You are all probably wondering, “How is Krisztina going to follow up her most recent and amazing engagement blog post?” Good question. I was asking myself the same thing.  Luckily though, Bill volunteered to write a guest post (click here: https://9minai.wordpress.com/2018/06/10/chui/ )AND my future in-laws, Bill’s parents Bob and Judy, came to town from Chicago and we went on all the safaris just so that I could provide content for this blog and entertain all twenty of its followers. Thanks Judy and Bob!

Bob and Judy arrived on a Friday evening, and after many hours of traveling we made them walk up five flights of stairs before we would give them food. After sleeping in on Saturday, we continued our lazy day of jet-lag/work week recovery with breakfast at noon, a walk to our local shopping center for a small grocery run and milkshakes from the Java House, and a walk around the fancy gated neighborhood across the street from our place. If anyone is looking for a three story (with a roof deck), 5-bedroom 6-bathroom condo with a detached servants quarters (yup live-in help is a huge thing in Kenya) in Nairobi, let me know. It’ll only cost you a small fortune. We recover from our short walk by going out to dinner at Urban Eatery, a delicious restaurant with a menu as long and as varied as The Cheesecake Factory, minus all the cheesecake pages. We toast to our recent engagement and Bob and Judy’s arrival to Nairobi!

The next day we had an early wake up call as Harrison, our wonderful and extremely experienced safari guide, arrived at 6:30 to take us to Maasai Mara. The Mara is a six hour drive from Nairobi with the last two hours of “African massage”. That’s what Harrison endearingly calls the super bumpy unpaved roads that he drives on like he’s a Formula 1 driver. You know it’s crazy when Bill puts his seatbelt on in the backseat!

We get to our Mara lodge in time for lunch and a short rest before our afternoon safari. Harrison said it’s just a little teaser before we go out for a full 12 hours the next day. During our teaser we see some beautiful landscape scenery as well as some incredible animals! Most notably, we spot a female lion walking towards the “road”, and she plops down in the shade of our van. The late afternoon sun was hot, and this resourceful lion was merely capitalizing on a shaded nap opportunity. Of course we had to stay there a while, as to not deprive her of her pleasant slumber. #letsleepinglionslie The Mara wild animals are used to safari cars and don’t scare away as easily as those on our third and last safari in Tsavo East. They may or may not look up from whatever they are doing for a second to stare at you, then they go back to their previous activity, which is usually grazing or napping.

We have a 6am wake up call so we can head out to the Maasai Mara again the next day for a full 12 hours. Judy wasn’t feeling well and didn’t think a 12 hour car ride with only 2 bathroom stops was going to help as much as a restful day at the lodge. So Bill, Bob, and I head out with Harrison for a full day safari. It was one of those once in a lifetime type of days, and even though we’ll go on more safaris, you’ll always see different things. We see SO many animals and took even more pictures (hundreds). I won’t list the names of all we saw here, but take a look at all the pictures and captions!

The Mara highlights were: seeing vultures eat a giraffe; seeing two male lions sleeping on a rock; eating lunch outside under a tree watching elephants on one side of the road, giraffes on the other, and a lion casually walking down the middle of the road; tons of Thomson’s gazelles, impalas, Grant’s gazelles, elephants, giraffes and zebras all hanging out together; getting stuck in the mud for about 3 minutes and having to get pulled out by another van; hours later we rescue another van from a different muddy spot; a beautiful sunset; and a Leopard just chilling up in a tree!!! Read this post by Bill for a much more beautifully painted picture of that rare sighting.

We arrive back in Nairobi around 2pm on Tuesday, and I head to the office in the morning for a short 2 day work week. Friday June 1st is a holiday, Madaraka Day, so we take advantage and start our next safari-ing. Bill worked from home Wednesday while Bob and Judy went with Harrison to Nairobi National Park, the elephant orphanage, and the giraffe center. When I got home from work, Bill and Bob were just finishing up cooking dinner. The next day Bill brought his parents to work for a quick hello then they were off to the Kazuri bead factory. I met up with them for dinner at Talisman after work and the next day we left for Amboseli National Park.

The Amboseli lodge was even better than the Maasai Mara lodge. I thought the food was delicious, and it was buffet style so everyone was able to find something good! Amboseli is known for an overwhelming amount of elephants and spectacular views of Mt. Kilimanjaro in the background. The peak was hidden in the clouds during our whole day in Amboseli unfortunately, but we did see lots of lions, zebras, elephants, flamingos(!!), lots of birds and birds of prey, and all the antelopes. Also, lots of majestic acacia trees. We had lunch on a hill with an amazing 360 degree view!

We hit the road the next morning for the 4 hour drive to Tsavo East, our last safari location. We got super lucky with a beautiful clear Kilimanjaro day, and got to enjoy the view for about four hours from a police station where our vehicle broke down. We were lucky to break down in that tiny town instead of in the middle of nowhere farmland we were heading into, most obviously because I got 4G cell service and was able to do a bunch of wedding venue searching. There was a problem with the memory of the carburetor reaching the engine – I know close to nothing about cars so that last sentence is just a mixture of words I heard while the mechanics were talking – and it took about 10 different people to get it fixed. #everyonesanexpert But it was fixed and we were on our way! We get to Voi Wildlife lodge too late to head out on an afternoon safari, but I don’t think we would have wanted to go anyway. The lodge bar and restaurant is 10 feet away from a watering hole so we just sat and watched the live version of the National Geographic channel. It was incredible. So many families of elephants, lots of buffalo, water bucks, the ugly birds called Marabou Storks, and a pigmy hippopotamus!! This was the best lodge of them all. I definitely plan to go again in the future, and may exclude the full day Tsavo East safari. It is hard to see animals because 1) the park is so huge and 2) they often run away as they are much more afraid of vehicles – they can go over a year without seeing a car or person. Well, they either run away or they charge and WE run away. An elephant stared us down and took a few large fast steps towards us beginning to charge so Harrison drove away. We didn’t see any big cats or wild dogs, but they are known to be aggressive and chase away humans. In addition to zebras, giraffes, antelope, we did see some new things though: dik-diks, crocodiles, gerenuks (antelope with long skinny necks and heads), a snake, an eagle, and these pretty horn-billed birds that I couldn’t get a picture of but they looked exactly like a black and white Zazu. We get back to the lodge for more water hole viewing and we play a game of Hanabi. We get 21 out of 25 which is really good for Bob and Judy who were first time players!

We arrive to our apartment in Nairobi on Tuesday to a huge hole in the ceiling where water fell through. Let me explain. We get back to the lodge on Saturday night, connect to the WiFi and our WhatsApp is blowing up from our landlord and our neighbor. They are wondering where we are and if we will be home soon, as there was a loud bang in the attic of a water tank pipe bursting and our penthouse* apartment is potentially flooding. Cool! They wanted to assess the damage and see what actually happened. We tell them please go in ASAP and get a plumber there ASAP! And to please keep us updated as we aren’t back for 3 days! Luckily the only damage was in the living room where there is not much furniture and none of our belongings. Just a fake fireplace, an entertainment stand, a tv we never watch, and our internet router were the only things ruined. A bunch of people come up on Tuesday afternoon to assess the damage, and we explain that the first thing that needs fixing is the internet! In the meantime I purchased a new data package for my phone so I can stream The Bachelorette… #firstthingsfirst

Tuesday afternoon we head to Junction Mall to use the Internet, stop at a bookstore, the Kazuri jewelry store, and the Carrefour supermarket. Then we head to Mama Rocks for burgers and fries for a goodbye dinner, as it was Bob and Judy’s last night in Nairobi. Back home we play a few more rounds of Hanabi then head to bed.

Wednesday was a normal work day for me while Bill, Bob and Judy had an adventure getting to the glass blowing factory and workshop. Then we meet up for a quick last dinner at ArtCaffe at Yaya and call Bob and Judy a taxify to the airport and bid them not goodbye but see you later.

It was an epic week and a half with a packed schedule and lots of animal sightings. It was amazing and would do it again in a heartbeat! Good thing we have so many more visitors coming in the next few months, so that we have an excuse to go on more safaris and to provide fodder for the blog. That’s obviously really what it’s about. #content

*5th floor walk up that’s smaller than all the other apartments in the building with potential for flooding given that all water tanks are in the attic with a thin sheet of gyp board ceiling separating attic from apartment.