Because of its proximity to the Jomo Kenyatta airport, we returned to the Nairobi Tented Camp before flying back to the States. It felt full circle, returning to our starting point. By now, after more than 20 game drives, we felt like “old hands” and the camp was familiar…yet, this last day had a sad quality to it. Luckily, a few things happened to lift our spirits.
Elephants and rhinos
Baby elephants
We made another visit to the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust elephant orphanage. The baby elephants never fail to delight. They are so cute marching in from the forest — single file, trunks swinging — for their evening feeding and mud bath.
Maxwell makes his mark
Then I had a personal encounter with Maxwell, the resident black rhino. He is blind and I was trying to get his attention, tapping on his enclosure, hoping he’d come over. He responded by backing up and spraying urine all over my leg. I was blessed!! Back at the camp, the staff washed my pants for me, I think twice, to get the “fragrance” out.
Rhinos in the wild
Of the Big Five game animals (lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and Cape buffalo), we had seen very few of the local white rhinos. On our very last game drive, as we were returning to the camp, we hit a bonanza: a mother and her calf were blocking our road! They crossed and waddled up on an embankment to pose for pictures. A perfect ending to a wonderful trip.
Fun fact
But did you know? There is also a group of animals called the Ugly Five. They are the hyena, wildebeest, vulture, warthog and the marabou stork. We saw all but the stork.
accidental goddess 
I returned last week from 10 days in Italy (just before they shut down the country). I try to take one big trip a year with a female friend of mine. It’s great to see other women traveling and to have such a great adventure. I applaud you and thanks for sharing! We may have to add Africa to our list of future destinations.
Thanks for reading my blog. Africa was wonderful. I LOVE Italy, have traveled there several times, but have only a few posts about it. There are more women traveling now than ever before and several companies that cater to us. Whenever I join a tour group, I always notice that women travel alone or with other women and men only travel with their spouses or girlfriends. Unless it’s an all-guy skiing, fishing or golf outing.
We went solo but worked with a company called TraveloMasters to set up the itinerary. They were excellent and we managed without a guide. I don’t think I would try that in Africa. If there is a company you can recommend for women travelers, please do!
My stepdaughter used Go2Africa to plan our African trip. I have not used a women-only company, but I have seen them advertised. I’ve met with one local group called “Women Travel Abroad”, really liked them, but have not traveled with them yet: https://www.meetup.com/Women-Travel-Abroad-RDUNC. I just got back from Egypt with a local group of yoga teachers, their students, and spouses and will be writing about that trip soon. They are called “YTT Journey”: http://www.yttjourney.com/.