A Safari through Kenya

Hi Readers,

We are currently on the way back to Nairobi from our 6-day long safari.  I had never really done my research about the safari beforehand, so I had no idea that the animals would be so far away from the car. Therefore, I was ill equipped with a camera with bad zoom capabilities. However, my partner in crime GS had a nice camera, so I outsourced most of the phototaking to him. In return, he gets my underwater pictures from our snorkeling trip, so I guess its a fair enough trade?

We had planned a 6 day long safari, to ensure that we see as many animals and parks as possible. Most people do a 3 or 4 day safari, and their destination is usually the parks of Lake Nakuru, and Masai Mara, both of which are relatively near Nairobi. However, as we were starting the safari in Mombasa city, on the coast, we decided on adding in 2 more parks near Mombasa, which are Tsavo East and Amboseli. We split up the trip into one day in each park, and 3 days in Masai Mara.

We were initially unsure what exactly the lodging would be. It turned out that every single park has lodges or eco-camps inside, where we would be based while exploring that park. The amenities were generally very nice, though there were so many mosquitoes everywhere that I was glad for my anti-malarial medicine. Every meal was a buffet, and I can never resist stuffing my face when faced with a buffet. It is a habit that I must change one day...

The safari van that we have is a simple minivan, like the ones that are used for the matatus everywhere here. You are able to undo a latch and push the entire roof up about 2 feet, allowing you to stand up and look outside. Our driver was a guy called Lucky, who is very strict about following rules in the parks. We never went off-road, even though a lot of other cars did, because it was illegal and the punishment is severe.

Each park has its own distinct personality and animal group. Tsavo East is a wet grassland, and has tons and tons of zebras, elephants, and giraffes, though we also saw a lion napping. Amboseli is a desert grassland with many water holes, so we saw many birds and elephants taking baths. Lake Nakuru, my favorite, is known for its large flock of flamingos. We also saw both white and black rhinos, as well non-napping lions this time! Masai Mara, the name of the world-famous Serengeti on the Kenya side, had a plethora of landscape and wildlife that encompassed everything we had seen in Tsavo East and Amboseli.

On a safari, people like to talk about the "big five" animals: elephant, buffalo, rhino, lion, and leopard/cheetah. Out of all wild animals, these 5 animals kill the most humans in East Africa, but the list has also become something of a checklist for safari-goers. We successfully saw all five, except not the cheetah. I was most impressed by the lions, because they were just so damn cute! The small ones were super playful and jumping around everywhere. The large ones would look around as if bored, and then flop their heads down (as if they had suddenly lost their neck muscles) to take a nap.

This was certainly a super cool experience! If I go again, I will be sure to bring a better camera!

Cheers,
FCDH