe how rough the roads and trails are.

The first day there Carly leaned over the fence by her tent and there was a Monitor Lizard looking at her. In her words, "It freaked her out!!" He quickly disappeared.
We saw many baby animals with their mamas and really enjoyed the lion cubs playing and bothering the adults!! We took sooo many pictures. We would never have been able to go on Safari if we had booked it from home as it would have been too expensive. This way, we were given the missionary rate which was about 1/4 of what we would have paid if we booked as regular Canadians from Canada. The staff were so friendly and joked around with the kids alot. Kenyans love kids. Brett even got pulled up to dance with the Masai warriors!!

Today, I took a walk up to the Girls school where Aunt Anna Sundbo was the first Headmistress there. I took lots of pictures of the school grounds and the house she lived in for so many years. There was a man I met there that knew her when she was here. His aunt was her house girl. I saw her office and a plaque on the wall remembering here.

I had lots of fun with the school kids on the walk up and back. This if their first day back after holiday. I took some pictures on the digital camera and they laughed and giggled when they saw their pictures. Then of course everyone wanted their picture taken!
Lori