AFRICA!

August 29 - September 14 FIBA/NBA calls and Don says YESS! With a week to pull the trip together we.......enlisted our travel agent to put together a safari at the front end of the work trip, lined up and got yellow fever and thyroid shots (done in Evanston, IL), managed to get our visa for Kenya, got the PCR covid test (did it twice because the first one was not getting back to us), and packed the appropriate malaria and diarrhea pills along with mosquito spray. Sunday's flight did not work out! Delta in CR to Detroit was delayed many hours which would make us miss our flight to Paris and then to Nairobi. We rescheduled for Monday going CR to Detroit to Amsterdam to Nairobi. Again, Amber at our travel agency came through and moved everything back a day. Thanks to FIBA/NBA we flew business class and enjoyed the two restful eight hour flights. 

 Monday, August 30 FLIGHTS    

WooHoo!  Business Class

Tuesday, August 31 Night in Nairobi
We arrived in Nairobi about 10 pm their time (eight hours ahead of Iowa time) and were met in the airport to help us through customs. We then met our driver who took us the Hemingway's for the night. 

 

 

Wednesday, September 1    DAY 1 OF OUR SAFARI

A driver picked us up early and took us to the small Wilson airport for a 45 minutes flight in a 12 seater plane to our safari camp.

Our 12 seater plane

Carry on bags thrown in the back behind rows of seats

And we've landed at the airstrip near camp.

 &Beyond (our Safari company) picked us up at the airstrip in an open air jeep and transported us to the camp.  Animals were sighted on the short drive to the camp.

Wildebeest

Zebras

Baboons

Giraffes and an elephant

In the jeep on the way to our safari camp.

Our welcoming serenade upon arrival at camp

Warthogs along the walking path to our "tent"

Another greeter on our path to the tent!

We settled into our "tent" and rested for a while before the first game drive.  We were pleasantly surprised at our "tent" accommodations.  Quite the luxury and with a butler who woke us up in the morning with our hot tea, prepped the tent for night  (put down the side flaps and put hot water bottles in the bed for our feet), filled the bathtub with hot bubble bath

Deck to watch for animals

Walled back patio complete with outdoor shower

Tent #5 - Home for 4 days and 4 nights!

Peeping monkey!

We met Fred, our guide, for our first game drive at 4:00 that first afternoon. We saw a few animals and then got rained out.  Oh well, we have three more days to see it all.

Hyenas

Antelope

Zebras

giraffes

Giraffes beside the road during the rain out.

Waiting out the rain

Back to camp for dinner.

DAY 2 - AN AMAZING DAY OF OUR SAFARI

It started with a sunrise hot air balloon ride over the Massai Mara National Park with animal sightings from above and a bush breakfast on touchdown.  Then Fred, our tracker/guide took us by Jeep throughout that area.  The highlight was seeing lions today and animals in their migration.

Up at 5 am & transported to balloon

About ready for lift off.

Beautiful!

Sunrise over the African plains.

Gorgeous sky

Hippos sighting from the balloon

And an elephant

Beautiful day for ballooning

We were two of eight in the balloon

A bush breakfast
Mimosas, omelettes, pancakes,
waffles, bacon, sausages, & fresh fruit

Our bush breakfast location.

Back in the jeep and it was a great day for seeing lots of animals!  A lion and lioness, then a group of male lions resting in the shade.  We parked very close to them.  Our guide said that the male lions don't usually hang out together like this.  Zebras are in migration right now so we've seen hundreds of them.  They are migrating with the wildebeest and buffalo.  We saw thousands of the migrating animals today dotting the plains as they are gradually following the grass.  Lucky timing for us as our guide said they've just arrived in this area.  

DAY 3 OF OUR SAFARI

Another awesome day of animal overload!  We did an all day safari drive complete with a bush picnic.  News sightings today were a cheetah, rhinos, ostrich, and a few more types of antelope.  The leopard is still alluding us.  We saw hundreds of thousands of migrating wildebeests and zebras.  Fun finds today were the babies of so many animals.  We ended the evening with dinner and native dancers.  

Sunrise view from our deck.

Blue tailed monkey near our camp

Elephant calves

We spent the day in Mara triangle.

Cheetah

Rhino

** lion cub with mother & fresh kill of zebra

Baby hippo calf

Baby (youth) giraffe calves

Bush picnic under a random tree on the plains

DAY 4 OF OUR SAFARI

We witnessed the beginning of the wildebeests and zebras crossing the river in migration.  It is estimated that over 2 million are migrating through this area!!  Other highlights today included seeing the "Lion King" male lion and sighting leopards - a baby up in the tree and the mother guarding on the ground.  And I finally captured our window peeper!  

Breakfast on the patio

Our morning greeter by the road.

the Lion King - full grown male

Baby hyena nursing by the road.

Crocodiles waiting for the migration crossing

The river crossing of the migration.