Blogs from Kenya, Africa - page 2

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Africa » Kenya » Nairobi Province September 24th 2023

Today is the day we travel to Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The small bit of packing stress remaining is the worry that we’ve forgotten something we’ll find we need. An African Safari is just a little different than a usual traveling trip in that I don’t expect we’ll find too many ‘convenience’ stores on the African plains. I understand that this is a privileged consumerist philosophy, but we are accustomed to those luxuries in our everyday lives. If we’ve forgotten something, we’ll certainly get by without it, but we’ll miss it. Therein lies the stress. It is what it is and what it is is an exciting adventure. I hope that the internet is readily available where we’re going so that I can keep you informed. If not, I apologize and will complete the trek ... read more

Africa » Kenya » Nairobi Province » Nairobi September 21st 2023

The time to depart Canada on our way to Africa gets closer and closer. Only three more days before we wend our way to Amsterdam with KLM for a seven hour layover. We've booked a lounge visit at Schiphol airport (Amsterdam, Netherlands) to try relaxing before our final flight to Nairobi. Our Amsterdam landing time will be += 6:00 am their time, but we will still be on Canada time, which will be about 12:00 am or midnight. Since past travel experience has proven that we always have difficulty sleeping on planes, some rest may be necessary. The additional cost of lounge access won't hurt either when food and drinks also will be available.... read more

Africa » Kenya » Nairobi Province » Nairobi National Park September 14th 2023

This travel blog is a necessary evil for me and is hopefully an entertaining arm chair experience for those interested in our journey to Africa. The Serenghetti, the Ngorongoro crater, Mount Kilimanjaro and the current quantities of wildlife that yet remain on the African plains, is and has been a draw for my wife and I. We travel with companions this trip who had proposed an invitation to come along on their anticipated journey. We gratefully accepted and started to formulate the trip particulars. We had all decided that a tour was best and researched several possible options. Some were far beyond our financial capabilities and others, though less expensive, were also less interesting. We finally chose a lower mid range tour that would fulfill most requirements and desires. Concept in November of 2022 and the ... read more

Africa » Kenya » Nairobi Province » Nairobi September 14th 2023

So this ‘blog’ is an attempt at sharing Kathryn, Steve, Jan and Chris’ African travel tour experience of 2023. The pandemic shuttered our last African attempt (Kathryn and mine) and this time, our adventure will hopefully materialize. All the particulars are in place - flights are booked; restrictive sized luggage acquired; hotel vouchers received; dietary requirements acknowledged; our accommodations are registered and even local currencies have been procured. We’re ready and anxious to leave to Nairobi via Amsterdam from Pearson airport in Toronto, Ontario. There are four of us traveling together on this tour, so some strength in numbers to motivate fates positive direction, may assist the process.... read more

Africa » Kenya » Rift Valley Province » Masai Mara NP August 25th 2023

"I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills." This is the famous opening line of Karen Blixen's (pen name Isak Dinesen) book Out of Africa, made even more famous by the lush and romantic film adaptation starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. Kenya also has a romantic allure for anyone, such as myself, who has read the short stories of Ernest Hemingway, a fervent lover of Africa. Having already traveled to the African countries of Morocco and South Africa, I finally arrived in Kenya in mid-August 2023 for a private 10-day safari (which means "journey" in Swahili) that was organized by the travel company Adventure Life. The first stop on the itinerary was at Karen, a well-to-do suburb of Nairobi where Blixen's farm was located. Her home and some land around ... read more
Hot Air Balloons at Dawn
Lion Family
Giraffe

Africa » Kenya » Nairobi Province » Nairobi March 30th 2023

Protests were planned to continue until the government would address the opposition's compliments, but in an effort to limit further deaths, fires and destruction Raila called them off. Similar protests happened in 2007 and caused a 8 month long civil war that saw significant deaths, damage and sever impact on the economy. Many were worried this might happen again, but fortunately it is not. The unfortunate part is that the current government is no longer being pushed to improve living conditions of the people. With this news I returned to Nairobi to spend a few more days with PTS before returning home. I joined the fashion class for an afternoon while they were learning to make different styles of blazers. Their first garment is always a group project so I joined them as they worked to ... read more

Africa » Kenya » Coast Province » Mombasa March 28th 2023

I decided to head to the coast for a few days to wait out the tensions in Nairobi. The girls have not been able to have regular skills training and the NGO is mostly focused on securing the property, their school, and daycare. I took the train down to Mombasa. It was a lovely way to see the landscape on the 5 hour ride down. Mombasa was the original capital of Kenya. During that time it was an important center for trade of spices. gold and ivory between Africa, India, and China. The architecture is a combination of traditional Swahili, colonial Portuguese styles from the 16th century and modern Islamic designs. The temperatures are much hotter here at low 90s with humidity. Not my ideal weather, but appropriate for being along the beach. I spent 2 ... read more
Snorkling
Maasi Dancing at a Dinner
Trying to stay covered

Africa » Kenya » Nairobi Province » Nairobi March 24th 2023

Fortunately, last night turned out to be more calm than anticipated. This was for two reasons. First: Raila the opposition leader spoke to the people in the slums and asked them not to continue the fighting. But, what might have had a bigger impact is that the police did not allow the burials to take place. There are still vows of revenge once they can burry their dead. Raila has committed to twice a week riots until the current government steps down. This is extremely unlikely to happen so the hope is that it ends peacefully. But, in the meantime I will share some positive parts of my time here. I spent an early morning driving over the Rift Valley to visit Hell's Gate National park with was the inspiration for the Lion King. It got ... read more

Africa » Kenya » Nairobi Province » Nairobi March 23rd 2023

I am not new to being in a country under protest. While in Bolivia we were under protest for 38 days straight. So when PTS told me that two days after arriving in Kenya I could not come to their offices due to protests I was not particularly phased. The protest was being organized by the opposition party because of large increases in the cost of living. The downtown area of Nairobi near the government buildings was a natural location for riots. The other was Kirbra: the slum where PTS is based as well as the opposition party. The residents of the slum were paid $1USD (a daily wage) to join the riots. That first day I stayed away from those areas, but I did spent time in other parts of the city without any incident. ... read more

Africa » Kenya » Nairobi Province » Nairobi March 20th 2023

My last stop before coming home is Kenya to visit a NGO called Passion to Share. This organization was started by a young women who had a very difficult childhood. After her 7th step mother attempted to kill her she went to live in an orphanage run by Warm Hearts. They supported her through high school and college. When they would ask her what she wanted to be when she grew up said she wanted to be like them: helping others. And she has done just that. Lydia and her co-founder Noel started Passion to Share to lift up the girls in the slums of Kibera. This slum houses well over 250,000 people (counting is very difficult due to the nature of their living environment). This is the biggest slum in Africa and one of the ... read more




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