AFRICA!!!!

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to see the mountain gorillas in their natural habitat. This summer, as I was between jobs, seemed like the perfect time to embarked on this long fantasied-about journey. Not only did I get to finally visit the gorillas, but I saw elephants, chimpanzees, lions, giraffes, hippos, lions, zebras, and so many birds. Throughout the trip, I could feel how happy my Mom and my Dad would have been for me. There were times when they were tripping along with me. 

My trip began in Nairobi, and from there I travelled with 19 other people from various countries through Kenya to Uganda, to Rwanda, and back through Uganda to Kenya again.  The trip was booked through Dragoman, a British company that specializes in 'overlanding.' 

Overlanding means that you travel in a truck (never never ever call it a bus) that is basically self-sufficient. It has tents, cooking gear, and purified water. We camped in National Parks, and in hotel grounds. There were often opportunities to 'upgrade' if we were using hotel land. My tent-mate objected to me snoring, so I upgraded whenever there wasn't a spare tent available. 

My first day in Nairobi, I went to visit the David Sheldrick Wildlife Foundation. The amazing people here have been caring for and rehabilitating orphaned elephants for decades. Visitors are allowed to visit during the noon-hour feeding time. 

I 'adopted' an elephant named Luggard, who was found with a seriously injured leg. When I returned to Nairobi at the end of my trip, as an adoptive parent, I was allowed to visit him and the other orphans when they were settled for the night in their stalls. 

Luggard's next-door neighbour is an orphaned giraffe. While the giraffe was otherwise engaged, Luggard slipped his trunk into his feed dish and stole his goodies. A keeper sleeps with the orphans every night. The orphans will stay at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Foundation until they are old enough to be transported to Tsavo National Park.  There they are slowly introduced to wild elephant groups, until they are eventually accepted. The process takes many years. 

The orphanage is on the grounds of Nairobi National Park, and wild warthogs make a habit of wandering in and out at will. 

In Murchison Falls National Park in Uganda, I got to see elephants where they are supposed to be; with their families, in the wild.