Planning

Thinking about a trip to Africa? Don't know where to start? Here are some suggestions for a newbie like me. You want to start this process 12-18 months out.

Even More Mara Pics

Pretty much every animal can be found in the Masai Mara:

More Mara Pics

Lots of cats in the Masai Mara:

More Rwanda Pics

About a hundred people helping to pick crops from a field one morning:

More Gorilla Pics

Click here to view movie of mountain gorillas

Newborn baby gorilla:

Mountain Gorilla Trek

I'll skip a description of my first day in Rwanda, because it was an emotional, heartbreaking experience, and it feels wrong to detail it here. After the genocide in 1994, this is a country still reeling from the trauma, and just about everyone you meet was personally affected. Many of the guides and people I met are in their 30s, so they were children or teens when it happened. But you know what? Rwandans are beautiful, resilient people determined to heal as a country, and are doing many impressive and thoughtful things to rebuild, heal and move on to a new future they are all proud of. The country is spotless, and the roads are better than anything in the US. I walked away with a great appreciation for the Rwandans.

In the mountains between Rwanda, Uganda and the Congo live the last remaining mountain gorillas, the same ones made famous by Dian Fossey. You can hike up and visit them. First, you need to purchase a permit months in advance. It's expensive and hard to get, but that money is going towards a whole army of trackers, guides and security, and conservation efforts.

Masai Mara

The piece de resistance of the safari: the Masai Mara. The most wildlife, game drive spotter and drivers were a notch above. Not much time, so some photos for now, more to come:

Cheetahs: 

More Samburu Pics

Lots of amazing elephants playing in the river...

Samburu Intrepids

Samburu is in the center of Kenya, so north of the other places I'll visit. Hilly, scrubby landscape reminds me of rugged parts of Southern California, like in the high desert. It's much hotter here.

Flights Between Safari Camps

You have two choices to get to safari camps: short flights on small prop planes, or drive 5-6 hours on bad roads. You can guess what I picked. Some people say driving to a camp is more authentic. I say once you're at a camp you spend 4-5 hours every day off-roading in a jeep while on game drives, so you're already getting the experience.

There are a few airlines that have scheduled flights to all the popular safari areas. My first flight was with Yellowwings, the rest with Safari Link. Your tour operator arranges it and it's part of your overall cost. Your camp will drive you to and from the airports, and they know your itinerary.

More Amboseli Pics

This pic is from the first day, just driving in from the airstrip. It's a newborn giraffe, if you look carefully you see the umbilical cord still attached.

First amazing day on safari, part 2

At the camp they had a store selling handicrafts from the nearby Masai village. This particular camp had a rustic gift shop in a wooden hut, run by four Masai. Hundreds of intricately beaded things, mostly bracelets. 

At 4:00 we drove to a nearby Masai village. We were greeted by 5-6 men, all wearing the same red plaid capes, skirts, and lots of beaded jewelry. They walked with us into the camp, and greeted by a welcome song by the whole village (adults and small kids, older kids were at school). Everyone (male and female) has shaved heads.

First amazing day on safari, part 1

There's not much downtime, and wifi is scarce, so I'm skipping around on this blog. As I type this it's Friday, September 15th, and I'm on a tiny prop plane from Amboseli to Nairobi to Samburu. Let's start with Wednesday, September 13th, my first full day out in the bush. It was the most amazing day ever.

After narrowly dodging a lumbering ostrich on the dirt runway, we landed at 8:00 am at a lonely airstrip near Amboseli in the Selenkey Conservancy  (a private area owned by the Masai, only Porini camps can stay / drive there). This is in southern Kenya, at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro (which is across the Tanzanian border). The six passengers disembarked the Cessna and looked around the empty landscape of orange dirt and barren shrubs. Two Gamewatchers / Porini jeeps arrived ten minutes later, taking three of us to one Porini camp (Porini Amboseli), the rest to another Porini camp.

Nairobi National Park

Hotel breakfast was packed with North American and Europeans, all on their way to various safaris.  A hum of excitement.

Picked up by Gamewatchers driver in a 4 wheel drive jeep. Driver Moses, very engaging. He said I packed very light "especially for a lady". (Yet I barely stayed within the 33 lb total limit for all bags - this limit is set by the smaller aircraft between camps - so what are these other chicks doing?) We had about an hour in the car as he crazily navigated Nairobi traffic. He invited me to ask him anything. So I did.

Nairobi - First Night in Africa

A five hour flight seems so easy, lol. Flying over the African continent at dusk... it looked so peaceful. Rolling hills, an endless sunset on the horizon, and no lights or buildings or roads. Until you get to Nairobi, a city of 4 million. 

Only my flight was arriving in customs/immigration, and I'll politely call it chaotic. Overhead signs bore no connection to the actual lines (you know, the different lines for Kenyan citizens, have a visa already, need a visa, etc). Passengers tried different lines and compared notes, we switched lines multiple times based on the latest rumors. Finally it was my turn, and I made it through. The even better part is they did not inspect my bags - I was worried because a week ago Kenya banned possession of plastic bags (but unlike when San Jose did it by restricting when merchants give out bags, Kenya is doing it by banning possession of bags). But the internet was unclear if that also meant ziploc bags - like the kind you need for airport security. I had multiple ziploc bags for various suntan lotions etc (gotta have 50 spf at the equator!) and was prepared to play dumb.

Was met by a representative of the tour company (Gamewatchers), and driven to the Eka Hotel on the outskirts of Nairobi. Already have the impression that the Kenyan people seem very warm and welcoming.

The hotel had a security gate (with a guard checking the car extensively). AND the front door to the lobby had a metal detector for me, and a separate bag scanner. (Learned later that these security measures were put in place all over Nairobi due to a terrorist incident a a mall). Quick late dinner ($13.00 including wine!), then off to a fitful sleep - jet lag and the malaria pills (which can cause crazy dreams) finally catching up to me. Not much of an impression of that first night, other than the symphony of the amazing crickets? birds? that I have not heard in years since Martinique.

Dubai

First leg of the adventure was to Dubai on Emirates. Very very nice, but very very long. 15.5 hours, my longest flight ever. I used miles for Business Class, a wise investment. First and Business class are up on a second story, so it seemed quieter. Had my own private cocoon next to the window, with a seat that converted to a flat bed. Didn't get much sleep, because, oddly, some woman kept having nightmares, so every hour she would scream, I kid you not. So not only would that wake me up but I'd be on full alert. Flying in I was watching the flight path and we were flying over exotic cities like Tehran, that's pretty cool. 

Dubai airport was huge, empty, modern, nicest airport I have ever seen. Out of there in 20 minutes, and that was all walking, barely a pause for immigrations and customs.