Jumbo Mambo!

- Nairobi
- Lake Nakuru
- Lake Naivasha
- Lolita Hills
- Narok
- Masai Mara NP
- Kisii

• Chloe's Kenyan Photos
  
• Roland's Kenyan Photos
  

After a ridiculously long stopover in London, armed with bags full of clean clothes and full stomaches, we continued to head south through Africa, next stop Nairobi.

As a very generous gift from my work when I left, we headed straight for 5 star luxury at the Serena Hotel in Nairobi. It exceeded expectations. The decor of the hotel, the food, the room and the awesome robes and slippers ensured a very comfortable stay and a great welcome to Nairobi. We wandered into the city centre, and no, we didn't get mugged. In fact, we both quite enjoyed the city despite its reputation as 'Nairobbery'.

After two days of bliss, we downgraded to another hotel where we met up with our group for the next two weeks of Kenyan and Tanzanian safari-ing. A nice dinner and some local Tusker beers and the friendships were already forming.

We set out before 6am the next morning, and continued to get up pre-dawn for the majority of the next two weeks. This was totally normal to Roland, but it took some getting used to for me, especially after sleeping in a tent, but the game drives are best first thing in the morning when the animals are out looking for some breakfast. Early mornings did mean, however, that most nights we were all exhausted and in bed well before 9pm (especially after a couple of Tuskers).

First on our trip we visited a local orphanage where the kids presented us with flowers, sang us welcoming songs and latched onto any free hand they could find. Already we were blown away by the friendliness of the people in Kenya. We then head to Lake Nakuru, for our first game drives. The stand out sights were thousands of flamingos which created a pink smear on the lake, and a number of rhino sightings and a leopard up a tree. We were amazed and felt so lucky to have already seen some of Africa's most rare wild animals.

Next we head to Lake Naivasha where we were able to get up close and personal with some hippos, and go on a walking safari amongst the giraffes, zebras and gazelle. Walking amongst these animals gives you a completely different perspective of them and was definitely a highlight for me.

We wandered around the local village near our campsite, and the women welcomed us into their homes and involved us in whatever it was they were doing. We witnessed the spirit and determination of the Kenyan ladies to take matters into their own hands and start their own co-ops, businesses, clinics and womens groups to improve their situation. It was truly inspiring and such a positive thing to see. As we went from house to house we gathered more and more of the village kids and after a few hours our group of 9 had become more than 20. The children smiled, played and were quite happy just watching us go about our strange 'muzungu' ways.

Our next stop, which was one of the main reasons I had wanted to visit Kenya, was a homestay with the Masai. We drove for hours along a road til there was no more road and finally we had arrived at our bush camp. After pitching our tents, we walked to the Masai huts where the women performed a welcoming song and dance that the girls were made to participate in. Lots of smiles and giggles as we stomped around in cow dung and made fools of ourselves while the Masai women remained graceful and beautifully ornamented. We sat inside the warm Masai houses and tried to make out the goats, chickens, dogs, cats and children moving about in the pitch dark.

We spent the night listening to Masai riddles and stories by the fire and slept soundly with our Masai warriors keeping guard by our tents. The next morning it was the boys turn to jump with the warriors and play with their spears and bows and arrows. Unfortunately Roland managed to break one of the spears when he challenged the warriors to a throwing competition, but we still got away unharmed (and promised to get his spear repaired).

After a couple of days in the middle of nowhere, we headed into the Masai Mara game park for two days of serious game drives. Up and out of camp early in the morning, we covered a quarter or so of the park, even crossing into Tanzania briefly. We were lucky enough to see many giraffes, zebras, elephants, antelope, cheetah, leopards, lions, wildebeasts, buffalo, crocadiles, hippos and many other animals and birds. We easily ticked off the 'big five', but it was more than we had hoped for to see the animals at such close range and to see so many of them.

We made some strong friendships with a few people in our small group and head to Narok town for the night to wait for the new people to join our group for our crossing into Tanzania. A few more local beers at the hotel (having been warned not to go into town at night) we laughed, reminisced and discussed our hopes for the next leg of the journey.