Old and new.

Sidewalk art. I think.

A combination of orange juice and sparkling date juice is tasty! (Not sure why it’s green and looks like one of those ghastly kale and celery juice concoctions that’s very healthy but tastes like lawnmower cuttings from a blender)

Lunch at al Muntaha, a discreet and unassuming (!) restaurant with a two-floor aquarium and a pretty amazing view.

The view from our balcony reveals what we’ll tour today - the Burj Khalifa (world’s tallest structure) being among the main attractions.

In the pool, there’s a floating do-it-yourself champagne bar.

Nice digs. Yesterday we slept in a little to mitigate flying all night and arriving before dawn. We then wandered around downtown Dubai, including the enormous Dubai mall.

We have arrived in Dubai, flew overnight. We were upgraded to first class......evidently they musta thought we were someone else. 😳 So, it’s now 6:40a, time for a sizable nap.

They have to send a man to chase three giraffes off the runway!

This morning, we will fly back to Nairobi, in advance of our our overnight flight to Dubai. This is the Mara international Airport complex, which features a unique open-air Business Class lounge. 😎

One of my favorite images of the Mara. If you’re able to expand the photo a little, you can see that the left-hand “bump” at the bottom right is an elephant in silhouette, as if he were placed there on cue, for the photo.

At sundown on the last day, the crew sets up a little party on the hood of the land cruisers. We talk over all the fun of the the last ten days with Richard, our guide, and Samson, our driver. Hale fellows, well met.

Our last day in the Mara, we found this absolutely monstrous crocodile, and a community of hippos.

We got lucky again, with another cheetah sighting, they and the leopards are the most elusive to find, we are told. This one had not yet had her cubs but she’s expecting.

In addition to the animals, of course, the secret is pretty spectacular.