Hello world!   It's been over a month since we left Africa.  As I gaze through my photos and think about my life changing experience, I can't help but re-start my blog.  And so it begins - we married on June 13th, then took to the air the next day.   After a 22 hour flight with one almost-missed connection and three pieces of lost luggage, we made it to Nairobi in the late evening.  I loved the smell of the air - it reminded me of Hawaii.  We were cordially met by our driver guide, Jeff and taken to the Fairmont Norfolk hotel for a good night's sleep.

The next morning,  we visited two popular tourist attractions; the Giraffe Centre (AFEW) and the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (Elephant orphanage) where I couldn't help but photograph the school children.  Actually, I thought the children were far more interesting than these Rothschild giraffes; one of three species of giraffes found in Africa.  The baby elephants were entertaining as well - especially when it was time to feed.

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Our next stop took us on a short flight on a 12 passenger prop plane from Wilson airport to the Ma'asai Mara Game Reserve.  This is when I understood why we were told to only pack in soft cases weighing no more than 33 pounds including camera equipment.  I was not worried since my luggage was still lost although my camera bag must've weighed in at close to 30 pounds.  As we buckled ourselves in, I couldn't help but think that I was Dorothy who wasn't in Kansas anymore.  "Hakuna matata," I sang to myself as the wobbler of plane took off into a little weather with pilots young enough to be my children.

As soon as we arrived, we were met by our next driver guide, Moses.  He took us on our first game drive and awe struck me.  These animals - they look so happy.  We came across several residential wildebeest (the ones too lazy to be part of the great migration) - I named this one Willie the Wildebeest.  By early evening, we saw two female lions getting ready to hunt while their cubs hid in the bushes behind them.   I couldn't wait to go back the next morning.

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