A Safari with Patty and Mark, Ithumba the highlight
 

We arrived home last night and I'm still have the "awe" of africa with me. Just wanted to write a quick post about our 2 weeks in Kenya with Patty and Mark (they will not be back to Monday and I'm going to leave most of the trip reporting to Patty, since she is the expert). I will probably post my pictures, but I'm sure our photos will be very similar.

Like others have reported Kenya is very very dry right now and rain is really needed. We did have a little rain one evening when we stayed at Sandai, but in the morning you could barely tell it had rained at all, the ground still was so dry. The animals are really concentrated near the watering holes and 2 of the camps we stayed in were on water and had lots of animals near and in camp. At Galdessa in Tsavo east we had to be escorted through camp as the elephants were every where. I thought we were going to have one big bull in the dining room with us, but he knew his way around camp and once you got used to them walking along the camp paths it was quite the sight.

I cannot say enough about ithumba, it was an amazing experience. And everyone survived my meals. The camp has 2 on staff and they do a lot as far as setting the tables and all the clean up.

All in all it was a great trip, I'm still a little jet lagged, but did want to get something posted.

Joyce

Hi Joyce - welcome back!

I would like to know whether you heart anything about the rabies outbreak...........in ithumba.

SV

no word of rabies outbreak.

Welcome back Joyce, can't wait to see your pictures and read Patty's report!

Welcome back, Joyce! Thanks for the update. I too am looking forward to your photos and Patty's report. No pressure. ;)

Welcome back and thanks for dropping in.

Welcome back!

I do not want to steal Patty's "thunder" on the reporting as it was her trip and we were just lucky enough to get invited to go along. But I did want to let everyone know it was a huge success.

One thing I will add is that we took our brother in law's guitar (just a reminder that my husband's sister and her family live in Nairobi) with us on safari and it was a big hit out there in the bush and really nice to have some live music. I would really recommend to anyone that has access to an instrument to take it with you.

We had Patty's usual driver from Eastern & Southern, Julius driving us and then at the end we flew back from Tsavo west. There was room on the plane for the guitar and our 2 cooler's (Ithumba is self catered). I can just imagine what we looked like getting off the plane at Wilson, dragging a couple of coolers and carrying a guitar.

I can not say enough about how great a driver/guide Julius is and i can see why Patty and also Paul always request him as a driver.

Joyce

J ... you mean that Mark didn't bring one of his? :)

Mark travels really light!!!

Welcome back, looking forward to hearing more about Ithumba in particular.

twaffle, I think Patty mentioned you are going with your family later this year or next to Ithumba? I hope you have at least 3 nights booked. 5 might be even better if you have the time. It's now at the top of my list of favorite places to visit. I've saved my shopping list and if you have any questions about the self catering or cooking feel free to ask. They were much more equipped than I was expecting.

Joeyi, thank you. I was planning on next year for Ithumba, but will have to postpone it for a year or so depending on our work schedule. I want to take the children but my eldest is approaching all his difficult years exam wise and next year (which would have worked for him) is now looking like a solo trip for me … so not Ithumba. But I would be interested in how you managed the shopping for self catering because although I have the info from Sheldrick's (courtesy Patty) it isn't the same as getting information from a traveller who actually went there. In fact, we have some friends who may join us if I can persuade them that it is a good end of school year trip. I would definitely plan on at least 3 nights as I think all that effort of self catering for less would be too hard.

twaffle,
We had help with the shopping as it was all done by my brother in law while we were off on a short safari prior to going to Tsavo. I had given him a list and I must say he did really well. There was only one mystery food and I bet Patty will report on that as it was cause for lots of laughs. They also loaned us coolers that they filled with ice, which worked out great as then one cooler became the cold drink cooler and the ice lasted the 3 days. There is a propane refrigerator/freezer there, but it's small and not to be overloaded. Depending on the safari company that you use you could probably give them a shopping list and have them shop for you, or give yourself a day in Nairobi and stock up at Nakumatt. We went off the Sheldrick's list and it was pretty helpful in all the things you need to bring.

It would be a great trip for a couple of families and also very educational for the children. I'm still amazed at what we did and learned there.

Thanks Joeyi, can't wait for Patty's full report plus photos!

Welcome back Joyce. Glad you all had such a great time and got to know and love J.

Welcome back, can't wait to hear and see more about it.

Me too what everyone else says!
Twaffle are you able to let me know Sheldricks info on Tsavo, Lina is far too busy at the moment?

sallysaab, will email you my stuff on Ithumba.

We're home too!

I just wanted to echo what Joyce said about Ithumba. It was magical!

As far as shopping, it would be fairly easy to provision yourself if you had time (I think Joyce's BIL got everything at Nakumatt). Otherwise I would give your tour operator a list (avoid the pork brawn :o ) and have them provide you with coolers, etc. We went through about 10 liters of water per day for the 5 of us for drinking/coffee & tea making/cooking (unfortunately Joyce's family in Nairobi didn't end up joining us due to some last minute scheduling issues they had). Water for showering and washing up are provided. Njagi and Kimwele will pretty much help with anything you need.

Hope you guys get to go!

Going to start sorting through photos soon (I took some of Makena and Chyulu for you, sallysaab).

Welcome back,
Me too, I'd love to see pictures of Makena especially. She was the first little ellie that I adopted when she arrived at Sheldricks. Therefore, she will always be "my" special elephant too.

Patty thank you so much, like Safarimama MY Makena is the first of my little herd!
Cant wait to read your report!

Welcome home, Patty! Glad you guys had a great trip. I'm looking forward to hearing more... :)

Welcome back Patty. Can't wait to learn more about your trip.

Welcome back, Patty!

Thanks everybody! I've got the Sandai, Nairobi and some Ithumba pics uploaded and am captioning them right now.

MDK,
I hope you guys had a good trip too and can't wait to hear about it!