Before I traveled to Kenya, Africa, I imagined Kenya’s never-ending stretches of grassy savannah with elephant, giraffe, zebra and lion that can be spotted from miles away. Yet, my first trip to Kenya awoke me to a richer, more diverse picture of a place that was everything I had imagined but with a more varied kaleidoscope of topographies, cultures and adventure.
Our first night in Kenya we spent in Nairobi at the famed Norfolk Hotel. The hotel’s hallways are lined with Kenyan ancestry. You could spend a good few hours walking the lush gardens learning about each of these historical figures, all having a unique hand at crafting Kenya’s romantic legacy of hunters, scientists, anthropologists and conservationists.
The next morning we woke up early and went straight to the Maasai Mara. After passing running giraffe and speedy hedgehogs our plane lowered to land on a dusty airstrip. After deplaning, we were greeted by a line of Land Rovers and hosts who provided us with cool, eucalyptus-kissed towels and a refreshing glass of passion fruit juice and then whisked us off to our lodge. Along the way, we managed a full game drive, catching glimpses of every animal we could have ever had on our must-see list (well almost).
Two hours after our game drive we arrived at our lodge, the Mara Explorer. When we were shown to our tent we walked up to find a porcelain bathtub outside of the tent overlooking the Talek River. The tents, well I hesitate to call them tents, had canvas covering them but the inside was a spectacularly adorned African haven. The campsite is in the middle of a game park, so at night many of the animals pass by to take a drink or a dip in the river. One night we even had the resident hippo sleeping on the porch…so nights get exciting and your mind goes wild thinking about what creatures are lurking outside.
It’s a wonderfully romantic experience. The next several days we took about five hundred images on my digital camera, capturing shots of lines of wildebeest heading along their migratory path, shots of a mother lioness moving her babies as she felt a threat from another pride, and a hippo mowing the Mara lawn first thing in the morning. Some of my favorite times were the quiet nights around the fire with the other guests of the lodge. What a wonderful way to wind down the day, chatting about our individual game drives, world politics, and the nature of…well, nature.
With a Tusker (Kenyan beer) in hand and the day’s excitement lingering, it made for wonderfully enlightening evenings under the stars. I had heard the Kenyan coast cannot be missed, so we asked our travel consultant to make arrangements for a coastal adventure along with our safari. She suggested we schedule it at the end of our wildlife safari as a great way to wind down after the rugged adventures of being in the bush.
I am so glad we included the coast on our itinerary. Mombasa, a trading port long ago, brought in Arabs and Portuguese who mixed with the African culture to make what we now know as the Swahili culture. Today, there are also many Europeans – Italian, Dutch and English who come here on their beach holiday. There is a large Indian constituency too. It is a very exotic and unintimidating place.
Once we got to our hotel (The Sands at Nomads, a very quaint and cute boutique hotel), we noticed a reef about a mile out from the shore that takes on all the breaking waves – a natural barrier that makes the beach very calm and clean. The water is crystal clear turquoise blue.
After Mombasa we went to Lamu, which is a small island off the coast of Kenya. There are no cars allowed on the island so it’s like going back in time. The rich Swahili culture was also very captivating and the people we met in town were extremely friendly. The tiny streets are fun to walk around. We stayed at a lodge called Kipungani which has individual bandas right on the beach. It’s not in the main town so you need to get there by boat but it is worth it.
The bandas that we stayed in were crafted of woven thistle. The people of the village next door (also called Kipungani) weave mats and then make the bandas out of them. The beach is extremely quiet and you can walk a good half mile into the ocean and you are still in knee length azure waters. I fell in love with the place. If you are contemplating a trip to Kenya, and have the time, make sure you add in the coast! It felt like two safaris in one.
Our most popular trips to Kenya are Tauck Tours: Kenya and Tanzania: A Classic Safari, and Globus Tours‘: Great Parks of Kenya.
