Treetops

On Christmas Day, we stayed at Treetops, a hotel best known for the place the Queen Elizabeth IIwas staying when she found out that her father, George V, died in February of 1952. She walked in a princess and out a queen. We were bused up from the main lodge and dropped off a 500 meter walk from the hotel. Since there were no fences to prevent wildlife from attacking, we were told about the safety precautions in place.

One was this shelter - a few of them were along the way to the hotel. If a wild animal charged us, we were supposed to run into this, which would keep us safe. Didn't look too safe to me!

Another safety precaution was Francis, our dear tour guide. He carried this gun to shoot any incoming predators. Luckily, we didn't need him to use any of his ammo and we made it safely to the 50 room hotel.

The hotel is famous for facing a watering hole and salt lick area that attracts animals.

During our stay, we saw buffalo, warthogs, elephants, water bucks, and hyenas right outside our bedroom window. Katie and I were roomies and had an awesome view, so we spent a lot of time just like this!

They were so close! This herd of buffalo came in from afar for some delicious muddy water to drink. They may have even ingested some warthog poop. Yum!

We had an alarm set so that people who were watching would let us know if any interesting animals came to the watering hole during the night. One ring for a hyena, two for a leopard, three for an elephant. It didn't ring, so we slept through the night. On Boxing Day, we had to wake up at 6:00 am to get our bus to the Masai Mara. This was our spectacular view when we woke up. I'm not a morning person, but I was a pretty happy camper that morning!