baboons blocking road elephants block road camels blocking road   On way to Serena lodge had to stop for these to cross road. Gazelle, sheep , cows, donkeys, camels, elephants, goats, baboons, zebras, ostriches. Guide Simon informed us that primates are only animals here that mate for fun. Today had goat liver cooked over   Read More …

  The Serena lodge at Amboselli is the top rated hotel in all of Kenya, and I would not dispute it from what I experienced. After check in and our afternoon game drive, we spent an hour at the bar area.  There is a large contingent of Chinese with us. One of them arrived in   Read More …

  In the drought of 07-08, 80% of all zebras here in Amboselli died.  Simon says a baby elephant fell over at the side of the road and died next to his truck in front of his clients.  He says it was “very embarrassing.”  James, our Maasai friend, lost all of his cows.  Since the   Read More …

  Jambo in Swahili is “hello.” “Mambo” means, “Any problems?”  Like ‘em so much they may be permanent additions to the vocabulary.   Fun to be on the other side of the cage here.  So open, there is no place to hide in the event of an angry or annoyed elephant, water buffalo, leopard or   Read More …

shopping for patrick and james   Feb 6.   Our last morning at the BEADS house and Top Ride Academy.  Peanut butter and jelly breakfast.  Debby tells us it would be good form to bring gifts for Patrick, the Maasai chief, and his long time friend James, a Maasai warrior.  They will be hosting us   Read More …

  Feb 5.   Today we did impromptu visits to two grade schools. Surprised the three teachers/principals in an office, and they agreed to let us peek in a couple of classrooms.  Debby let them know that she was on the lookout for exceptional students and teachers for her private high school. They were interested   Read More …

  Tembea Academy nursery schoolers Feb 4.   It was an emotional afternoon at Tembea, which included small presentations by individual girls about how their tribes in their villages constructed the huts which they all grew up in.  The girls come from six or seven different tribes.  They each sang a representative tribal song.  Then   Read More …

DEB ROONEY deb w dogs at tembea   Deb Rooney is cofounder of BEADS for Education, an organization designed to sponsor education for high school girls from the underprivileged tribal communities in Kenya.  We spent three days with her last week looking at schools of all types, private, public, high school, grade school.  For a   Read More …

  Checked TV schedule in vain to try to watch the Super Bowl at 2 am.  No go.  Nowhere on TV.  Check with concierge to see where there is a Super Bowl party.  There is one about a ten minute ride at a hotel, but I am informed that at 2 am there are roving   Read More …

    Feb  2,3  Arrived in Nairobi on time, 9:30 pm.  Taken to Fairview hotel, 30 minutes. Guarded, closed gates protect hotel, and it is across from the Israeli embassy, said to be the safest place in Nairobi, if not Kenya.  Pass through two iron gates opened with room key and walk about 100 yards   Read More …