KENYA, AFRICA, 2003

Going to Africa was the most amazing experience. We began our trip in Switzerland where we stayed for five nights. We explored such towns as Lucerne and Grindenwald where we experienced the Oberer Glacier. We also took a drive through Austria and Germany to the Neuschwanstein Castle in Tussen, Germany.

Our next flight arrived in Nairobi, Kenya. We were then escorted to a small plane airport where we boarded a 15 passenger plane that took us to our final destination, the "Masai Mara Safari Club". As the plane descended, and prepared to land, we looked out the window and saw nothing but vast wilderness. From our wooden deck of our tent the view was of the Mara River filled with dozens of hippos! That very afternoon we went on our very first safari. It was an experience I will never forget. We traveled in a landrover with a canvas top that was folded up so we were completely open to the elements. We spent two hours with our driver, driving through the countryside and saw antelope, baboons, warthogs, lions, zebra, giraffe and many more. All within a few hours of our arrival!
One morning, as part of our safari, we visited a Masai Village. The women were all dressed in very colorful dresses and they greeted us along with their children with singing and dancing.

We continued on to our next stop which was to visit the only living rhinos in Kenya. They were brought to the Mara to be re-introduced after being extinct in Kenya due to poaching. When we arrived we were greeted by an armed park ranger. He asked us to get out of the vehicle, and escorted us to where the three rhinos were free to roam. There are no fences, but the rhinos are guarded by rangers with rifles 24 hours a day, to protect them against poachers. We stood within 20 feet of these enormous creatures!

On our second full day, we chose to take a 9 hour safari to experience the "great wildebeest migration". Each year, over a million wildebeest and zebra travel thousands of miles from the Serengeti to the Masa Mara in search of food. It was an incredible sight!

We saw large herds of elephants, a mother cheetah with her cubs, giraffe, antelope and even witnessed a pride of lions in search of food.

One of the most wonderful parts of this trip was getting to know the people of Kenya. We were always greeted with warm smiles and friendly and informative conversation. They were always trying to teach my son to speak swahili. They would tell us about their way of life, and we would tell them about ours.

When it was time to leave we all cried. It had been a trip we would never forget!