Our trusty Range Rover safari truck. From left to right - Dick who works for the USAID and is from Virginia, Deborah who also works for the USAID and lives in DC (she also lived in Stamford, CT!), our driver Moses, my mother and me!

Crocodile on riverbank and abandoned Masai camp. The brush bent over near the structure is formerly the outer walls of the masai village.

The ridge of mauntains is The Great Rift Valley a vast geographical and geological feature that runs north to south for some 5,000 km, from northern Syria in Southwest Asia to central Mozambique and Kenya in East Africa. The valley varies in width from 30-100 km and in depth from a few hundred to several thousand metres. It has been created through the rifting and separation of the African and Arabian tectonic plates that began around 35 million years ago in the north, and by the ongoing separation of East Africa from the rest of Africa along the East African Rift, which began about 15 million years ago.

Masai abandoned village and cows being hearded.

Abandoned Masai camp. Wildebeast and lama (?)

Abandoned Masai camp. Wildebeast and lama (?)

Lions in the brush and cheetah walking.

Kichwa Tembo camp's resident baboons

Me and my mother at lunch on our last day at Kichwa Tembo Safari Camp in Masai Mara, Kenya.

Kichwa Tembo camp. The camp served three meals a day. Lunch and dinner were often served outside. The warthogs frequently roamed nearby. They were not the least bit afraid of people. They spent a great deal of time sleeping and foraging for food. We were told to just stay out of their way and everything would be fine. For the most part I ignored them.

My mother and I befriended a Masai named Daniel. He gave daily talks to camp visitors on the Masai culture. In these pics he's wearing a masai wig made of yarn. Interestingly enough we had a brief talk about FGM (Female Genital Mutilation). A Masai practice . Daniel said he would like the practice to be optional but b/c it was a tradition this was dificult to encourage. At one point he even asked me what it was like to be a woman that had not been subject to FGM (sex as a woman who has not undergone FGM). My reply was, "Well, I don't know b/c I don't know what it's like to have undergone FGM." Kind of a lame answer. In retrospect, I think I should have expounded on the relationship between female anatomy and sexual pleasure.

With reagrds to the photo the item in my hand is a cowtail fly swatter to keep the flies away.

View of Kichwa Tembo lodge. Tree in camp. The juice from the leaves of this tree is used to treat cow eye infections.

Kichwa Tembo "airport".... Me and my mom waiting for our return flight to Nairobi.

The tent we stayed in. All the flaps come down and up tp create "windows". Coffee and 4 cookies is served each morning (you choose coffee, tea, juice - whatever you like). One morning my mom brought the tray of coffee and cookies outside to enjoy. I was still asleep (as usual!) I could hear my mom yell, "No!" and then silence and then "No! No!" It turns out the minute she turned away from the tray a resident camp monkey came down and swiped a cookie. She turned her back again and the monkey took the remaining cookie! (She had already eaten her cookies). Needless to say, monkeys and warthogs live inside the camp and roam freely.

Kichwa Tembo safari camp. 2 nights including airfare from Nairobi cost $413. US /per person. Includes meals and safari. It is much cheaper to book the safari through a local travel agent. If interested, contact Margie at Rickshaw Travel Margie [margie@rickshawtravels.com] let her know you got her name from Judith Hamer's daughter. It may help to remind Margie that my mother worked for the Rockefellar Foundation.

Chimpanzees? Monkeys? Who knows...

Nairobi, Kenya. Nairobi reminded me a lot of New York City because of the fast pace, crowded streets and shops. I felt immediately at home. I spent an hour one day walking around. Got a bit lost on antoher day trying to find an indoor market.

I carried nothing on me - except the pass card to get back in to my hotel room. No watch, no jewelery, no camera or money. Noe that I'm writing this I guess I should of carried some ID! All of my Nairobi photos were taken from the front of the hotel, from my hotel room or from the car. The building with the multi-level red floors is the view from my hotel room.

Nairobi, Kenya.