Into the wild
Magnificent sunsets, majestic wild animals and the magic of the flora and fauna of Kenya stay etched in the memory forever!
Kenya has always been on my bucket list — the great migration and the ‘big five’ of the wild (lion, bison, elephant, rhino and leopard). The trip my wife and I took was for 12 days — seven days of safaris and four days in Mombasa on a beach!
Kenya is very scenic, with spectacular sunsets, besides the animals in the wild! We visited Aberdare, a unique property in the centre of the forest reserve near a watering hole. We saw huge African tuskers, and were witness to male elephants fighting for territory. Nakuru Lake, which is known for flamingos, is another amazing place in Kenya. We saw rhinos, giraffes, zebras and antlers besides other animals.
The stay at Maasai Mara, one of the largest game reserves in Africa, cannot be expressed in words. Naturally, we spotted lions, leopards, cheetah, zebra, giraffe and many more animals including rhinos and hippos and crocs in the Mara river.
The holiday was unforgettable with many interesting memories — while we were in the bush, and seated in the vehicle, a lioness walked straight towards us, staring at us. Suddenly, she walked past us and vanished into a clump of bushes. Soon a lion followed her, till he came up to the van, and began smelling the van. It was a fantastic photo op for us.
We also spotted a crouching cheetah, moving stealthily to attack its prey. The migration of the wildebeest crossing the Mara river in millions, was another phenomenal sight to behold!
The early morning hot air balloon trip over the Maasai Mara, that later landed in the bush for a champagne breakfast was an unforgettable experience. The locals are very friendly and helpful, and most speak English and are ready to go all out to make you comfortable.
The women spend a lot of money on haircare, especially, weaving an intricate pattern in their hair-do. And, they are very sensitive about questions on their hair maintenance!
Being a hotelier, I was keen on trying the local cuisine. We started with a staple called ugali, very much like our own idli, but made with corn. It is steamed and eaten with beans stew. Sukuma wiki is a very popular greens dish included in all meals. It is like Kale leaves done more like keerai masiyal, sometimes made with pumpkin leaves or cassava leaves. We also tried Pilaf — very similar to our pulao, which they eat with githeri, a bean and corn stew. They also eat a lot of potato and sweet tubers.
A restaurant called Carnivore in Nairobi, served us crocodile meat, ostrich meatballs, bison balls, rabbit, zebra meat, beef, chicken and pork — all in one meal! They were all grilled in a big BBQ pit over large skewers and carved at the table. At Mombasa, we did a lot of snorkelling. To see some very unusual varieties of jelly fish, we ventured to a reef — corals and the colourful fish were awesome.
If you are going for a safari, make sure to carry binoculars, zoom lens for your camera and batteries. The best time to travel to Kenya is June end as the season begins in July and August, when the safaris tend to be very crowded and the hotels very expensive.
— As told to Merin James