Back from my first ever safari. Thank you all!

[californiagal1017]

So sorry about this delay but I promise I will complete this report. Just as soon as I get back into my routine and work clears up a bit.

 

How I miss Africa.........

[californiagal1017]

I'M BACK!!

 

Sangeeta, the kids loved Sabuk. Like I said it was a little low on wildlife but we did a lot of hikes, fishing etc. The staff was fantastic with kids and one afternoon they even had a very competive volley ball game.

Just my personal opinion but I can't stand that Gangnam style song by Psy( but my kids love it!) and they taught the staff the dance. On our last day DS & DD and 2 of Sabuk staff put up a show for the whole team and other guests. It was a riot!!

 

From Sabuk we took a charter flight to Samburu. Here we stayed at the Elephant bedroom camp which on first glimpse we didn't much care for. I actually think it was the heat that put us off. Relaxing in our tent in the afternoon was extremely uncomfortable and it was the only place in our trip where the Mosquitos and bugs were rampant. Manager Joseph and staff were nice and friendly and our guide Julius was a pro.

 

From spending months on Tripadvisor and other forums and reading about guides, we considered ourselves very fortunate to have the best guides in all our camps with us and a private vehicle without having to pay extra for anything.

 

Samburu was a little disappointing in respect to big cats. We saw tons of other animals and loved seeing the famous gerenuks bikini poses. And the sight of those huge herds of reddish dirt covered elephants was a visual treat! Regular grey elephants were so boring after seeing these.

[californiagal1017]

We flew from Samburu to Olkiombo airstrip for our stay at Kicheche Bush camp.we were here for 3 nights and it was the perfect ending to an incredible trip.Cat from the Mara camp was the interim manager and she was excellent. Young and a bit of a newbie I think (look who's talking..)but very enthusiastic and helpful.

 

A few days before our trip to Kenya I saw a photo taken by Paul Goldstein of a zebra with very unusual markings on it. We were very fortunate to see this animal for real on our drive from the airport to camp. Charles our guide told us that they've been looking for this zebra but had no luck finding it since Paul took that picture. Great start!!!

 

Al fresco Lunch with the other guests was delicious and was followed by a much needed nap. Our 4 o clock game drive with Charles was a huge hit. 15 minutes from camp we saw a cheetah with her cubs feasting on an impala. We stayed with the for a while and then Charles got a call from another Kicheche driver about a pride of lions nearby. Drove there and saw 6 of them in various stages of waking up from a nap. Hung around for a while hoping they might be hungry and look for a kill but no luck. They just didn't seem ready. Our sundowner was taken near a water source filled with grunting hippos.

[graceland]

Really nice, actually great photos..I noticed they say "attached";what program did you use for the attachments? I am curious since I've struggled with my own images here..

 

But back to your report..I had friends go to Sabuk last year and they were very disappointed in lack of game - glad it improved for you! And I love that you have taken your children; get them hooked early on!

[Atravelynn]

You have some great photos in there, the ele in golden light and the open mouthed hippo, for example. How wonderful you could share a trip like this with your kids. I hope they were thrilled with what they saw whether it matched their pre-trip hopes or not. How did everybody like the camel riding?

[californiagal1017]

I'm sure you all thought I DISAPPEARED!!! Nope, sorry!! Had a family emergency and had to go to India for an extended time but all is well now and feels good to be back home.

 

Thank you everyone for the kind words.

 

Atravelynn, the kids loved it and are already asking to go back. I'm tempted too but lets see...

Camel riding was lots of fun. It was a few days of sore butt for me but the young ones enjoyed it tremendously.

 

Graceland, I've been catching up on your Botswana trip and sooo.... jealous. As for Sabuk, we knew at the offset that it was very little game around but we went for the 'other activities'

 

Contd......

 

I'm going to make the rest of it brief: Mara was an abundance of animals. Cats everywhere everywhere and we even saw leopards on three separate ocassions. We mostly stayed in the Olare orok conservancy but did one full day trip to the reserve. It was a loooong day but incredibly fruitful.

If our offseason trip in Nov was so productive I cant even imagine how it would be during peak season. But I do love not having paid those peak season prices. Having said that, we now want to go back during migration maybe.

 

 

 

 

 

[Atravelynn]

 

Atravelynn, the kids loved it and are already asking to go back. I'm tempted too but lets see...

I believe you have given in to the temptation.