GALLERY 51-07-Day 01 - Arrive Nairobi IAP, Clear Immigration, Baggage Claim, Meet Tour Guide, Transfer to Hotel - 35 photos

GALLERY 51-07-Day 12 - Before Sunrise Game Drive, Lunch at Camp, Afternoon Game Drive, Field Refreshments, Dinner - 220 photos

Introduction - The 2025 Africa Classic Safari: Kenya & Tanzania 14-day adventure held from the 24th of June to the 9th of July, 2025 was attended by 12 alumni and associated friends of the Traveling Aggies, Association of Former Students, Texas A&M University and hosted by our tour operator Odysseys Unlimited, Inc. Our tour coordinator was Julie Scamardo, Manager of the Traveling Aggies, and our tour guide from Odysseys Unlimited was Philip Rono.

The tour began Day 01 - Late evening arrival at the Nairobi International Airport, clear immigration, customs, baggage claim and met by Odyssey staff members who transport us to the Fairmont Hotel, downtown Nairobi for overnight lodging. Day 02- Began just after breakfast with an initial group meeting with introductions, safety considerations, expected weather conditions and an overview of the proposed itinerary for the rest of the tour. The rest of the day was free time ending with a group dinner at the hotel that evening. The local activities planned for the day were postponed until our return trip back to Nairobi due to the large political street demonstrations occurring that day closely monitored by the local police that were blocking downtown streets with their marches. Day 03 - After breakfast, checking-out and loading up the jeeps, we headed south from Nairobi entering the Amboseli National Park located along the southern border of Kenya. Upon entering the park, we were treated to views of the vast herds of wildlife located within the park on our way arriving and checking in for our stay at the Amboseli Serena Lodge. After lunch, it was a local game drive in the park followed by an evening group dinner and fireside social. On Day 04, we headed out early in the morning for a guided tour of a local Maasai Village viewing their hand-crafted thatched roof mud huts, thorn-bush rimmed cattle pens, fire-starting techniques and of course, displays of hand-crafted trinkets, masks, carved animals, etc. that were all on sale for purchase. We returned back to the lodge for a late breakfast and some free time. After lunch, it was an afternoon game drive viewing the abundant marshland wildlife located among the vast swamp marshes found in Amboseli National Park with the majestic snow topped Mt. Kilimanjaro visible in the background until late that evening. It was another fireside social highlighting the day’s events followed by a group buffet dinner. Day 05 - After breakfast, check-out and loading the jeeps, we headed further south again entering now Tanzania at the Mesh Anana Gate border crossing. After clearing customs, we headed south then west to the Manyara National Park arriving and checking into the Lake Manyara Serena Safari Lodge. Along the way, we stopped for a sit-down lunch at the Arusha Coffee House with its beautiful flowering gardens and, of course, numerous gift shops. After checking in and unpacking, we were treated to a fireside barbeque buffet dinner that evening, which was a special treat for all of us at the end of a long day. Day 06 - After breakfast, we headed out for an early morning before sunrise game drive around the tree-lined shoreline of Lake Manyara, viewing a lion pride parked in the middle of the road, groups of monkeys and antelope on our return to the lodge for lunch. After lunch, we check-out and packed up for our continued journey traveling northwest to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Upon arrival, we checked into the Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge perched along the northwest rim of the crater overlooking the vast collapsed Ngorongoro Volcanic Crater valley below. After settling in, we finished the day with a group buffet dinner. ‍Days 07 - It was an early morning breakfast for a before sunrise departure entering the crater below and a game drive clockwise around the lake centrally located within the crater. We stopped briefly at a designated picnic spot for a combined snack treat and restroom stop and again further on the east side of the crater for a sit-down picnic lunch. On our way circulating back to the exit road, we viewed wild herds of cape buffalo, zebra, wildebeest, birdlife and a pool of hippos before heading back up the rim to the lodge. Some had signed up for the afternoon optional nature walk along the rim trails near the lodge highlighting the local vegetation used for medicine, basket weaving, cooking and for dyes used by the native population. The day ended with a group buffet dinner with our table view overlooking the crater below and a gorgeous evening sunset. Day 08 - After breakfast, it was check-out, load up the jeeps and drive further northwest to the Olduvai World Heritage Site and for a guided tour of the Olduvai Gorge Museum. We viewed the fossil displays of ancient prehistoric animals and early human remains excavated from the geological rifts exposed deep within the gorge. After the tour and on our way to the Serengeti National Park, we briefly stopped at the Naabi Gate entrance to the park for a sit-down box lunch. Upon entering the park, we witnessed a pride of sleeping lions, giraffe, antelope, and two leopards, one up in tree and the other on top of a large rock formation within the vast Serengeti grasslands before checking into the Serengeti Safari Lodge. The day ended with an evening social hour and group buffet dinner. ‍Day 09 - It was an early morning breakfast again and load up in the jeeps for a before sunrise game drive into the Serengeti National Park. We encountered a large lion pride with multiple frolicking kits, made a quick stop for snacks and a needed restroom break, and encountered both a lion and a leopard perched in trees on our way back to the lodge for lunch. After lunch, it was another game drive in the Serengeti viewing herds of zebra, antelope, a hippo pool and huge crocodiles lying along the riverbanks before returning to the lodge for a group social hour just at sundown and a wonderful dinner buffet. After dinner, our guide gave us a slideshow presentation illustrating the massive seasonal animal migration of vast herds of zebra and wildebeest that starts in March from the Serengeti in Tanzania and arrives in September at the Masai Mara in Kenya based on the seasonal rainfall patterns that turn dry grasslands into rich green pastures and fill the waterholes and lakes along its path. Day 10 - After breakfast and check-out, we drove to the Seronera Airstrip in Tanzania and boarded our first flight to the Tarima Airstrip still in Tanzania for our required customs border crossing into Kenya. We drove from the airstrip to the Isebania Border Post, cleared customs into Kenya and boarded our second flight at the Migori Airstrip in Kenya heading further east arriving at the Keekorok Airstrip located adjacent to the Maasai Mara National Reserve, our final destination. After landing, we boarded our jeeps and headed to the Sarova Mara Game Camp, checked-in and sat down for a late lunch. After lunch, it was an afternoon game drive until sunset within the Maasai Mara Game Reserve, observing herds of topi antelope and giraffe silhouetting the setting sun and rainclouds forming in the distant background. Good stuff….!!! We finished the long travel day with a wonderful sit-down buffet dinner at the lodge. Day 11 - The day began at 4:30 am loading up the jeeps for our morning drive to the balloon launch area for a sunrise hot-air balloon ride over the Maasai Mara. The launch required us loading up in the dark with the basket still on its side for the inflation, and after climbing over each other, the subsequent launch and ride over the Maasai Mara at sunrise was super spectacular. After landing, we were treated to a sit-down champagne breakfast and autographed photos of our captain and our group in front of our hot-air balloon. After breakfast, we loaded up in our jeeps for the game drive back to the lodge and finished the day with a Maasai Warrior dance performance around the campfire before dinner….it was the best day of the safari by far. Day 12‍ - Our last day ‍in the field began with a before sunrise game drive into the Maasai Mara returning for lunch at the lodge. After lunch, we headed out for our last afternoon game drive ending with a happy hour in the field with snacks and adult beverages just as the sun was setting in the distance. We posed for several group pictures highlighting the finale of our exceptional safari experience. Day 13 -‍ ‍After breakfast, it was check-out, load up the vehicles and drive to the nearby Keekorok Airstrip for our return flight back to the Nairobi International Airport. After landing, we loaded up our bus transport back to the Fairmont Hotel in downtown Nairobi for overnight lodging and our return flights back home the next day. The day ended with our group farewell dinner at the hotel, and we graciously thanked our tour guides for our outstanding safari adventure and our witnessing the best of Africa.

Event Summary - The gallery contains photographs taken each day of the safari beginning with a schedule of that day’s activities, a map of where we went and photographs of the participants showing field conditions encountered, wild animals in their natural settings and just how close we got to the wildlife in our safari jeeps. The gallery provides a documentary of where we went, what we did and the photo opportunities each of us experienced during the tour. All of us shared two jeeps, providing ample room to scoot about. All of us want to thank out tour leaders Julie Scamardo and Philip Rono for the opportunity to be there, to experience the excitement of wild animals and to photograph them up close and personal. We would also like to especially thank our guides/drivers, who got us into position based on safety considerations and intuition as to what the wildlife would be doing next so that we would be in the best position for a photographic moment. We were all fortunate indeed and we’ve got the photos to prove it. …..JDT