An East African safari

In 2019 I started planning an East African safari for the next year.

I had long wanted to visit the Masai Mara and the Serengeti; ever since a high school teacher had gone one summer vacation and returned with stories of the parks and the animals and the plains.

Unfortunately, after pricing it out, I decided it was too expensive to take the trip I wanted to. And then the pandemic happened.

Once vaccines had become available and international travel reopened, I was determined to take the trips I had been considering. I contacted the agent who had helped me with my original itinerary and told her to book the trip. It turned out to be a trip of a lifetime.

Kenya

Arrival, giraffes, and Karen Blixen.

Already, Kenya is like a dream. Last night arriving in the dark I kept up a conversion with the driver as he told me about the roads, his history driving all the country, his children, his family back home in the village.

An Introduction to the Masai Mara.

I am picked up at the hotel for the short drive to the airport. As the crow flies, we are practically next to the airport, but to enter we have to drive the long way around. And while traffic isn’t bad, it isn’t non-existent.

An early morning balloon ride, and an afternoon in the park.

It’s pitch black in my tent when the alarm goes off. It’s 04:45. Coffee and tea will be served at 05:15, and then Francis will pick me up at 05:30 to take me to the balloon launch site.

A family of lions and a pond of hippos.

Francis meets me at 0630 to start our drive. The sun rises behind us as we drive west and after a bit we stop. Francis pulls out his binoculars and then drives forward and around a small mound where a young lion is perched. Soon we see the entire brood, with small cubs following the adolescents as they play and walk in the golden grass.

Tanzania

The Serengeti.

I met Francis at 0900 for the drive to the airport. We couldn’t go back the way we came; the rains had raised the level of the river and he didn’t think we’d be able to pass.

The Ngorongoro Crater.

The flight was a short 55 min. We had landed in the middle of a town and it was a small shock to find myself back in civilization. My guide’s jeep had broken down and so another guide who was picking up a couple had me join them.

Tarangire, days 1 & 2.

Siggy meets me at the airstrip. He waits in the shade of the tiny terminal as the plane taxis closer. He offers to help me with my bags but the jeep is close by and the bags are light. The airlines also have a very strict 15kg weight limit so the bags are easy to handle.

Tarangire, days 3 & 4.

Last night the monkeys were chittering at 2:30 in the morning. The warrior told me he was up all night. An elephant had been wandering the camp all night. He said it was up on the road. Upon boarding the car, Ferdinand told me the same. He saw the elephant just ahead. Later he told me the monkeys might have been agitated because of her.