Last week I returned from 3 weeks in Kenya where 17 wonderful women (in 2 groups) joined me for a fantastic adventure of safari and service!
A year ago, at a girls’ local weekend away, I offhandedly asked the group, ‘If I put a trip to Kenya together to go on safari and visit a project in the Nairobi slums I’m involved with, would anyone be interested?’ I hardly expected the response I got, with nearly everyone saying ‘yes!’. Another set of friends got wind of the plans and they wanted in too. Since the group had gotten too large for our chosen lodges to accommodate, we broke the trip into two groups (even then maxing out the places we were staying at and thus, unfortunately, capping the number who could join).
Then it was a year of anticipation and planning until it was finally time for shots, malaria pills, and safari wardrobe discussions! Off we went. And what a trip it was!
An African safari is a big travel bucket list item, and it’s a ‘big’ trip to take in terms of time, distance, cost, preparation, and more. So I was so thrilled that these women, which included a mix of childhood friends, grad school friends, ‘adult life’ friends, 2 sisters-in-law, people I see in my everyday life and people I see only upon occasion, decided to say ‘yes’ to the trip and put their faith in me to plan and execute it.
We stayed at fantastic lodges/tented camps where we went to sleep with the sounds of lions in the distance while elephants, hippos, and giraffes could be heard grazing near our tents. We saw all the animals on our list, including cheetah and leopard, and witnessed some truly magical moments in nature. We visited with the last two Northern White Rhinos in existence and learned how the race is on to save the species via surrogacy. We joined an exercise with bloodhounds that are trained to track poachers. We visited with the Masai. We learned about the hardships women face in the Nairobi slums, the challenges accessing maternity as well as general health care, and the wonderful efforts being undertaken to alleviate this suffering. We met amazing people. We drank sundowners. We shared stories. And we laughed….a lot. One woman afterward said the trip was life-changing. What more satisfaction can I get than knowing I was a part of that?
