Safaris, Bumpy Roads, Bus Accidents, Beaches, and Wedding Planning

Safari actually means “journey” in Kiswahili - which is what I would describe as my recent whirlwind tour of Kenya accompanied by my better half.

The Great Rift Valley

Let me first say that booking a safari is a dizzying experience.  There are too many companies out there offering a million different kinds of safaris – from super duper luxury, to good ol’ fashioned camping. Secondly, I highly recommend Gametrackers Safaris if you are on a tight budget.  But we got extremely lucky:  we had the jeep to ourselves (no other pesky tourists who we have to play ‘small-talk’ with the entire time), we had the driver to ourselves which meant we called the shots on scheduling game drives, and we had the entire camp to ourselves and therefore were upgraded from a tent to a very rustic cabin.  Everything went extremely smoothly.

Talek River Campsite

Our cabin

Giraffes

After a 6 hour drive – with the last two very bumpy hours on what used to be a road at one point in time, we arrived at our camp.  Next – our first game drive during sunset....

Thompson's Gazelles and Topi 

  

My favourite

Buffalo

Hippo

Cheetah

   

Zebra

The Masaai Mara Safari experience in one word?       Surreal. 





We felt like dogs in a car with the windows down, standing up in the jeep, under the pop-up roof, sticking our heads out while we sped past a sea of tall grass.

It was addicting, and I kind of wish I was still up there, my tongue hanging out (ok not really);  the fresh smells of, well, fresh air; the cool breeze on my face; my eyes on the lookout for animals.  It was peaceful, quiet, and breathtakingly beautiful. MILES away from the offensive dust, smells, heat, chaos, and noise of Mombasa city.  What a perfect time to catch up with your long lost fiancé after 5 and ½ months apart, and really start thinking about the wedding that is fast approaching.

While we both went with no expectations (I only wanted to see a family of elephants, and a hippo with it's mouth open; my better half kept hoping for a rhino charging a hyena followed by a cheetah), we didn't expect to see so many animals seemingly popping out of nowhere in the vast expanse of the Mara grasslands.  We met a troupe of British tourists who thought otherwise. They seemed to have rented their own vehicle to go on a private safari and they stopped to ask our guide for the latest sightings.

British guy "Any thing around here this evening?"
Our guide "There's a pack of lions asleep over that way"
British guy "Another  lion?!? Are there any other animals in this place?"


We had to laugh. His last quote was used widely throughout the safari. 

Just another lion

Our next ‘safari’ was the aptly estimated 6-10 hour bus ride from Nairobi to Mombasa.  After reading in the newspaper each and every week of fatal bus accidents on the very highway we would venture on,  I decided it was crucial to take a day bus. Aside from the benefits of arriving in one piece, the scenery of the countryside was a plus.

While my fears were laid aside because of the strategic planning of traveling by day, an impromptu conversation with the hotel staff in Nairobi brought them back.  We were given quite the education on bus companies: which ones usually crash, which ones change their company name without a license to do so to ward of bad press, which ones call the press after a bus crash in order to bring down the competition, the unspoken rules of competition between transport trucks and busses while en route...  and then adding “Oh but you’ll be fine, you’re taking a day bus, it’s very good. You won’t crash.”    Thanks buddy...

While en route, I was looking out the window at these mountains and thought to myself – I wonder if we could see Kilimanjaro from the road? And there amongst the clouds, I could see it: the snows of Uhuru Peak (as the locals call it)– totally worth the $18 bus ticket and the threat of an untimely death.  

If you look closely enough, under the clouds you can see Mt. Kilimanjaro behind the dark mountains

Side note: My partner in crime counted nine, NINE accidents on our route.

After a whirlwind one day tour of Mombasa, by tuk tuk and matatu of course – we were headed to the pristine white sands and turquoise waters of Diani beach.  This is where we can finally be lazy, relax, eat lots of seafood, and take long walks on the beach.

Diani Beach

After the most amazing experience I’ve ever had snorkelling in Watamu National Marine Park  - where I was no more than 3 feet away from amazing coral and hundreds of colourful fish – I booked us a tour to Wasini Island, an hour south of Diani, to snorkel in the Kisite National Marine Park. 

As part of the tour, we all got into a dhow (an Arabic boat), sailed around the island, watched for dolphins, and snorkelled in the coral reef.  While it wasn’t quite the experience as I had in Watamu, we had a great time floating above the coral clusters and watching the fish play. 

Also part of the tour was a seafood bazaar lunch followed by a ‘lazy lagoon’ saltwater pool and hammocks and beds to nap in.

These magic moments...

Apart from finally seeing the love of my life for the first time in 5 and ½ months, this was truly the highlight of my time here in Kenya. The safari experience especially is something so much more than what you’d see on t.v. or in pictures.  I say definitely put that one down on the bucket list.