Hi all,

Different Teri here, but I happen to agree with her. I'm just starting to plan my trip in 2008 and particularly appreciate your more personal experiences. No detail is too mundane for me....
Secondly, after reading this trip report (and viewing the photos and videos) I've come way with one main impression...what am amazing thing Kevin has done by giving his kids the opportunity to experience a different culture and become better "citizens of the world".
Just a newbie's impression...
Teri

Kevin, do continue sharing your impressions. To me you and Teri did come across as very stupid and spoilt Fodorites (as I sometimes do myself in posts about conditioner etc), but now Leely has explained that you experienced “shock that seems like envy”, and I can almost understand what that is. As I’d already heard that people can laugh while leading poor, difficult lives I have not had that kind of experience in Kenya. And, I’ve met so many more unhappy and desperate people in Kenya than I have in any other place where I’ve only stayed for a short time, that my experience must be very different from what most Fodorites seem to experience. Anyway, Africa has only made me more desperate to “amass wealth”.
Leely, I got the impression you’ve seen some envy in my comments and yes there is a lot of it, the "condo thing" was really too much and being possessed by such a dwelling would at a certain time have made my life take a radically more positive turn. Though, as I was born in the right place to have all opportunities, not having houses, retirement funds or future safaris is completely due to my personal ineptitude. I will ask for some (Africa related) business advice – if I dare.

Kevin,

Like what everyone said, please keep sharing your personal thoughts. As great as animals and monuments are, your personal feelings and emotions are what MAKE a trip.

You are going through the feelings most Westerners go through the first time going to a "developing nation".

You see Poor People(tm) and you want to race out and help and save everyone. You feel guilty for complaining that the pool guy isn't doing a good enough job getting out the leaves... OK, most Americans don't even have a pool... but even the tiny things we take for granted, clean water, decent healthcare, microwave oven in our kitchen, are seen as luxuries by a great part of the world's population.

So yes, after my trip to Cambodia and seeing land mine victims begging for food, kids who have clearly neven seen a dentist in their lives and ramshackle housing. I came home a deeper and more profound person. I then went out and blew a bunch of my AOL stock options on a gas guzzling SUV I didn't need. ;)

Then I went to India & the poverty was worse.

After going to Africa last year. I was a little more calloused to it all. My wife was wringing her hands over the poor women & children of Rwanda.

Many of my friends say "I could never go to a country like that and see all those poor people". Of course they drive right over the poor and disadvantaged here in this country.

After several trips through various nations I have a mixture of feelings. I certainly don't ascribe any special happiness to the poor. They certainly would rather have our possesions and more importantly the CHOICES that come with them. Let's face it, my house & things don't truly 'own' me. Any time I want I can CHOOSE to walk away.

(OK, I am rambling and not sure what my point is...) but I also differentiate between 'poor' that I saw in the mountains of Cuzco. They had simple brick homes with no electricity. But they there was plenty of food that could be grown. They didn't have much, but had what they needed. This is very different from a family living in a flithy shantytown in Delhi or Nairobi.

Not sure what I ended up saying here... except keep going Kevin.

Game Walk

At Larsen’s there is no game drive after breakfast, wanting to maximize our experience we signed up for a game walk. The cost was an amazingly low $10 per person. At 10 am, Mari, Sean and I met two rangers armed with automatic weapons and dressed in camoflauge fatigues. (Marisa stayed behind nursing an ankle injury.) We were still pretty stoked from seeing the leopard (how is that for a California surfer term from the 60's).

It was pretty wild to walk out through the gates into the wilds of Africa. I thought I hope these guys know what they are doing. Just these two fellows separate us from getting trampled by an elephant or eaten by a lion. (I figured the odds were pretty low but still we were out in the wild.)

They spoke English okay (really thick accents though). Very nice gentlemen. At first they were pretty fixated on stopping at every pile of animal droppings and having us try to deduce (really guess) the type of animal. I got the first three right but guessing average after that was pretty low. I can tell you one thing, the tiny dik dik sure poop a lot to mark the corner of their territory.

It was getting a bit warm but a wind kicked up that kept us from getting uncomfortable. We walked over to the river just east of camp. Nothing remarkable other than WE ARE WALKING IN THE WILD IN AFRICA. We talked about how amazing it was to think we were in Los Angeles just a few days before. (The 405 freeway is probably far more dangerous than our little walk.)


The river goes along and then turns to the left (the north) and so we cut inland to walk across the plain to the river on the other side.

We came upon a herd of Grant’s gazelle they moved a bit, we wary, but not too concerned with us. On the other hand, when an oryx and and a couple of warthog spotted us from a very long distance, at least 400 meters away, if not more, they ran like heck from our view.

As we walked along, we could just barely see some giraffes in the distance, over near the river beyond, peering at us over the occasional bush. They had obviously seen us long before we could even see them at all. They were looking at us like, “what in the heck are you humans doing outside of your vehicles.” Very wary, but also very curious.

Five circled to our left as we approached. One got separated from the others to our right.

The five then stopped along our left. They then started walking towards us. They looked quite puzzled with us but very interested. Remember Mari loves giraffes. I thought she was going to break down sobbing with tears of joy. They got so close I, I am sure in my ignorance, started to get concerned. Maybe they were going to come running up and kick me in the head or something. I asked the guards when how close they would come until they shot off their guns to scare them off. They very kindly surpressed their amusement with me. This was cool, very cool to have them so close.

We then walked on. We could see the giraffes circle behind us and go towards the river over near the camp. The one on our right went to join them.

We came upon the upper skull and attached horns of an impala. The rangers has us each grab and hold for a picture.

We arrived at the river where it has curved to our left. Just beautiful and idyllic. However in my typical paranoia I did not get too close to the water for fear of crocodilles. We did see a few along the way, but pretty small (compared to the monsters we saw in the Mara.)

We then cut back inland across the bend in the river towards where the giraffes had gone. When we got somewhat near we stopped and could see two of the giraffes peering at us over the trees (I not talkin’ bushes but trees) between us and the river. Amazing!

They then took off to our left. We then walked towards the river to try to find the others. As we approached the rangers exclaimed, “they have crossed the river! Oh look there is one still crossing.” We hurried to the riverbank to see three on the other side of the river and one about half way across. Simply awesome to watch him make his way across, at times having to strongly pull his hooves out of the mud.


The rangers said they had never seen a giraffe cross the river. They believed because of the crocodilles. I felt a bit bad we had scared them across. But they seemed okay, and on reflection now I imagine that the giraffes may cross at times (the rangers may have been overdramatizing)

We then started to walk back on the river to camp. We started to walk a bit inland so we could return to the gate and who was there to greet us. Those other two giraffes! The last we had seen them they were hightailing the opposite direction. They had circled once again around us! I guess they were pretty curious about us. When we approached (they were between us and the gate) they took off again.

In sum, the game walk at Larsen’s was very very enjoyable. Quite an adventure for us. Would highly recommend it.

MORE TO FOLLOW

Great account of the walk, Kevin.

I agree with Patty. I think that, like Mari, I would have been near tears with joy. Such lovely animals.

Love the account of your walk.
I would certainly take a walk in the wilds of Africa over the 405 any day.

You had an action packed walk. Giraffes crossing the river, wow!

Trip report continued

That afternoon at first we drove along the river because the sun had come out (the prior two days had been overcast and pleasantly cool) and it was a bit hot. We finally saw a kudu, a mother and child, that had come down from the nearby hills to drink at the river. We saw lots of other game. When it cooled down we drove into the foothills. We happened upon 15 giraffe feeding in a group on just a couple of trees. Mari, of course, was in heaven.

Apparently an Abercrombie and Kent group had arrived. I understand they pay a lot of money for their trip. The folk did seem pretty well to do. Seems their only advantage was a nature talk around the campfire before dinner. However, ate the same food and stayed in same tents as us lesser folk.

Day 4 in Kenya, Friday, Aug. 11th

Finally, a good night’s sleep. Had breakfast at an early 7:30 a.m. and got packed. So no game drive (we thought). Our flight to the Mara was at 10 a.m. Only takes 30 minutes at most to drive to airstrip. Francis was anxious to leave as soon as possible. We got delayed a bit with last minute shopping by the girls. Note, they had an OK gift shop at Larsen’s. Had some essentials like film for camera, toiletries. I did not know but Francis had told everyone else in family there might be something to see.

We bid farewell to Florence the great manager on duty when we were there and Henry our very nice waiter (so kind and patient).

We hightailed it along the road. We came around one corner and found out why Francis was in a hurry. There just off the road between us and the river was a pair of lions mating. WOW! DOUBLE WOW! We got to see our lions all right (I had not been worried about seeing some because I assumed we would see plenty in the Mara.) The male was huge. Very loud. Lots of roaring. Not very romantic though. However, simply magnificent creatures. Amazing to be so close to such a dangerous animal with no glass or bars between us. Wonderful, absolutely wonderful. (Interesting also how in the Mara it became, “oh nice, there’s another lion.”)

We gave some gifts to Francis. We had gotten the word wrong from the camp. We had bought stuff for two daughters, ends up the oldest is a son, age 13. Hence, instead of giving to the camp staff as we intended, we gave him for his son an official World Cup soccer ball. Francis was a pretty low key dude but his eyes gave away his pleasure for his son. [Sorry, forgot to say before when we visited the Samburu village we gave the guide (a teacher) lots of pens, markers, stickers, and math and vocabulary flash cards. My family was pleased each time we got rid of a set of flash cards, pretty heavy to lug around.)

This time a big plane arrived (40+ capacity). Mari a bit relieved. This time the plane was pretty full. We bid goodbye to Francis. Interesting to see him greet the next group of guests arriving. A constant flow, hope we don’t bore the guides. We will certainly remember him, for eternity most likely, our first African guide.

We then took off for the Masai Mara.

MORE TO COME

I must admit it gives me a perverse thrill to know that the Abercrombie & Kent people are have a lot of the same accomodations as everyone else ;)

Mating lions, nice find.

Wayne, I have the same thoughts about A&K.
Kind of like Na-na-na-nana. How immature and petty of me.

Kevin, you could probably have even eaves dropped on the nature talk.

Hi! I am stakerk's (kevin's) daughter. Here is a something to add to his trip report that he didn't know.

It was me who was buying something in the gift shop as Francis, our guide, waited impatiently at the vehicle. Once we were done I headed to the game vehicle.

As I got there Francis whispered to me "You can't keep the lions waiting." My eyes got really big and then I knew what he was so antsy about. The treasured lion we had not seen, and my dad had been harrassing Francis about finding, was here.

So we hopped in the game vehicle and sped off.

Hi Marisa:
Nice addition to your Dad's story. Francis sounds very nice.

OFF TO THE MARA

We flew south and the rather arid landscape turned quite green, especially over what I assume are the Aberdares Mountains. Hopefully the terrible drought has ended.

We had heard the plane might make a few stops until we arrived at the Musiara airstrip in the Mara. Had not anticipated having to get off the plane at the first stop, Siana Springs. We were informed another plane, one coming from Nairobi, would take us to our destination. Made sure our bags got off with us. (This time a baggage guy was on the plane.)

Sure enough after about 15 minutes in came another big plane. A few folk got off and we got on. I had the pleasure of sitting in the front across from a very nice gentleman. He told us about the London airplane terrorist plot. We had just missed the chaos at Heathrow by a few days. Phew!

It ends up his name is Ruby (spelling?) and he said he is a member of the family that owns the Sarova hotel chain. He lives in Dubai and has auto parts plants in Dubai and Kenya. Ruby said there were so many tourists in the Mara that he and his aunt (who was going on her first safari) could not find a place to stay to the Sarova Mara Camp and so had to stay at our camp, Little Governors. Very nice gentleman, wish I had had more time to get to know him.

We stopped at one airstrip along the way. Sort of weird for such a big turboprop plane to fly just a few minutes and then land again.

We finally arrived at the Musiara airstrip. We expected to be greeted by Simon. (I had again asked before arrival for assignment of a guide and word of his family situation so we could bring some appropriate gifts.) Instead, we were greeted warmly by Joshua, who informed us he would be our guide for the day. That Simon had the day off. No problem.

We drove to Little Governor’s Camp across the flat plains of the Mara. It looked just like the pictures and Eben’s video of the drive. We were in an open vehicle again. A beautiful day. Sun out with some poofy clouds.

Now we did not actually drive to Little Governor’s. Instead we drove to a dirt roundabout across the river from the camp. The airstrip and most of the game driving is on the east side of the Mara River, the camp is on the westside. This then made for the fun experience (I knew of this from Eben’s video on his website, http://media.go-safari.com/go-safari/LittleGov.wmv ) of walking down to the river, getting in a small boat, that is then pulled across the river by a staff member using a rope strung across the river. Takes a bit of agility to safely get in the boat. You fall in the river and I assume something is nearby to gobble you up. Pretty cool. On the other bank, you walk up some stairs to the camp level.

We found Little Governor’s to be a delightful camp. Everything we had hoped it would be. The tents, food, and service were a slight notch below the excellence of Larsen’s in the Samburu. However, the great draw is that it is on a marsh. Because of the threat from animals, a ranger accompanied us every time we came up from or went down to the river.

Now I must admit I has initially disappointed because there was not a herd of elephants there to greet us. However, the next day that was to change.

They have a nice outdoor brunch for lunch. Please note, before I forget, every place we stayed had a delightful cream soup as the first course of lunch and dinner. A great start to each meal.

At lunch, LG usually had something barbecued (pork, turkey, lamb, etc.), some good salads (we began to get pretty brave and started eating fresh vegetables, we had been pretty spooked about staying away from uncooked vegetables. Marisa did miss an afternoon game drive most likely because of our boldness.) However, the best part was their desserts. Always excellent, especially each day they had a fruit mousse that had to be some of the best stuff we had ever eaten in our lives. Light and very delicious.

We got settled in. No electricity in the tents but hey at least we had hot and cold running water. (Again, I had my wife prepared for ordering hot water.) We were conveniently in the two tents closest to the reception area and so charging batteries was not a problem.

That afternoon we had a great game drive with Joshua. (Remember, we had to go take the little boat across the river to get to the vehicle. Felt a bit more confident getting the boat)

We saw the first of many topi and hartebeest. We thought the male topi standing on the termite mounds to show they rule a territory was rather amusing. They seemed to be pretty close together at times and not ruling much of a territory.

We also saw the first wildebeest. The first of MANY wildebeest. However, Joshua said only about a quarter of them had arrived. If I understood him correctly, they had come from the East from the Loita Area and the wildebeest from the south in Tanzania had not yet arrived. (By the way I guess for the first time in my life I heard Tanzania I assume pronounced correctly with the accent on the second syllable, not the second to the last, “Tawn - ZAWN - nee-a.; I was rather surprised).

We drove south at first roughly parallel to the Mara River. It then turned to the East and into our path. We went to the Paradise Crossing. We could see what looked like large tree on the hill to the southeast. Suspiciously large. Joshua said it was the mobile phone antenna tower next to the Mara Serena lodge! Looked like a tree to me. Good camouflaging! (We certainly now had good mobile phone service!)

We got our first look at some HUGE crocodiles. These were massive just like we had remembered. Saw one on our side that had lost the end of its upper jaw. Joshua thought it had been sliced off by the hoof of a zebra.

No crossing action, not a wildebeest in sight. We then went to the West about a kilometer as the crow (vulture) flies to another crossing whose name I cannot find on a map. (Paradise West?) There we found hundreds of wildebeest milling about on our side near the river. We pulled up to find a lone wildebeest on the other side. We spent quite a while watching it run back and forth, to and fro making quite a bit of noise. We did not know if he had been stranded on the other side and was trying to get the courage to cross or had bravely crossed alone and was trying to get his buddies to come join him. From how stupid we came to learn the wildebeest are, I would guess the former. Pretty entertaining though.

We then back towards camp but on a road more to the East. Joshua knew where he was going because we came upon a cape buffalo carcass. Not too exciting in itself except THERE WERE A WHOLE BUNCH OF LIONS! The mating pair in the Samburu was great but this was pretty awesome also. The grass was pretty high and so we would discover, “oh here’s one over here,” and then “here’s another over there.” Must have been about eight or nine. Very cool to see a couple of them gnawing on the carcass. Others were lollygagging in the grass. A couple of what appeared to be adolescents were wrestling with each other. We sure weren’t in Los Angeles any more.

Joshua said these were the Musiara pride of BBC TV Big Cat Diary fame. The size and apparent power to sense live in the flesh was amazing. One got up walked straight towards us and looked Marisa in the eyes. Pretty scary, really a chilling feeling. Like, “if you weren’t in this vehicle that I have learned does not taste too good, you would make a nice appetizer.” A basic, primordial fear.

On the other hand, was also amazing to see how much they moved and acted like Tsuko, our house cat. Especially just sleeping, walking along or batting at each other. I thought, we certainly are getting our money’s worth (about $380 pppn I guess). Just like I had dreamed.

There were several other vehicles. In our stay it was rare for others to be a bother. Actually a few times they were advantageous. Would not have seen some animals from a distance but could see several vehicles around and so there must have been something worthwhile going to go join and see.

It was getting late so we had to leave. On the way back we came upon some elephants. There was a three week old baby still with black hair on it. Very cute! (I’m not one for cute, but this was pretty special.)

We really had taken a liking to our guide Joshua. Very nice, very skilled. We was asked if we could keep him as our guide. The camp complied. (Hope we did not offend Simon but he had had his chance.)

LG is not fenced and so as I had heard an armed guard was stationed at what appeared to be every tent. All I know is each time I went to or from our tent to charge batteries or go to dinner a Masai with a spear or rifle would practically leap from place near a tree between our tent and the marsh and start walking alongside me. WAY COOL.

MORE TO COME "Why are the wildebeest swimming upriver?"

Great account of your arrival at Little Gov's. Lots of action.

The Sarova owner could not get a spot at his own camp? That's the definition of completely booked.

That brought back a memory--the owners of Serena were at LG when I was there and they said they liked the camp so much they paid to stay there by choice.

First Full Day in the Mara (Saturday, August 12th)

Our waiter brought us hot milk for our hot chocolate! Especially good when I added some hot chocolate mix with their hot choc. mix. Very gingery cookies.

We met Joshua at 6:30 a.m. (thought of how Sandi does not like to do the early morning drive). Joshua had wisely suggested we bring a bush breakfast with us so we would not have to return back to the camp and then go right back out again.

One note on Joshua: our guide in the Samburu said he works several weeks and then goes back down to Nairobi to visit with his wife and children. A drive of a few hours. Joshua, however, has his family in Tsavo, about 700 miles from the Mara. He said he typically takes two and a half days to get there. He works 7 days a week for several months and then goes home for a month. It was very hard when he returned last time because his two year old did not know who he was. We marveled to hear how he is proudly building a home, hiring a truck, driving a couple of hours away to the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro to cut down trees (he said being a Masai he can easily go back and forth across the border to Tanzania), haul them back and then cut them into boards to make the home. WOW! Talk about different from our pampered lives. Justifiably proud of his accomplishment. Gave his old house to his parents I believe. Very humble lives. Pointed out he is a Christian and so only has one wife.

Near where we had seen the baby elephant the night before we came upon what appeared to be a lone lioness. Joshua said it was out hunting. Got up on a mound and sure looked to be peering around for prey. Again, felt lucky it does not like to eat humans in game vehicles.

We came upon the male of the Musiara pride mating with a female. Just like in the Samburu, loud and brief. Amazing how they disappeared in the tall grass when they laid down. We then checked out the rest of the pride back at the carcass.

We then went down to the Paradise Crossing. No wildebeest there. We went downriver a bit and had a great bush breakfast on the riverbank. Hard boiled eggs, toast with jam, ham, fruit, and hot chocolate never tasted so good! Especially fun with the accompaniment of the snorting and grunting hippos below in the river. (Joshua assured us we were safe, no hippo runs nearby, I in my paranoia thought, “of course, there’s always a first time.”) Really pretty surreal at the time. “We are eating breakfast next to a river in Africa. Those are hippos just right down there.” A bit more realistic than the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland.

We then started to go to the other crossing just upriver where we had seen the lone wildebeest on the other side the day before. (Anyone know the name?) Joshua began to drive faster and faster. We even passed a couple of other vehicles. Ho Boy somethin’ must be up! We started to drive parallel to a line of wildebeest heading for the river. Sure enough, we arrived and there were hordes of them milling about near the river. Within about a half of hour the vanguard started down to the riverside. Within just a couple of minutes they started across the river.

Now we then saw for ourselves they are pretty dumb. They swam pretty much straight across the river. The problem was there was a steep bluff directly on the other side. They began to climb up the bluff. But it was so steep there was no way they could get up and out. Now to show even more how dumb they were those who were on the bluff just happened to be facing upriver, they then began to jump into the river and swim UPRIVER. This was pretty dumb because a much easier exit just maybe 12 meters downriver. They then swam upriver. (I was pretty disappointed because no crocs showed up to eat any. You could see them basking in the sun up and down the river but none attacked. Rats!)

They came to a draw in the riverbank. Even there almost all picked a very difficult exit spot. So difficult we saw at least four of them slip and appear to break a leg and quickly die in the river. Imagine most of the beasts following the leaders straight across, up the side a bit, then jump back into the river, swam upstream quite a ways, and then struggle out at the most difficult spot. Hundreds and hundreds. An awesome sight of Mother Nature. (One lady claimed there were four thousand who crossed. I would agree it was at least two thousand.) Quite a sight. Joshua said it was the biggest crossing he had seen so far this year.

Note in the middle of this four zebras came splashing into the water. They then calmly took a drink and stood around. Either very confident the crocs had already eaten their fill for days or very dumb.

Also note there were many game vehicles. We actually ended up having to look over the vehicle and through the people sitting on top.

Also, as I had heard it was a bit chilling driving along in the vehicle early in the morning. But it warmed up by breakfast. By the time of the crossing there was one girl (appeared American) in just a tank top and short shorts with part of her rear hanging out. (Sights like this help one understand the problem Osama bin Laden and his buddies have with us. Note, we had followed the Fodorite advice and were dutifully dressed in long sleeve natural colored shirts with khaki pants so as not to offend the locals. Hopefully we at least looked like proper safari guests.) We then returned by noon so Joshua could drive a couple of hours north to a bridge over the Mara and then meet us on the west side of the camp (and the river) to try and find a rhino. (Amazing how these guys try to please the guests. We needed a rhino to complete our Big Five.)

At lunch the elephants I had hoped would come to the marsh had arrived. Very cool. Even more cool was as we started lunch there came closer and closer eating to the outdoor dining area. They ate most of the time just right outside of Marisa and Sean’s tent in the marsh. We had to move our table from outside to under the dining tent because they eventually marched their way into camp at the same spot as our table had been. COOL. One smaller elephant decided he wanted to walk through the dining tent. Only a guard brandishing a stick dissuaded him. VERY COOL. (I wondered how the elephant knew the stick would hurt. I guessed he must thwack them at times).

The elephants then proceeded to walk among the tents on the west side of camp. When we left for our game drive at 3:30 they were still milling about.

We met Joshua behind the reception building, at the balloon launching grounds. We drove out the west gate and saw on first local giraffes up close. Less colorful than the reticulated in the Samburu but still nice.

Joshua then drove up to couple of bushes near the Kichwe Tembo airstrip. There we found a mother cheetah with FOUR (count ‘em four) cubs! WOW! DOUBLE WOW! They were lounging in the shade. The cubs were very cute. (I am gushing like a teenaged girl aren’t I? Oh well. Pretty amazing experience.) Three months old. Had been five. One appeared to be the runt, smaller than the others.

We then went out of the park to a Masai Village along the road north of Kichwe Tembo and Bateleur Camp. I liked our camp location better. (The marsh and the river. Closer to the crossing points and the whole rest of the Mara.).

The village visit was OK. Did not ACT as enthusiastic and glad to see up as appeared in the Samburu. Joshua said was not the usual village they went to. Something about a dispute between the two tribal jurisdictions in the Mara. One charging guests from other to have to pay again just to visit. All Greek to me. Admission same as Samburu, $20 per person.

Had a exciting sight on the way. Saw a baboon sprint out of a grove of trees and take down a goat. The shepard was on a bicycle far away, no where in sight at first. Joshua said the Kenya wildlife service would compensate the shepard.

The jewelry was all right. The spears were overpriced. The Masai blankets the same, bought from the same manufacturer, as at the LG gift shop (I saw one of the plastic bags, so much for authenticity. I later bought the one at the camp for $18 US) We spent about $240. (We overpaid about $40 but I viewed as a donation to these humble, nice people.)

Getting dark so we started back to camp. We came upon Mama cheetah out hunting. Cool to see her cubs stay behind until she called them. Joshua said she had to eat once per day or would start to lose milk and cubs would begin to starve.

Joshua expertly spotted a bunch of Thompson’s gazelle in the direction of her gaze. We drove so we were beside them at the proper distance. Was amazing to see the Mama cheetah sneak up and then make an amazingly fast run at them. Unfortunately for her and her cubs (fortunately for the tommies) she missed (I hope we had no influence.) WOW! Just as fast as we had imagined from wildlife films. The tommies were pretty agile and quick themselves.

We then moved to a spot between her and her cubs. Very cool to see her call them and walk around us.

Said goodbye that evening to Ruby (of the Sarova group). He was leaving that next morning. I had wished I had taken the time to get to know him better. Very nice man. His wife had just had a baby. Told him when the child gets older to bring his family to the American West and we can show him some of our spectacular sights (Grand Canyon, Zions and Bryce Canyon National Parks).

Pretty wild just before dinner to call back to the office in California and have them ask what all the racket was (the insects in the marsh.)

One note: if you are a light sleeper you might want to avoid LG. Being on the marsh there was quite a bit of noise from the insects and other critters in the middle of the night. That night there was an animal right outside of our tent most of the night making loud grunting noises. The guard confirmed my guess the next morning that it was a couple of hippos grazing on the grass of the camp. (Joshua had told us they are nocturnal and eat grass on the land, I had thought in the river.) Pretty wild. The guard said the hippos are pretty safe to be around when they are grazing. However are absolutely deadly if you get between them and the marsh and they get scared. WOW!

MORE TO COME “No, I had not heard it is Marisa’s birthday. I wish they had told me. Let me see what I can do”

I'm enjoying your enthusiastic trip report. My safari withdrawal is hitting me hard this week. I feel like orphan Oliver asking the headmaster "may I please have more?"
Lily

Kevin, I'm really enjoying your report - especially the wildebeest crossing. Governor's Camp reported that on 15th and 19th Septemeber, they had their most spectacular river crossings this year. On each occasion, 500,000 animals crossed!!! The crossing points were Paradise and Kichwa Tembo which you came across during your gamedrives.

I'm still enjoying your report also. You sure did see some great stuff - the cheetah and her babies, the river crossing, the ellies up close, the hippos outside your tent - how lucky are you!

Africa:

Where is the Kichwa Tembo crossing? North on the Mara from Little Governor's?

Kevin

Yes Kevin, if you follow the river north of LG. I think it's called the Kichwa Tembo crossing because Kichwa Tembo is the nearest camp to that point. I think the crossing point falls just outside the boundaries of the Mara.

Gaurang

Aug. 13, 2006 Second Full Day in the Mara (Marisa’s 27th Birthday)

We had a great balloon flight in the morning. Told to be to the launching grounds just behind the reception at 6:00 am (so folks from other Governor’s Camps had to get up PRETTY early. Took off about 6:30 a.m. Four compartments of four people. Climbed over side of gondola (two cutouts for climbing in). Sat on padded bench and held on to straps. Burner of gas pretty noisy. Went up pretty quickly. (Total of three balloons.) Breeze blew us along pretty quickly. Came back down and skimmed along fairly low. Animals scared by the noise from the burner (except for the typically mean looking cape buffalo, wouldn’t want to take on one in a bar fight, I don’t drink so no risk of that.) At one point we went up to 1,300 feet above ground. Came back down for a perfect landing. (Sat down, grabbed straps, put our heads back against padding. Landed in tall savannah grass (not mowed down yet by wildebeests) The balloon dragged the gondola along. We stopped and the deflating balloon then pulled the gondola onto its side. The passengers either left either laying on their backs like us or crouched on hands and knees for others. Pretty fun.

Got out and waited for large game vehicles to come get us. Hoped no lions in vicinity. Pilot, Steve, English, made the age old quip, “I don’t have to outrun the lion, I only have to outrun you.” Learned one of the other family’s was from San Diego, of all places. After about 15 minutes we were picked up. Took us to a spot next to the Mara River for a big breakfast for all three groups. Food was pretty good. Our second breakfast in a row in the wild.

Was I glad we did the balloon ride, even at about $400 per person? Yes. A new experience, a different perspective. Would I do it again? No, not at that price. (I know this has been a matter of debate on this forum.)

We got in one of the large vehicles with two couples from So. Africa. One of the couples (Dave and Vivian) have a daughter who lucked out on the lottery to emigrate to the U.S. and lives in West Hollywood fairly near us. Daughter and her husband are expecting their first child in November. We hope to get together with them when Dave and Viv come in November.

Moses drove us to the other side of where we had seen our prior crossing of the Mara. Nothing happening.

We then started to drive away. We stopped and looked at some giraffe. We started to go back to camp but then Moses looked back and saw a dust cloud back at the crossing. He whipped the truck around and raced back to the crossing. Sure enough some of the wildebeest had practically raced to the river on the north side and had already started crossing. Stupidly they were again going straight across to a mere bump of dirt on the side of a steep bank. They followed the leaders up but at least this time the leaders had the brains to go down river to a much easier exit point than the day before.

After a couple of hundred crossed, some who had been on the south side then began to cross to the north (they were dry before they went in is how we could tell.) Pretty fun. That was it.

We then proceeded back towards LG Camp. We saw the Mama cheetah again out hunting with her cubs. They all posed on a termite mound for a photo that should be good enough for a cover of National Geographic. Marvelous. Simply Marvelous. (Correctly put by Dave from So. Africa.)

We had a short church service as a family in our tent. (Our LDS (Mormon) bishop had given us permission to have our own sacrament service.) We felt truly blessed by God to be in such a wonderful place enjoying His handiwork.

No great animals at lunch this day. Marisa did not feel well (Jomo Kenyatta’s revenge* had finally grabbed one of us) so she stayed behind for the afternoon game drive. (*My guess as to the name in Kenya for Montezuma’s revenge.)

We again went out the West from camp. Joshua said it had been two weeks since any rhino had been spotted. But the last time had been in this area. He said they typically sort of hide in the bushes and trees. We scoured the area for a couple of hours but saw none.

However, the following great things did happened. We got a little too close for the comfort of a mama elephant so she mock charged us. She trumpeted loudly but we were laughing so hard as we were taking off you cannot make it out on the videotape.

We went down to past the bend of the river to the East. We pulled up to a marshy area and looked at some storks. We drove off and checked the crossings. No luck. We then came back and saw from a distance three or four vehicles by the storks. Not likely that many there for storks, something better must be there. Just as we pulled back Mari said, “there’s a lion behind that mound of dirt.” Joshua started to pull the vehicle around to look and Sean then exclaimed, “there it goes!” We wheeled around just in time to see a lioness clamp her jaws on the neck of a wildebeest. WOW! WOW WOW WOW! They spun around several times. The wildebeest fought the good fight. Joshua said sometimes they escaped, but not very often and not this time. Within a couple of minutes of struggle the wildebeest was down and a couple of minutes later was dead. Dead apparently from strangulation, not blood loss. In fact, did not see any blood.
The lion started dragging it across the marsh. Could not make it across because of the uneven ground. Quite an effort though!

We left and began our search again for a rhino. Went far to the West towards the hills but saw no sign of any we really scoured the area with our binoculars. I thought interesting we ignored every other animal.

We ran into some rain near the Oloololo gate (amazed I spelled correctly, I can’t remember what I had for breakfast today but somehow pulled that out of the air). Came down pretty good. Put the top and one side of canvas on. Mari got some great pictures of giraffes and a rainbow. She was one happy safari lady.

Before we had arrived I had alerted the office that this was Marisa’s birthday. At dinner I quietly let our waiter know in case he had not gotten the word. (They had sung Happy Birthday to her at the balloon bush breakfast.) The waiter was a bit upset he had not been informed. He said he would see what he would do.

At the end of dinner, a cook came out of the kitchen. He had made a marvelous flourless chocolate torte in about an hour. They put candles on, lit them, and everyone sang Happy Birthday. I will never forget the broad beaming smile of the cook. He was justifiably very proud of his almost miraculous accomplishment. A wonderful moment.

We ate about a third of it. We offered some to the other tables. We noticed the leftovers were part of the typically wonderful dessert part of the lunch buffet the next day.

On the way back to our tents, the guard shined his flashlight on some giraffes in the marsh. Pretty cool stuff.

MORE TO COME [Trying to hide primordial fear]"Joshua, are you sure the lions never jump into the game vehicles?"

Kevin, I'm enjoying your report. Its like going over our own trip once again.

Its a small world really... I met the daughter, Minal, of the Sarova founder in Nairobi at one of getogethers that our friends took us to before we left for our safari. She had just returned from Mara with her cousin Ruby from Dubai and her Aunts. They did not get any rooms at their own Sarova Mara camp so they stayed at Little Governor.

Small world ain't it?

Whizforty

Whizforty:

Ruby was with his aunt there at LG. What is Ruby's last name? I did not catch it. Is it Vohra, which I believe is the name of the hotel chain owners?

Thanks,

Kevin

What a wonderful report. Brings back MANY happy memories.

My favorite pictures were of the cheetah family and the 15 giraffes.

It's always a pleasure to hear a newbie's thoughts...I have not doubt that now that you have been smitten by the Africa "bug," this will not be your last visit to Africa.

Keep it coming!

Deb

My husband and I are loving your report! We will be at Little Governor's for the first time (first trip to Africa) in February so, yes please, more details! Thrilled to hear you and your family enjoyed your stay there so much. (But is there really a danger from the crocs when you cross the river in the little boat? From the photos it looks awfully tiny...!)

Another wildebeest crossing! I am a little jealous.

The lion kill. Envy is building.

Mother cheetah and cubs--again. Raging jealousy.

Giraffe and rainbow. Just stop it!

Flourless chocoate torte. The last straw! I hate you.

Third Full Day in the Mara

We took off for the morning drive. We headed east past through the Musiara Marsh (really normal plains with a lowlying string of bushes and trees. I did not see any water). We checked out the Musiara pride (probably have some other name technically). Actually getting a bit routine, "oh, here they are, aren't they nice to look at, . . . are there any rhinos around here?"

We went quite a ways to the south and east. Saw lots of wildebeest and zebra. Joshua had again wisely suggested we bring a bush breakfast. Parked near a lone acacia tree on a rise with a pretty good view to the east. From our experience, food just plain tastes better out in the wild.

There was a line of wildebeest marching past us about 300 meters to the north. Sean and I decided to see how close we could get until they went around us. Got within about 40 meters. Interesting. Realized we were walking around in the wild without any armed rangers. Grass grazed down pretty low though, had checked for lions. Joshua thought us fairly amusing.

We came back. I then got down on all fours and tried to sneak up on a tommie. Sean spoiled it though by sneaking up walking to smack me.

We went across a river "Black Water" translated I believe. J. said let's try to find the lions, the Two Crossings pride I believe the name. He drove along the river bank. He then pulled up to a spot, we stood up to look for them lounging in the bushes. J. casually then said, "look there" We looked and just to our left was a lion asleep under the bush. J. is either one very skilled guide or knew they always like to sleep in this one place.

We then drove near Mara Intrepids, checked out the arriving and departing aircraft for a few minutes. Seemed like a good location for a camp.

We then went back southwest to the Mara River. Went to the Serena crossing. Nothing happening. Got out and looked at the hippos.

Drove on and got a good look at the Mara Serena from the other side of the river. Looked nicer than the pictures I had seen before. Very well camoflauged. Love the tree-like mobile phone tower.

Went back to the Paradise Crossing. No action.

Went back to camp for lunch.

Not an exciting game drive, had gotten a bit spoiled but still very nice. Beautiful vistas of the plains.

That afternoon the kids decided to stay at Camp. Will discuss below how they did not have the quiet afternoon they had expected.

We wanted to do some more souvenir shopping so Joshua took us to the north to the Musiara gate on the park boundary. There are a few homes and a corrugated metal building that is the shop. Business must be pretty good because there was a child's mountain bike lying outside. The lady there was nice but her prices were a bit high. Got her down to $20 for a masai blanket (paid $18 at the camp gift shop). Way overpaid for some animal figurines but went by the rule I learned from you folks, if you like something, buy it because you may not see it again. (good advice, never saw the comparable items anywhere on the rest of the trip). Oh well, maybe another of her kids needs a bike. not that much money really, just knew she was overcharging us a bit. (I was not in a good negotiating position, Mari gave me the "make sure you buy these" look.

Joshua sure must love the Musiara pride because we took the road down to the marsh. When we got down to tree line, we came upon the lion pride lollygaggin about. Some were even basking in the sun. Pretty wild to pull up next to a lion sleeping on a mound and have him open his eyes and glance at you like your house cat awakened from slumber, a rather intentional nonchalance, "oh, it's those humans again."

We then dutifully drove down to the Paradise crossings. No crossing appeared iminent, not a wildebeest anywhere close on either side.

We then drove back to the north and east. We saw a few vehicles gathered in the distance. True to experience, we found a cheetah surrounded by now five or six vehicles with us. We were all about only 10 meters away, pretty close.

The cat was lying there just minding its own business. I marveled at how with our great experiences of our first cheetah walking across out path and the mama cheetah with her four cubs going after the tommies that we were spoiled and found this almost boring. Just as I was about to indicate I was ready for us to move on, Joshua said, uh oh, and quickly started up the game vehicle, and said, “it’s the wardens.”

About a 150 meters away was their vehicle, Joshua said we had to go chat with them. He said we are supposed to stay at least 25 meters away from the animals. A couple of the vehicles took off. J. said that was not good. He said you do not really get in trouble if you go over, say hello, and tell them your name. He said on occasion they will come to the camp that evening and verbally reprimand you, but never a fine if you do not run off.

We drove over. They greeted us. Joshua gave them his name and they waved us off. Seemed like pretty nice guys. Interesting little dance.

We then began back towards camp. Came up a male hyena and a jackal. We went a short way further and Joshua took us to a hyena den. Found three youngsters there. Was quite a riot when one came over and started gnawing on the vehicle. He proceeded to bite off the a rubber cap on the end of the axle. Joshua had to get out and retrieve it off the ground to take back and put back. As we were leaving, the male was approaching. So was the mother who appeared to be heading him off from getting near the cubs. Fun.

On the way back, we had to drive past where we had last seen the lions. Sure enough, in the fading light they were still there. We stopped and watched them. Several were wrassling (how is that for a Western U.S. term?) and tussling. Very entertaining. We getting near curfew so had to leave. The problem there was a lion lying in the dirt track. We then cautiously drove around and stopped. There was one just to our right (next to Mari). There was another ahead on the left edge of the road. Immediately to our right another lion came walking straight towards us through the grass. He paused at the edge of the road and looked squarely at Mari. She got a bit nervous (a bit of an understatement), one lion on her right, another to her left sizing her up for dinner, so she moved a bit into the center. The lion then glanced at me (I’m closer remember, he is at most three most three meters away). I asked Joshua something like are we safe here? (see the video for exact comment) He said they never jump in the vehicle. I thought to myself, “yeah, and there is always a first time for everything”. HE THEN BEGINS TO WALK TOWARDS US. . . he could easily leap in and grab any one of us . . . and then plops down on the ground like a kitten. Phew! WOW!

If I had to pick, this was the highlight of the trip for me. Primordially chilling. I believed I had had a glimpse of how it felt to know you were dead meat, literally, if the lion was so inclined. WOW.

We then drove back to camp. What an experience!

Last Morning in the Mara, Off to Lamu Island

For our last morning, we all took off for the morning game drive. Forgot to say that the Camp had messed up our reservation and had us only staying three nights. We had definitely paid for four and had the confirmation from them. Sounds like they send the folk we displaced over to their even nicer (accommodations) Il Moran Camp. Hey, why didn’t you ask us if we wanted to go? Oh well. I much prefer the marsh location.

We drove south, paralleling the hot air balloons. We came upon the ubiquitious game vehicles gathered around a tree. I guessed, leopard. Was right. Came upon a mother leopard in a tree with a leftover kill and one of her two cubs. She came down, one supposes to find her other cub. Very cute they way her cub in the tree loudly complained (often). Not very discreet.

The cub eventually came down and joined her. Amazing how it hard it was to follow them as they walked around in the high grass.

We drove down to the crossing area. Lots of wildebeest were gathering on the shoreline. They made some feints towards beginning to cross. Joshua said they almost surely would but we had to leave to go back for the tail end of breakfast, get packing, and leave for the airstrip. (One note: for security we brought a steel cable normally used for security of a laptop computer, and used it to lock our duffel bags together. Not totally secure, but we believed enough to discourage a casual thief. (Hard to imagine how a theft could occur, you could just see the goodness in the eyes of the staff. I guess someone from outside could sneak in. Hard to imagine though with all the security folk around.)

This was our first breakfast at LG. Pretty good (other three mornings had done a bush breakfast.)

With some sadness, we left LG. Took the little boat one last time across the Mara. I wondered if we would ever come back. What a magical place. (forgot to tell you about the resident warthogs, weird how they graze on the grass with forelegs tucked under them.)

We waited over an hour and a half. Saw one Air Kenya plane land at Kichwa Tembo airstrip, take off and fly over us to Serena or Intrepids. Saw several Safarlink planes come and go. Had never heard of it until then, since then have learned are viable competitor. (Smaller planes, more destinations, a bit more expensive, but hey, probably beats driving.)

Finally our plane came. However, it was pretty full. Had nervous moment when they told one family that they had seats for the family, except for the father. They assured him another plane was coming in 10 minutes. They were also going to Lamu. He did not look too worried, must have seen this drill before (a Frenchman, married to an American with their daughters born in England, pretty international, said the girls had three passports.) Lots of bags coming off and others going on. Made sure our bags were tagged for Lamu and on the plane.

Hugged Joshua goodbye, surprised I did not start to cry. Loved him very much. Brings tears to my eyes now.

OFF TO LAMU

Uneventful flight to Wilson at Nairobi. A bit nervous on arrival because we arrived late and only 15 minutes to scheduled departure, lots to do. However, figured should not be a problem because of the fellow on the following flight. Got off the plane and grabbed our bags as they came out of the baggage compartment (not exactly high security, I guess). We hauled them over to the baggage handling area. Mari had dashed off to them and gotten our bags out of their storage. Not so worried now about weight (carry ons at least). Put our safari stuff and souvenirs in the bags to be left and got our beach stuff out. Went quickly and smoothly.

We then had to check back in through security. They checked Sean again fairly closely (his Rocco vest laden again with camera stuff.)

We got some sandwiches, free fries and some chocolate/banana shakes at the café there. The fries were pretty good. Sean and I thought the shakes were fantastic. A bit rushed but got in time to take on the plane. (The French gentleman had arrived.) We took off only about 15 minutes late. Interesting to fly over Nairobi, but I was not impressed as a place to stay, much less live in. (I am always asking myself, “would this be a place to move to?”) Flew over the international airport. Weird that Air Kenya does not fly out of there.

Mari was glad we were having a change of pace. She was right, even I was getting a bit done with game driving, day after day.

Looking forward to a place very different from what we have ever experienced. Off to Lamu.

MORE TO COME “Flip flops and donkey crap are not a good combination.”

The warden interaction was interesting. I guess I'm glad they have a presence even if they aren't too intimidating. I've never encountered them.

A hyena den with little ones is a real treat.

I know what you mean about that paradigm shift where you feel like meat. It must have been meaningful to be a highlight.

What would you have done had you caught the tommy?

stakerk,
That feeling that a lion is sizing you up for dinner happened to us too. A pair of lionesses strolled over to within about 12 feet of our vehicle,and sat down. One of them stared at us one at a time like she was trying to decide which piece of chocolate she wanted out of the box. One of the ladies with us said she "felt like a she was in a can of sardines with the top off!"
Lily

Sounds like Joshua was a terrific guy.

Looking forward to Lamu, flip-flops and all.

Lamu Island

We added Lamu Island on the Indian Ocean as a change of pace from all the game viewing. We were glad we did, we were beginning to get a bit burnt out from all the game drives.

It certainly was different. You come flying in over what appear to be some pretty big mangrove swamps. You actually land on Manda Island across the bay from Lamu town.

The airport had more to it, but not much more, than the airstrips we had flown in and out of. Very third world, very Africa. Hand drawn baggage cart, luggage tossed onto a concrete bench, plastered buildings in not too great of shape, palm frond thatched roof waiting area, hand painted sign “Manda Duty Free Shop”. However, still a very nice Kenya feeling.

We were greeted by Abdul who was holding a “Kizingo” sign. When we arrived with some other guests, he then hid the sign back up in the rafters of the waiting area roof. Charming.

We liked Abdul quite a bit. Broad smile, very helpful, adequate English skills.

He loaded on our luggage onto a hand cart and pulled it the 200 meters to the end of the pier. Some other men assisted him in tossing down our luggage to the waiting open (but very fast) boat from Kizingo. I had already given him $10 when an apparently local English fellow suggested we make sure we gave him 150 shillings (a little over $2) for his trouble. I did not confess I had given him much more.

Our boat driver Mohammed (I would assume from the names these guys are all Muslim) took us across the bay for a glimpse at Lamu Town. I assumed it would be a pretty clean, organized place because it is predominantly Muslim. I thought the discipline of Islam would carry over to building maintenance. I imagined lots of clean, white plastered buildings (the photos I had seen had given that impression). Instead I saw a rather ramshackle place that could have used a lot more clean, white plaster.

Nevertheless, we were delighted to be here. Uncommonly overcast and not steamy hot as we were expecting. We were definitely not the Kansas (or California) any more. Very different.

Piloted by Mohammed the boat was very fast, a lot of fun, skimming along past the mangroves shorelines. Kizingo is on the far southwest side of the island. I think about 15 kilometers. You go around the island by way of the channel on the east, then north and then west sides of the island. It took about half of an hour. About five minutes out it started to rain, rained very hard when going that fast. Mohammed paused and hande us a tarp that covered us with me bending forward holding it down. The wind rushing over held it down over us. We got a bit wet but what fun!

We went past what I believe is called Kipungani Explorer Lodge. Looked pretty nice. A bit expensive I believe.

However, I believe Kizingo is a better location. We arrived. It also is on the channel, not on the ocean, but just around the point of the island from the ocean.

We dashed in the rain across the broad beach to the main building of Kizingo. We came rushing in only to realize we should have taken off our shoes. You see, all of the buildings there have a floorcovering of woven mats of some local plant material. Huge mats. The labor involved must be immense.

We were warmly greeted by Mary Jo, the owner (along with husband Louie). We had a good time at Kizingo, but she was actually the highlight. She is very humorous, as I have stated elsewhere a real riot. She also had some hilarious comment on nearly everything from what was for dinner that night to her view of world affairs. Very well informed for someone with sporadic internet access in the middle of nowhere (I learned they religiously listen to the news on BBC radio).

She and Louie have quite the tales to tell of growing up in Kenya (I guess one could call them British Kenyans, as in Mexican Americans), having a coffee farm in Zimbabwe, getting kicked out, and building Kizingo just a few years ago.

Kizingo is a true eco-resort. Solar electric lights in the room, solar hot water (with the overcast skies the first couple of days we were then, a bit of a problem), bandas made entirely of local materials, nary a nail in the place. Flush toilets using little water. Civilized enough, huge bandas, first time with a mosquito net, great Celtel mobile phone reception, great food typical of our trip (lots of seafood, for example how about half of a lobster for lunch?.) Not crowded, I believe only six bandas with guests. Great service from the staff (Note: May Jo said their wives have to walk five kilometers each way to get water.)

For the first time on our trip went to the main building and sat at the bar for sundowners. (We don’t drink alcohol so a learning experience.)

The next day we arranged to go into Lamu and hire Abdul to be our guide. (Note: everybody has a cell phone, easy for Mary Jo to contact Abdul and then for our boat captain to let him know we were about to arrive.) We got off at a pier and began walking along the waterfront. Now Lamu is famous for its donkeys; they are everywhere, just wandering around. “doesn’t anybody own these animals?” I understand there are only two motor vehicles on the island. But where there are lots of donkeys, there is lots of . . . donkey poop. And Mari and I were wearing only flipflops. We quickly realized our predicament and looked at each other with a look of oh well, let’s us go with it, it will wash off. Rather zen like of us I thought. I guess when you have gone to the bathroom in an ammo box on the shores of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon you tend to accept the bad with the good.

As alluded to before, I thought the town disappointing. Yes, I was glad we went. Quite a different experience, had never been to a Muslim area before (we were ignoring the U.S State Department warning against going to the predominately Muslim coast of Kenya). Narrow streets with open sewers for what appeared to be dish/wash water. Shopping was OK. Very good prices on clothing, fabrics, etc. Jewelry, ok prices. A couple of OK (how many different ways will I spell that word, and repeat it?) museums. Abdul was a very good guide, very patient with us, a good look in his eyes, liked him a lot.

Went back to Lamu for lunch. Note: Louie said the biggest issue they face is the cost of gasoline. Hence, they do have to charge $25 for each person to go back and forth to Lamu.

That afternoon the kids lazed about their banda. Mari and I went for a walk down the beautiful beach along the south side of island, it just goes on and on. Very enjoyable, lots of sea shells, hope it is not bad luck to take like lava rock from Hawaii.

No snorkeling this time of year, water too murky from runoff from the rivers (or was it algae?). Any way no snorkeling. A shame because Louie apparently knows right where to go to go snorkeling with the dolphins!

The next day we discovered was the annual dhow (sailing boat) race. The Van Aardts (Louie and Mary Jo) had their three children there and a bunch (6+) of their friends from college in the U.K. (or was it Ireland?). I went into town with them for the race (my family opted to stay behind and rest). We arrived about noon for the 1 pm race only to learn that 1 pm was last year, this year 4 pm (depends on the tides). I then hung out at the Peponi Hotel for a while with their daughter (Emily?) and some of her friends waitng for a ride back to Kizingo. Oh how youth is wasted on the young! Fun for this old 52 year old to be like a fly on the wall watching from a distance in the bar the young ones interact with old friends. Fun to just hang out and people watch. I guess Princess Caroline of Monaco has a place there (Shela Beach, just down from Lamu) just a couple of buildings down from the hotel (a surprisingly small establishment for a place that is so famous). Looked like a few folks there were being served lunch on the veranda. Almost felt like a paparazzo with my camera.

The race was obviously going to be a lot of fun but I had to get back by 4 to go fishing with Sean. (I had once asked Sean if he could go anywhere in the world (and remember this is a kid who had been a few places) where would he go and what he would do, and his response was “go fishing”). There were several dhow crews sailing back and forth along the waterfront apparently already well loosened up (if you know what I mean - - - not the strictest of muslims I guess).

Got back a bit after 2 pm and caught the tail end of lunch. Great as always, great food, great service, great chat with Mary Jo.

At 4 went with Sean to go fishing with Mohammed. The night before we had had red snapper caught by a couple of guests. We went out, surprisingly just about a mile up the channel. We would just throw a fishing line over the side with two hooks, each with a shrimp attached. When we would feel a tug on the line, would pull up the line. Mohammed would ask just “big fish” or “little fish” in Swahili. (Sorry can’t remember the words.) We catch fish after fish. Every time we would say small fish. Finally I had a bit tug at the line, a big fish. Mohammed excitedly helped pull up. Huge (for us) looked like a catfish, M. said it was a wolf fish. We caught over 70 fish! Mostly silver snapper, a couple of red snapper. We had a great time. He actually got tired of fishing after just over a hour.

Back and had some of our fish in the soup for dinner (it was steak night). Heard the dhow race was not very exciting, never heard why. However the Van Aardts kids were having go much fun they stayed with friends in Lamu that night.

ALMOST FINISHED “Who wants to try the crocodille first?”

Nice change of space. Nothing huge or spectacular happened, but sometime you just gotta' slow down.

Going to the bathroom in an ammo box... not sure I want to ask.

Lamu to Nairobi to Zurich to Los Angeles (Phew!)

We spent our last morning at Kizingo just lazing about. (Note: we requested a wake up delivery of hot chocolate at 8 am, a bit later than the safari camps) Delightful walk down the beach to the Indian Ocean side of the island.

We then somewhat sadly began getting ready to leave. Got packed. I finished reading Flame Trees of Thika (thank Fodorites for the suggestion!) I called Benjamin with Southern Cross to thank him for planning such a marvelous trip for us.

Time for us to go. I had to stifle tears as we were leaving our banda for the main building and a final lunch. I was reflecting on what a wonderful time we had had. Wonderful people, wonderful animals, wonderful places.

We bade a tearful (for us) goodbye to Mary Jo and Louis. Left what we hoped was a generous tip for the staff. Snuck separate tips to server and bandaguy. Went out to beach and hopped in one of their boats and sped back to Manda Island and airport. There was reliable, wonderful Abdul waiting to off load the bags and take them to the check-in (pretty rustic, dirt floor, palm frond roof).

Flew back to Wilson. Uneventfully retrieved our bags stored there. We did a major repacking job of our bags in the parking lot. Pretty paranoid about what we could take on the plane so took very little in carry ons.

Benson from Southern Cross took us over to Carnivore Restaurant (surprisingly close by). Had to wait for it to open. We ate as quickly as we could because we had to pick up a couple of gentlemen at a hotel on the way to take the airport. The exotic meats were camel (tasty but tough), crocodile (OK but bony), and ostrich (very tasty and good), also had lamb (actually gamier than the exotic meats, beef, and chicken (I believe). Huge tourist trap type of place but surprisingly clean and nice. Actually enjoyed.

Got to airport about three hours early for 11 pm flight. Easy time through security but got held up in check-in getting our seats. Afraid we were going to get bumped because did not have seat assignments. We ended up being seated in good exit row seats.

Thus began our long trek home. Have never done so many hours of flying in 24 hours. About 10 hours to Zurich. Slept pretty well. (Love that Ambien!) Had reserved a dayroom at the airport. A bit hard to find (towards the end of one of the concourses, I thought would be in central area.) I slept for a couple of hours. Family rested a bit and then went shopping in the airport. (Not exactly cheap shopping found in Switzerland they discovered.) It was nice to take a shower. In sum, would recommend the dayrooms there.

We then began the trek to our departure gate. We had to take a tram to another terminal. Went through security (they seized Sean’s toothpaste because we were going to the U.S., our first experience with the new security rules.) Finally got on the plane to Los Angeles. We then chased the sun across the globe. Overall we enjoyed Swiss Airlines.

Arrived in Los Angeles. Had just a brief wait at passport control (after what I assume was a drug sniffing dog checked us out). We were waived through customs. (I guess we had that “no way these people bought a lot of stuff overseas” look to us.)

Our niece picked us up and back to our home in Thousand Oaks at about 6:30 pm (about 4:30 am Nairobi time). Phew!

Overall a great trip. Would not have changed a thing (that I can remember.) Thanks for listening! Especially thanks to all you Fodorites for all your advice, trip reports, etc. Our trip was fantastic mainly because of you. Thank you so much.

Thanks for the final installment. Enjoyed all of your report!

Me too -- thanks, Kevin! This was a very interesting, entertaining report. How wonderful to be able to travel with your whole family like that. What lucky kids you have!

Thanks Kevin for a very entertaining and educational report. You had some truly wonderful "WOW-moments". Little Governors seem to be a lovely camp. Have you started to think about next trip?

regards,
Tom

Great report Kevin. Thanks for sharing. Sounds like you have a wonderful family and you, Mari, Marisa and Sean have lots to be thankful for.
Sherry

Thanks all for comments. sorry it took so long to complete, appreciate your patience.

Tom:

Thinking about Peru (hike to Macchu Picchu), then Eqypt and Israel, and then somewhere in Southern Africa, probably Botswana, mobile camping. Anyone have any other ideas?