Kenya – Cradle of Mankind, true to its name, everybody can relate to this
place. It was one of the must visit place on Pankaj's list. He is totally
into evolution and history of mankind. All of us also love wildlife.
Hence we shortlisted Kenya. Both Kenya and Tanzania top the list on
the high probability of sighting wildlife – especially the BIG FIVE
(Lions, Leopards, Rhinos, Elephants and Buffalo). We decided on Kenya
as we planned to visit the during October. Based on which time
of the year you plan the trip, you can either choose Kenya or
Tanzania. Best time of course would be July-August – peak time for
migration and also peak tourist time. But because of the school
holiday constraints, we decided to go in October, the next best
season. And we were not disappointed at all. After experiencing the
safaris in Kenya, all other national parks seem very small and less
exciting.
|
Elephant Herd with backdrop of Kilimanjaro - Amboseli National Park |
|
Young Lion @ Masai Mara |
|
Hundred of Wild Buffaloes at Masai Mara |
If one is travelling
from India, then the planning needs to be done at least couple of
months in advance. It is best to book the tour through known travel
agents. The tours can be availed at cheaper rates, if you book from
Africa through some known contact. Like any other developing country,
there is high risk of fraud bookings. Hence one needs to be extra
cautious and go with well known tourist agencies. Though there was
lot of information on various fraud cases, we found the people of
Kenya very friendly and we did not face any issues during our trip.
We booked our custom tour through Travel Baazar
(
www.travelbaazar.com).
Since Kenya has lot of reserves, we gave a list of reserves we wanted
to visit and the number of days at each reserve. Our travel agent
came up with the list of resorts based on our specified requirements
and that's how we made our itinerary.
|
Lioness and Cubs @ Masai Mara |
Basically we wanted
to visit Nairobi – more as a stop over and starting point for all
travels. Then it was Amboseli for Kilimanjaro and the Big Five –
especially the elephants, Lake Nakuru for the Pink Flamingos and White
Rhinos and the geological significance of Rift Valley and salt water
lake, Masai Mara – mother of all reserves for the Big Five, all
kinds of animals and the great Mara river and the migration. So our
trip was to start with Nairobi (1N) – Amboseli (2N) – Lake Nakuru
(2N) – Masai Mara (2N)
TIPS
Preferably book
the tour with a travel agent
Every reserve
requires minimum of 2 nights stay (4 game drives)
Consider the
travel time from one reserve to another while planning the itinerary.
Drive from one reserve to another would require atleast 4-6 hours.
During the
drive, carry snacks and fruits as there aren't many places where one
could stop for a small snack/tea/coffee.
Most countries
require a yellow fever immunisation and certificate. At Bangalore,
this is done on Wednesday's in the government health care centre
near Freedom Park. Usually the travel agents take care of the
appointments. Ensure there is enough gap (atleast 3-4 weeks) between
the immunisation and travel date. The certificate is valid for 10
years.
Highly
recommended to choose a resort within the national reserve. This will be
a little expensive. But it is totally worth it. The deeper the
resort in the reserve, the expensive it gets :)
If you are
brave enough to camp, then nothing like it. There are lot of
agencies who help in camping in the reserve.
All reserve
have 2 game drives per day – one in the morning starting from 6AM –
9AM and then in the evening from 3:30PM – 6:30PM.
Independent
good binoculars are must for each traveller (don't share, you will
end up missing stuff)
Good camera
Hats and scarfs
to cover the hair and mouth. The safari's can get very dusty.
Also roads
across Kenya are very dusty and bumpy, be prepared
Light jackets
and sun glasses
Lip balms and
sun screen as there is lot of temperature changes. Because of this
and dust, the lips tend to crack
Independent
safari vehicle (non sharing) for the family or if in group for the
group. This helps a lot and can make a big difference
Note book and
Pen to write the names of the sightings. You will be surprised on
the number of different animals you will see.
Don't pack any
thing delicate. Preferably carry bags which are strong and rugged
Carry lot of
loose cotton wear – preferably in colours which don't standout.
Don't carry anything white or very light colour. If you carry one don't be surprised with the change in colour after the trip :)
Most resorts
have swimming pools, hence a swim suit will be required as one gets
lot of free time during non-safari hours.
Most resorts
don't have T.V nor cell phone signals. Hence carry books/magazines
Most safari
vehicles are non-a/c as they need to open the roof for animal
sighting. Please specify if you want a/c vehicles
We started planning
for our trip around end of July 2013. Our trip for planned for Oct 9
– Oct 17, 2013. Here was our itinerary
Oct 10 – Nairobi -
Laico Regency Hotel
Oct 11 – Amboseli
– Amboseli Serena Lodge
Oct 12 – Amboseli
– Amboseli Serena Lodge
Oct 13 – Nakuru
Lake – Lake Nakuru Lodge
Oct 14 – Nakuru
Lake – Lake Nakuru Lodge
Oct 15 – Masai
Mara – Mara Serena Safari Lodge
Oct 16 – Masai
Mara – Mara Serena Safari Lodge
Oct 17 – Check out
from Masai Mara, drive to Nairobi and fly to Bangalore
After the bookings
were completed, the biggest hurdle was getting the yellow fever
immunisation. During this time there was a acute shortage of the
vaccine. This vaccine is administered by the government and
immunisation is done for limited people, only once a week. Because of
all these constraints, there was a huge waiting list. Since we had
initiated this in advance, we were able to get the immunisation few
weeks before our travel. At Bangalore, this is done only on
Wednesday, hence we had to take leave from office and the
kids had to miss school. Good part is the certificate is valid for 10
years.
|
Kids feeding the Giraffe @ Giraffe Manor Nairobi |
There are no direct
flights from Bangalore to Nairobi. Hence we had our bookings from
Bangalore – Mumbai – Nairobi with Kenyan Airways. Kenyan airways
is the national carrier of Kenya and decent – not as high end as
Emirates.
We were very
specific when we did our bookings. We ensured our accommodation were
in the National Reserve, we choose a family room which could
accommodate 2 adults and 2 kids rather than 2 separate room (most of
these resorts have family room options – please check before
booking), a separate independent safari vehicle which will be with us
from Nairobi until our return. The best part of such booking is the
vehicle and the driver will be with you all along when moving from
one place to another and also all these vehicles have a detachable
roofs which double up as safari vehicles.
Atlast the travel
day had come and we were all very excited. This was our first trip to
an African country and we had never done a wildlife trip like this
before. Most of our wildlife trips have been for 2-3 days in India.
This was big for us. We had a late night flight to Mumbai on 9
th
October and an early morning flight from Mumbai to Nairobi. Since we
were travelling towards west of India, we gained time. We were in
Nairobi by 7am on 10
th October. Since we had booked our
trip through a travel agent, their representatives were at the
airport to pick us up. We were briefed on the tour and were given
nice safari hats. It was about 1 1/2 hour drive from airport to our
hotel.
|
Traffic Jams at Nairobi |
Kenya is on the east
coast of Africa. Nairobi is the capital of Kenya. Swahili is the
local language. However most of them speak English. “Jambo” -
which means Hi/Hello in Swahili. One gets to hear this word everywhere.
Nairobi airport is very small. It resembles the small airports of
non-metro cities in India. The airport was under construction. Hopefully the
new airport will be bigger and better. The first impression of
Nairobi was - “were we really outside India?” It looked so much like any
other place in India. There are lots of people everywhere, dust,
traffic, noise etc. Nothing can beat the traffic in Nairobi – it's
really bad. One can get stuck for hours on the road. Since most cars
are non-a/c the air and noise pollution can be very irritating. This
is not a place for a vacation. It is more of a stop -over to explore
the real beauty of Kenya.
10th Oct (Liaco Regency Hotel - Nairobi)
|
Nairobi National Musuem |
|
Nairobi Mamba Village |
Liaco Regency Hotel
was pretty good. This is located in the central business district. We
had no major plans for Nairobi as we were pretty tired. Some of the
things we did in Nairobi – first we visited the National Museum of
Kenya (
http://www.museums.or.ke/).
This is must visit place when in Nairobi. They have some very rare
collection of fossils and skeleton of very early human being. One
would require atleast 2 hours to explore the museum. From here we
visited Nairobi Mamba village. Here we got see some Nile river crocodiles and also tortoises. Pankaj carried a baby crocodile and the kids touched it. I did not dare to do either :(. From here we went to the Giraffe Manor – here one can pet the Giraffe's, you can
feed them. One gets to see a lot of Giraffes here. This can be easily
skipped if you are planning to do the game drives in Masai Mara or
Lake Nukuru. You will get to see a lot of Giraffe's in the wild and
at very close distance. We also visited the Kazuri Bead factory and
got a tour on how the beads were made. I also bought some earrings and necklace made here. After this we did some walking
around the Central Business District. The traffic is really bad in
Nairobi and one can get stuck on the road for hours. Another must
visit place is “Hotel Carnivore”. Since most of us are
vegetarians, we could not push ourselves to visit this place. This is
highly recommended for meat eaters. We had an early dinner as the plan
was start early next day to Amboseli.
|
Safari Vehicle for Game Drives |
11th –
13th Oct (Amboseli Serena Lodge @ Amboseli National Park)
Charles - Our driver
cum safari guide was ready with the vehicle at the hotel by 7:30AM.
We had a good breakfast Laico Hotel and started our journey around
8AM. Drive to Amboseli is about 4hrs drive from Nairobi. Lot of time
is lost in getting out of Nairobi because of the traffic mess. Also
the roads in Kenya are not great – very similar to India. The drive
is very dust and goes through lot of villages. It almost felt like we
were driving in India.
|
Amboseli Serena Lodge |
We had to register and
show our booking at the Amboseli Reserves entrance gate. There are
only a few resorts available inside the national park. Staying in a
place within the reserve is amazing. However since the number of such
resorts are limited, one needs to book well in advance. At the
entrance, there were a few Masai tribal men and women selling some
stuff made from wood, beads etc. Once we entered the gate of Amboseli
National Park, the landscape changed. Since it is grasslands, one can
see things which are at long distance too. While we driving in, the great
Kilimanjaro was on our left. This view cannot be explained, it needs to
be experienced. At this point, I realised why people die to visit
Africa – it is amazing. One is transferred into a completely
different world. Drive to the resort was about 45mins from the
entrance. Amboseli Serena Lodge faces Kilimanjaro. Some rooms have
direct view of the mountain. Because of the huge number of tourists
from different parts of the world, the buffets in these resorts are
of wide spread. There is a huge variety of good food. With nothing
much to do other than the game drives, one tends to over eat. Don't
be surprised if you gain a few Kg after you return from Kenya trip.
Also the resorts are very tourist friendly - like most of the staff, can
communicate in English, there is swimming pool, well stocked bar,
souvenir shop, help desk to plan our day etc.
|
Elephant Herd - Amboseli National Park |
We had booked a
family room. The room was very good and was facing the reserve. Since
the resort is inside the National park, there is enough secure
fencing made around the resort to keep away the wild animals. One
gets to see a lot of wild animals in the early mornings and late
evenings, right outside the rooms. Our room was national park facing.
We kept our luggage and headed straight to have lunch. We were
thrilled to see the spread – there is a lot of variety for every
course. Every family/group is assigned a table and we are supposed to eat all
our meals at the same table. We had our lunch at leisure. After
lunch, we rested for a while and then it was time to leave for game
drive. All game drives start at 3:30PM and go up to 6:30-7PM. Because
of the grasslands and abundance of wildlife, there is nothing to
worry about whether one can spot animals.
|
Cheetha - Amboseli National Park |
Amboseli is known
for African Elephants. We could see huge elephant herds of various
sizes. Because of the way the safari vehicles are designed, one gets
to see the animals up close. View of these elephant herds with
Kilimanjaro as the backdrop is a worthy sight. What everybody will
be waiting to see is if they can catch some action – either a kill
or a chase. We had totally 4 game drives across 2 days and could see
lots of wild life. We saw lost of Elephants, Lions, Cheetahs, lots of
wildebeests, lots of Zebras, Hyenas, some secretary bird, baboons,
gazelles, Giraffe's, Hippos, ostrich and many more animals. Best part
was we spotted the Cheetahs and were hoping to see some action. The
Cheetahs were just waiting and we were also waiting. This continued
for atleast 10min and then suddenly one Cheetah started chasing a
small animal. We were awed by the speed at which the Cheetah started
chasing the animal. We could not see what animal it was, but it ran
very fast to escape being killed and it succeeded. We waited for
some more time, hoping the Cheetah would find it and we could see
some action. But nothing happened. Moment the Cheetah started
chasing, we were scared. Never experienced how fast a Cheetah can
run. It is one thing to want to see some action, but when you are in
wild around wild animals, the feeling is different. You always have
the fear – what if?
Our routine was same
everyday, get up, go for game drive, come back have good breakfast,
relax (may be swim or read a book or just sleep), then lunch, relax,
game drive, list the animals we spotted and ponder over the
experiences, dinner and sleep.
|
Zebra's Crossing - Amboseli National Park |
Unlike other
national parks in Kenya, Amboseli has its unique beauty. The view of
great Kilimanjaro adds the beauty to this park. Kilimanjaro is a
snow capped mountain. Because of the vast grasslands of Amboseli, the
mountain can be experienced from almost everywhere in the park. In
the morning game drives, the view of fresh grassland, with herds of
elephants – of all sizes and backdrop of Kilimanjaro is
breathtaking. In the evening game drive the same snow capped mountain
takes a new look. The setting sun adds the hues of orange to the snow
cap and it is just beautiful.
|
Welcome Dance by Masai Tribe |
Another unique
experience we had at Amboseli was visiting the Masai village. Tours
are available to visit the Masai village. Though one can feel that the
whole thing is setup for the tourists, it is worth the experience. We
took this tour to understand the history of one of the great tribes
of Africa. The Masai tribes can be spotted anywhere with their red
attire and lots of piercing and bead ornaments. The tour was of 1
hour. We were taken to a Masai village, which is very close to the
Amboseli Serena Lodge. First, we were given a warm welcome, with some
dance and songs. We also joined the Masai group in the dance. The
tour guide was a Masai and spoke good English. He explained and
demonstrated to us how fire could be created without matchsticks and
by just rubbing 2 types of woods. It was amazing. He also told us how
the tribe survived on blood and meat. The houses are built with hay, cattle dung
and covered with animal skin. They have a low ceiling and are pretty
dark inside. We went inside a house and saw how beds were made. They
also had a market set up for tourists where one could buy stuff made
by the tribes – which included small ornaments made with beads,
some wooden animals etc. We bought some earring and small chains for kids from the market.There was a school setup by the NGO, where
the kids of the Masai village could study. Not sure whether this
school was actually functional or setup more to get funds from
tourists. Overall it was great
experience.
|
Dust Storm - Ambsoeli National park |
Lake Nakuru - Nakuru Lodge (Oct 13th
– Oct 15th)
|
Thousands of Flamingoes dotting Lake Nakuru |
After spending 2
wonderful days at Amboseli, it was now time to head to our next
destination – Nakuru National Park. It is a very long drive from
Amboseli to Nakuru – its about 400KMs and will take 7-8 hours by road. We
had a good breakfast and checked out. We stopped at Nairobi for
lunch. Our driver thought we ate only Indian food, hence took us to
an Indian restaurant. This restaurant was in a locality where there
were many Indians. Though we would have eaten at any Veg restaurant,
since our driver had got us here, we were more than happy to eat some
Indian food. This was one of the long drives. We would reach Nakuru
only by 3-4PM. Lake Nakuru falls in the rift valley. On the away, we
stopped at a view point from where we could see and experience the rift.
It is amazing to see how nature can change the landscape. Most lakes
in the rift valley are salt (alkaline) water lakes and have unique
habitants. Lake Nakuru is known for Flamingos. But due to lot of
flooding and change in the salt content of the lake, the birds are
moving higher up to a lake close to Mount Kenya. Nevertheless there
are still tons of Flamingos in Lake Nakuru. Lake Nakuru is also
famous for White Rhinos, baboons and lot of other birds. Apart from
this there are many predators and herbivorous animals.
|
Buffaloes around Lake Nakuru |
After
a long drive we reached Nakuru around 4:30PM. Dark clouds had
gathered and it would start raining any time. Our guide/driver
thought we would not be keen on going for a game drive after such an
exhausting drive. But we were like – lets go straight to the game
drive. Without checking into the hotel, we headed to the game drive
and this game drive turned out to be just amazing. We saw a lot of
wildlife which included Eland, Warthog, Impalas, Thompson Gazelles, tons of Flamingos, Giraffe, Zebras, White Rhino, Cheetahs, Buffalos and lions. A amazing experience was to see
a lion waiting a distance from a group of Giraffes. We were all
hoping to see the lion attack the Giraffes. We waited for long time
and nothing happened. We saw the giraffe sensing something and
started moving away from where the lion was hiding and eventually
went far off. By now the clouds burst into rain. All the vans
closed down their top viewing windows. After some time we reached a
spot where we saw around 20-25 giraffes all standing in semi-circle
and getting drenched in rain. This was beautiful! It was getting dark
and time to get back to the resort. As we neared the resort we saw a Jackal
and lots of Impalas and Elands around the resort.
|
Giraffes - Lake Nakuru |
Atlast
we checked into Lake Nakuru
Lodge and felt like not doing
anything. We got into our room and everybody just crashed on the bed.
After sometime we realised we were very hungry. Though
we did not want to get out, hunger drove us to the dining area. The
sight of lots of delicious food made us forget our tiredness. We
enjoyed our dinner and called it a day.
|
White Rhinos @ Lake Nakuru |
Next
day we went for more game drives and saw more animals. From far the
lake looks like there are small pink dots on something blue. As we
got closer, we saw that the pink dots were nothing but hundreds of
pink Flamingos. The sight is awesome. After our game drive, we
had breakfast and kids went straight to the pool. I and Pankaj
decided to just sit and read. Lot
of people also visit Mount Kenya if they are visiting Lake Nakuru.
That would require another extra day.
At night, the resort had organized a stunt show by local villagers. The group performed some amazing stunts with fire and cycles.
|
Kids enjoying in the pool @ Lake Nakuru Lodge |
|
Baboons - right outside lake Nakuru Lodge |
|
Performance by local villagers - Lake Nakuru Lodge |
Our
next stop was Masai Mara. Hence we decided to stop over at lake
Naivasha as it is on the way to Masai Mara. Lake Naivasha is a fresh
water lake and falls in the rift valley but at a higher altitude. It is
known for Hippos and fish eating eagles. Lot of other African animals
have also been introduced around lake Naivasha. This is about 2 hours
from Lake Nakuru enroute Masai Mara. We had our breakfast and bid
good by to the Flamingos and headed to lake Naivasha.
|
Hippos @ Lake Naivasha |
|
Birds @ Lake Naivasha |
At
Lake Naivasha, we took boat tour. This is the best way to explore the
wildlife on the lake. We saw lot of birds, hippos and many other
animals. Most interesting part was see the white headed eagle flying
all the way from a far of tree to catch the fish thrown by the
boatman. As soon as the boatman whistled, the eagle would fly and
catch the fish thrown. The eagle has really good vision, but this was
experiencing it first hand. After spending couple of hours at Lake
Naivasha, it was time to head to THE MOTHER OF ALL WILDLIFE
DESTINATION – MASAI MARA. En route Masai Mara, our driver stopped a souvenir shop on the road side. There are lot of such shops set up on the road for the tourist. We bought a wooden walk piece of wild buffalo face and also a Masai Couple. We need to bargain a lot to get the stuff at reasonable price.
Unlike
Amboseli, Masai Mara National
Park is a very huge. Our
booking was with Mara Serena Safari Lodge which is very interior in
the Masai National Park. It is about 90 Kms from the entrance gate.
The road towards the entrance
of Masai Mara (about 60 Kms) is very bad. Actually it is just a muddy
path. Very bumpy and dusty. This stretch will feel like never ending.
We had no idea it was that
interior. We reached the entrance gate around 1:30PM. Luckily our
travel agent had booked our lunch at Sarovar Resort which is very
close to the entrance. We were very hungry and had a good lunch.
Sarovar is also a very good property to stay. We wished we had booked
there. But little did we know what was awaiting us. After lunch we
started our drive to Mara Serena Safari Lodge and by far this was the
longest and best game drives we had so far. We experienced some amazing
sightings.
|
Leopard drinking water @ Masai Mara |
Our resort was 90KMs away, into the national park - very very remote.
Most of the resorts are very close to entrance, except couple of them
which are very interior. Mara Serena Lodge is one of them. As our
drive started, we were greeted with hundreds of wild buffaloes. These
buffaloes are really huge and the herds are in great numbers. Indian
buffaloes are nothing compared to these :). After this we got a radio
signal that a Leopard has been spotted drinking water by a stream. We
could see all the safari vehicles turning towards this spot. There, we
saw a huge Leopard at very close proximity – drinking water by the stream. This Leopard was well built and as we could see at a close
distance, we could see the details. As we moved along we saw tons of
Zebras, Gazelles, Giraffe's, wildebeest. We also saw a couple of
Warthog families. One can spot them easily with their pointed tails.
|
Lioness and Cubs @ Masai Mara |
|
Lioness and Cubs with Elephant Herd @ Masai Mara |
Then
we came across Vultures (around 40-50 in number) all sitting around a tree. We
had not seen vultures this close. We were a bit scared. These birds
are really huge. Their beaks are also pretty big and pointy. As we
drove a few kilometres, we saw a Leopard on a tree with a kill. The
prey was a Gazelle and blood was dripping. This again was a unique
site. Such sightings can be easily missed by a normal person. The
guides are very keen observers and without their help spotting such
rare scene is close to impossible. At this point our guide cum
driver got a radio signal on spotting of lions. We could see some 4-5
safari vehicles all moving in the same direction. We too started to
drive there, and what a site it was. A herd of elephants with around
10-12 lions of which 2 were lioness and the rest cubs. This was just
amazing. The elephant herd was trying to protect their little ones
and the lionesses were trying to shield their cubs from the elephants.
All vehicles were still - watching this show. It was once in a life
time experience. We waited until the lions decided to cross and
move into the grassland, from where we could not spot them anymore. This is
natures way of protecting them. It is very difficult to spot the lions
once they are in the grassland. We need to constantly keep a watch, to
see if we spot anything brown. The back of top part of lion's ears are
dark brown colour and that is one way of spotting them in the
grass, when they are hiding.
|
Vultures @ Masai Mara |
|
Mara River and its Stink |
After
this exciting experience, we continued our drive. By now we were deep
into the Masai Mara National Park. Now we could not see any other
safari vehicles as most of these vehicles were from resorts close to
the entrance. We now reached the Mara river and what a stink we got.
We had to get down the vehicle to register at the entrance as no
vehicles are allowed from this point except for the people staying in
the resorts beyond this point. We had only seen the crossing of
animals at river Mara in the NatGeo channel during migration. Even
though it was not the migration season, just seeing the location gave
goose-bumps. There were bones of all types and sizes around the
river, there was decaying animals – half eaten and left and the
smell was a stink. I can't put it in words it needs to experienced.
We wondered how the guard sat there whole day and experienced this.
After showing him our bookings, we were allowed to go further. It was
time for the sun to set and we were still nowhere close to the
resort. All around it is just open and we could see the Giraffe's,
Zebras, wildebeests all moving and within sometime there were no
animals. It was dark and scary. We wondered where had all the animals
disappeared. There at far of hill we could see some lights glitter
and what a relief it was to see the glimmering lights. But the lights
were still very far. While we were busy checking these lights, we
spotted some red eyes which were glowing in the dark. These were just
next to road where our vehicle was. As we got closer, we saw that
there were 3 hyenas. We were really scared. As we drove further we
saw a Jackal cross the road. Our driver was telling us, we were late.
The vehicles are not allowed to be out at this hour. Atlast we
reached our resort at 7:30PM and what a sight it was. One of THE best
resorts we had stayed so far. Very remote, unique theme (it's an
ant hill design) and what a location – MIND BLOWING.
|
Hyena @ Masai Mara |
We
were very tried after a long day. We checked in, had dinner and
crashed. Next day morning, we got a good view of the surroundings.
This resort is on top of small hill. This acts as an advantage as it
gives a great view of the national park. One can spot animals which
are very far off. We could see 8-10 Giraffe's right outside the
resort. The Giraffe's in Masai Mara are a little different. They are
slightly darker than the regular giraffes. We saw many more
interesting animals on the game drives. We saw a group of really huge
hippos in the Mara river, unimaginable number of buffaloes, lions and
their families – at one place we saw some 6 very small cubs
jumping and playing. It was really fun. We were sure the mother was
somewhere close by though we could not spot her. We saw a couple of
male lions. They are mostly loners. The males are really huge. Most
part of the day, these are found lying low under the tree or walking
around or playing with their little ones. All the action starts in
the night. We also saw few Rhinos, warthog families, Ostriches and
the big crocodiles.
|
Masai Mara |
After
breakfast, we came back to the room to relax. We were just chatting,
when we saw some movement at the window. When we went closer, we saw
there were a few Lemurs – jumping all over. Wildlife gets really
close to you in Africa :) The resort also has a good swimming pool.
We spent some time at the pool. Since this was our last destination,
we wanted to capture as many memories of Kenya as possible.
Mara
Serena Safari Lodge is a beautiful resort. We found the rooms a
little smaller. Other than that it was spectacular. The resorts
lighting effect at night is superb. Food was excellent with lots of
options. But nothing can beat the location of the resort!
Next
day was pack and time to leave the wild and head to Nairobi. We
checked out after our breakfast. The drive from Masai Mara to
Nairobi was about 4-5 hours. This time we exited from another gate
which was towards Nairobi. This drive was through villages of Kenya.
The roads are not in good condition and very dusty. One needs to
cover their face and hair with scarf and wear sun glasses. We reached
Nairobi by lunch time. We had lunch at a mall where we were supposed
to meet the travel agent representative who had welcomed us when we
had arrived in Kenya. We had our lunch at a Indian restaurant.
Completed some formalities like filling feedback forms etc. We were
later dropped at the airport in time for our flight.
We
had seen so much of wildlife in last one week, we had forgotten how
cities looked. Coming back to Nairobi gave a taste of traffic and
chaos. It was time to return to Bangalore with loads of wonderful
memories of Kenya.
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