Safari

One of the really fun things we did while in Kenya was go on a safari. The place we stayed was Sweetwater Tented Camp. We had large 2 room tents on platforms with nice twin beds, dressing table, armoire and a full bath with shower stall, sink, toilet and tile floors. The beds had real nice, fluffy pillows. (The pillows up to this point had been about an inch thick!)

One of the nicest things they did for us was put a hot water bottle in our beds to warm them up for us. Being at 6000' and winter to boot (yeah, I know the equator never gets real cold) it was in the 50's at night with pretty strong winds.

The resort was extremely nice with a great restaurant (linen tablecoths and napkins) that served a combination of European, Asian and African foods. We were able to have red snapper, herb crusted turkey and other goodies for dinner and then have waffles, bacon and omelets for breakfast. We had vultures join us for breakfast. A waiter told me they will actually come into the room if the sliding doors are left open. They would peck at the window if someone held up food.

The restaurant overlooks 2 watering holes. People were getting up and down all during dinner to go out the sliding doors to take pictures. There are spotlights to help everyone see the animals. We did find out that although the animals don't shy away from the light, they do shy away from too much noise from the watchers.

We took a ride around the preserve on Wednesday afternoon and again on Thursday morning. around the preserve and saw 4 of the big 5 - elephants, giraffes, rhinos and zebras. The only thing we didn't see was lions. Some of our group paid $95 extra to go on a night time safari. They did see lions and were absolutely thrilled by it. The lions were chasing an antelope but didn't actually kill it. The driver said the lions had already eaten and were just playing with the antelope because they were not making any attempt to actually catch it.

In addition to the 4 large animals, we also saw antelopes or gazelles or maybe both, chimps, baboons, monkeys, water buffalo, and long horned cows from Uganda.

This was a great way to end our trip; to give us time to unwind from the work and the emotional intensity of being around so much need. It's something I would love to do with my grandchildren but I don't think they could take the plane ride or the shots or not drinking the water. Who knows, though, I might be able to save up enough to take them one day when they are older.