Nelsons in Kenya: Better late than never

     Our safari trip was amazing! It is hard to put into words what it is like to be just yards from a lion lounging in the shade or to watch 12 elephants walking across the grass together, a stone's throw from your vehicle. But I will do my best!
     Although we had no major hiccups with our trip, we had a slight miscommunication about how we were paying for the trip. We thought we could book partially on credit card - WRONG! Apparently we needed to pay for the whole thing in cash. So, fingers crossed and prayers lifted we hit the ATM in hope that we some how wouldn't reach our withdraw limit for the day. Somehow we managed to make 3 ATM withdraws which was just enough to cover our expenses for our 3 day trip (we literally had the equivalent of $30 leftover). Crisis averted.
      The trip down took about 4-5 hrs. About halfway into the drive, you hit the road to nowhere - literally! It took us about 2 hrs to drive about 60 miles due to half the road being potholes and the other half unpaved (which was actually better because you could go a bit faster). I was feeling a bit saddle sore. And once again the ipad saved the day for our journey.
     We arrived early enough on our first day to head out for a 2-3 hr game drive. We were not disappointed! We probably saw 15-20 different types of animals that afternoon. And bless our driver, he worked really hard to find the elephants Ella was looking for and finally spotted them on our way out of the park. Hooray!
     Our second day was our longest - we spent 8 hrs driving around the Masai Mara on our quest to spot animals. We stopped for a picnic lunch amongst the wildebeests and Jack thought it was really cool to "pee on a tree." The memorable sight of the day was stopping at the river and seeing all the dead wildebeests in the water who were unable to successful cross without being trampled, drowned or chomped by crocodiles. The smell was awful.
     Our last day included an early morning rising to catch the sunset and one last glimpse of the animals. We were unable to find the elusive rhino, but we did catch a gorgeous sunrise.
     The accommodations did not disappoint! We stayed at the equivalent of a very fancy guest house. It was small and the kids felt at home. The staff was wonderful and the views were amazing!
     To recap - highlights of the trip: wildebeest migration (1.5 million migrate from Tanzania to Kenya and we were there to see it!) lion eating a wildebeest, huge groups of elephants walking together, the kids sticking their heads out the top of the vehicle (a highlight for them!) the kids faces when we spotted animals, a picnic on the Mara, our excellent driver, an indoor place to sleep at night
     the not-so-highlights : huge spiders and slugs in our room at night, sitting in the car for loooooong periods of time, using "the bush" as a toilet, the road in and out of the Masai Mara, the not so warm shower
   I'm going to leave some pics below for your enjoyment. This was a trip of a lifetime - I highly recommend it!