...Francois' course is finished...
...our luggage has been stored at the hotel...
...our backpacks are safari-ready...
...tough leaving the beautiful Ole Sereni and its spectacular view of Nairobi's National Park...
...certain staff members have been exceptional and deserve mention: Rachel, your service-with-a-smile will always be remembered...Raphael, you are so charming and have a special gift...many thanks for the pretty bracelet...and Mercy, well what can I say?...without a doubt, you are going places young lady...
...but on to the exciting part of our trip...
...SAFARI...
...our driver/guide David picked us up at 07:30 in a very sturdy looking 4x4 Land Cruiser - army green - very outback...
...we were more than ready to head out of town...
...taking the same route as last weekend, down the long winding road of the Great Rift Valley escarpment...
...then heading out in a new direction at Maai Mahiu toward the Maasai Mara...
...communication satellites looked like great white aliens on the dry flats plains...
...lots of new things to see...
...Maasai village 'mud' huts...
...a Maasai herding his goats to a distant water hole...
...the long awaited rainy season has not arrived so everything is still very parched and dusty...
...close to 7 hours later (last part REALLY rough roads) we arrived at our first destination...
...a humourous post script...
...I found this picture of the park entry on the internet...normally I would have been snapping pictures like crazy but we were inundated with some VERY agressive Maasai women wanting us to buy their wares so kept the windows closed...the driver in the meantime had exited the vehicle to register for park entry...I think Francois was more than a little afraid of them...he told our driver that we needed to establish some ground rules...you won't be leaving us alone at the gate again will you!!!
