I started my 35 day African adventure by flying into
Nairobi in the wee hours of morning from Dubai. I had nothing specific planned,
nor anything reserved but I was consigned to spending my first day in Nairobi
looking for a place to stay, as well as booking a safari and Kilimanjaro trek.
I had considered booking online but most places were asking silly money and I
had been warned by fellow travelers on the lonely planet thorn tree that I
would find much better deals in Africa itself. Basically, by booking online,
you're pretty much just paying an extra couple hundred bucks for office space
somewhere in Europe. I didn't have to look for long. In fact, I was immediately
approached at the airport by someone working for the "Kenyan tourist
information board". I usually don't buy these sorts of packages from the
airport but she drew me up a fairly reasonable offer that included a week long
safari to three game parks; Lake Nakuru, Lake Naivasha, and the renowned Masai
Mara, as well as hike up, and transport to, Kilimanjaro for a second week.
Unlike many countries in Europe and elsewhere around the world, the big
cities in East Africa do not have a lot of charm or much to offer tourists. In
fact, many travelers are in and out of the big cities as fast as they can.
There's nothing really historical to see in Nairobi as everything in this city
was built within the last hundred years. Nairobi was nothing but swampland
until the British built the East African railway line between Lake Victoria and
Mombassa on the Indian Ocean. A central station was built oat the halfway point
and eventually the city of Nairobi sprung up. Nairobi is now the nation's
capital and most populated city. It is also officially Africa's most violent
city. Crime is omnipresent in Nairobi and recent statistics have shown that
almost 40% of all residents get mugged each year! It's not surprising that many
hotels will strongly advise against, and sometimes even disallow guests to go
out at night without taking a taxi. With that said, as long as you keep your
wits about you, there are many nice things to do in Nairobi. The National
Museum is very impressive and you mustn't miss dinner at the world famous
Carnivore restaurant, where you all you can eat game meat such as crocodile,
lion, ostrich, zebra, and the works are all served. I was also sure to catch a
football match too here as I went to see the Tusker Cup semifinal between
Tanzania's Simba SC vs. Ghana's SC Villa.
The real delight of this
region is its vast abundance of wild life, found in its many rural national
parks. The parks I visited were Lake Nakuru - known for spotting endangered
white rhinos, thousands of flamingos, and plethora of bird species, Lake
Naivasha - which has some spectacular landscape and walks, and the world-famous
Masai Mara National Park - home of the Masaai tribe, the big five animals, and
the spectacular migration of the wildebeest - in which millions of wildebeest
and zebras migrate south from Kenya to Tanzania's Serengeti Park - attracting
lions and other various predators. As I was using Kenya as the hub of my Africa
adventure, flying in and out of Nairobi, I got myself a three month multiple
entry visa from Abu Dhabi. I came into Kenya three times on this - flying in
originally, coming up via Mombassa by bus to catch my flight to Kigali on my
way back from Tanzania, and finally from the northwestern Ugandan border by
Lake Victoria.
I've divided the website into four different categories;
Kats of Kenya - where you can see lions and cheetahs (ok, ok.... a cheetah) -
all found at the Masai Mara..... Kicking it with the Masaai - which shows are
visit to the Maasai Village, plus traditional Maasai festivals involving a
strange brew called "Tusker".... Masai Mara - this page basically has all the
pictures of the Masai Mara safari with the exception of the lions and cheetahs
(ok, ok... cheetah), but it does include giraffes, hippos, jackals, hyenas,
zebras, zebras being eaten by hyenas (and the answer to my "what's black and
white and red all over?" joke), crocodiles, and many, many more. Oh yeah, and
then there's a page dedicated to all the other things I did in Kenya, which
includes; Lake Naivasha, Nakuru, Mombassa, dinner at Carnivore, etc. This page
has got some great photos of the extremely rare white rhinoceros and marabou
stork Enjoy....
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