It took a year of planning but the trip of the year finally arrived. I was inspired to visit Kenya for the views of Mt Kilimanjaro. Reva was inspired to see the wild animals , so it was a win-win situation. I have written about the planning previously, but this is how the actual trip came together.

Day 1: Arrival in Kenya:

The Nairobi Airport still uses busses to unload international flights and we arrived right on schedule at 7:35 on Saturday morning for our 7 night adventure. The immigration process was fairly quick. Customs required the x-ray screening of our luggage but it was quick. We were out of the airport before 9:00 and ready to start our adventure. One surprise was being informed that both Kenya and Tanzania have banned the use of plastic bags and their use/possession can be heavily fined. That was the first time we had ever ran into that. We did have a few plastic bags which we hid and smuggled into the country.

I was pleasantly surprised that Jemimah, our travel consultant with Alphadean Tours and Safaris, met us and our travel companions (Mike and Jean) at the Airport with our driver and tour guide, Tidas. I had requested an airport pick-up and transportation to Nairobi Giraffe Center, the Carrefour Grocery Store and drop off at the Doubletree Hilton. Jemimah had the day off and had never been to the Giraffe Center, so she thought she would join us.

The Giraffe Center was very nice but also very small. They had only nine Giraffes but you had the opportunity to get up close and personal to feed them. We spent probably 45 minutes there before we headed off the the grocery and hotel. We arrived at the Hilton Doubletree at about 11:30 and were pleasantly surprised that our rooms were ready. Our Safari was to begin in the morning, so we spent the day getting caught up on sleep and exploring the local area.

Nairobi is a large city and fairly modern. Security was very tight and major facilities, hotels and shopping centers had metal detectors at the doors. Our hotel had multiple levels of security, but no one was armed…unlike when we visited Egypt. For me the one thing that stood out was the overall friendliness of the Kenyans. Everyone we met appeared generally friendly. “Jambo, Jambo”, was the greeting we met everywhere. Also, the fact that everyone spoke English along with Swahili, made it simple to communicate.

Day one of the Safari:

The first day we were picked up early at the Hotel and transferred to the Alphadean office. Their office was shared with several other Safari tour operators in the Baboon Budget Travel Office. They shared the rent, but the name on the door was Baboon Budget Travel. Later, I learned that the vehicles and at least one of the Safari camps were owned by them. We finished paying, met our travel companions Grace and Bernard a guide that our guide was training. This was our starting group for our Safari and we headed of to Masai Maya to begin. This was a “joining” Safari not a “Private” Safari since we had lost two of our travel companions. This meant that each day new members could be added as we went.

On the way, we made a quick stop to view an overlook over the Rift Valley and continued to a Masai gift shop for lunch around 1230. One thing we noticed about Titus, was that every-time someone asked about making a restroom stop, he would ask “are you pressed”. This became humerus and sometimes one of would admit to “being pressed”.

I had been advised (by a Kenyan) that the road to Masai Mara was bad even for Kenya and a few hours into our trip I understood how bad they were. The paved road was so rough in areas that the community had placed large piles of dirt or rock to mark it and warn drivers. This meant that drivers would need to pick the smoothest areas to drive, no matter which side of the road. After our driver swerved around one pile of rocks avoiding an oncoming truck he hit one of the larger potholes and ruptured the brake line. He pulled the vehicle of the road and confirmed that the brake line required repair. My guess was that this had happened before because they knew exactly where to look. The emergency brake worked however, so we could still travel …slowly. He made several phone calls and advised us that the Toyota Land Cruiser would need repair and that he had made arrangements. We continued down the road which had become much worse to the point where sometimes driving on the dirt next to the road was better than driving on the road. We were driving very slowly due to the brake issue when we were passed by a motor scooter carrying two men from a local repair shop. We continued until Titus could find a place to pull over with some shade. The mechanics quickly went to work on the brake line. The line had broken at a fitting and the mechanics was able to put it back together and we continued our journey.

Along the way, we passed many Masai Communities. The ladies all wore bright clothing and wraps. It was surprising, seeing the people wearing coats and long pants, like it was winter even though it was in the upper 70s. The roads were used by locals for shepherding their cattle, sheep and goats. The young children would wave at the jeep as we passed. It was amusing bouncing down this partially paved road avoiding goats, and trucks along the way..

When we did arrive, we did have time for a two hour “game drive”. Its actually amounts to driving around looking for animals. It was fun and we did see lions, zebras, giraffes, wildebeests, elephants and a variety of other animals.

We had upgraded to luxury accommodations and were staying at the Masai Mara Sopa Lodge. Each lodge had two rooms and all meals were included. It was fantastic! The food was decent and the local Tusker beer was good and cold. The big advantage was the proximity to the park and the wildlife around the lodge. In this case, we had zebra grazing a few feet in front of our lodge.

Day two of the Safari:

After breakfast, we stated an all day game drive throughout the Masai Mara park. We had a new person join us for the day. Tyler was a young accountant from California, who was spending a few weeks working remotely…that’s an understatement.

The big five animals, which are the most dangerous to hunt are the elephant, leopard, lion, cape buffalo, and rhino. Titus described them as the ones that if you don’t kill, will kill you. We did see four of the “Big Five” animals…kind of. The leopard was in a bush so it was hard to determine if he was actually there. But we did see lions, elephants, buffalo, and many other interesting animals and birds. There is no hunting allowed in Kenya so the animals are thick and not very bashful. Lunch was a picnic which was typical for the safari. The lodge each day would prepare a boxed lunch for us to take with us.

In the afternoon we took a tour of the Mara river where the Wildebeest migration occurs annually. The Mara River is referred to as the “River of Death”. It was full of hippos and crocodiles. Hundreds of wildebeests die trying to cross this river each year. We had seen this on Animal Planet before, but I never realized that this was the actual location. The migration was later in the year and people from around the world come to see it.

Titus wasn’t allowed to give us a tour of the river since he didn’t carry a rifle. There were armed guides available since the area was considered dangerous due to the wildlife. Peter was chosen to be our guide. He was a friendly man with a big gun and a big grin. His eyes were yellow and sickly. I anticipated that he was suffering from jaundice or hepatitis and may not be around too long. The interesting thing about Peter was his knowledge of the United States. He had memorized all of our States, cities, capitals. As we walked, he happily recited facts about the US while he pointed out crocodiles and hippos. It made for an interesting and welcomed hike after riding around in the jeep for 6 hours.

After the river tour, we headed back to the lodge. We were offered an optional visit to a Masai village, but we opted just to return to the lodge.

That evening Reva and I had our first close animal encounter. Apparently, some lions were near the lodge which made the zebras nervous. As we were walking down the sidewalk toward the restaurant in the dark, we heard animals galloping hard toward us. Just then, four zebras appeared racing directly toward us. “Oh Shit”, Reva and I both exclaimed as we ran up on the closest porch, hoping the zebras didn’t follow us. Fortunately, the zebras ran past us and then stopped and stared at us. I assume the zebras felt that we protected them…or the lions would eat us first. Either way, it was quite the experience. After, dinner we returned to our room with our zebra friends close by.

Day three of the Safari:

After breakfast, be loaded up and headed to our next lodge. This was just a travel day and it would be just the four of us and Titus for the next few days. Unfortunately, we had to go back the way we came along the same road. The trip was uneventful but there were men with there flocks of animals all along the roads. Children would wave as we past by and it was relatively pleasant…but quite ruff. Often we would see a giraffe of zebra and we noticed the Masai villages as we passed by. We went straight to our hotel for the evening, the Sarova Woodlands in Nakuru. Nakuru is the fourth largest city in Kenya and this was an extremely nice hotel. Getting back to AC and a TV was a nice change after two days in the wild.

Day four of the Safari:

Today, we were off to see rhinos and flamingos at the Lake Navarro National Park. This park housed the largest concentration of rhinos in Kenya both black and white. We started out by watching a pair of lions stock their breakfast….a warthog. Fortunately, for the warthog, he was faster than the lioness, so the lions ended up missing breakfast. It was interesting that the lioness took care of getting the meal, while the lion would just go take a nap. (Not a bad arrangement.)

Next we set off to find the rhinos. First, Titus found a black one. He pointed out that the black rhinos tend to be alone and they are very aggressive. He explained that he would keep the jeep motor running since, if the rhino got close enough, he would charge…and then it would become a real safari. This, unfortunately, wasn’t an issue and we continued our drive around the lake viewing birds and velvet monkeys and baboons.

Later, we headed to a waterfall and stopped for lunch in the park. On the way out of the park we came across several white rhinos grazing in a field along with one black rhino. While we were watching them, the black rhino decided to mate with one of the white rhinos. Titus commented that in 5 years, he had never seen anything like. Unfortunately, the black rhino wasn’t very good and making more rhinos, and we continued on to our lodge for the evening. The Lake Naivasha Sopa Resort.

This lodge instantly became a favorite! On the drive in we passed zebras, giraffes and water bucks (large deer) grazing. The lodge sat along the lake and hundreds of monkeys were running around. The lake was full of hippos, which grazed on the grounds at night.

Here, I had my second animal encounter. While we were video chatting with our granddaughter, We went over to show her the cute little monkeys. There was a mother grooming a young one and I got a little too close. The young monkey ran off and I turned away. At that point, the mother monkey decided that she didn’t like me and started to come at me. I turned and faced her and we had a bit of a standoff. I slowly backed away and put some distance between us. Now I know why, rabies vaccines were recommended for visiting Kenya. That night, when we went to the lodge for our evening “Tusker” and dinner, all the animals were out grazing It was like living in a zoo…without fences. The animals were not afraid at all. That evening, after dinner, we were able to watch the hippos graze behind our room. We had an opportunity to take a boat ride the following morning, but we chose not to since the boat was quite small.

Day five of the Safari:

This was our travel day form hell! We started late and had a seven hour drive to our next and final lodge Sopa Amboseli. We started late and understood that two new people were joining us along the way. Titus drove extremely slow and we learned that the couple we were meeting were coming from Masai Mara and we weren’t meeting them until 11:00. At 25 mph we still got to the meeting point around 10:30. From there, we still had a 5 to 6 hour drive.

When we arrived at the meeting point, we learned that the other vehicle (a safari bus) had broken down and was still over an hour away. I kept inquiring about options and checked to see how much Uber would cost us. At 1:00 we learned that it would be several more hours before the other couple could join us and our travel coordinator with Alphadean was unwilling to do anything. Finally, I priced the cost of an Uber from Nairobi to Amboseli National park. It was around 12,000 KES or $94. I offered to pay the $94 to transport the other couple if we could continue. Jemimah agreed.

I found Titus and advised him that I had fixed the car situation and we were free to continue. Along the way, I worked out the exchange rate with our agent and we finally arrived at the hotel around 7:30, just in time for dinner. I learned later that the other couple arrived at their camp around 11.

Day six of the Safari:

Today was a full day game drive in Amboseli National Park, which is very close to Mt Kilimanjaro. Unfortunately, it had rained and the animals, especially the elephants, had chosen to go elsewhere. We saw maybe 30 of the 2,000 elephants living in the park. Still it was a nice day to drive around and see a few animals. One lioness and her cubs provided some entertainment. Titus explained that the snow on Mt Kilimanjaro was melting and causing swamps to be formed in the park. The big animals avoid wet land and there are no fences around the park….so they go elsewhere. Fortunately, later in the day, the clouds parted enough to allow us to see the mountain.

Although it barely sprinkled in the park, it rained heavily at the camp where the German couple who had joined us were staying. The bad roads were completely flooded making them impassible, or so I thought. Titus engaged the jeep’s four wheel drive and picked his way through the water and mud and got through to the remote camp. We dropped the couple off and headed to our beautiful Sopa lodge.

One of the highlights of being at the Amboseli Sopa Lodge, was the opportunity to have a drink in Hemingway’s bar. Hemingway had visited the area multiple times and built a house there. Afterwards, he left the house to the community and when the lodge was constructed, the house became a bar and tribute to the writer. This was the location where he gathered the material for the book “Snows of Kilimanjaro.

The bar was located on a large rock and was constructed in the shape of Africa. The bartender was Emanuel. His uncle actually had worked with Hemingway and he told us the history of the house and the writer’s interactions with the Masai people. Emanuel was a former tribal leader of the local Masai Village and gave us some insights on how they lived and their traditions. It is an amazing and proud culture. The fact that the men could have multiple wives, if they have the resources (each wife cost 10 cows) was interesting. When questioned how much I paid for Reva, I didn’t know the amount but I was sure that it was more than 10 cows….and worth every moo.

Last day of the Safari:

We left the lodge early and navigated back over to the tent camp to pick-up the Germans. Luckily, the water level had subsided some and the roads were slightly more manageable. Unfortunately, a truck had tried to navigate the road and had got itself stuck sideways. Two men were trying to dig the truck out of the mud. Titus slid around the stuck truck and somehow made it to the camp.

After, picking up the Germans and sliding around the truck, we headed back to the park for a quick visit. As before, there were very few animals, however once we left the park, plenty of zebras and giraffes could be spotted…still not sure where the 2,000 elephants went. We made it back to the Nairobi Airport around 1:00 in time for our flight out of Africa.

Thoughts and recommendations:

As I said, we had booked the tour using Alphadean Tours and Safaris, which was a company used by Viator. The company is very small and shares the Baboon Budget Safari’s (BBS) office space with several other small independent tour operators. BBS owns the vehicles (3 jeeps and 3 vans, I was told) as well as the camp where the Germans had stayed. The guides are independent and work for multiple companies. Previously Titus had guided tours for the “Gate One Travel” local operator. Our total price not including airfare or the hotel the first night was $7,424 (plus $94 to resolve the broken van problem) for the four of us traveling together or $1,856 per person. That included the upgrade for the jeep and the luxury accommodations. That is substantially less than you might expect. Here are some thoughts if you ever wanted to do this:

1. The luxury lodges were worth every penny! In some cases, the game viewing was as good as in the parks (Lake Naivasha Sopa Lodge in particular) .
2. Your guide is critical, request an experienced one. Titus had been doing this for five years and had lead over 100 safaris. (Contact me for his information.)
3. You really do need a jeep or equivalent to navigate the roads in Kenya. Especially, if you are considering going to Masai Mara National Park. The safari vans just can’t go where the jeeps can.
4. Book a private tour or have six in your group to ensure that you aren’t impacted by waiting on others who are not in your travel group.
5. Alphadean provided us excellent communication and is a Viator affiliated company. That said, I felt that we were mislead regarding the couple joining us along the road. This negatively impacted our trip and I felt we had been abandoned by our travel coordinator.
6. Tip your guide daily to ensure the best service. After the Safari, I asked Titus for his opinion on tipping daily compared to tipping at the end. He gave me a number of reasons why he appreciated it and why it helped ensure we had a great safari.
7. I have previous wrote about our preparations and everything worked as anticipated. We left Kenya with great memories and no mosquito bites.
8. The people of Kenya are enjoyable to meet and be around….the animal viewing is amazing….and “Tuskers” are good! Enjoy and have fun!