Leslie & Vickie’s 2026 Safari

There is an interesting start to our morning today. After witnessing a gorgeous sunrise, we come across a male and female lion strolling across the plains. How sweet, like a young couple enjoying the morning with a leisurely walk. But it turns out this is their mating time.

Mating lions definitely commit. Once a female accepts the male, the two go off for 4-5 days alone together. During this time they mate 20-40 times a day usually every 15-30 minutes. The actual process takes 10-20 seconds …. Yes seconds…. But mating with this frequency usually ensures a successful fertilization. The other interesting factoid is that the female will mate with several males in the pride to blur the paternity. If a male suspects a cub is not theirs, they will kill the cub.

And there you go! Facts you never knew you needed to know!

Our next encounter

And of course another awesome lunch. Down time is needed to digest and get ready for our last late afternoon game drive and sundowner with Bush Camp. And here we go!

I wonder where our team will bring us for our sundowners as this is the last evening together to share these beautiful sunsets.

As fate would have it, our sundowner is waiting for us as we drive up to a GIN BAR! In the middle of the bush! Our camp staff brought a bar of 5 different Kenyan and South African gins and mixers to enhance our evening. Not to mention fantastic appetizers complete with a beautiful camp fire. Our Kenyan family sure knows how to entertain.

And of course – we still have dinner to go back to. The menu says Fish n Chips and it was truly one of the best recipes and perfect cook I’ve ever had. Not too much breading and made with red snapper. Portions were perfect so we could still have room for dessert.

One tradition we started to do at Bush camp was to have an after dinner Amarula drink while sitting around the coffee table and just talk. Good ole’ fashioned conversation. We shared our future travel plans and what really means the most to us. One safari mate asked me what was my favorite part of the trip. After a pause, both Leslie and I agree it is the people. Their generosity and genuine souls touched us in a way that words can’t describe.

It’s time to pack and get ready for our last game drive to the airstrip on Wednesday morning. Another early start to our day before we catch our plane back to Nairobi.

When we get back to Nairobi we have another 36 hours before our flight leaves for Amsterdam then Boston. We hit up a couple local shops and make room for souvenirs from Kenya. Room made in our luggage only after we left half our clothing behind to donate to the locals.

I’ll post one last blog when we return to fill in some gaps here and there. Re-entry might be hard. Who will do the cooking now?!?!?

See you in the US of A

Leslie and Vickie

💃🦒🦓🦏