<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another great safari handled by Amazing Memories Safaris. This was my 10th<\/sup> trip to Kenya and my 4th time working with them. When I purchased my ticket in April of 2020, I planned the trip for January 2021 so I could spend my birthday in Kenya. I had a bit of a concern that the trip would be a go due to the pandemic, but company owners, Anne and Joseph were there every step of the way answering any questions I had as well as adjusting lodging as needed because the flights changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\nFor\nthis trip, I chose Offbeat Mara in Mara North, Basecamp Eagle View in Naboisho\nConservancy and Amboseli National Park. \nAt each of these locations, Anne had communicated my preferences for\nrooms as well as my dietary needs and everything was perfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Initially, I had planned to be in Mara North for my birthday. But KLM shifted the days they had flights between Amsterdam and Nairobi, so I was actually in Nairobi on my birthday. I spent the day with my great driver (another Joseph), who took me to my favorite spots, Karen Hub, Kazuri, Matbronze and Utamunduni. Normally I would visit the public and adoptive parent times at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, but since those options closed in March 2020 due to the pandemic, I booked the 3pm private visit. Joseph 2014 really enjoyed accompanying me too and he also took photos of me with the ellies which I really appreciated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In\nthe evening, Anne and Joseph and their son as well as my driver Joseph, had a\nbirthday celebration in the hotel restaurant. It was a memorable birthday and a\ngreat start to my safari.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although all was well at the lodging with lots of protocols in place for safety, traveling to and from Nairobi was a bit challenging during the pandemic. Initially, just a PCR test was needed to get into Nairobi taken within 96 hours of arrival. Anne also reminded me to make sure I had my eVisa in hand as they were no longer doing these on arrival. However, during my stay in Kenya, the airlines as well as the Netherlands I was transiting through and ultimately returning to the USA, made changes to what was needed. In order to meet testing requirements, I had to come back into Nairobi a day early from Amboseli. Anne made arrangements for someone from Lancet Labs to come to the hotel (Crowne Plaza) for testing. That was a huge relief. Then another last minute curve, where KLM was requiring a rapid test 4 hours ahead of boarding the plane out of Nairobi, well Anne jumped right to that task and spoke to the Manager of the hotel, who made arrangements with one of his drivers to take me to the nearby test facility, wait while I waited for the results and then take me to the airport. I was so nervous but Anne assured me that all would be ok. She was also checking directly with the airport driver to make sure all was going according to plans. I could not have been looked after better by what I consider my second family. Their reassurance during a challenging travel time was amazing. There was no question left unanswered and constant follow up to make sure all was going well. Anne and I had lunch together on my last day as she was dropping off a bag that I had left with her in Nairobi and she wanted to catch up about how the trip went. As a caring Tour Operator, they want to make sure their clients are happy, had a good safari and is there anything they need to improve on. In my mind, they checked all the boxes of a great safari experience perfectly. They are truly an \u201cAmazing Memories Safaris\u201d company and one that I will look forward to working with on an upcoming trip. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>The Best of the Trip<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The original plan of this trip was to spend my birthday in the Masai Mara. Due to flights being adjusted with the pandemic, I ended up being in Nairobi on my birthday. As a treat to myself and support to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, I booked a private visit. The orphanage had been closed since mid-March due to the pandemic for the public and adoptive parent visits. Head Keeper Edwin was my guide for the visit. The hour-long visit was wonderful. After all the elephants were given their bottles, I was allowed to walk among them where Edwin pointed out my adopted ones Maktao and Roho. There was an elephant, Bondeni who Edwin said was \u201cthe smallest but not the youngest\u201d that stayed very close to me letting me rub his ears and pet him while his trunk explored me. Many of the others were busy rolling in the mud bath and flinging it everywhere. Edwin did a great job of keeping the muddiest ones away from directly leaning against me as well as my camera. Shortly after my return to the US, I added to my elephant family and adopted Bondeni.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nbirthday celebration continued on into the evening where the owners of Amazing\nMemories Safaris, their young son, and my driver Joseph 2014 all gathered for a\nbirthday dinner. At the end of the\nevening, a large number of staff brought a beautiful birthday cake (and very\ntasty) to the table for us to enjoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\nsaw more cheetahs on this trip than I\u2019ve ever seen before. The most special cheetah sighting was seeing\nthe remaining two grown cubs of the well-known cheetah Malaika. I saw her in October 2014 with her four\ncubs. A year later, in October, 2015, I\nsaw her again with her three remaining cubs. Being able to see her two\nremaining cubs (brothers) this trip, was AMAZING.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In\nmy ten journeys to Kenya, I\u2019ve only seen mating lions once but at a very far\ndistance. That changed this trip while in Mara North. Initially, this couple appeared to be napping\nthe evening away. While parked very close, they woke up and started the\nhoneymooning process of making little lion cubs. Although feeling quite voyeuristic, it made\nfor great photographs and video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not everyone likes hyenas. I think the group dynamics are beyond interesting to watch. A large group in Naboisho Conservancy provided many moments of observing the hierarchy structure including which one was going to carry off the prize of a zebra skull and spinal cord with not much left to it, while 2 others tried to steal it and a jackal tried to get some discarded morsel. On my last dinner at Eagle View in Naboisho Conservancy, while my guide Derick and I had wonderful conversations about my stay there, out of the darkness came the chanting of many of the camp staff along with a beautiful candle lit birthday cake. The traditional dances were amazing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>The Less than the Best of the Trip<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I booked my flights in April, 2020 for my trip in January, 2021, I knew there may be some challenges. I was booking it at the beginning of the covid pandemic which I thought might last a few months. Little did I know how many flight changes, constant monitoring and covid testing would be required. Although a somewhat stressful journey, with a great deal of support and communication from Amazing Memories Safaris, everything worked out. Am I glad I went? You bet!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Travel dates for this trip were January 14 – January 30. Itinerary and accommodations are as follows (number in parenthesis is the number of nights stayed at the lodging). I planned this, my tenth trip to Kenya to coincide with my birthday. Due to numerous flight changes caused by flight cancellations due to the global […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/laurenajenkinshoffmeyer.com\/laurena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/laurenajenkinshoffmeyer.com\/laurena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/laurenajenkinshoffmeyer.com\/laurena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laurenajenkinshoffmeyer.com\/laurena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laurenajenkinshoffmeyer.com\/laurena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10130"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/laurenajenkinshoffmeyer.com\/laurena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11603,"href":"https:\/\/laurenajenkinshoffmeyer.com\/laurena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10130\/revisions\/11603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/laurenajenkinshoffmeyer.com\/laurena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laurenajenkinshoffmeyer.com\/laurena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laurenajenkinshoffmeyer.com\/laurena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}