Ronnie, Steve, and Mama Gertrude placed me in good hands with their friend Peter who would "take care of me" for the next two days. After leaving the Petrol station we had to make two more stops before we drove into Tsavo East National Park.
Once we got there we started seeing animals galore! It was like being on a National Geographic show. We meandered the dirt roads and took the long route to the hotel. I was so excited to see giraffes, elephants, and lions in the wild! It was a bit strange having the safari van to myself, but I loved sticking my head out the top and taking all the photos I wanted without having to fight for space and then just taking it all in an enjoying the moment. I made conscious efforts to put the camera down to just live in the moment and soak it all in.
We finally made it to the hotel. Two things that were standing out to me: 1) I am not as comfortable in fancy environments as I am more humble ones and 2) I felt like I was in a Scooby Doo episode.
The US and other countries have issued a travel advisory for Kenya and it has been affecting the tourism industry. Usually the hotel would have been packed, but it was very quiet. There weren't any ghosts that I was aware of except the dark shadow of the travel advisory. I enjoyed a quiet lunch from a huge buffet (I was missing the food in the village, though) and watched the elephants down below. I got to rest a bit in my room then Peter was picking me up for my "evening game drive". And wow.... The light of Africa is amazing! Golden and glowing!
The water hole had a pipe that runs from Tsavo west to Mombasa and there was a small leak in it where the elephants would take turns drinking... Mama and daughter. One would drink and nudge the other out of the way. I could have watched them for hours! They drink 60 liters of water a day! These elephants were so different than the ones I have seen in zoos. They emitted peace. They were happy elephants living in the wild like they were intended to do.