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Africa – Our Itinerary & What We Did in Kenya

May 12, 2018

We arrived in Nairobi after a layover in Miami and Qatar, almost missing our flight due to a delay.  We ran through DOHA like lunatics but made it just in time.  We were greeted by our wonderful guide and welcomed with J’s first birthday drink, Tusker.

May 13, 2018

J’s birthday!  We had an early breakfast where they had Korean birthday soup and kimchi then drove 4 hours to Amboseli.  J had Nile perch for the first time which he loved.  We went on our first game drive through the Savannah at Amboseli and saw zebras, giraffes, elephants, gazelles, etc.  J enjoyed his local birthday drink, Dawa which had local citrus, wild bush honey and vodka.

May 14, 2018

We were up at dawn to a clear enough morning to see the snow capped Mt. Kilimanjaro and had breakfast with a view.  The monkey’s were everywhere here {as you may have seen on my instavideos}.  This day we had 2 consecutive {day long} game drives and saw several herds of elephants, including lots of babies.  We had a picnic lunch at Overlook Hill and saw hippos and birds/eagles/flamingos all throughout the day.  

May 15, 2018

We were up at dawn, had breakfast, and drove 6 hours to Lake Navaisha where the lodge had free roaming animals like hippo, water bucks, giraffes, gazelles, and zebras on the grounds.  We passed through the Great Rift Valley and took an afternoon boat tour through the lake and saw the private Crescent Island where Out of Africa was filmed.  We got pretty close to several hippos in the water {so close that I was actually uncomfortable} and met local fisherman.  They told us about how the trees had been swallowed by the recent flooding and how dramatically the landscape had changed.  We were happy to see the wildlife thriving and each monger have fish to take home.  We returned just in time for supper and had to be escorted since the hippos roam wild.  I’m not sure what it was, but the penne marinara app was some of the best pasta I’ve ever had, comparable to that which I had in Rome.

May 16, 2018

We were up at dawn, had breakfast, and drove 1.5 hours to Lake Nakuru for an all day game drive.  We had the entire park to ourselves {except for the rangers we saw} and viewed white rhinos and rare Rothschild giraffes, flamingos, and warthogs.  J even spotted one of the 5 leopards in the park which we were told was a very lucky sighting.  We had lunch by a waterfall and shortly after, got our safari van stuck in the mud.  2 minutes later, before our guide could even call it in, the same park rangers showed up out of nowhere to drag us out.  On the way home, we stopped at a local shop to get treats for the children’s home and black passion fruit to enjoy as a snack.

May 17, 2018

We were up at dawn, ate breakfast, and drove 6 hours to Masai Mara.  After entering the park, we drove another 1.5 hours in to get to our final lodge.  On the way, we stopped at our first children’s home.  Unfortunately, all the children were still at school as we had come an hour too early.  We stopped for refreshments and picked up ebony wood carvings for a Father’s Day gift.  Later, we had an afternoon game drive through the Serengeti plains and saw the rare black rhino, topi and a secretary bird.  {As a note, each day I’m listing new animals we saw}.  We also saw our very first lioness 10 minutes into the park.  It had been our top request for Masai Mara.

May 18, 2018

We were up at dawn, had breakfast and an all day game drive from 7-6.  We saw many lionesses with their cubs, a jackal, steam buck, marabou stork, tawny eagle, coqui francolin, southern ground horn bill, heart beast, lilac breasted roller, hyena, and a leopard with her grand gazelle kill.  We had still yet to see a lion during our safari and as we were heading home for the night, we saw one just after mating!

May 19, 2018

We were up at dawn, had breakfast and spotted more jackals on the way out of Masai Mara.  On the way to the airport, we drove to our second children’s home which is where I captured my video.  After bawling my eyes out, we drove 6 hours to Nairobi and flew 7 hours to Qatar to spend the night at their airport hotel.  Though it was late, we roamed around the length of the airport, binged on junk food, hung out at the airport pool and finally stumbled into bed getting some 3 hours of sleep before our flight.  Worth it, even if we didn’t get to use their double spa shower heads.

May 20, 2018

From Qatar, we flew 15 hours to Miami but had a systems malfunction on the plane that made us 2 hours late.  This made us miss our flight from Miami to St. Croix.  I can’t complain.  This and the fact that I had a bad allergic reaction on the way to Qatar were the two worst things that happened on the entire trip and for that I am immensely grateful.  More over, we had some gracious friends who used to live on St. Croix who let us crash at their place.  We woke up early and ubered to the airport where I found a wallet with several hundred dollars in it which I returned to my gate.  We were finally on our way to be reunited with our Nala girl.

 

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2 thoughts on “Africa – Our Itinerary & What We Did in Kenya

  • Lester Nixon says:

    A happy BELATED birthday to Jay! It looks like you and Jay had a wonderful time Angie! These pictures are great!! Thank you for sharing this with us!

  • Jan says:

    Great pictures! I remember our Dawa drink every evening back in 2010. I didn’t get to see any leopards but we saw cheetahs.

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