Ticking off the Bucket List

African Safari – Check

Anyone who knows me can attest that I’m not afraid to dream big. I’ve set some lofty goals for myself; many of which I’ve achieved. Part of those goals includes a “Bucket List”.  My bucket list included an African safari, and I ticked that off 25 years ago. In the past quarter century, I gained a husband that loves adventure as much as I do, and kid who loves to travel. My first safari left such a momentous impression on me, I wanted to share it with my family. The kid finished high school this year and to honor that auspicious occasion, we wanted to give him an experience of a lifetime. We choose a two-week safari in Kenya and it was everything we could have hoped to experience.

A lot of thought and planning went into this adventure. There are less expensive ways to go on a safari, but I’m just not that girl. My version of roughing it is staying at Holiday Inn Express, so pitching my own tent and crawling in a sleeping bag, with or without man eating animals, simply isn’t an option. In the name of economy, I agreed to flying to Kenya in Premium Economy. That toyed with my rule of never crossing an ocean in coach, but it did save a few grand.…. Eight and half hours is a VERY long time to be strapped in a standard airline seat. It was a daytime flight, and I paid up for bulkhead seats, so there was extra legroom. The return flight was an overnight flight, so we put ourselves in business class for the trip home, because the word “martyr” will not appear on my gravestone.

We flew out of London Heathrow on a direct flight to Nairobi. One of the lovely bonuses of a bespoke trip is that the travel agency, made every minuscule arrangement. We used Audley Travel and I highly recommend them!  We were met at the arrivals gate with someone from the safari company and walked to us immigration and directed us to the express line. We were then escorted to baggage claim where staff picked up our bags and whisked us out of the airport and into a waiting car and took directly to our B&B. For the next 12 days, we were scolded if we even attempted to pick up our own luggage. It was a lovely extravagance.

Our stay in Nairobi was a lovely Bed and Breakfast named Mascushla House. It’s a gorgeous old house filled with charm and character, situated in the southwest of Nairobi in the Karen district. Situated in the Ngong Forest, it is unpretentious and relaxed, and when it comes to the wonderful garden and pool where you could spend hours there enjoying a cup of tea, or a glass of wine in the company of monkeys. The staff were lovely and the food was great.  It was conveniently located for the Giraffe Centre and the elephant orphanage.

It is a gorgeous room!

After a long day of travel, we gratefully crawled into our comfy king-sized bed draped in sumptuous brocade fabric that served as our mosquito netting. This bug barrier is essential in places where biting insects are abundant and window screens are not. It’s fun when you first crawl in and you lay there feeling like you’re a magical princess. The downside comes when nature calls in the middle of the night and you need to exit the bed in the dark and can’t find the opening! This scenario played out about 3:00 AM and after I fought my way out of the miles of fabric, stumbled to the bathroom and flipped on the light. Unbeknownst to me there was a screaming banshee in the tree just outside our bathroom window. The high-pitched shrieking began instantly and shocked me into a level of alertness for which I was not prepared. I conducted my business and fought my way back into bed while the shrieking continued to escalate. I had hoped that Dave that slept through this ordeal, but the voice from the other side of the bed said. “What the hell happened in there?” The entire forest around the house was filled with screaming animals for about an hour.  I could go the rest of my life and happily never encounter another Tre

e Hydrax! 

https://youtube.com/shorts/8X6V8QPYLik?feature=share

This video was captured on our second night. It was just as loud and lasted just as long, but at least I was prepared for it.

Here’s what the web has to say about this insanely loud little buggers. “The tree hyrax is a small, nocturnal mammal closely related to elephants despite its rabbit-like appearance. They are mostly nocturnal, becoming active shortly after sunset. Their powerful vocalizations can travel long distances through forest valleys, often surprising campers and researchers alike.”

Our first full day in Kenya began with a lovely made to order breakfast that prepared us for our day of adventure. First stop was the Giraffe Centre (Kenya was long part of the British empire and they use the the British spelling opposed to the American spelling of "center")

A giant photo bomber!

The Giraffe Centre is dedicated to the preservation of the critically endangered Rothschild's Giraffe. It’s one of the three main subspecies of giraffes and it’s estimated that there’s less than 1,500 left in the wild. In addition to the valuable work they do in saving a species, the centre provides an opportunity to be up close and personal with the tallest animals on earth! 

I don’t care how calm, cool and collected you think are, I double dog dare you not to giggle like a child when you are looking eye to eye with a giraffe that thinks your reason for being there is to feed them snacks. Upon entry you get a half a coconut shell holding your allotment of giraffe snacks (pellets made of corn, wheat, grass and molasses).

These gorgeous creatures all fairly well behaved… all considering. But they are 20-foot-tall opportunists. If you leave your coconut shell within reach, someone will clean it out in a split second. I learned that lesson!

There is a railing in the enclosure that keeps the giraffes back far enough that they can't maul you. Those tongues are 18 to 20 inches long so they can get you when you least expect it.

Because some pellets get dropped and giraffes can't easily eat off the ground there are specialized clean attendants in the enclosure as well. The warthogs clean up any spilled pellets which might otherwise attract vermin.

The janitor.

We could see the famed Giraffe Manor on the opposite side of the enclosure. It books out years in advance, so I fortunately didn't have to decide if I could justify the cost of staying there!

It was interesting to see the very tall mineral feeders.

All wildlife have to occasionally be handled, so of course there are very tall  giraffe working yard at the centre.

The second stop for the day was The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust nursery in the Nairobi National Park. Named after David Sheldrick, who helped create Kenya’s first national park, The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is dedicated to the conservation, preservation and protection of wildlife. Their projects include anti-poaching, safeguarding the natural environment, enhancing community awareness, addressing animal welfare issues, providing veterinary assistance to animals in need, rescuing and hand rearing elephant and rhino orphans that will be returned to the wild.

David and his wife Daphne spent 25 years working in Tsavo National Park, during which time they raised and successfully rehabilitated many wild species from their home in Tsavo. Daphne was the first person to perfect the milk formula and husbandry needed to successfully raise infant milk-dependent Elephants and Rhinos.  Their legacy lives on in the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, headquartered in Tsavo National Park in the southeastern park of Kenya. The trusts primary nursery is located in the Nairobi National Park.    Visitors are allowed in for just one hour a day to witness the gloriously ridiculous midday bottle feeding of the babies. Just imagine all the joyousness bounciness of baby lambs combined with the rambunctiousness of a litter of Labrador puppies wrapped up in 500 to 1000 pound packages. That’s what bottle feeding time with baby elephants feels like. It’s absolutely wonderful!

When orphans arrive at the centre they are assigned to a carer that gives them all the love and attention they would get from their momma in the wild. Carers even sleep with the smallest orphans.The orphans are housed in stables at night and spend their days loose in the Nairobi National Park and they always escorted by human companions.  Although most of the orphans are elephants, they don’t discriminate. Recent arrivals are a baby zebra and rhino that have been paired up. They are a funny duo to watch.

We were told our next stop was a bead shop. Two of us were less excited than me.

Kazuri Beads Women’s Cooperative is a wonderful place to visit. Not only is it somewhere that produces beautiful handmade ceramic beads and gorgeous beaded leather work, it's also a place filled with light and joy. As soon as you step out of your vehicle at Kazuri, you feel a positive vibe pulsing through the air. In addition to being a place that teaches women to create beautiful objects, it is a charity that focuses on single mothers and women without family support. Kazuri employs hundreds of women, providing them with stable jobs, fair wages, and access to essential social services. Many of these women have been able to support their families, educate their children, and improve their overall quality of life through the opportunities provided by Kazuri. The name “Kazuri” means “small and beautiful” in Swahili, a perfect representation of the intricate and colorful beads crafted here.

The final stop of the day was for a leisurely lunch in the garden of the Karen Blixen estate. Karen Blixen is the woman who wrote her autobiography, “Out of Africa”. We weren’t able to go through the museum, but the gardens are lovely and provided us with a gorgeous shady spot for a leisurely lunch.

When we arrived back at Mascushla House, we decided to lounge by the pool and enjoy the late afternoon sun.

It wasn’t long before the Vervet Monkeys made their appearance. Dave and I ordered up glasses of wine and settled in to watch these tiny, charming primates.  We watched them for a couple of hours. We were chatting with some other guests and mentioned how much fun it was to watch the monkeys and the lady responded with “So you’ve never had one of those horrible creatures loose in your kitchen?”  I can see how that wouldn’t be charming!

The second night, I used flashlight for my late night trip to the loo!  The next morning, our driver took us to the Wilson Areodrome to head out on safari.

In the next post, I’ll take you to Ol Pejeta