Masai Mara.

After our Ugandan adventure, Erica, Tricia and I traveled two hours north of Nairobi to Nyeri, the start of the Aberdares National Park, where we would stay the night at one of the most famous safari lodges: TreeTops. It was here, 60 years ago, that Princess Elizabeth, while on safari, found out that she would be the next queen of England.

TreeTops had been closed for renovations and opened in time for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Erica didn’t really have any requirements for her trip, except that we stay here for a night. The lodge’s moniker is also the name of one of the cabins at Keystone, so as Keystone girls, we were excited to stay in a TreeTops that certainly lived up to the glitz and glamour of the alluring TreeTops at Keystone.

(Side note: One of many camp traditions is that TreeTops, home to the Aides, is a very special cabin with waterbeds, Jacuzzi tubs, TVs and the tunnel to Brevard. No one is allowed inside TreeTops unless you reside there or are invited in and are above the age of Aides, so many younger campers believe all the magic that comes with the cabin.)

TreeTops is built upon stilts and every room has a view of the water hole where many animals come for a drink and salt licks. The original structure is no more since guerrillas during the Mau Mau Rebellion in the 1950s (essentially freedom fighters rebelling the colonial and imperial rule by white Britons), but the renovations have tried to adhere to the original floor plan.

We arrived and after having a spot of tea and scones, opted for an afternoon game drive. The Aberdares range and Mount Kenya are prominent features of the park. It was quite cold, certainly a different climate than the dry savanna of Tanzania. It is a very wooded park, but we were able to see some red-dusted elephants (colored red from the red clay ground), waterbucks, bush bucks, buffaloes, warthogs, various monkeys and even hyenas. We saw a hyena pup, who looked no bigger than a domestic dog. We culminated the drive with a cocktail at a viewpoint and took photos of Mount Kenya. Though Mount Kenya is second in stature to Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, most professional climbers use Mount Kenya as preparation for the icy summit of Everest.

We came back to the lodge and were greeted by several elephants and buffaloes who were at the salt lick. We got ready for dinner and continued our act of pomp and circumstance. After dinner, we did as any Brits would do, enjoy G&Ts and Pimm’s cups as we watched the wildlife come for a midnight drink as well. 

Throughout the night, I was in and out of deep sleep for fear of missing animals such as rhinos and leopards coming for a drink at the water hole. Alas, we weren’t lucky this time but the experience was so fun. The next day we headed back to Nyeri and Tricia took the matatu home while Erica and I met up with Mr. Christopher, one of the legendary taxi drivers the YAV program is affiliated with in Nairobi. He picked us in Nyeri town and from there we journeyed ever-northward to Samburu.

Our time at TreeTops was absolutely lovely. Not quite the best for game viewing, but for the nostalgia alone, it is well worth the trip. Imagine! I stayed at the same establishment as Queen Elizabeth. Bloody brilliant.

Oldupai Gorge and Lake Manyara.

The Serengeti.

Ngorogoro Crater photos.

April was one of the rainiest months I have ever experienced. Every afternoon like clockwork, round 4 p.m., the heavens would open up. I had to plan every move outside around the imminent threat of rain.

Luckily for me, the rains abated right around the beginning of May, when we went to Zanzibar for the YAV retreat. And an even better reason for the rains to dissipate in early May was that Erica, my younger sister, was coming to visit for almost a month!

Erica landed in Nairobi town on Friday May 11 and we were on the go for the next three weeks. I arranged for a visit to Wangu Primary School, a CWS-affiliated school in the Dandora slum of Nairobi. Erica and I had a great time with some of the children, singing and teaching songs. I’m glad Erica suggested that activity instead of coloring because there were over 100 kids in the class! We sang “Old MacDonald” and “I’m a Little Tea Pot” and as a fun ending, “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes,” both the English and Swahili versions.

The next day we were off to Tanzania to link up with Simba Safaris for our four-day Tanzanian safari. Stephen, our driver-guide from Simba Safaris, picked us in Arusha and we were on our way to the Ngorogoro Crater Conservation Area. As we drove up and onto the crater rim, it became colder and colder. The foggy, low-lying clouds obstructed our view but we were able to see a fellow Simba Safari LandCruiser stopped on the side. It was certainly a good sign as we embarked on our safari—we were within feet of a huge male lion! It was very unexpected but awesome nonetheless. We were quite tired from traveling all day and we needed a good night’s rest before a busy day of game watching the next day. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and snuggled down (it was very cold!) and before we knew it, it was breakfast time and we were both eager for the day ahead.

We started down into the crater floor, a very chilly and cloudy morning. The clouds were ominous but we had faith that the rains would not interfere with our game viewing. The crater hosts a dense population of all types of wildlife: Buffalo, elephants, hippos, lions, hyenas, black rhinos, warthogs, jackals, baboons, flamingos, leopards (although we didn’t see any here, they’re too elusive!), and of course, zebras and wildebeest. Wildebeest and zebra make up the “Great Migration” and it begins in the crater, then they migrate through the Serengeti finally making it to the Masai Mara in Kenya.

Within 15 minutes of descending to the crater floor, we saw hundreds of buffalo and a large herd of elephants. Just a few minutes later, we spotted a lot of LandCruisers, so we knew at least the “mzungu migration” was in full force. As we pulled up to investigate, sure enough, there was something to see: Several lions were snoozing in the middle of the road. We clicked away and then proceeded through the crater, seeing hyenas, beautiful birds, hippos, zebras, wildebeest and a black rhino waaaay in the distance. We were about to round out our crater game drive when we stumbled upon two elephants very close to the road, foraging in some trees. I had to change lenses since my zoom was too much for the close encounter.

We ate lunch at the top of the crater rim before making the drive to the Serengeti. As we drove out of the crater and to the Serengeti, we passed many Maasai herding cattle, goats and sheep, alongside the grazing zebra and wildebeest. It was quite surreal.

We arrived in the Serengeti mid-afternoon and were on the hunt for close encounters with the Big 5 in one of the most famous places in the natural world. Right from the start we saw the sheer magnitude of the “Great Migration”—the zebras and wildebeest blended together on the horizon so much that it looked as if someone had drawn a thick, black line with a Sharpie.

The size of the Serengeti is daunting: Serengeti comes from the Masai language, Maa, wherein the word “serengit” means “endless plains.” It is certainly true, the land rolls on for miles. It was a warm afternoon, so I was having a tough time keeping my eyes open as we bounced along the main road in the park.

Then, all of a sudden, Stephen veered off onto a path and we rounded a giant, grassy hill to find two lionesses. Lions like to lounge on elevated surfaces so they are able to see prey off in the distance. We continued our trek into the Serengeti and came close to a small elephant family, complete with very young calves. Elephants and lions are two very social animals, so it is always fun to stop and watch them.

We were cruising around, on the hunt for the leopard, when I heard some very excited Swahili over the radio. Stephen then changed directions and started driving a bit faster than normal; I knew we were about to find something extraordinary. In the distance, I saw several LandCruisers stopped by a tree. My heart leapt: A leopard must be near.

Imagine our surprise when we spotted not one but TWO leopards, in the mid-afternoon. Leopards are usually most active at night, so that makes finding them active extremely difficult. One was in a tree and the other was across the road, hiding in some tall grass. Cue trigger-happiness via camera. This was the last of the Big 5 I hadn’t seen in the wild and I was determined to photograph these magnificent creatures from every angle possible. We must have spent at least 30 minutes watching them (Erica can tell you she began to feel restless). I could have watched them all day. They were very active, always switching places, climbing up the tree and down. Toward the end of our viewing session, one of the leopards climbed higher and higher in the acacia tree because a small herd of elephants was passing through. The elephants, oblivious to the leopard in the tree, began munching around the trunk and one elephant even felt the need to scratch his but against the very tree where a scared leopard was hiding. Life in the animal kingdom never disappoints!

To make room for the other LandCruisers, we headed out and found giraffes drinking from a small waterhole nearby a light aircraft runway. It was getting dark so we headed onto our lodging for the night, ready for a night of rest before another busy day. We woke up to a gorgeous Serengeti sunrise and Vervet monkeys on our porch!

We started the day with a mission: Find rhinos. Stephen was very determined in this endeavor and we ventured into new parts of the Serengeti known for a rhino or two. We weren’t so lucky this outing, as we saw no rhinos, however we did get to see the Maasai rock paintings, which was pretty interesting. We were en route out of the Serengeti to Lake Manyara when we found a small pride of lions resting on a rock outcrop. It was Pride Rock (sorry, had to make a “Lion King” reference at least once in this post!) so to speak; we were able to get so close to one of the lionesses that we were able to see a tracking collar on her.

We also stopped by two cultural visits: One was to a Maasai village and the other was to the Olduvai Gorge, home to some of the first hominid prints and fossils. The Maasai village was fun and we were able to see that the profits from our entry fee were going to community projects, such as school fees, water access points and teaching children too young to go to primary school. I admit, I was a bit skeptical because it seems very much like a tourist trap, but Stephen reassured us and said that he too is skeptical of some of the money handling in some Maasai villages. However, he knew this village very well and we agreed that it would be a memorable moment.

After the village, we went to the Olduvai Gorge. It is actually the Oldupai Gorge, but some researchers misspelled the translation and it is commonly known as Olduvai. Oldupai means sisal plant in Maa. Oldupai is also referred to as “The Cradel of Mankind” since fossils of homo habilis, homo erectus and homo sapiens have been found in the area. It was made famous in the 1930s and 1940s through the work of Louis and Mary Leakey, famous archeologists. Former First Lady and now Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton visited Oldupai in the 1990s on behalf of Bill Clinton. Oldupai is not only a mecca for archeologists, but also for geologists. The rock formations are unique and feature a large monolith that helps show the various layers of rock and sediment. We certainly learned a lot about culture and the evolution of humans on safari!

We headed out back through the Ngorogoro Crater Conservation Area to get to Lake Manyara, a Great Rift Valley soda lake. We stopped for some curio shopping along the way; I knew we were in a very cha-ching curio shop when they were quoting prices in US$. We came away with a few purchases, including a cool painting for Erica of a Maasai homestead at night. We reached the lodge for the night and enjoyed a last night of fine dining in Tanzania. Erica and I enjoyed sundowner cocktails as we watched the stars come out. You haven’t been stargazing until you’ve done it in the African wilderness. Away from the hustle and bustle of Nairobi, I was able to see hundreds, albeit thousands, of stars. Erica and I rested up for another early, busy and adventurous day.

Lake Manyara was a fun, quick game drive. The terrain was much different, more forested, which led to seeing several different kinds of monkeys, including Vervets, Colobus and Blue monkeys. The highlight of Lake Manyara was when Erica spotted a teeny, tiny baby elephant. Oh my, was it so small and precious! We then saw a huge familial herd of elephants, must have been over 60! We didn’t see any predators in the park, but we enjoyed the elephants a lot. After a quick morning game drive, we were on the road back to Arusha where Erica and I said goodbye to Stephen and took the shuttle back to Nairobi.

So ends our Tanzanian safari adventure. But there is still much more to cover, including a healthy overdose of adrenaline.

Our luck seemed to find us again on the bus from Gabs to Ghanzi, Botswana. About midway through the trip, another mzungu boarded the bus, seemingly out from the bush. Turns out she is a PeaceCorps volunteer headed our way. We chatted and said we weren’t sure where we would stay for a few nights, so she called her fellow PeaceCorps volunteer who is based in Ghanzi.

We got out at Ghanzi and met Shannon, who invited us to stay at her place FO FREE. #winning.

Ghanzi is a lot like an Appalachian Trail town…sparsely populated, several grocery/supply stores and one or two good restaurants. Ghanzi also seemed like the perfect starting point for a day-trip safari into the Kalahari Desert; the Botswana tourism office was phenomenal.

We went back to Shannon’s house and were greeted by 10 barking and adorable puppies! It was exactly like the scene from “Bridesmaids” when Megan takes nine puppies. “I took nine, it’s a lot of energy.”

Shannon said that her neighbor had the pregnant mother but left her behind when they moved and then the dog had puppies at Shannon’s house. The mom is kind of a feral dog, but very friendly. She comes and goes as she pleases. The puppies were about five weeks old and so fun to play with. There were so many! And they were in the middle of housebreaking, so you had to watch where you stepped… 

We spent most of our first day enjoying the fact that we were not on a hot, crowded bus and playing with puppies. We also went to bed ridiculously early and in a real bed, the first in over two days. It’s the little things in life that make you appreciate creature comforts.

The next morning we continued to “explore” Ghanzi and tried to figure out how to get out and safari. We stopped by the tourism office, where the hospitality was a little overwhelming—they must not receive visitors all that often. They gave us a ton of information and really nice tourism books, full of stunning photos of animals. But we found out that it would cost about $300 US for a day trip into the Kalahari…that just was waaaay too out of our price range. Gotta leave something for next time. Their tourism office definitely convinced me that my next big safari trip to southern Africa would include the Okavango Delta, the world’s largest inland delta, in northern Botswana and some of the salt pans in the Kalahari. It’s absolutely breathtaking and definitely a place to check off the bucket list.

Instead, Shannon invited us to go with her friend from South Africa, Dieter, to this little game ranch for some happy hour drinks. We rode in the bed of the pickup truck and saw some plains game in the Kalahari. It was a very budget safari!

To show Shannon how gracious we were for letting two complete strangers crash at her place for free for two days, we took her to the fanciest restaurant in Ghanzi…the Kalahari Arms Hotel. We feasted on pizza and wine, and it was surprisingly pretty good pizza!

We woke up early the next day to head back to Gabs because from Gabs we were planning to take a minibus/comvee to Johannesburg, South Africa that evening.

When we got back to Gabs, we were directed to where the minibus to Jo-burg was stationed and it was the nicest matatu I had ever seen! It was a very comfortable, spacious 12-passenger van. It didn’t take us long to get to Jo-burg but frustration hit when we arrived in Jo-burg. I had written down the names of several backpackers’ lodges for a taxi driver to take us to, yet the driver had never heard of any of the places! That was baffling, clearly a sign he was not a very knowledgeable taxi driver. We ended up staying in one of the most expensive places we stayed in during our entire trip, simply out of convenience and tiredness.

The next morning we woke up relatively early again to take another minibus/comvee to Swaziland. We walked to the bus stage and two police officers waved us down to ask us why we were walking since Jo-burg is notoriously infamous for its high crime rate. Well, we were walking in broad daylight on busy streets, why wouldn’t we walk? We didn’t think the police officers did a very good job of assuring tourists that Jo-burg was a safe place to visit…

But now, off to the Kingdom of Swaziland!