Last Day and What a Day!

Hi Again All,

What a wonderful way to end our trip — we all went to see the last two remaining Northern White Rhinos in the WORLD. But more a little later because the trip there and back was not without interest.

Then we passed through a town. This should make us all appreciate what we have!!!

But there was even more to see on the way. By the way, this was the coldest morning of the entire trip. John, Spence, Xander and I were in one Land Rover and we opted not to put the shades down on the way there — a big mistake. It was really, really excruciatingly cold!!!

And we arrive at the Conservancy:

But by now we are all hungry for breakfast; the chef had prepared homemade cinnamon rolls plus other things that had been kept warm. And the hot coffee and cocoa were huge sellers for us to warm up!

And now we arrive at the main event. You have an appointment time and must wait your turn. There are not a lot of appointments. First there is a lecture outside the gates. It is interesting how this is a joint venture from lots of countries!

It truly felt like a real privilege to see the last two remaining creatures of this kind; I think all rhinos are endangered but this particular strain is nearly extinct — probably functionally extinct now. A very special privilege! By the way, these two are watched by armed guards 24/7!

We were able to enter the enclosure and get very close to them — even able to touch them.

Then John (the guide) asked the conservancy person if he could carry the small children close to the rhinos and was given permission.

But then Xander wanted to go close, then Spence and John next! The guard allowed it.

We all felt like this was truly a magical moment!

The trip home was also interesting — from the lions at the watering hole to the interesting countryside to the meeting up with the rangers doing training for their dogs.

And then we arrived at a point where we could see Enasoit from afar; its the green oasis in the middle of the plain.

We enjoyed our last night dinner together. I must tell you that John and my 75th birthdays were toasted at almost all dinners thanks to Kemp and the other kids. It was a great celebration of this distinctive birthday!!!

We were scheduled to leave the next morning at 10:00 a.m., but it dawned on me that spending 12 hours in a hotel room at the airport was going to be a really boring way to end the vacation. So I asked Karen, the camp manager, if it were possible to stay until later in the day. She checked with the airline and was told that, weather permitting, we could leave at 4:00 p.m. and since we had not had lunch the first day, they would feed us again! This was a much better way to end, so:

And then we were off to Nairobi to await our departures. John’s at my were at 11:50 p.m. Kemp, Spence and families was at 1:30 a.m. and Campbell & Autari were to leave for their only 8 hour trip to Paris the next day; they stayed at another place in town.

Now comes the sad part of the vacation. John and I had no problem — just adjusting to face masking again:

Kemp, Spence and families were flying Qatar through Doha; their flight from Nairobi was delayed and they arrived in Doha before their connecting flight but so late that Qatar had given away their seats on what was an oversold flight. And Qatar offered them nothing even though the next flight was 24 hours later! To say that the men were angry is a big understatement. Finally, Kemp scored at his own expense three hotel rooms, two adjoining and one for Spence and Xander.

Meanwhile, Campbell and Autari and Calder enjoyed their final hours in Nairobi and arrival in Paris.

It was a lot of fun to travel with all these kids! Spence and Xander got to spend a lot of great time together. Watching Xander drink a gin and tonic was hysterical (I finished it). Kemp and Maggie displayed true patience in dealing with three young children. Evie was a big help to her parents!!! Jack and Eli were so funny and Ellie was so cute. Watching Campbell and Autari share parenting duties so happily was so satisfying. They truly adore Calder, who, by the way, is so curious and loved the game drives. It was a joy for us to get to spend such great time with both the parents and their kids!

Thanks for traveling with us! We certainly enjoyed our trip!

Beth

P.S. Point of interest (just in case you are interested). We made it a priority to find out what a group of the various animals are called. It was fun!

A dazzle of zebras

A wake of vultures

A bloat of hippos

A pride of lions

A parade of elephants

A murder of crows

A tower of giraffe if standing, a journey if walking

A leap of leopards

A coalition of cheetahs

A crash of rhinos

A herd of impalas, gazelles. topi antelopes, cape buffalo