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That elephant, and the rest of his herd, had come to drink at the watering hole behind our hotel, the Serena Mountain Lodge.
The elephants didn't just guzzle some water and leave. They stayed and played for hours.
Maybe I was wrong, but I believed they were staging their elaborate performance just for my benefit.
Later, while unpacking in my hotel room, I came face-to-face with another creature. Luckily, a window separated me from the Sykes monkey. He was playing on the second-storey ledge outside my room. James, our guide from All Seasons Safaris, reminded us to keep the windows closed, or the monkeys would 'help us unpack.'
As our first adventure, the two-hour wildlife walk offered by the Serena Mountain Lodge turned out to be a great investment. The walk itself was quite an experience. It is not every day you take a walk with an armed escort. It was a stark reminder that this wasn't the zoo. We were in the animal's natural habitat. The 'wild' image was distorted just a bit when they served tea in the middle of the forest. But, no one complained.
At dinner, the Serena staff visited each table with a checklist of animals that were typically hard to spot. We selected the ones we wanted to see. The watering hole was only 20 metres from the hotel. Every room had a perfect view. The hole was lit with floodlights all night. So, if any of the animals on your list were spotted, someone would knock on your door. All you had to do was roll out of bed and take a few steps to the window. Unfortunately, no leopards or hyenas appeared that night.
However, many other animals visited all day and night. I awoke about 1:00 am and walked to the window, where I stood for some time, just staring at the nocturnal animals as they went about their business. It was so tranquil - not eerie, but peaceful. It was a quieting, calming feeling.
The Serena Mountain Lodge also offers a view of Mt. Kenya, the second highest mountain in Africa. The local Wakamba tribe thought the snow and rock speckled mountain top resembled an ostrich's tail feathers, so they named it Kiinyaa. One of the early European explorers changed the spelling, and it eventually became Kenya.
With great reluctance we left the Serena Mountain Lodge, and Mt. Kenya quickly became a small dot in our rearview mirror. Our departure was bittersweet, since we were headed for more adventures in Kenya.
Masai Mara Reserve
On a wildlife safari in Kenya, the afternoon game drives are hot. The morning drives are cold. Everything is dusty. The non-existent roads are rough and jarring. There are no restrooms, no snack shops, and no mobile phone signals. And...I didn't care! The wildlife was so fantastic that I didn't notice the discomforts.
We were still miles from the Masai Mara National Reserve when small herds of grazing cattle began to appear in the distance. Amidst the quietly standing cattle were...zebras. They were calmly munching grass, as if they were all the best of friends.
After one particularly long game drive in the Masai Mara, it was beyond time to return to camp. Instead, James, our fantastic guide, suggested we take one last detour - to check on the lions we had spotted earlier. Sure enough. There they slept. We were two metres from a pride of lions!
I am not a morning person.
Staff
