Preparing for our trip

The first part of our research began with choosing a travel agency to handle all the safari details. We looked at a host of different companies. We spoke with friends who had traveled on safari. Ultimately we chose "Friendly Planet." They offered a family friendly safari. This was something we didn't see with other agencies. Many safari's require kids to be 12 or older and our son is six. We had to find a company that catered to families with young children. We booked our trip six months in advance.

We spent time researching the "best" time to go on safari. We chose the dry season because it is the "best" time to see the most animals. It is also wildebeest migration. The weather in Kenya is nice most of the time from a temperature stand point. Low's in the 50's, highs in the 70's.

A second big issue I faced was traveling to Africa. The furthest I've traveled is to China. Africa is a long, long, long way from home and way out of my comfort zone. 24 hours in planes! The world is a scary place and there have been lots of bad things going on all over. Planes being shot down in the Ukraine, planes disappearing in Africa, bombings in Africa, Ebola, malaria..... I was more than a little nervous. I kept telling myself if you never leave your comfort zone you will live a boring life.That said, I really wanted to make it as safe as possible for the family. 

We visited the University International clinic. We got Yellow Fever and Typhoid vaccines. Sean has problems with his immune system so he had the typhoid shot which is not live vaccine, Don and I took the pills which is live vaccine. The yellow fever vaccines stimulates the IgG cells and not IgA so that was fine for Sean. They also prescribed malaria prevention meds and gave us prescriptions for antibiotics in case we got sick while we were out of the country. We took Sean's inhaler and steroids just in case.

We packed light though it actually felt heavy. We each had one back pack and I had one tote for pillows, Sean's blanket, change of clothes and snacks. Things we wanted under our seat on the plane. We didn't want to check anything. You have to carry everything around in the safari vehicle so packing light is the only way to go. I packed "disposable" clothes for Sean planning to leave them in Africa.