Kenya with Road Scholar

I traveled to Kenya, June 12-24, 2014, with Road Scholar (Boston, MA; 800/454-5768, www.roadscholar.org) and I want to commend the company for not canceling this tour even though there were only four of us. Apparently, there had been 16 people registered for this trip, but 12 canceled because of perceived danger in Kenya.

All of the promised accommodations, safaris and lectures (a hallmark of Road Scholar trips) were exactly as promised.

More importantly, I want to encourage people to travel to Kenya. Never did I feel unsafe or threatened while there. This included time in Nairobi, several internal flights and nine safaris in three national parks. Security was very high, and none of the recent incidents in the news were near these places where most Kenya trips go.

Our tour, “At Your Pace: The Wild Beauty of Kenya,” was designated as “easy,” since it was specially geared toward older, less-agile travelers.

I paid approximately $5,600 for my trip, which included internal flights, accommodations, all meals, nine safaris, field trips, lectures and gratuities. In other words, it was all-inclusive. This cost also included a day room in a hotel on the last day because the flight home didn’t leave until 11:30 p.m.

I made my own arrangements for the international flights. When Road Scholar does it, they provide a transfer between the airport and the first hotel. The other three people and I all met up at London Heathrow and then flew to Nairobi.

The Kenyan people we met were very warm, genuinely welcoming and very proud of their country. I’m not an “animal person” (an art museum in Paris is more my interest), but the animal viewing was, indeed, breathtaking. 

We found ourselves just feet from a pride of lions, surrounded by a herd of elephants and viewing miles of zebras, wildebeests, giraffes and antelopes, and, oh, the fabulous birds!

This Road Scholar tour was perhaps one of my top two trips in over 50 years of international travel.

JOYCE SOGG

Los Gatos, CA