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Published: February 4th 2009
Jambo !!
(meaning 'hello' in swahili )
Have grown up watching Animal Planet and Nat-geo. Have covered more than 12 National Parks in India and smaller reserves, watching wild life flourish (or diminish !).
I remember discussing the Kenya travel plan with my dad, around 15-16 years back. That was the time I had started getting a grip over his manual- Pentax to click. Dad always told me that I would go one day..but it all seemed like a dream.
And here I am , back from my 12 day Kenya Safari.
I have no words to say how excited (that’s an understatement) I was to land at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. The first thing I did was to feel the air….may-be just to believe that I was FINALLY IN KENYA…
Had spent around 6 months discussing the travel plan with a couple of tour Operators out of Nairobi. Finalised this customized package with ‘Eastern and Southern Tours’. Boaz, my travel agent from E&S was extremely patient and understood that mine wasn’t going to be a typical city-jungle-city trip. I was focused on photography and wild life coverage…and that’s exactly what we did for the next 8 days…
I
chose to have a vehicle for myself for the entire trip, instead of joining a group tour. My driver Rafael and my cook Weston (except for Samburu and Mt Kenya). This gave me the freedom to stop where ever I wanted and gave my camera enough space and a 3600 view to capture moments…
Also gave me enough space to spread out my lenses/my travel guide and snacks to nibble.
Rafael was completely in synch with my ideas and kept patient, while I watched the lion cubs for over 2 hours 😊
Our route was off the track and against the direction the crowd went….
Nairobi > Samburu > Mt Kenya > Nakuru > Crescent Island > Naivasha > Masai Mara.
This was Oct 08 and the migration was ending. So, couldn’t actually witness the mass departure of grazers towards Tanzania. However, we did see the aftermath of the exodus in and around the Mara river.
(I also know that my next trip in 2010 or 2011 would have Abredare, some bit of Tanzania and 4/5 day full of Masai Mara, and will have to happen in July-Aug to witness the peak of the migration)
All the
5/6 places I saw, we had a different landscapes, a different set of wild life, different geography and we chose a variety of stay options to add to the fun.
@Samburu was the Samburu Game lodge - by the river and extremely luxurious and comfortable. (There are cottages, rooms and executive cottages available)
@ Mt Kenya was the wooden Tree Top hotel - built over logs of wood, watching a waterhole and offering 100 % silence, misty evenings and wilderness. (all are executive/luxurious rooms, there aren’t any for budget travelers)
@ Nakuru was the simple but clean and comfortable guest house run by the Wild life club of Kenya (WCK). This is the closest to the lake (Very affordable, Only bed, you will have to carry a cook with you. Common tourists stay at Nakuru city in bigger hotels, but miss on the ‘feel’ of the forest)
@ Naivasha we opted for a home stay - Fish Eagle Inn. That gave our cook enough opportunity to cook some amazing veg soup, pasta and garlic bread for us. These were lake side self sufficient cottages, with a kitchen and attached facilities. (Easy on the pocket, clean and comfortable, we had
our cook; you may choose standard/deluxe rooms available and a nice garden restaurant)
@Masai Mara was the permanent tented camp, XX, amidst the forest grassland. The only thing that separated is from the wild life around was a thin barb wire! Super excitement! (again a very comfortable stay, no room service)
Here is a list of some of our main Sightings:
(I am a keen amateur ornithologist and a wild life freak , so the actual list is quite exhaustive)
Animals (in herds/groups of 10s and 100s):
1. Oryx
2. Dik Dik
3. Elephant
4. Leopard
5. Cheeta
6. Lion
7. Hippo
8. Hyena
9. Jackals
10. Both black and white Rhino
11. Grevy’s and Busshel’s Zebras
12. Reticulated, Masai and Rothchild’s Giraffes
13. Monitor Lizards
14. Wild Cat
15. Antelope Family :Gerenuks, Water bucks, Impala, Thomson’s Gazelles, Bush bucks, Topi, Wilder beast & Harte beast
16. Cape Buffalo
17. Warthogs
18. Wild hare
19. Baboons, Colombus monkey etc
And many many babies every where…especially the 1 month old lion cubs, new born zebras, and just born baby elephants. Adorable !!
Birds (again in flocks of 10s/100s, especially Nakuru):
1. Ostrich
2. Raptors: Bald eagle, Tawny eagle,
Long billed vultures, White shouldered vultures, Fish eagles.
3. Greater and Lesser Flamingoes
4. Great white Pelicans
5. Wooly necked storks, painted storks, Marabou storks, spoon bills, open bill storks,
6. Hailbrunt
7. Guinea fowl, spur fowl
8. White ibis, Grey ibis, Black ibis
9. Rosefinches, Weaver birds etc
10. hornbills : grey, red billed, orange beaked, pied hornbills & small black hornbills.
11. Hammer kob
12. Cormorants & Darters, Red and Yellow wattled Lapwings.
13. Yellow wagtails
14. Plovers, yellow shanks, little grebe,
15. Secretary birds
16. Crowned Cranes
For a wild life lover, this trip is a must at least once in a life time !
Some travel tips from my experience:
•Yellow Fever vaccination is a must for Indians.
1. It’s available in Delhi & Mumbai. At Mumbai you will need to go to the International Airport, next to arrival terminal 2B. The other centre at Sea Man’s Hospital at Fort has even a larger number of people dying to get it.
2. You will need to go the previous night by 10pm/11pm to write your name in the blank paper on the door. The comeback at 4am/5am next day to stand in the
never ending que.
3. They will take in the first 70 names from this list for vaccination. Don’t waste your time standing there and looking for an entry -No way.
4. Also please confirm the availability of the vaccines in advance. A yellow coloured certificate/card is issued. You will need to carry this ORIGINAL card to Kenya on your trip.
•Tourist Visa will take you around 2 days, they are fairly quick. Its better to take a Yellow-fever card before Visa.
•Best time to visit the Mara is June-July-August, and you will see millions of herbivores migrating in from Tanzania in search of the green grass. Awesome sight.
•On the route:
1. Carry Camouflaging clothes in shades of brown/green/grey for all safaris.
2. Carry a scarf to cover your nose on dusty roads, and another one for the camera/lenses etc.
3. Shoes are more comfortable than floaters/slippers and keep u away from snake bites/ticks etc
4. Carry mosquito repellant cream.
5. Sun glasses/ glares.
6. Ask the tour operator to provide for a bean bag to rest your camera lense when clicking, the tripod wont find place/base in the vehicle.
7. A 300mm lens is a must
for this trip.(though I also used a lot of my 10-20 Sigma wide angle lens)
8. Do carry extra camera batteries.
9. Mobile phones wont have any overage inside any of these forests. I didn’t waste any money in buying a sim-card. Use a local booth instead.
10. Shopping : loads of curio shops are available everywhere. Bargain to less than half of the price quoted (I bought a huge African mask for 50 USD, the price quoted was 250USD, and I made sure I dont exploit them). Don’t fight, negotiate with a smile. You may buy red Masai blankets, Turkana tribe masks, Masai tribe masks, key chains, soap stone articles, leather finish animal statues/ tribe statues, wooden carved pieces of the ‘big5’, bangles/trinklets/beads, wooden carved/painted tribal people statues of all sizes and prices. Lovely things indeed!!
•Precautions:
1. Check which hotels you are staying at. Tour operators will try and push deluxe hotels for no reason and increase tour cost…
2. Don’t miss the Original Equator crossing (We also witnessed fake equator boards raised by poor villagers to earn)
3. DO NOT wear any any jewelry/expensive clothing/make-up. Poverty may tempt the poor villagers/localities. You don’t need this.
4.
ALWAYS carry your passport/tickets/cash on you.
5. Make sure your bags/sacks are locked when you leave your hotel room/tent for the day trip. 3star hotels & above are reliable and will care for their ‘reputation’.
6. Never forget to carry water from your Hotel. There are almost no shops to buy water near the park gates. Always BUY sealed mineral water…not the refilled type.
7. You definitely need a basic level of physical fitness to bear the terrible/muddy forest paths and the distances…
😊 but its all worth every moment you spend there !
say 'asante sana' if you want to thank anyone.
and 'karibu sana' to say 'you are welcome'.
I hope you enjoyed sharing my experiences…
bye
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michael
non-member comment
great pics
these are awsopme pictures. would be great if u could send some more through. thanks. michael.