Hamsters

I think anyone who has had a pet hamster has watched it run endlessly on its wheel, wondering how it can spend so much time doing the same thing, running and running with no where to go and no purpose. People are very much like hamsters, when they get in their box, doing the same thing everyday because it is what they have always done, never questioning why, hating their situation but never taking action to change. I feel like a hamster. Doing the same thing over and over and feeling like I am going nowhere. Every once and a while I have to get off the wheel, and see the world, learn how others live, take time to smell the roses.

Our morning in Kagali started at 2am to make a 5am flight. After arriving in the international airport inn Nairobi and transferring to the domestic airport we finally arrived on a small bush plane on a gravel landing strip in the Masai Mara (Masai after the indigenous tribe and Mara after the Mara River). We knew that this was going to be a special place when our plane came in and there were giraffes along the runway.

From the landing strip to the lodge we saw, elephants, giraffes, water buffalo, Thompson’s gazelles, topi, wart hogs, jackals, impala, waterbacks, baboons, eland and crested cranes.

You know you have hit a home run when you make your wife cry when she sees the room because it is so beautiful, and it’s a tent! OMG what attention to detail, the tent overlooks the most beautiful savannah of the Masai Mara. A porch with two large upholstered chairs, an absolutely gorgeous bathroom made of stone and hardwood floors. A couple minutes after we arrived they served watermelon slices with shots of gin to dip it in.

Lunch was served on a tiered platter, the top tier had cheese and crackers, the second tier had salad and the bottom tier had the main course, chicken and lamb curry. The lodge is incredibly decorated, with beautiful furniture, games laying around for you to engage in, people attending to your every wish.

On our first game drive we added ostrich, a cheetah eating a wart hog (amazing!), hyena, black rhino, hippos, an eagle, and more of everything we had seen before then you could count. The drive ended with Sophy (our guide) setting up a table on the savannah as the sun went down, with wine and beer, cookies, nuts, and other goodies.

Dinner was even more magnificent, a five course meal. The chef comes out to announce the meal at the beginning and at the end to see if everything was to your liking. When we got back to our tent, hot tea and Baileys were waiting for us and hot water bottles in our bed. OMG!