Kenya is a well known safari destination and for good reason. There are multiple national parks to visit for safari and the tourism industry is well established. Many people know English and provide great service. But there’s more to this country. Nairobi is a modern city with lots of amenities. There’s also a stretch of coast that has beautiful beaches to check out.
City of Nairobi:
The main part of Nairobi is a modern city with businesses, restaurants, malls, and museums. The roads in the city are decent, but there are way too many cars for the space so traffic is horrendous. Driving though the CBD (Central Business District) area during rush hour leaves you at a standstill and may take hours.
The Nairobi National Museum has displays of many of the wildlife from the region. Our favorites were the goofy zebra and crazy owl. While these 2 were funny, the rest were really well done and a good preview of all the animals you may encounter in the country.
The museum also provides a history of Kenya and information about the culture of the indigenous people.
There’s actually a national park right next to Nairobi. We didn’t go for a safari in that park, but we did visit the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust’s Elephant Orphanage that is located within it. This organization rescues orphaned baby elephants and cares for them until they are able to be integrated back into the wild. It’s a long process as the babies need to be fed until they are about 3 years old and then the integration process takes 5-7 years. There’s one hour each day that they bring the elephants into a roped off setting where the public can see them. The visitors behind the ropes can pet them only if the elephants choose to come up to the lucky people.
We also visited the Giraffe Center. This organization works in conservation of the Rothschild Giraffe, which is endangered. The giraffes are able to walk up to an area where the public visitors can hand feed them. The giraffes have tactile tongues and very viscous saliva. You need to be a bit cautious however as at least one of these giraffes is known to try to head butt unsuspecting tourists.
Safari in the Masai Mara:
A trip to Kenya wouldn’t be complete without a safari. So off to the Masai Mara National Park we went. Roads out of Nairobi to Masai Mara are very rough. Our driver had to swerve back and forth to avoid the worst potholes. It was an extremely bumpy ride. Construction was in process, so hopefully the roads will improve. On our way leaving the Masai Mara to head back to Nairobi, we had quite a lineup of vehicles all getting stuck due to some rains that further destroyed the struggling roads. All the drivers helped each other to get through the mud. This delayed our return journey by a couple hours but with combined efforts we all made it through.
We visited during the slower season, but still there were quite a few vehicles in the park. Since the great migration had already passed through, we didn’t see huge herds of wildebeest. But there was still plenty of animals in the park. We had an easy time spotting zebras, giraffes, elephants, wildebeast, lions, cheetahs, a leopard, hippos, and various birds.
The highlight for me was the cheetahs. We spotted a group of three way off on the distance. We sat and watched from afar thinking this might be the best we see of cheetahs during our safari. But to our delighted surprise, they made their way right up to us… slinking in front of our vehicle and heading off the opposite direction. So amazing!
Mombasa and Diani Beach:
Kenya also has a beautiful coastline along the Indian Ocean and we chose to visit the area around Mombasa. We stayed in Old Town… which definitely isn’t where most of the tourists stay. It’s a Islamic city, with lots of mosques, a famous old Fort named Fort Jesus, and a million banks. Seriously, I’ve never seen anything close to the number of banks I saw crowded together here!
We walked around easily and saw the iconic Tusks, the fort, a Hindu temple, and the market.
A few hours from Old Town is Diani Beach which has beautiful white sand and a number of resorts and beach bars. While walking along the bright sand looking out to the turquoise waters sounds amazing, you aren’t likely to get to do so in solitude. Before long someone will likely join you, strike up conversation and try to sell you something. You will be more protected from these selling attempts if you find yourself a nice view from within a bar or restaurant.
Close to Diani Beach is the Colobus Conservatory… which helps protect the primates in the area by rescuing injured and orphaned monkeys, educating the public about how to live with the monkeys, and building bridges for monkeys to cross roads without endangering themselves by crossing passing traffic. They work with Colobus monkeys, baboons, vervets, and sykes monkeys. On our visit we observed a troop of baboons and one Sykes monkey. We also saw baby orphaned vervets in their care. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see any Colobus monkeys as they stay away when the baboons are around.
That’s it for Kenya… off to Ethiopia!
Leave a Reply