CarolY

Well I had not intended to post a report since I imagine our experience was the same as most of you - beyond our expectation. Lynda S. suggested that I add a few comments to Rebecca's (grand daughter). We visited Serena Mt. Lodge, Sweet Waters, Samburu, Amboseli, Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater in that order which I consider to be a good thing as we certainly saw more animals as the trip progressed except at Tarangire which was a disappoinment because most of the elephants were missing in action and outside the park. However the birds were wonderful especially the many love birds.

We saw the big 5. Our guide in the crater was more excited than we were to see the black rhino come within 10 feet of our vehicle. Our guides spotted leopards for us 3 or 4 times. We saw many lions, mostly sleeping, but we saw one lioness dash off to kill a gazelle. Sal found 3 cheetahs sleeping under a tree which delighted us. I had the pleasure (?) of discussing with Rebecca the mating habits of elephants as this was happening right before our eyes.

I enjoyed watching large troops of baboons in Samburu and Tarangire and didn't find watching sleeping lions very exciting.

Near sunset in Amboseli the rain clouds parted in time for us to see Kilmanjaro with a background of pink clouds AND a rainbow!!!

We saw the beginning of the migration in Serengeti. There must have been 10s of thousands of zebras. It seemed that the wildebeests were arriving/departing slowly.

I enjoyed the animals immensely and I'm glad that Rebecca let us come on her safari. We never would have visited Africa otherwise. But what I'm still pondering is the the poverty, the Maasai women, the smiling, waving children by the roadside, people walking miles to church on Sunday morning and the warm friendly welcome we received everywhere we went.

As I'm sitting in my comfortably padded chair in the nice air condioned church tomorrow morning, I'll be wondering if I would be walking miles to a one room or open air church like I saw last Sunday. I'll wonder what God thinks about a $30 million church (not mine) in Houston, Texas while others worship under the sun. Maybe they have the right idea.

Al and I are almost 67 and 69 and have a mental list of places to visit before we get too decrepit, so we'll probably not be going back to Africa. Nova Scotia is on our list for this fall and New Zeeland next year. If I can persuade him, I would like to visit Antartica.

Again thanks to the faithful folks that post on this board. My daughters friend is about to make plans to visit Africa and I intend to tell her to visit Fodors as she begins to make her plans.

Carol

matnikstym

glad you, your husband and grand- daughter had such a nice time. i still remember the trips with my grandparents, nothing like Africa, but D.C, N.Y. etc. and those are some of my best memories ever. there's nothing like a grandma's love! Have fun on your further adventures and I know you opened Rebecca's eyes to the world of travel! Aloha, Dennis

Patty

Glad you all had a such memorable trip. Thanks for sharing it through you and your granddaughter's eyes with us.

lovetodiscover

Thank you Carol. What an beautiful setting it must have been to see Mt. Kili with a rainbow. Did you take pictures of it?

Thank you for sharing your trip summary.

anitas

Which tour operator did you use?

CarolY

Anitas: We used Eastern & Southern in Kenya and Leopard Tours in Tanzania. Sal was our guide in Tanzania and he was great!! He went the extra mile to find the big cats that was of great interest to Rebecca. The only thing that I was not pleased with was the bus trip from Arusha to Nairobi. The air conditioner did nto work!!!!

Leely

Carol,
Thanks for the report, as well as your granddaughter's. I'm one of those who recommends the Nairobi-Arusha shuttle. I guess I should make it clear that it's very comfortable <b>for a bus in a developing country</b>. Ooops.

Glad you enjoyed your trip.