Kenya safari: Truly a unique experience, wildlife and nature at its best…

This past October I celebrated my birthday (the big 50) and after looking into many alternatives decided to do a big trip to Kenya, interesting enough it would be my 50th country visited. It was clear that Kenya needed to be the destination since the trip would be a celebration of the big 50 in my 50th country with the mission to see the Big 5 (most famous African large animals).

There are many operators that do Safari in Africa and they plan with you accordingly to the budget you have, after comparing some of the companies I decided to go with a company called Spirit of Kenya. The service they provided in terms of communication and designing of the trip was very good and more important the 5 days / 4 night safari was top notch delivering high ratings in all aspect from the vehicle, food, lodging, and guide (Derick our guide was awesome, Vanessa our sales consultant great communication).

We combined the safari with a couple of nights at one of the top beaches in Africa called Diani Beach, this is a great plan to do since you can enjoy a different aspect of Kenya but with the benefit that you will continue finding great people. Here we stayed at a small property called Galu 723 , in a beach bungalow that was 10 steps to the beach, I will do a separate post on Diani Beach and will give share our experience in this great destination.

Our safari consisted in visiting 3 important areas of Kenya, where you can get to experience at a close range some of the best wildlife in this country and possibly in the world. Once we landed in Nairobi, we were greeted by the tour operator and arrangements for us to go into the first stop Lake Naivasha a couple of hours outside Nairobi. Our transportation for the trip was a very comfortable safari van, it worked very well for us 2 as we had enough space to move around the game drives and also was very smooth in the open road.

LAKE NAIVASHA / HELL´S GATE

What a great first stop with a different approach to the game drive, this one was on a small boat in the lake. Since it was our first activity in the safari it worked as a great introduction of the following days, a game drive is an activity where you get to admire nature always on the lookout to find animals being themselves in the wild, it is so great to see these beautiful animals roaming through the reserve.

In Lake Naivasha we encountered the hippo and got to see the massive size and their ability to swim in the water, impressive to see them in the water protecting from the sun and resting so they can go hunt in the night. Here at the lake, we had also the opportunity to see some birds at close range, even got to see an eagle and some birds fishing out of the lake. The way these birds feed is impressive with a very high level of success on getting fish out of the water. There are local guides that take you in this adventure, he was very knowledgeable and fun making this experience unique.

The second part of the adventure here was Hell’s Gate National Park, a small park that provides the opportunity to do some hiking across different cliffs. The hiking was around 60 minutes and take you to some areas where you can see great views of the ravine including some hot springs along the way. This park serves as inspiration for the Lion King movie. Make time to come here and go hiking, it will be a great adventure.

Before going to Maasai Mara, we stayed the night in the Enashipai resort and spa hotel, it is a hotel by the lake and provides great accommodation and food. In all the places we stayed people were great, always welcoming and open to sharing their stories and for this I feel very fortunate to cross path with all this great people. Maybe we stayed less than 12 hours in the property, but the quality made it unforgettable and with some rest to Maasai Mara.

MAASAI MARA

Maasai Mara is one of the most famous and important wildlife conservation and wilderness areas in Africa, world-renowned for its exceptional populations of lions, leopard, cheetah, elephants and is also host to the Great Migration. The reserve is contiguous to the Serengeti National park in Tanzania.

Here you can find the Big Five, but due to poaching the Rhino suffered and got to a very low population and today the Maasai Mara is a protected area looking to preserve the black rhino. During our trip we did not encounter any rhino here and was at Lake Nakuru, where we saw both the white and black rhino. The most difficult animal to spot is the Leopard, since they are mostly hidden and not easily seen, we got to see a Leopard during our visit to the Mara and the pictures reflect how beautiful is this animal.

In the Maasai Mara we stayed in a camp inside the reserve for 2 nights, this provided more time to cover different areas of the reserve and admire the beauty of the park and the good number of animals you encounter during the day. As part of the game drives we got to see a couple of crossings used by thousands of animals on a yearly basis in what is called the Great Migration, a time when due to availability of food Gazelles, Wildebeest, Zebras began a roughly 800 kilometers journey. The Great Migration has secured a place in the Seven Natural wonders of Africa and as one of the new wonders of the world.

Here in the Mara, you understand the importance of having a great guide for the tour. The job of the guide is to truly make your trip one for the ages, our guide Derick not only had the knowledge of the place but know other guides and the ability of him to communicate with the rest of the guide was fundamental to really enjoy the game drives, being at the right place in the right time to capture some impressive images of this beautiful animals creating memories that will live with us for life.

The hotel we stayed in the Maasai Mara was Mara Bush Camp a place inside the reserve and one of the unique attractions of this place is a Hippo Pool and river that sits in front of your tent and brings a very close encounter with this impressive animals the hippo. Our camp consisted of only 10 tents, with huge space and a balcony with open view to the hippos, here you can see and hear them from a close distance. The camp is a great property with very nice tents, good restaurant, a very cool bar and lounge plus personalized service that makes you feel secure and at home.

On the third day we said goodbye to the Mara, not after being extremely pleased with all of the attention of the people in the camp and with some out of this world game drives as you can appreciate in some of the photos. Leaving the Mara we were only one short to see the big five and this next day was going to be my birthday, I was looking forward to get a good present from Kenya and get pictures from the rhino so would be able to cross the big five from my list, this would need to come from Lake Nakuru our last stop.

LAKE NAKURU

Lake Nakuru is one of the Rift Valley Lakes, it lies to the south of Nakuru and is protected by Lake Nakuru National Park. Here in the lake, you will find many varieties of birds including thousands of flamingos (smaller to the ones I have seen in America), the park also has expanded to provide a sanctuary for black rhinos and making sure poachers don’t come near them. The park might be small, but the concentration of animals is important with Giraffes, Zebras, Baboons, Antelope and more than 100 Black and White Rhinos in the park.

As we entered the park the black rhino was ready to welcome us in the park and what a beautiful animal it is, I do hope that the actions to preserve them can be enough and not lose the species due to poachers. During the visit we also got to see the white rhino, also impressive size and very elegant roaming in the park, what a great day to finally finish viewing the big five. As the day ended, we had one last place to stay and this one is perched at the top of a 100 meter high rock looking at the lake it called The Cliff. This camp located inside the park provides great views of the Lake and the tents are placed so you can wake up with the sunrise into your tent, one amazing experience to have.

I will be doing additional posts on Kenya and try to fully capture the different stops in our trip, just wanted to share initial thoughts on this amazing destination and get you excited to come and visit Kenya. Thanks for reading the post, please share it and sign in to receive our updates; also follow us on Instagram, or Facebook look for #BORICUASLIVINGABROAD. Until next time….