Masai Mara

On Monday morning we packed up and shipped out with the nurses on the 6 am bus to Masai Mara, an amazing national park and wildlife refuge in southern Kenya. After 10 days of hard work, we were ready for a few days of rest and sightseeing. But, alas, safaris are demanding! We were up each day between 5 and 6 am to jump into our Land Cruisers and head out on morning game drives.

Luckily, we had the pleasure of staying at Sekenani Camp – perhaps one of my new favorite places in the world. After a long drive from Maseno, walking up the stone steps to the dining room (pictured above) was like stepping into another world. We all stayed in beautiful A-frame tents, complete with running water, electricity, and a private porch with amazing views (our view attached above).

In two days, we went on a total of 4 game drives. I'll try to list all the animals we saw:

– Lions (pictured above, mamas and cubs, though I'd also like to add that Katie captured a video of lions mating).
– Giraffes (pictured above)
– Thompson gazelles
– Rhino (mom and baby)
– Hippos
– Hyenas (*we actually heard these from our tent, but can only imagine what they look like based on The Lion King).
– Buffalo
– Zebras
– African elephants (a whole herd!)
– Impalas (there were tons!)
– Wildebeests (which don't migrate until July, thankfully, and therefore we were able to visit in the less crowded "low season.")
– Vervet monkeys
– Vultures
– Ostriches

I'm sure I'm missing a few, but beware friends and family – you have a solid 1500 photos of our safari to view when we get back home! I'm also attaching the requisite artsy photo of Dan, standing up in the Land Rover with the camera, capturing some absolutely stunning photos and video of the landscape.

We also took the opportunity to wrap up the St John Fisher Nursing project with a few interviews. It was wonderful to hear about the powerful experiences the nurses had… We're excited to put the video together and hopefully raise the support to keep this program going.

We made it back to Maseno late last night and checked into the Maseno Club. We are back at Mbaka Oromo today, teaching and filming, so stay tuned for further updates!

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