WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE SPRING 2015
Enjoy the many adventures packed into this issue with its stories that cover the globe, from Asia to Palm Springs. Take a hike around Lake Lucerne, explore the glories of Whidbey Island, cruise exotic Southeast Asia and take an African safari. Wine lovers also have a treat with Ron James' tongue-in-cheek wine enthusiast’s guide and a primer on rose wine by our resident wine expert Robert Whitley.
Enjoy the many adventures packed into this issue with its stories that cover the globe, from Asia to Palm Springs. Take a hike around Lake Lucerne, explore the glories of Whidbey Island, cruise exotic Southeast Asia and take an African safari. Wine lovers also have a treat with Ron James' tongue-in-cheek wine enthusiast’s guide and a primer on rose wine by our resident wine expert Robert Whitley.
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Game Preserve. The ground floor of our hotel was about ten<br />
feet above the ground, above a large watering hole where we<br />
watched hundreds of water buffaloes, and monkeys drink and<br />
splash around.<br />
After a short flight back to Nairobi<br />
(aboard Kenya Airways which<br />
impressed us with their hospitable<br />
style), we headed to our meeting<br />
place at the upscale Jacaranda<br />
Hotel. We were greeted by the<br />
Gate 1 host, Marcie, who took<br />
care of the check-in requirements.<br />
The next morning, she gathered<br />
our tour group of nine together<br />
to orient us about our upcoming<br />
days out in the bush, where those<br />
wild critters called home.<br />
Waiting for us at the hotel entrance were our two hands-on<br />
tour drivers (ours was Daniel), ready to load us into their<br />
special vans. These were typical modern vans, with one difference:<br />
the roofs rose when we were out on safari so we could<br />
stand up and shoot lots of pictures while protected from being<br />
gobbled up for a lion’s lunch.<br />
So off we headed out through the Nairobi city world, onto a<br />
road as busy as we’ve ever seen, with multi-trucks parked in<br />
groups and rolling in both directions along the highway. We<br />
were told the reason so many trucks<br />
were on the road is that the ancient<br />
railroad from Mombasa, and across<br />
Kenya, was among the slowest to be<br />
found. Hauling cargo across Kenya was<br />
much faster by trucks.<br />
Finally, we got away from all that hassle<br />
and onto the road heading out into<br />
the Great Rift Valley. Many modest<br />
villages were just off the roads, and locals<br />
were hustling herds of goats and<br />
cows. Not a lot of big markets (Costcos<br />
or Starbucks) but people were making<br />
life work in their own manner. Finally<br />
we arrived at the Masai Mara. This is<br />
the Kenya extension of the Serengeti and a game preserve of<br />
massive size as we realized when very soon we were driving<br />
past herds of gazelles, occasional giraffes, and frequent troops<br />
(true) of monkeys playing beside the road.<br />
A half-hour into the preserve, we arrived at our abode, the<br />
Keekorok Lodge, for the next several nights. This was not ex-<br />
Wine Dine & Travel Winter <strong>2015</strong> 79
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