Just Peachy Weekend in Atlanta

I spent the last weekend in Atlanta visiting a very good friend whom I met when studying abroad in London when I was in undergrad.  She was my roommate while I was there "studying" and who would have thought that 10 years later I would be flying to Atlanta to celebrate her baby shower with her.  We have this tradition of going to high tea whenever we are visiting each other and this time she had her baby shower at the Four Seasons for high tea.  It was so good!  I love all the little sandwiches (cucumber was my favorite!) and yummy scones and desserts.  And, of course, spending it with great company makes it even better!  The next morning she took me to Highland Bakery for breakfast where I had the best sweet potato pancakes that I will now have to scour the internet for a recipe to make at home because these were amazing!  So light and fluffy and sweet but without being sickeningly sweet. 

Can't wait to go back to see her again once baby girl is born!

AMAZING is the only word that could possibly describe it!

I never really liked the saying "the trip of a lifetime" because it sounds a little cheesy and because it implies this is the best it will get BUT if ever I were to give a trip that title, this trip to Kenya on safari would be it.  I took well over 1,000 pictures to document this trip- and many turned out incredible- but nothing can truly do it justice.  There is nothing that can really describe the rush you feel when a bull elephant is walking towards you or the vast openness of the Masai Mara as we dined on lunch with a picnic under the acacia trees followed by a little rest for me while the others played a few rounds of asshole or waking at night to a noise outside your tent that you can't quite figure out what it is but was informed in the morning that it was a lion.  It turns out we were really lucky with booking the tour we did as there were only 6 of us and despite age ranges from 20-35 years old, we all got along really well.

On this trip I learned new things about myself.  I actually can rough it without being miserable despite sleeping in a tent with little padding, long drop toilets (a fancy way of saying a hole in the ground) with occassionally ones that flushed but may or may not have a seat and most of all I survived cold showers which ended up not being as bad as I feared.  There were also a few luxories I was really not expecting including really good food made by Chef Issac.  I didn't even eat a single one of the granola bars I had packed as a just in case.  Issac made the most delicious pancakes (we would call them crepes) and omelets for breakfast and always made some fresh delicious soup with dinner.  Dessert almost always consisted of juicy fresh pineapple or watermelon except on my brother's birthday where there was a special surprise.

Todd was lucky enough to spend his 35th birthday in the Masai Mara looking for lions and cheetahs, which in itself is pretty incredible, but after dinner our guide and driver had sent out some of the Masai who were working at the camp for cake supplies.  Then during the camp fire that night, the Masai men came out carrying their spears and singing happy birthday carrying a cake that the Chef had been able to make over a charcoal fire!  It was so unexpected and really cool at the same time.

On the actual safari part of the trip, I don't think we could have asked for a better experience.  Starting from the very first day of our 6 days spent looking for animals, we saw 3 lions, a leopard, multiple giraffe and elephants as well as dik diks, antelope, warthogs and other various animals in Samburu.  In Lake Nakuru we saw flamingos, cape buffalo, rhinos, more giraffe, pelicans, and various other birds.  I loved the leopards for how sleek they looked and the smooth way he moved through the brush but I think my favorite sighting was of the lion cubs on our last morning drive of the trip in the Masai Mara.  There were 4 of them with their momma lion and they were so cute playing and following her around. 

You know you are seeing something rare when your guide gets really excited.  While in Samburu we saw the African Hunting Dog both lying around and then later in the day running around after a feast.  According to my guidebook, there are only about 5,000 of this species in Africa and 5% of those are in Kenya.  Our guide had only ever seen them one other time in her life when she was a girl.  I'm not sure who was the lucky one out of the group or if we all brought our own little bit of luck because we could not have seen more animals while we were there or felt more happy at seeing what we did see.

On our 2 free days in Nairobi, my brother, my friend, and I spent most of the first day resting and recovering from the safari.  Our biggest adventure for the day was a trip to Carnivore for dinner and while the cab ride was an adventure all its own, the restaurant was truly a unique experience.  A local haunt it is not, when you get there it is no doubt that you are at a tourist stop but it is one tourist stop that is fully worth it.  The restaurant specializes in more exotic meats although less exotic than it once was due to new animal conservation laws in Kenya.  The servers walk around with giant swords full of meat and carve it off the sword at your table directly onto your plate.  We were able to try crocodile (similiar to gator tail), camel (a bit chewy), and ostrich (yum!) as well as more typical meats that you would find in the US like steak, chicken, pork spare ribs with a yummy honey glaze and delicious lamb chops.  There was also salad, which I immediately declared for wimps in a restaurant called Carnivore that specializes in meat, and an excellent drink made at your table called a dawa which consisted of lime, honey, vodka, and a few other ingredients which reminded me of a mojito although it was different.

Our second day in Nairobi we opted to hire a driver for the day.  At only $80 for the entire day it was money well spent!  He was also a guide for GAP (the company we took the tour through) and very knowledgable.  We started our day at the Sheldrick Trust which rescues orphaned elephants, rehabilitates them, then re-introduces them into the wild.  At 11 am everyday they bring all the little elephants out to play and give a presentation on how each elephant was found and rescued, what its name was, and when it would be released then brought them around so we could pet them.  They felt very tough skinned and rough to the touch but I guess that makes sense with what they go through and the tough conditions they live in.

From there we went to the Giraffe center where there is tall decking so you come face to face with a giraffe and get to feed them pellets and feel their wet, slimey tongue take it from your hand.  The first few we fed were polite and would take one pellet or two at a time but the big one was having none of that and would take most of my hand into its mouth, gently where it never hurt, but I could feel its teeth close onto my hand.

We had a very enjoyable and relaxing lunch outside at the Karen Blixon Coffee House before heading to a bead factory where all the beads were hand made and hand painted.  We helped the local economy with a few purchases including some beautiful bracelets and earrings.

We ended our tour for the day with the Safari Walk outside of Nairobi National Park.  We walked around and discovered it was more like a zoo than a park which was a little disappointing after having seen the animals out in the wild in their true habitat.  The best part of the safari walk and the entire day was getting to pet the cheetahs!  They let us into the pen with them so we could take pictures and pet the 4 year old cheetah while he purred and kept licking Todd and Marianne.  His fur was not as soft as I was expecting and Marianne said his tongue was really rough but it was absolutely INCREDIBLE to get to have the experience!

 
And a few more pictures...

All in all, if you are considering a trip to Kenya my advice would be DO IT!  It will be an experience like no other.