When club member Lou Ann McLean broke her ankle just four days before the start of her Once in a Lifetime trip to Kenya, she thought she'd have to call it off. When we chatted with her afterwards, the first thing she said was, "I'm so glad I didn't cancel, it would have been a shame to have missed this amazing experience…"
The club's travel partner in East Africa, Natural Habitat Adventures, immediately sprang into action to make arrangements for Mrs. McLean to travel comfortably to Kenya. Once she got there, the first surprise was the exceptional quality of the villas.
"We've been members for some time," she said, "so we'd seen a lot of beautiful homes. But as soon as we walked in the door, honestly, all four of us just said Wow. The way the villas are designed, you wouldn't know there was anyone else there at all. You've got a view of the hills, and you can see elephants in the background…everything is just very private and very luxurious."
The McLeans were surprised to find that, although the safari was everything they'd hoped it would be, they also loved the opportunity to meet the other members on the trip. "We really enjoyed getting to know the other people, to share our experiences. That was actually the highlight of our trip." Mrs. McLean adds, "Maybe there's something special about the kind of people who seek out this kind of travel. It appeals to someone who's not expecting to be catered to. Even though we were definitely catered to!"
When asked if she'd recommend the East African Safaris to another member, Mrs. McLean didn't hesitate. "I'm hoping people get excited about it. Before we went, we had some apprehensions about the political situation. We didn't realize how mistaken we were, that the area we were going was really untouched."
Talking about the Once in a Lifetime program, she added, "It wasn't until we took a day trip outside of the area that ER had brought us to that we realized what made the difference. We saw a lot of animals, but everywhere we went, there were eight other minivans there with us. At Ol Donyo Wuas, everything was very private. We had a very special view of Africa."
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