Day 7 Farewell to Kenya

This is a good point to sum up the Kenya part of the trip. Over the 7 days we had become a family. We cried with laughter and at times could have cried with sadness.

William, Samuel and Patrick were true professionals. Whenever possible they sat around the table with us to eat, play cards or scrabble. On our return from a safari drive, Patrick would be waiting with flasks of hot drinks, popcorn or other wonderful snacks. He was always keen to share our day and experiences or view the photos.

William, as our guide, was a fountain of knowledge and stories. With Samuel driving they made a perfect duo. Frequently we were the first on the scene.. and even more frequently the only ones. Static from short wave radio was not a factor I had to cope with on my video sound track. These guys relied on local knowledge and fantastic spotting skills to find us our wildlife. Samuel would patiently manipulate the vehicle so that we could have a better view and always turned off his engine so that my camera did not pick up the motor. Whenever we wanted to stop, whether it was for wildlife or a dramatic sky, he would wait until we were ready to move on. We could see dust clouds left by vehicles anxious to return to lodges for sun-downers or be in time for dinner, whilst we were left to enjoy the scenery and tranquilly. Of course safe in the knowledge that Patrick would have something special for us on our return. OK, so I did look longingly at the table and polished glasses and the wine awaiting a group from a luxury lodge at a special viewpoint. However, I was smug with the knowledge that we had just seen óur´leopard and watched him yawn, stretch, scratch and think about his evening snack. For that I could take a rain check on the glass of wine as I came to Africa for better pleasures.

Sadly Leanne was leaving us in Nairobi to return home, the crew had another safari to take out and with Liv and Stein we were about to embark on the Tanzanian adventure.

The video clip of our farwell to a special crew.