Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Day 14: Little Governors' Camp

September 15th...
Our last morning at Little Governors’ Camp. Our game plan this morning was just to take some pictures of the sunrise and then hang out with the marsh pride as they are so close to camp and easy to find. By the time we got there, they were awake, the light was perfect and they played for us for most of our game drive. It was really relaxing watching them. As a bonus, Jonathon Scott and his film crew from BBC were there to film the marsh pride as well. I heard about Governors’ Camp by watching Big Cat Diary and followed the lives of the marsh pride and the three cheetah brothers on the show, so it was neat watching them in action as they filmed their new documentary 'Truth about Lions'.

Marsh pride cubs playing
This afternoon we head back for home at 3:30. We will booked a day room at a hotel near the airport, then we leave at 2:30a.m. tomorrow. It will be a long journey, but we only have a couple short lay overs, so all in all it shouldn't be too bad. We should be home tomorow night in our own bed by about 9:30. It has really been a wonderful experience in Africa, but now as much as I hate to leave Little Governors', I am really looking forward to getting back to work.


Better late than never...
...A few hours later... This afternoon we had quite the issues trying to leave the airstrip. The first three planes came in and none of them had our names on their boarding sheets so we had to wait an hour or so, then the rain clouds came in. It hadn't rained during the day for two weeks and these clouds were black so I started putting up the roof and sides of the safari landrover when a pilot decided to position a plane in front of us to ready for take off. I had my back to the plane and none of the others took off from the dirt, they all took off from the paved runway. When he gunned the engines, I got a dustbath like I was being sandblasted. It blew my hat off and almost knocked me over. Insult to injury, a few minutes later the rains came in so hard that our plane had to be delayed for another hour as the weather was just too horrible for landing and take off.

Waiting for our flight out to Nairobi as a storm was approaching. The storm
arrived first and it delayed our plane for an hour. It rained so hard
we were expecting to see animals being ushered onto an arc two by two

The rest of the traveling went really well. We left Nairobi International Airport at about 2:50a.m., flew into Istanbul via Turkish Airlines, then flew from Istanbul to Toronto via Turkish Airlines again. The second flight was an amazing plane. Probably the best I have ever been on! I will have to try to fly with them again the next time I cross the ocean because our ten hour and forty minute flight was really comfortable. The food and the staff were great. From there we had an hour layover in Toronto and we got home by around 10p.m. Our travel time door to door was about 30 hours on the way to Africa and 31 hours on the way back with very minimal layovers. All in all traveling both ways this time was great.

I almost forgot to mention that on my last morning on safari I took 1630 pictures. That puts me at 20,130 pictures taken on safari. Now begins the long journey of sifting through the good and the bad. Hopefully the odds will be in my favor and my images will sell well, but time will tell.


That is it for Kenya and Tanzania for this year. People often are worried about us when we go to Africa. To be honest, I am more concerned for my safety while I am in Europe. We don't tend spend any time in the cities in Africa unless we are with a guide and we feel completely safe. The only thing I would warn you of is the Africa "Bug". Once you go once, you will find yourself bitten by the bug like Sandra and her husband have. They have gone to Africa many times and they keep on going back. Check out pictures from her wildlife safari experiences on her blog. From looking at her blog, you can tell that she is passionate about animals and wildlife conservation. It is quite evident that she of course loves the Masai Mara.


Check out our main wildlife photography website and our main wildlife photography blog.
View pictures of the lions from Little Governors' Camp.

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