The Maasai women from Kenya were delighted when a group of Road Scholar participants handed them Mardi Gras beads.

The participants presented the beads during a ritual where Maasai women give visitors paper beads to place on a map to show where they are from.

Frank Richmond, Holbrook Travel senior vice president, was happy to hear his 10 pounds of Mardi Gras beads from New Orleans were given to the Maasai women.

During his recent trip to Kenya, Frank and a Road Scholar group went on an adventure to discover what Kenya has to offer.

Frank’s reasons for traveling to Kenya and Tanzania were for guide training and shadowing the group from Road Scholar in Kenya.

Frank’s training consisted of reinforcing basic principles of guides working with Holbrook Travel. Frank taught guides how to provide better attention and information to travelers, ways to handle emergency situations and other important principles.

“I stress that the company (Holbrook Travel) is knowledgeable,” Frank said. “Bringing guides up to date with Holbrook Travel expectations and teaching them how to deal with individuals rather than just groups as a whole is important.”

When Frank completed his guide trainings, he shadowed a group of 11 "pioneers" in a level two program.

A level two program is an "at-your-pace" type of program where less mobile participants attend less strenuous activities.

Some of the places the group visited include the Amboseli National Park, famous for its elephants.

“The Amboseli National Park is located in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro,” Frank said.

“In the last month, the park has had 68 new born elephants.”

When too many people surrounded the baby elephants, the mothers would form a circle around them, Frank said. “Mothers have incredible protection instincts.”

Another site the group visited was the Karen Blixen Museum, named after the author of “Out of Africa,” Karen Blixen. The book was later transformed into a film.

Frank recommends this trip to everyone but most specifically to participants who are less mobile since many of the activities for this particular program are game drives.

Although Frank was working in both Tanzania and Kenya, he enjoyed his time mentoring guides and attending game drives with the Road Scholar group. While in Kenya, Frank found his favorite lodge to be one located near Mara River, which is home to 30 hippopotamuses.

“Every morning we were woken by the snoring of the hippos,” Frank said.