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Game Preserve. The ground floor of our hotel was about ten So off we headed out through the Nairobi city world, onto a
feet above the ground, above a large watering hole where we road as busy as we’ve ever seen, with multi-trucks parked in
watched hundreds of water buffaloes, and monkeys drink and groups and rolling in both directions along the highway. We
splash around. were told the reason so many trucks
were on the road is that the ancient
After a short flight back to Nairo- railroad from Mombasa, and across
bi (aboard Kenya Airways which Kenya, was among the slowest to be
impressed us with their hospita- found. Hauling cargo across Kenya was
ble style), we headed to our meet- much faster by trucks.
ing place at the upscale Jacaranda
Hotel. We were greeted by the Finally, we got away from all that has-
Gate 1 host, Marcie, who took sle and onto the road heading out into
care of the check-in requirements. the Great Rift Valley. Many modest
The next morning, she gathered villages were just off the roads, and lo-
our tour group of nine together cals were hustling herds of goats and
to orient us about our upcoming cows. Not a lot of big markets (Costcos
days out in the bush, where those or Starbucks) but people were making
wild critters called home. life work in their own manner. Finally
we arrived at the Masai Mara. This is
Waiting for us at the hotel entrance were our two hands-on the Kenya extension of the Serengeti and a game preserve of
tour drivers (ours was Daniel), ready to load us into their massive size as we realized when very soon we were driving
special vans. These were typical modern vans, with one dif- past herds of gazelles, occasional giraffes, and frequent troops
ference: the roofs rose when we were out on safari so we could (true) of monkeys playing beside the road.
stand up and shoot lots of pictures while protected from being
gobbled up for a lion’s lunch. A half-hour into the preserve, we arrived at our abode, the
Keekorok Lodge, for the next several nights. This was not ex-

Wine Dine & Travel Winter 2015 79