The Spring Break was back and like every year, we were visiting a new country. Last year during this time we explored Georgia and this year we decided to pay a visit to a country in Africa- Kenya.
22.3.19
Our flight from Dubai to Nairobi, the capital of the nation was around 5 hours long which I mostly spent relishing the amenities and movie variety provided by Emirates. The travel time was spent in a jiffy and we landed at Jomo Kenyatta Airport at around 8 pm. The airport was rather a modest one, yet well managed by the staff. We were welcomed by our family friends' driver at the airport who steered us to their home. By the time we reached our destination, it was quite late and therefore we dozed-off for the night as the real adventure was yet to commence.
23.3.19
After having breakfast at their house, we departed for one of the several Hindu Temples in Nairobi, Sri Kalyan Venkateswara Temple. This shrine had a South Indian architecture.
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| At the temple |
From the place of worship, we went to Zen Garden. They had multiple restaurants and we picked "Bamboo", which specializes in Pan-Asian cuisine.
After having some sumptuous Chinese food, we went to Westgate Mall from where I bought a book and sat at a café for snacks. That night we went to have supper at an Indian place, 'Curry Flavors'. Not only did they have good food but also live music performed especially for the diners.
24.3.19
We spent time at home in the morning, playing with my friend. For the meal, we went to 'Hob House', an Arabic restaurant. The pièce de résistance was that they had a lot of greenery in their outdoor space and we had food within the green ambiance.
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| Hob House |
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| My food |
After food, we drove to the Village Market, which is a unique shopping mall as it is partially enclosed and partially open. For about an hour we did bowling. The mall had some unique African sculptures and they also had refreshing live music.
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| Bowling |
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| At the village market |
We slept early as we had to drive to Masaai Mara the next day. In the night, I was dreaming about the upcoming adventures awaiting me at the Mara.
25.3.19
We woke up early as we had a 5-hour long drive to Massai Mara. After breakfast, we hopped on to a special Toyota Landcruiser that would take us to the national park and back and also the safaris.
On our way, we stopped at the Great Rift Valley viewpoint, from where we had an amazing picturesque view. The Valley is 6000 km long and stretches from Lebanon to Mozambique.
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| Rift Valley |
After a long journey, we finally arrived at our hotel which was inside Masaai Mara- 'Keekorok Lodge'.
After strolling around in our resort, we went for our first safari. Evidently, the first thing we witnessed was a field on fire. Our aim was to at least spot The Big Five animals. The big five are said to be the animals that are the most difficult to spot. They include the African Elephant, Black Rhinoceros, African Lion, Cape Buffalo, and African Leopard.
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| forest on fire |
We were very fortunate to spot a leopard really close to our vehicle within the first 15 minutes of the journey. It was spine-tingling to witness a leopard very close to me, having seen it only in a zoo in the past.
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| Leopard |
The next major animal we saw was the lion. It was a group of lions sitting in a dried-up river that also acted as the border between Kenya and Tanzania. We could also look at tourist safari vehicles on the other side of the river, these people were in Tanzania.
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| Lions |
Next, we looked up to the towering giraffes that were sauntering around.
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| Giraffe |
We also ticked off buffalos from our big-five list.
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| Wild buffalo |
2 hours of safari passed in a tizzy and we got back to our hotel. Our resort was next to a hippopotamus pond and they also had a bridge that could take us closer to it.
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| Hippos |
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| The Bridge |
After dinner we went back to our rooms which were like cottages, ending the day after having seen 3/5 big-five animals. The hotel staff had adviced us to not exit our rooms at night as hippos come around frequently.
26.3.19
We woke up before sunrise today and without having breakfast we went for our early morning safari. I was still dozy but nevertheless managed to stay awake and witnessed the first light in the morning.
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| Sunrise |
The first unique animal, we saw today was the ostrich.
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| Ostrich |
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| Hyenas |
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| in the safari vehicle |
We saw another big-five animal, the African elephants, which were walking in a group.
What we witnessed next was a very rare occurrence. 5 cheetahs were standing together. The craziest part was when they started chasing a wild pig, they were not successful in hunting it but it was a distinctive experience to witness a cheetah chase.
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| The Cheetahs |
Another 2 hours of our trip concluded and we went back to the resort for breakfast. After resting for a while, we planned to visit a Masaai Village, where tribal people lived. On our way to the village, we finally saw zebras as well.
To my surprise, the entrance to the village was not complimentary. The villagers welcomed us with a traditional dance where one person came out at a time and jumped and the others were singing.
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| With the local people |
One of the tribal people was guiding us through and he spoke fluent English. He also took us inside his house which was really compact. Staying inside made me feel claustrophobic.
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| The guy who was guiding us |
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| In the house |
They also demonstrated us the way they light a fire by rubbing a stick against the wood and we also bought this kit.
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| lighting fire |
They also had a bazaar in their village where they were selling handcrafted goods that were traditional to Kenya.
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| The Market |
After spending some time in the village, we returned back to our rooms and then went for another safari in the evening. The first animals we saw were a herd of elephants.
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| Elephants |
The next cool animals we saw were a pride of lions sitting in a group but this time they were really close to us.
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| lions |
We saw a lot of creatures in the 2 hours but were unsuccessful in spotting a rhinoceros and had to conclude our last safari with one big-five not seen.
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| clicking a pic |
27.3.19
We had our breakfast at the hotel and left-back for Nairobi. When we were about to leave the Masai Mara gates, a Russian who happens to be a zoologist requested for a ride to Nairobi as her car broke down. Her name was Elena Chelysheva and at Masaai Mara she was working at a Cheetah Conservation program and is the founder of Mara-Meru cheetah project. During the ride, she described the various interesting things she had done and worked at in the past.
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| Elena Chelysheva |
We reached back to our friends' house in Nairobi and rested for the day.
28.3.19
Today we were going to the equator and the same car and driver were going to take us. It was a 3-hour drive and when we landed, the first thing we saw was a huge sign-board saying 'EQUATOR".
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| Equator |
At the equator, a man displayed an experiment. He took a bowl with a hole at its bottom and kept another mug underneath to collect the water. He let water drip from the hole in 3 different locations- Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere and at the Equator. We noticed that the spiral formed by the water while dripping was opposite in each hemisphere and at the equator, no spiral was formed.
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| Northern Hemisphere |
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| Southern Hemisphere |
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| At the equator |
He also handed over a certificate at the end to certify the fact that we had been to the equator. We had our lunch at a nearby restaurant- 'Spice Garden' which was almost at the largest latitude.
After having food we drove back to Nairobi. It was our last night in Africa and we had fun with our friends.
29.3.19
Today we had our flight back to Dubai in the afternoon and we just stayed at their home in the morning, having breakfast and some relaxed time before travel. Finally, my week-long African trip was over but I had done amazing things I hadn't done before- witnessed a cheetah chase, visited the equator, spotted 4/5 big five and added another continent/country to my list.
