African Safari, part 5:

After the better part of two days in the Maasai Mara, an entirely pleasant if somewhat unremarkable period, we moved onto a shorter stay at Lake Nakuru National Park, wherein we had what may well have been, pound for pound, the trip’s most fantastically fruitful game drive: Within the first five minutes we encountered both a rhino and a leopard, not long after we saw a five-member lion family and so many rhinos, white and black, that we actually lost count, plus a far flung flock of flamingos the usual suspects of zebra, gazelle, buffalo, et al; that there are no elephants in Nakuru was all that prevented us from notching another “Big Five” just that day.

This was such a wildlife bonanza that it largely distracted my sister and me from how hilariously tiny our room was at the Lake Nakuru Lodge--I’m not sure any of the Big Five could have squeezed in there. But that was an extreme anomaly. Most of the accommodations on this trip were spacious, comfortable and first-rate. Besides, from Lake Nakuru we proceeded to Mt. Kenya Safari Club, a truly gorgeous, Ritz Carlton-like property.

Founded in 1959 by a group of businessmen including actor William Holden and plopped on the slopes of Africa’s second highest mountain, the 100-acre grounds are breathtakingly beautiful. There’s a golf course, giant swimming pool, croquet area, tennis court (situated so that the ball travels back and forth over the Equator), jogging trail, and many other high-end amenities. The grounds also house the William Holden Animal Orphanage, an impressive facility that takes in abandoned and injured animals with the express intention of returning them to the wild.

As a charter member of the Safari Club, Helfer received the royal treatment every step of the way--as did those of us in his posse; my sister and I stayed in a humongous villa that typically goes for about three grand a night, and the whole group enjoyed a sterling, six-course dinner in the exclusive members dining room.

The Safari Club

Before we departed, one of the Safari Club managers was lamenting to Helfer just how bruised the tourist business in Africa had become in the wake of Sept. 11, noting that total occupancy the previous night at sister property The Ark was one guest. The next night’s total was clearly going to be larger, since that’s where our group was headed. Along the way, we stopped at Helfer’s ranch, a magnificent 200-acre spread, and later that afternoon, we were holed up in the heart of the Aberdare National Park at The Ark, a multi-level game lodge adjacent to a floodlit water hole and salt lick.

The Ark accommodations are small, serviceable cabins equipped with buzzers that alert guests to the arrival at the salt lick of various animals, especially one of the Big Five. Even before it got dark, more than a dozen elephants paraded past to enjoy the salt lick and quite a few took a dip in the water hole. As they waded in and splashed around, the playfulness and unmitigated joy these elephants exuded couldn’t help but be contagious--both to their fellow elephants and their human observers.

By the next morning, after pulling an all-nighter of watching, the Ark scorecard included a total of 28 elephants, three rhino, and an assortment of cape buffalo, water bucks, hyenas, Thomson gazelles and the cat-like genet. It was a nifty reversal of a game drive to conclude our safari: We had extraordinary viewing position, but this time, the animals came to us.

The trip home was long, spanning 30-plus hours, and airports in Nairobi, London and Los Angeles. But I didn’t lose my credit card once.