After the adventure with the cheetah yesterday morning we had a bit of a rest in the afternoon. Since I thought the cheetah was so cool I'm including one more picture of it here along with pictures of the hyena and jackals we saw that morning. (That is one of the bonuses of this hotel---fast internet connection.)
After a bit of lunch and some napping we took off from the hotel at around 5pm for what we thought was an afternoon game drive. Instead we got a catered cocktail party with roaring fire in the middle of the Masai Mara, complete with armed guard in case any wild beasts decided to crash the party. In Africa they call these "sundowners", a chance to have a few drinks and watch the sky light up with brilliant colors. You have to pay close attention because here at the equator the sun rises and sets in a matter of seconds. One minute it is there; the next it is gone. It was a great time sitting around the fire with a cold Tusker beer reminiscing about all the great times we had over the past two weeks. We took a few group photos and headed back to the hotel for dinner. A great ending evening to our time in the Masai Mara.
This morning we got to sleep in late (7:30am!!!), have a little breakfast and then head to the airport (aka, air dirt strip) for our flight to Nairobi. We are back in the hotel in which we spent Christmas Eve and being treated like royalty once again. I am busy re-packing all of the suitcases while Clara----you guessed it----gets some well deserved beauty sleep!!!
Before I sign off on the blog I'd like to introduce everyone to the 18 friends we made (okay, that Clara made) during the past two weeks:
Margaret, Alexandria, VA, who, by the end of the trip, I couldn't make eye contact with without laughing about something that happened over the past two weeks no matter how "stupid" it was; Here she is with Clara and some other guy who might have been in charge of cleaning our port-a-potty; but that was Margaret, she was such a people person and told me that was the main reason she booked the trip---to be around people!!!
Bernie and Betty, from somewhere near Austin, TX, the elders of the group; Betty celebrated her 80th birthday in the Serengetti and a few days later they celebrated their 42nd (?) wedding anniversary;
Susan and Katie, life long friends from Minnesota. We got to spend the last few days (finally) riding with them on the game drives and had a blast with them;
Harvey and Barbara, formerly of Chicago and now loving Scottsdale, married 54 years and both look younger than I do!!! They were our first game drive partners and Clara & Barbara were singing show tunes with each other by the end of the trip;
Gennady and Margarita, from New Jersey by way of Israel and Russia, who, even though they were delayed a few days in joining the tour, fit right in with the rest of the group. I always thought I was a bit of a wild card, but "Gene" had more energy than anyone else on the tour. And Margarita provided the great narrative on Clara's lion video;
Bob and Lucy, now of Wilmington, NC, who were the ying and the yang of how to view the animals; Bob was armed with just binoculars (and never picked up a camera) and Lucy delighted in taking pictures of everything whether it was animal, or mineral or vegetable; I'll always remember first meeting Bob at the Serena Mountain Lodge when he was putting forth on the virtues of the drying capabilities of the "plastic underwear";
Joe and Diane, Long Island and Hackensack, who were an even younger couple than Clara and myself (damn them, we wanted to be the youngest!); Joe was my golf partner at the Mt Kenya Safari club and I thank him again for joining me on that, shall we say, pleasant round of golf;
Belva and Randi, the mother and daughter duo from opposite ends of Canada; No fireworks here as they proved to us that mom and daughter can travel without armed escorts. Randi wins the unoffical prize for being the youngest on the tour, and she also won the "sketch" prize (aka, you mean that stupid drawing?);
Cecelio and Marta, from Puerto Rico, who had to spend the first 7 days of the trip with no luggage---and they did it in such style as evidenced by Marta's pajama dress the one night at dinner;
And last, but not least, our wonderful Tauck Tour director, coming to you from somewhere in the hitherlands of Canada, Mr. Eric Croft; Gotta Go, Gotta Go. Here he is dressed as Santa Claus on Christmas Day with his new best friend Clara. Thank you Eric for a wonderful two weeks in Africa.
And so that is it for our little adventure. One final thanks to Clara for putting the whole thing together and for helping me to enjoy life like this instead of sitting home like a crabby old man!!!
THE END.
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