Just boarded our 2nd charter flight of this amazing adventure. For the next 2 weeks, our goal is to visit 5 Safari camps and photograph the wildlife in Kenya.

Our group consists of 8 people …2 couples and 4 single ladies…3 of us are recent widows after 40+ years of marriage. And, of course, I’m the oldest😉. The trip is courtesy of my good friend Rick Minchew, who spent hours researching, planning and confirming all the details. We owe him a huge amount of gratitude.

Our first stop was Tawi Lodge in Amboseli, Kenya. The view from every area of the Lodge was the
Tallest SINGLE mountain in the entire world, and the highest in Africa…Mount Kilimanjaro 19,340 feet.

Additionally, the view from the lodge dining and pool area was a large waterhole where the animals came to drink all day long. One afternoon, we just sat contently and enjoyed drinks after lunch at the pool watching giraffes, elephants, zebras, impalas, monkeys, and lots of gazelles come to drink and bath in the water.

The most impressive thing about this camp is the friendly and knowledgeable staff. We were welcomed like family and our every need was met with a smile. Food was delicious! I’m sure I gained 5 lbs in 3 days.

Our villa had windows in every room so you could watch the animals. Once when I was in the shower with the large window open…this monkey sat in the tree not 10 ft away and watched me until I finally got nervous thinking he was going to jump in the shower with me and I reached over and pulled the window closed.

Each morning & evening we rode 4 to a jeep and toured the area in search of wildlife in the true “wild”. To say it was dusty would be an understatement. This is the dry season and everything is VERY dry…Yelp, just like Texas. Dust devils were all around the area and numerous could be seen at any time you looked across the landscape. On our drives we saw so MANY animals, it was hard to keep up ….

Crowned cranes, Wildebeest , Zebra, Cape buffalo (most dangerous along with the hippos), elephants, 2 types flamingos (lesser are white and greater are more pink), impalas, black strip Thompson gazelles, long neck gazelles, springboks, variety of monkeys, black face monkey , baboons, hyena, reedbuck, pumba (warthog ) spring bok (mostly white deer like)…and I’m sure I’ve inadvertently left out several species.

Our guides were full of knowledge….and a couple of unique things I learned were…

The beautiful bird we constantly saw at the lodge with the iridescent blue feathers on his back and a reddish/orange breast is a Superb Starling. They were sprinkled throughout the resort.

A group of giraffes is called a tower.

Secretary bird- Looks kinda like a turkey. Their bodies are slim but very strong. Secretary birds can grow to be 4 feet (1 meter) tall and have a wingspan as wide as 7 feet (2 meters). Although secretary birds can fly, they prefer to stay on the ground. The secretary bird has stiff black feathers that stick out from the back of its head and neck.

As a lover of squirrels, I was excited to see a species I’ve never encountered … tan BUT had a extremely long tail that was white sprinkled with blue and black accents. We enjoyed sharing our peanuts with him.

Gazelle Antelopes- There are several species of gazelles. The Grant’s gazelle is very large compared to the SMALLER Thompson gazelle. There’s also the long neck gazelles which remind me of a miniature giraffe.

Springboks…. Look like the Thompson gazelles BUT their horns grow upwards before curving inwards towards the midline of the head, while those of the Thomson’s gazelles grow upwards and then curl slightly backwards.

Flight time over, arriving in the Great Rift Valley, Magadi, Kenya our 2nd camp on this amazing trip.