Brenda recently returned from an exciting and adventurous 12-day safari to Nairobi, Kenya. According to Brenda, "The trip to Africa was more than I expected and beyond my dreams. Every day brought new adventures and incredible sights."

Brenda describes her trip of a lifetime:

"Kenya is an incredible country and my experiences there exceeded anything else I've done. The natural beauty and variety of wild animals are mind-boggling. Nairobi is a busy bustling city like other major cities in the world but we started seeing wildlife just 45 minutes out of town, actually from the highway.

"I visited Amboseli, Mt. Kenya, Samburu and Masai Mara National Parks. The many colorful birds were so beautiful and being caught in the middle of a few elephant herds was heart-thumping. Watching 2 male Cape buffalos actually battle for dominance, blood and all, was unbelievable. Racing across the plains on the hunt for a photo-op of a black rhino was exhilarating, watching a leopard casually stroll past our vehicle was awe-inspiring, watching monkeys outside our cabin was amusing and hearing lions and hyenas at night while in a tented camp was unnerving. The giraffes were wonderful and I even kissed one (tame Daisy). At all the parks we were often surprised by an animal that would suddenly cross the track in front of us.

"Mt. Kilimanjaro was breath-taking at sunrise. Riding in the van was hair-raising, wild jolts and fun. Our guide called it 'body massages' and I have the bruises to prove it. At the equator we watched the experiment of water poured through a funnel swirling clock-wise 30 meters north of the line, counter clock-wise 30 meters south of the line, and pour out straight at the equator. It's called the Earth's coriolus and was amazing. The 9 friends I was with added much laughter and terrific company on all the adventures. We ended the safari with 2 days at Hemingway's Resort on the Indian Ocean, the perfect luxurious way to end the hectic early mornings and full days.

"There are not enough words to sufficiently describe this trip and I could go on and on trying, but that would be too much so just let me say that this trip of a lifetime exceeded my dreams."

Brenda describes some of her special safari moments:

"Being in the middle of an elephant herd. We were stopped on the driving track and the herd crossed right in front of us. Another time a mother elephant started crossing behind us then changed her mind and aimed right toward us with her head lowered. We started yelling at our driver who started up the van and moved forward several feet. The mother kept coming at us so he moved again. And, still she came at us so we moved once more. At that point she figured she made her point and turned away. Then someone else yelled at me – 'Next to you!' I was so pre-occupied with the mother in the back threatening to push us with her head that I never saw another elephant right beside me. I immediately took a picture and she was so close all I could get was her eye and part of her ear. Then she continued on. We all had thumping hearts after that. We also got to see elephants squabble and trumpet at one another.

"At Mountain Lodge on the slopes of Mt. Kenya our room had a view of a pond with animals congregated for the minerals in the soil and the vat of fresh drinking water the lodge provides. We watched a herd of lazy Cape Buffalos for a while then a fight started. We were amazed and astonished to watch a dominance fight between 2 males. They butted heads, locked horns, wrestled themselves into the mud pond and finally. one was able to really hook horns and literally tossed the other bull up into the air and slammed him down into the water. We thought he was going to drown the loser but eventually he let him up. Both were bloodied and after a while the loser slowly made his made into the woods, all alone and vanquished. The winner then grinned with his teeth together, several times, to show the herd who the boss was. We were dumbfounded to witness this - talk about a National Geographic moment.

"On the 2nd to the last safari day we found a leopard up in a tree. He came down and disappeared only to re-appear in the grass by our van. She walked right past us without hesitating. Our guide said he'd never seen a leopard ever approach one of the vans much less walk pass us.

"I kissed a giraffe! Daisy is an endangered Rothschild giraffe located at the Giraffe Center in Nairobi. She's pretty tame so one can feed her, and she'll take food from your lips too. They're very protected animals and they are growing in number with the hope they can be released back into the wild. Not Daisy, though. I think she's become too used to the treats!

"On the last day we found the elusive black rhino which was a sight.

"The lions were wonderful, with cubs and so nonchalant."

Brenda concludes, "There were so many animals it was fantastic. We had a fun gang, great drivers, stayed at beautiful lodges, a memorable trip."

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