Kenya Safari 2019
You never know!
Sally Lentz and Carol Irwin went on safari in Kenya with Preston Mutinda from September 20 to October 8, 2019. We had the pleasure of Patrick joining us as driver in the Masai Mara and in Samburu. Preston told us daily, when we would ask what we might see, “You never know.” Each day delivers on that promise! This is an adventure of a lifetime!
Note: To see photos individually, click on a photo and use arrows to move through them.
Masai Mara
We spent our first night in Nairobi at the lovely Ole Sereni hotel and flew the next morning on Safarilink from Wilson Airport to the airstrip in the Masai Mara Conservancy. We spent six nights at the lovely hilltop Mara Serena Safari Lodge. It felt like coming home for Carol, who was warmly welcomed by staff who remembered her from her stays there in 2008 and 2012. Now they await Sally and Carol’s return. We had six full days of game drives in the Mara, we dined and we danced with the Masai at the Serena, and we even had a surprise elegant picnic breakfast along the Mara River. With lions, elephants, giraffes, hyenas, antelope, zebras, jackals, wildebeests, cape bufalo, and more, plus beautiful sunrises and sunsets, our days in the Masai Mara were magical!
wildebeest migration on the mara
Giraffe at sunset over the Oloololo Escarpment
Amboseli National Park
Next we flew back through Nairobi and on to Amboseli. This time Preston gets to fly with us, as he does on our subsequent lights back to Nairobi and then to Samburu. We spent three nights at the Amboseli Serena Safari Lodge, and the magic continued with game drives around the marshes filled with birds, elephants, hippos, baboons (who occupy an abandoned hotel), storks, pelicans, kingfishers, and more. We experienced the local culture by visiting a Masai village, and Wario charmed us daily with his guitar playing and singing in our private (almost) “giraffe” dining room at the Amboseli Serena.
Elephants heading toward Mount Kilimanjaro
Zebras reflected with lesser flamingos and Mount Kilimanjaro beyond
Samburu
After three nights at Amboseli, we took to the air again, flying to Nairobi and then to Samburu. The heat hit us as the airplane doors opened, as it is much warmer in this arid land. Our home was the Ashnil Samburu Camp on the banks of the Ewaso Nyiro River in the Buffalo Springs Game Reserve. We observed wildlife in Buffalo Springs and scross the River in the Samburu National Reserve: leopards and cheetahs (they eluded us in the Mara and Amboseli), elephants by the river, and many species unique to Samburu including Grevy’s zebra, reticulated giraffe, Beisa oryx, Defasa waterbuck, and Somali ostrich.
Grevy’s zebra times 3
Elephants at the Ewaso Ngiro River
And then. . . .
Our next visits to Ol Pejeta and Sweetwater, and then Kangundo, never happened. As we prepared on our last morning to leave Samburu, Carol fell and factured some vertebrae. Yikes! She and Sally were flown by Flying Doctors to Nairobi where Carol spent the next two weeks in the Nairobi Hospital. While this was not what we expected, remember that the theme of our safari was “You never know.” Carol received excellent care in the Nairobi Hospital and was visited daily by Preston and Ken Mutinda and twice by Preston’s family. At least Sally did get to go to Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage, and to meet Preston’s family. These were happy days! After four days, Sally flew home and Gary came to Nairobi to rescue his damsel in distress. Carol and Gary flew home to California on a medical evacuation flight (for just us!) with seven refueling stops over 31 hours. Now that was an adventure! Sons Darren and Ryan greeted us in Oakland. All’s well that ends well!
I have created this post so Sally and I will have a visual record of our amazing safari, led by our very dear friend Preston Mutinda—unquestionably the best guide and wildlife protector in all of Kenya. Should memories ever fail us, we can go to this site and recall the amazing things we saw and the incredible fun we had. If only sounds could be captured here—our laughter as we taught Preston and Patrick to sing “Shake Rattle and Roll,” lions calling during the night, the joyful dancing of the Masai, Wario playing guitar and singing, and so much more. I could not have had a more fabulous traveling companion than my dear friend Sally. Every day was filled with laughter and joy! Our souls are now connected more than ever. The love and care extended by Preston, Ken and the entire Mutinda family was incredible.
To Sally and Preston and family, I say asante sana (thank you) and lala salama (sleep well). With much love, Carol