Greeted at the airport and driven 45 minutes to The Emakoko Lodge in Nairobi National Park.

A beautiful sustainable, solar-powered lodge

The first evening was wood oven pizza by the pool.

The lounge area where we enjoyed pre and post-dinner drinks and played 10’s and 2’s.

Well-appointed rooms.

View from the private balcony.

Private balcony.

Slept with the doors open and a cool breeze.

Joel was our private driver guide each day.

The Lioness is the hunter and this one was on the prowl.

The Ostrich’s pink neck means he’s on the prowl for another reason❤️.

A small bird is catching a ride on a Rhino (eating ticks).

A common Zebra looks us straight in the eye.

A giraffe is snacking

The first of many sundowners.

🍸Predinner cocktail Muddled Lime while playing 10’s and 2’s card game.

Post dinner wine and watched 2 Buffaloes saunter up to the lodge and pool area.

🎓Learning for the day:

* a zeal or zazzle of zebra

* a tower of giraffes

* a pride of lions

* a head of buffalo and ostrich

* a pouch of pelicans

🍽 Meals

Breakfast = Eggs Benedict and bacon, fruit

Lunch = Cold Cucumber Soup Shot, Chicken Curry with rice and fresh Cucumber + Carrot Vinaigrette salad, Lime Sorbet

Dinner = Pork Belly, fresh veggies and salad

All meals included fresh baked bread, wine

Private plane to Lewa House in the Lewa Conservancy.

Joseph was our driver and guide.

On the open air jeep ride to the house we were welcomed by elephants, rhinos, zebras, buffalo, ostriches, giraffes and elan gazelles.

White rhino

Elan is the largest gazelle

Black and White male ostrich. They run fast but zigzag to challenge their predator.

Pre and post dinner cocktail lounge

Lunches by the pool

Rooms are called Earth Pods.

Outdoor bath

View from the bed

Settled in, enjoyed lunch. Post lunch relaxation was followed by a late afternoon game drive and rosé sundowner ☀️

🎓Learning for the day

* the black rhino is expected to be declared an endangered species

* all the fresh cut flowers in Europe are from Kenya

* Poaching is still an issue - Asians and assholes pay for tusks and ivory.

🍽 Meals

Breakfast = Eggs Benedict

Lunch = Stuffed eggplant, pepper and cucumber salad, spinach rice. Local cheese board for dessert. Rose was mandatory.

Dinner = Tilapia, vegetables

🍸Pre-dinner cocktail:

The King

The Hunter

The male enjoyed a meal and a roll in the hay then the satisfied couple napped in the middle of the road.

The Sheldrake Elephant Orphanage.

Nyambeni was found by the owner of Ol Malo who told us the story of finding him on his property. Small world.

The Giraffe Sanctuary where the only remaining Rothschild giraffes are protected

Back to the Lodge in time for lunch then a relaxing afternoon while a small rain shower provided much-needed water. Not many animals came out after the rain for our late afternoon game drive, but a sundowner of rose and beer wrapped up the day.

Predinner cocktail - Negroni

🎓Learning for the day: Community

Animals live in communities to help each other survive against predators

* zebras have very good smell to catch a predator’s scent

* giraffes use their height to see approaching trouble

* birds caw to alert the community of danger

🍽 Meals

Breakfast = Eggs Benedict, bacon, toast

Lunch =

Dinner = Almond soup with sliced grapes, steak with green beans and potato cakes, Pavlova with passion fruit for dessert

🍸Pre-dinner cocktail: Negroni while playing 10’s and 2’s

Beautiful morning for a hike.

Hyena poop is white because they eat bones.

After the hike, visited the operation center for the conservancy to learn about poaching and protecting the black rhino.

During lunch, a monkey raided my room and ate 12 malaria pills, stole my bug spray and eyelash liner. Bad monkey ransacked the room and shit on the floor. After cleaning up, chilled then went on the late day game drive.

🎓Learning for the day

* Herbivore💩 = dung

* Carnivore 💩 = scat

* Omnivore 💩 = feces

🍽 Meals

Breakfast = scrambled eggs, bacon and biscuit served on the savannah after our hike

Lunch = \240salads, lamb, xxx

Dinner = ribs, potato pancake, cole slaw, cream puff

🍸Pre-dinner cocktail: Negroni

Hyenas by their den

Walking to the den

🛻 Hour drive through villages to the Ngrade Forest.

Hiked into a waterfall. Jumped into the mountain-fed lake.

Walked the suspension bridge

Picnic in the forest

🛻 Game drive on the way home. Skipped the sundowner, changed for dinner and had an old fashioned before dinner

White rhino momma and baby

Pre-dinner Old Fashioned

🐅 Animal of the day: Hyena

* a group of hyenas is a clan

* hyenas’ dens are stinky to deter predators

* the hyena is the only animal that doesn’t have a classified species. It’s not a dog or cat, the front legs are longer than the back and it has a long neck.

* the hyena eats another animal’s kill, after the killer. The jackle then comes in, followed by the vultures then the hyena returns and eats the bones with his powerful jaws. That is why his poop is white and never disintegrates

🍽 Meals

* Breakfast: froached eggs (froached then fried), bacon, fruit, toast

* Lunch: Picnic of bread, salads, beef, sweet bananas and Rose 🍷

* Dinner: xx lemongrass crème brûlée

✈️ Private plane to Ol Malo

20 minute flight with Joel

Ol Malo is a rustic lodge, stone and thatched roof. Expansive view over the mountains.

Relaxing afternoon then an hour hike to a Sundowner.

Marinated beef over an open fire

G & Ts and country music in the background made for a surreal sundowner.

🦁Animal of the day: Lion

* the female lion is the best killer. She is patient and efficient, quietly stalking and exploding with speed at the time to kill

* she lets the males eat, feeds the cubs then she eats

*

🍽 Meals

* Breakfast: Egg cup, fruit, crepes

* Lunch: Tilapia (caught on Mt. Kenya) tacos, salads, cheese and Rose 🍷

* Dinner: Soup, lamb Shepard’s Pie, veggies and iced cream (iced intentional, kind of like a sorbet) with tree tomato sauce (a bit like pomegranate).

🍸 Cocktails

* G&T and Rose at Sundowner, white with dinner.

The Boys

An hour hike with guard Samuel and guide Lasangai.

Reticulated giraffe

Walking among the animals gives a different perspective than from a vehicle.

After an hour hike we met the camels for an hour ride into breakfast

Riding a camel is not as comfortable as it looks.

Bush breakfast was set up by a riverbed and we chatted with the ranch owner. He was the one who gave the idea to burn the ivory that had been confiscated from local shops.

Lunch at the lodge

Rosé all day

🎥The Mammas sang us songs.

As they sang, the group grew as Mammas came from neighboring villages. They are a very happy people who take care of each other.

Hiked down to the Leopard Hide for sundowner. The hide overlooks a watering hole. The walk up was steep and baboons cackled in the trees above.

🐕 Animal of the day - dik dik

* they mate for life and hang out together

* they never drink water, getting enough from the leaves

* they are very clean and poop in the same area of their territory

🍽 Meals

* Breakfast: Fruit (papaya, pineapple, oranges, passion fruit), bush omelette, sausage, toast

* Lunch: \240Beef curry, rice, salad, cheese and the best homemade bread ever. Rosè.

* Dinner: Beef, mashed potatoes, snap peas

🍸 Cocktails

* G&T for sundowner

Helicoptered over 200 miles, stopping at mind-blowing places.

Andrew is a great pilot

Ol Malo Choppers

🎥 Flying thru a rift

🎥 Flying with the river

🎥 Pink Flamingos

Breakfast on the river

Reflection

🎥 Clouds are following us

🎥 From desert to…

The Jade Sea

🎥 Landing at the Jade Sea

🎥 Cheers

Champagne in the Jade Sea

A great day

Traditional Swahili dinner.

This isn’t Swahili but who’s tracking?

💭 Thought for the day

Nature is our most important possession and it’s free.

🍽Meals

Breakfast: Jar, omelette, sausage, pancakes

Bitings: Samosas and Champagne

Dinner: Swahili dinner. There is a reason there aren’t a lot of Swahili restaurants. We did make dinner together which was nice.

Private flight to Tanglria Lodge.

Met by Jackson Loosyia and did a game drive on the way to camp.

Cheetah stalked their prey for 40 min then retreated when the Antelope formed a group.

Cheetah family

Giraffes playing. Yes, playing.

🎥 Giraffes necking

🎥 Baby carried by momma

🎥 Baby baboon gets a smack

🎥 Baboon drinking - at the Monkey bar 🤣

🎥 Baboon climbing tree.

Riverfront tent.

Glamping

Afternoon drive to see the hippos.

Sunset

Sundowner on the Mara River watching the hippos

Karma karma karma karma karma cam…gecko.

🦛 Animal of the day: hippoo

* A group of hippos is a pod

* Hippos are very fast and mean

🍽Meals

Breakfast = Bush omelette

Lunch = Spaghetti Boulanaise and beet salad, cheese board and Rosé all day

Dinner = Chicken, veggies, POACHED apple for dessert

Rhino, obviously

🎥 Lioness cleaning up

🎥 Lion live streams. Wait for it.

Yawning Lion

🎥 Brothers walking

Tower of giraffes

🎥 Lions eating dinner

Sundowner with the lions

🎓Lesson for the day

* Sounder of warthogs

* Crush of rhinos

* Parlimentof owls

* Business of mongooses

🍽Meals

Breakfast = Egg, muffin, bacon

Lunch = Tomato pie, vegetables, cole slaw, white wine

Dinner =

Sunrise balloon ride with Govenor’s Balloons.

#nofilter

Hippo pod from balloon

Post flight champagne breakfast

Long drive back to the lodge for lunch and afternoon drive

Visited a local village and market

Greeted by singing ladies. \240Purchased some treasures

G&T by the fire

🎓 Learning for the day

🍽 Meals

Breakfast = Avocado, eggs, bacon, champagne

Lunch =

Dinner = Pork chop, avocado salad, rice, wine

Baby hyena at smelly den

Sleepy Hyena

Cheetah stalking Impala. She stalked for 30 min then started the chase. The impala was huge and fast and even though the cheetah could out run him, she realized he was too big so she stopped the chase.

🎥 Topi pride eating. A very large pride of 18 lionesses and 3 males

🎥 Cheetah dragged the baby buck into the grass to hide him for herself

🎥 The water bucks watched and the mother charged the cheetah but the cheetah warned her.

🎥 Saw our one and only Serval

💭 Thought for the day

Dinner is best enjoyed with friends

🦁 Animal of the day: Lion

* Lionesses don’t make room for the cubs to eat. \240The cubs have to learn to fend for themselves.

* The lions will eat all day and be satisfied for 3 days. They pause to nap then eat some more.

* Lions will kill but not eat other cats.

🍽 Meals

Breakfast = Egg roll, muffins, bacon

Lunch = pasta, avocado, meatball

Dinner = Chicken, rice, avocado

Airstrip

🎥 Our plane landing. Private flight to Ol Donyo in Chula Hills.

Sweet dreams

Outdoor shower

24 hour hot tea service

Pool in each suite

Ostrich egg light fixtures

Lounge is perfect for pre-dinner cocktails and cards.

Elephant gin

Sundowner by the watering hole

Zebras didn’t join in on the G&Ts.

👨🏽‍🦲 People of the day: Masai

The women build the houses, cook, care for the family, tend the goats and crops while the men hunt and protect cows. They are incredibly happy, singing and dancing together and helping each other as a community. The children go to school and help with the family. The young men become warriors and must fight off other tribes.

🍽 Meals

Breakfast: Eggs, toast, bacon

Lunch: Platter of salads and cheeses. Rose

Dinner: Apple and parsnip soup, rare beef, fresh veggies

🍸 Cocktail

Amarulu on ice

Graham and Jackson

Picnic breakfast

Amazing breakfast after trek

Lunch at the lodge (after mani/pedi so I didn’t roll from one meal to the next).

After chilling in the room, Mani/Pedi overlooking the watering hole. \240Cards, G&T and snack then lovely dinner and night safari.

Dinner by the fire

Sleeping Lion at night

On the night safari we saw: giraffes, zebras, lioness, red spitting cobra (yes, that’s a thing), springing hare, white tail mongoose, impala, African wildcat, impala, gazelle, eland.

💭 Thought for the day

Experiences trump possessions any day.

🍽 Meals

Breakfast: BLT, egg cup, fresh fruit, tropical juice

Lunch: platter, cheese and rosé

Dinner: Potato skin, duck leg, veggies, moulton lava cake, rosé

Beautiful sunrise

Trekked to the watering hole into the hide

The animals arrived

🎥 Everyone into the pool. View from the hide.

🎥 Zebra bath time

🎥 You can lead a giraffe to water but…

Giraffes like champagne too

🎥 No room at the bar

Long neck bottle

After that stressful breakfast, had a facial and lunch. Love the salad boards.

A few elephants in the watering hole. \240Big tuskers

🎥 Another big “tusk”

Roughing it

Sundowner overlooking Kilimanjaro

Elephant on the way home was happy to see us

Dinner by the fire

🍽 Meals

Breakfast: cheese and tomato sandwich, fruit, tea, Champagne.

Lunch: salad board

Dinner: Soup, lamb, veggies

Private charter with Captain Christopher

I shamefully did not pay attention to this atrocity, nor did the rest of the world. \240The people of Rwanda are so kind and resilient and the country is beautiful and safe. \240When will we learn from the past?

Rwanda genocide of 1994, planned campaign of mass murder in Rwanda that occurred over the course of some 100 days in April–July 1994. The genocide was conceived by extremist elements of Rwanda’s majority Hutu population who planned to kill the minority Tutsi population and anyone who opposed those genocidal intentions. It is estimated that some 200,000 Hutu, spurred on by propaganda from various media outlets, participated in the genocide. More than 800,000 civilians—primarily Tutsi, but also moderate Hutu—were killed during the campaign. As many as 2,000,000 Rwandans fled the country during or immediately after the genocide.

Why am I only finding out about this resort chain now?

Took a porter each day - well worth it.

Lead guy cuts through the jungle.

Gorillas ahead.

After a 1-2 hr trek, found the troop. Only 8 people can sit for 1 hour with the gorillas. \240We were trained to grunt to communicate with them.

A large troop hanging out.

Teenagers playing.

Little boy showing off.

Mom feeding