So-far-r-we = Safari

Oh my goodness, I don't even know where to begin!  I have learned MANY lessons in Kenya, but probably the two most prominent ones are: Trust and Flexibility.  So this morning is the BIG Safari!  We are picked up at 6:30 for our plane ride to the Mara.  Those of you who know me at all will find this rather humorous...I wore the same outfit for the second day in a row, but my shirt was dirty so I just  turned it inside out and wore it that way (flexibility...ha!)  We get on this little "puddle jumper" plane with only one pilot (trust...since Walt said "what if he has a heart attack?") and he drops us literally into the middle of nowhere!

We do land safely and there is one guy with one Land Rover at the drop off.  He says, "Come with me" so we do...(trust again)  About three minutes into the trip he informs us that he is not with the "resort" we are staying with, he was just going our way and volunteered to take us...(can you say HUGE trust)  I mean c'mon, I started thinking about this and I trust people way more than is logical really.  I don't know if this is good or bad.  It is true, we did get to where we were supposed to be, but if you could actually fathom where in this world we are, because I can't.  I saw NOTHING as we were flying in, I saw a "shopping center" that didn't even have electricity or people, and I saw one or two people and one or two animals...THEN, I saw an almost empty gas tank in the vehicle we were in!

After arriving safely at the place (I'm not even sure what to call it except primitive and rustic...I'll be killing my friend Tom upon returning to Nairobi) I discovered that there are set times for meals, NO hair dryers or straighteners (flexibility...thank you very much), a bucket shower and a guard escort to and from dinner.  What in THE world?!?!

Despite all of that, we went on a once in a lifetime game drive this afternoon/evening.  At one point we were surrounded by elephants (in the past we have seen 3 or 4 at a time, if any).  They were literally on both sides of the car at the same time!

Hudson was being an awesome spotter on the trip, ha, ha!

We stopped to watch the sunset and had a nice little drink.  

Perhaps our greatest achievement of the day (even greater than that beautiful sunset) was the male and female lion walking right down the road towards our vehicle.  They walked ALL the way up to it, and our driver backed up slightly and they kept walking towards us.  Then they walked to the side of our car, stopped, the male lion cocked his head at us and they continued on.  It was pretty scary at that point.  They stopped again just behind our vehicle and they were so close we couldn't actually see them...we had to be very quiet and our driver asked us not to use flash photography.  This was the only photo I could get (the lion is the lighter figure in the center of the red light) after it moved further away from us.

When we got back to the camp, it was time for our bucket showers.  There's one bucket to be shared by two people.  When it's gone, it's gone.

After our showers, we ate dinner by the campfire.  Our guards escorted us back to our tents and then they zipped us in!  This is what our tents look like:

Now...all you haters who gave me a hard time about my last "tent safari": YES, this tent was beautiful and fancy, but make no mistake folks, THIS TIME I WAS CAMPING!  We could only wash our hair between 12:00 and 3:00 (it was the best time of the day for our hair to air dry), so consequently I haven't washed my hair in 4 days!  We could only take the bucket showers at certain times, we had a hot water thermos (which I loved) which sat on our vanity for face washing, there were spiders, and oh...did I forget to mention elephants?!?!  Our tents were solar powered, and they zipped us in at night. I'll concede that my last tent experience was a bit posh, but folks, this one was rustic.  But I really did love it! :)