Another highlight was a visit to a Sudanese village where the elderly women make beautiful bowls and hot pads from reeds. The village was very near the equator at an altitude of more than 5,700 feet above sea level.
The retreat centre with its six cabins also had a small herd of cows and a flock of chickens. The children took turns gathering eggs and milking the cows. Strawberries grow all year round.
The final days were spent as true tourists, enjoying the vast expanses of the country’s game parks. Amboseli Game Reserve, at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro, boasts some of the world’s largest herds of elephant.
The morning and evening game drives provided huge opportunities for the shutter bugs in the crowd.
The last part of their trip took them to the coast of the Indian Ocean. The bath-tub warm water and expansive stretches of fine white sand with virtually no others to break the idyllic spell made this part of their safari particularly memorable.
The villa where they stayed came with its own swimming pool and a staff who waited on them literally hand and foot.
No meal was just “ordinary.” The cuisine included fresh fish, shrimp and even octopus and squid.
Lunches were served in a thatched gazebo overlooking the ocean. The temperature was in the 30-degree range and coming back to Canada proved a real shock.