Let me take a moment to describe how our safari worked.

There were 14 people in our safari group, which required two land cruisers (so we had 2 drivers). Karen Cleveland lives in Seattle, but operates the safari company (she also attended the safari).

One of the drivers (Geoffrey) is her brother-in-law and the other is a friend/business associate named Komora. Karen owns the land cruiser that Komora drove, and that is the land cruiser that Amie and I rode in for the entire safari. I lucked out because they customized the land cruiser so that one seat can accommodate a passenger with longer legs (which is where I sat the entire time). I sat in some other land cruisers and they did not have sufficient leg room to accommodate me.

Komora plays the role of driver, animal spotter, wildlife expert (and an expert in all things Kenyan), comedian, and overall big personality. He is a lot of fun and everybody in his vehicle learned a lot about everything.

Komora and his big personality

The safari group mostly consisted of retired people who were all friends from church, but a few of us were outsiders. While the group skewed older, Karen’s daughter Julie attended (who works as a park ranger in Wyoming) and her teenage stepdaughter (who lives in Kenya) also attended. Overall, the group gelled very well and we took care of each other.

On any given day, we normally do a morning game drive and an afternoon game drive, with a few hours off during the day to eat lunch and to unwind. Kenya is on the equator, so the sun rises consistently just after 6am and it sets just after 6pm. Hence, the days tended to start and to end early.

Our safari took us to four main locations, three of which are parks:

• The Samburu National Reserve is a park to the north that has a lot of bushes and undergrowth. Hence, lions are abundant but you will rarely see them. It seemed much less crowded than the other places.
• The Ol Pejeta Conservancy is a 90,000-acre park that is privately owned and focuses on conservation efforts – primarily for the rhinoceros but also for chimpanzees.
• The Maasai Mara National Reserve is a park to the south that is connected to Serengeti National Park. It is one big park, but the portion in Tanzania is called the Serengeti and the smaller portion in Kenya is called Maasai Mara. It has less underbrush, so it is easier to see the cats. It seems muck more crowded than the other parks, however.

Lake Naivasha is not a park, but rather a popular location with lots of resorts with many smaller parks within driving distance. It is primarily a place to see hippos and birds.

The safari formally ends back in Nairobi with a visit to the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust elephant and rhinoceros orphanage, but the package contains a optional add-on which is a stay at a resort on the Indian Ocean and a visit to Karen’s husband’s small village. 12 of the 14 safari participants opted for the add-on (including us).

Karen says that our safari package was mid-range, and possibly on the lower end of mid-range. Indeed, we did some comparison shopping and other options seemed much more expensive. Private companies build resorts in or around the parks and their prices can vary greatly depending on the amount of luxury. If the resorts that we stayed at are on the lower end, I’d probably be very uncomfortable staying at the higher end resorts (as the food and service were already much more than I am used to).

For some reason, I was the only member of the group to bring an actual camera (everybody else relied on their phones). This was largely true of other safari groups that we saw. Some of the phones took pretty good pictures, but as I was the only person with a 400mm lens, I sort of became the unofficial photographer of the group.