Janet and Peter arrived in Kenya on the new direct Kenya Airways JFK-Nairobi flight on December 21. We had quite an itinerary planned for them, including Christmas on the beach at Watamu and a Masai Mara safari adventure.
Their flight landed an hour early, so they waited for me at the Java House cafe at the airport. Like travel pros. No sweat.
I found them!
A welcome from the kiddos:
We spent the day touring the ILRI campus, unpacking (and hiding Christmas goodies they carried over for us), watching a movie, and just trying to get to a decent hour for sleeping. This is Janet at 7:20 PM that evening:
We didn't give these guys much of a chance to adjust to our time zone -- the next morning we packed for the beach, and by the afternoon we were on the first leg of our journey.
First, we decided not to carry the bulk of our Christmas gifts to the beach, so we opened many of our Christmas presents early.
Our first leg was a quick drive to Kapiti, ILRI's research ranch which also functions as a lodge for ILRI staff and families. Janet and Pete were already on their first safari!
On the terrace at the Kapiti lodge, working on our first G&Ts
The view from the terrace
We did an evening safari, too.
At night, we enjoyed the huge Kapiti fireplace with Dikdik Wachanga, our driver. Pete told us that he had quietly retired from the farrier life the week before coming to Kenya. So we were his first retirement activity! We love more reasons to celebrate.
Photo credit: Silas Ray Jensen
The next day, December 23, was a loooooooooooooooooong travel day. We started early, and were seeing elephants by the road near Tsavo National Park by 9:30am. Since we were feeling good and early along in the day, we decided to try cutting across the Tsavo East National Park to get to Watamu, our beach destination.
The road less traveled
High-speed safari faces
We didn't see many animals while crossing the park, but this guy was out there:
And FINALLY -- after 11 hours in the car -- we made it to the beach!
Well-earned happy hour drinks
Dinner on the patio:
The next morning was already Christmas Eve. Time to explore the beach. A few of us were getting some GI issues (me and Pete), so some of our more ambitious plans were set aside for straight-up relaxing.
Pasty Americans and char-grilled Italians
Nate took the kids for an adventure out to one of the Blue Bay Islands - can you see them below, climbing up the coral onto the island?
Our house chef made ugali (a Kenyan staple) and fish and veggies for dinner
Christmas morning arrived with kids discovering that Santa found us once again, a trip to the beach, and making ur own breakfast together.
Breakfast group
We opened Christmas Crackers, a British tradition that I forgot to bring out the night before. That's where the crowns came from:
Then it was another relaxing day at the beach and the pool. Just being together.
We made dinner together -- fish tacos.
December 26 was our last morning at the beach, so we headed there early.
At the tiny Malindi airport - we did not take that plane, however
December 27 and 28 were Nairobi days, with lots to do. Visiting the elephant orphanage, seeing the new Mary Poppins movie, drinks on the back patio...
On December 29, it was time to go on our Masai Mara safari. We were picked up by our driver, Benson, at 6am and drove to the Mara by lunchtime.
Departing as the sun rises
Our first major sighting in the Mara was a 5-legged bull elephant:
Cape buffalo
Maasai giraffes
Male ostriches in the road, Thomson's gazelles in background
We stayed at the Aruba Mara Safari Camp, where we Jensens stayed our first time in the Mara back in March 2017. This time we had booked two "Comfort" safari tents, but discovered that we Jensens had once again been upgraded to a "Luxury" tent that had beds to sleep all six of us. We cancelled J&P's tent and they moved in with us so we could all enjoy our river-front view from our tent porch together. And because the Aruba Mara camp was overbooked and we saved her from disappointing another guest, the camp manager gave us a big discount on our already-discounted Luxury tent. Win!
Spaghetti lunch upon arrival
We went out for an evening safari, called a sun-downer for obvious reasons.
The local juvenile eland welcoming us at the Mara gate near our camp
We could see some rainstorms moving across the horizon. It was a beautiful evening.
We brought our own sun-downer G&T fixins.
Disclaimer: this was NOT Silas's cup at that moment
And Benson found a lion!
The next day was a pure safari day.
Sleepy cheetahs
Vultures on the lookout
Guinea fowl spreading manure and offering some ecosystem services
A family of lionesses and cubs tucked away in the bushes!
Life on the road
Giraffes all looking one direction; we never figured out why
At the Mara River there is a guided hippo walk.
Picnic lunch at the Mara River
Back on the road, we had a rare sighting of a civet cat!
Civet
Sausage tree at a water hole
Benson showed us where a leopard had previously made a kill (impala) and carried it for safekeeping in a tree. The leopard was not there, but the strength of it was obvious from the scene:
In the afternoon, we needed another car break. We headed to the oldest safari lodge inside the Mara -- Keekorok Lodge -- to have happy hour and ask if the kids could use their pool. Turns out they also have a boardwalk and hippo pool on site.
We discovered that Janet really likes Tusker. Cheers!
Making new friends in the pool.
The hippo pool was a neat boardwalk over a swamp, but the pool itself was basically full of hippo poop.
The small lumps are poop. The larger lumps to the top right are hippo heads.
Back on safari we saw two more male lions (the second is behind the bush) :
Before dinner at Aruba Mara, we played Euchre past dark, using our headlamps to see the game. Pete and I were a team so Nate and I could avoid getting our butts kicked as usual.
December 31 was the last day of the year, and our last day on safari. We decided not to get up and do the dawn drive, but instead have an early breakfast, pack, and take a leisurely drive through the park on our way towards Nairobi.
Pete and Silas working on their shared safari book
Our last big-animal Mara sighting was the same as our first:
That evening, we went to our friends' house for appetizers and some New Years Eve fun (no photos, sorry). After a long six-hour drive home from the Mara we were pretty tired, however, so we came home early. Pete stayed up with me and Nate watching a movie until just before midnight. Clearly he is trying some new things in retirement.
The next morning, January 1st, we did not have any plans. We soon discovered that Janet and Peter were not done safar-ing -- they wanted to try to see a rhino in the Nairobi National Park. We sent the kids to our friend Charlotte's house to swim and play (they weren't interested in more car time) and we four adults headed to the park. After an hour or so of hunting and asking passing guide cars for tips, we found a family of three rhinos WAAAAY in the distance. No photos, but lots of good memories.
Janet on the rhino hunt
Zebras checking us out
Pete spies some giraffes
Ostriches and the city in the background
When we went to pick up the kids, we all decided to go out for Indian food. Our friends Charlotte, Chris, Leo (13) and Amelie (11) took us to one of their favorite local spots near their new home. Good friends and good food.
Another tentative idea for J&P's visit was to go camping. I didn't plan it ahead in case they were too tired, but as we've seen so far, they were up for EVERYTHING. So we left Nate behind to work (poor guy) and headed to Sanctuary Farm in Naivasha for a night of camping among the wild beasts.
It's lovely to swim at the Sanctuary Farm pool in the heat of the day
Wildebeests
Dark n' Stormies and juice for the kids after swimming
A panorama from the deck of the Sanctuary Farm restaurant. Lake Naivasha is in the distance.
That night we did a night safari in the car and we saw hippos and -- a first for us -- hyenas on the hunt. Pretty cool! I thought Janet would never sleep after seeing those hyenas near our campsite, but she had no problems. I was only the one up late listening to the night sounds -- including a hippo pushing on the campsite fence until the night guard ran to scare it off.
Breakfast at our campsite
When we got back to Nairobi, I needed to go grocery shopping. Pete stayed home with the kids while Janet and I went to ABC Place. At Zucchini, the greengrocer, we saw these amazing flowers and thought of Aunt Gwen. We took this photo for her.
That evening we returned to the elephant orphanage at David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust to visit Skylar's adopted elephant, Emoli.
And suddenly, it was the last day of J&P's visit! So of course we had to squeeze in a trip to the Giraffe Center.
Nairobi Giraffe Center
Giraffes are tall.
Baby giraffe from above
Holding a giraffe leg bone
Pete and the giraffes got along like Pete and [all animals] get along. I love this photo because it shows his "talking to animals" expression:
For our last dinner together, we made our own paneer cheese appetizers (based on ones from the Indian restaurant we'd enjoyed on the 1st of January).
Games and last G&Ts together
Time to say goodbye.
Cora declared she was going with them. I felt much the same.
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