Interesting and worthwhile opportunities to get to know big game animals abound just on the outskirts of Nairobi. We had visited Kenya in 2007 and enjoyed the Masai Mara, Samburu, and Lake Nakuru. Just over a year later we were passing through Kenya on the way to the Seychelle Islands and took advantage to visit some friends. We were only off the plane for two hours before we found ourselves at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and the AFEW Giraffe Center and Valentina was eye to eye with both baby elephants and full-grown giraffes.

Kenya ni Yetu ("Kenya is our country"): We saw these bumper stickers everywhere, and I saw it at least once painted on the side of a roadside shop. Kenyans clearly have a great love for their nation and with pride comes the essential drive to improve, something many nations wallowing in misery could clearly stand to gain. We enjoyed Kenya as well. Here's why.

We reach the Masai Mara just before nightfall, a phenomenal backdrop for its exotic and amazing denizens. The color of the grass is fluid as the sun slides from one horizon overhead to the other, slipping through myriad shades of yellow, green, and gold. The horizons are broad and open, and the sky overhead is immense. From our vehicle we can see for kilometers and yet we only perceive a fraction of the life that surrounds us. Still, it is there: velvet monkeys in the treetops, gorgeous sapphire-colored birds flitting from the branches, gazelles bounding across the hillsides.