As I drifted out of my sleep this morning there was brief moment when I thought I just had a crazy dream that I was in Kenya. When I opened my eyes I was caught off guard by the mosquito net draped over the bed in our suite at Karen Blixen. The last 24 hours had been so unbelievable that I was certain it couldn't have been real.
Dawn and I were the first of our group to head out to the garden for a generous complimentary breakfast of omelets, bacon, sausage, fresh local fruits and vegetables. While we ate, we watched a friendly little cat rub up against the legs of the other guests as they arrived for breakfast. It is such a cold morning here. Thank God for this hot and healthy breakfast. In the coming week I'm sure we will learn just how much of a blessing it really is.
Shortly after breakfast it was time to check out of the coffee gardens and take a bus to Wilson Airport. The airport seemed more like a small town with cars lining every street. There were a variety of businesses that seemed a bit out of place at an airport. We arrived at the security checkpoint building that was extremely relaxed compared to what you would imagine an airport to be. I put my backpack on the conveyor belt and walked through the metal detector (still wearing my watch, sunglasses and belt) and there was no beep.
We proceeded out the back of the building to the tarmac, where we waited for our planes to be started. We were escorted between a bunch of small planes until we got to three that had the engines running and doors open. The inside of the plane only had seating for about twenty people, including the pilot. One of the girls from our group got to sit in the co-pilot seat up front.
After a surprisingly smooth take off, we were 1,300 feet above Nairobi; about to embark on life changing journey. The flight to Masai Mara was beautiful the entire way. We saw a lot of farm land, which we would later learn is the way the Kipsigis people make their living. We flew low over a mountain and the pilot started the landing sequence. I looked out the window to see a small flat clearing of grass. Is this where he's going to land this thing? We cleared the last row of trees and touched down on the grassy runway. The landing wasn't quite as smooth as the take off.
We climbed out of the plane and joined the rest of our group that flew over in the other two planes. We were greeted by James, a tall man with a friendly smile who was wearing a traditional Maasai Warrior shuka and bead work. The whole group walked about fifteen minutes into the Bogani camp and got our first real look at rural Kenya.
As we made our way past the security gate and down the long winding driveway, we could faintly hear a group of people singing in Swahili. Over the next ten days we would become very familiar with this song, Jambo Bwana.
All the employees of Bogani greeted us with freshly squeezed juice and a quick introduction.
We were taken to our luxury tents, where we will be living for the next ten days. Luckily Alyssa, Vicky, Dawn and I were all in tents grouped together. The tents, along with everything else at Bogani, were far beyond what I expected. Built on a cement foundation, with a full bathroom in the back section, they feel a lot more like a small cabin.
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