On Safari Again, Pt. 1: Nairobi And Exploring Amboseli National Park, Kenya
Anyone who has read this blog regularly over the years, both of you, would’ve noticed a pattern that occurs around the middle of the year and that is that Anna always has an epic trip planned. Last year it was sailing around the arctic in search of polar bears among other creatures and in 2022 it was a delayed safari in Zimbabwe and Botswana to find all of the wildlife we could and I think we did pretty well both times. Because we had had such a great time on our previous trip to Africa, we used the same travel consultant, Jess Miller of Redfoot Safaris, to plan one that this time would have us exploring different regions of Kenya and Uganda to witness the crossing of the wildebeests followed by some gorilla trekking, but there would be plenty else to be seen beforehand as well. We would be spending 15 nights in five main locations on this trip, beginning by taking a long, early flight, the first 11 hours to Istanbul, Türkiye, a rather long layover, and then another seven hours to Nairobi, Kenya.
We landed at around 3:00am on the morning of August 3rd and spent the first night in the Four Points by Sheraton at Nairobi Airport so it was when we woke up that the adventure truly began. According to our Redfoot Safaris itinerary, here’s what we could expect on our Kenyan leg, as well as where we would be staying:
Resting in the magnificent Great Rift Valley and presided over by the majestic Mount Kilimanjaro, Kenya is characterised by hauntingly beautiful natural landscapes of forested hills, patchwork farms, wooded savanna and vast forests brimming with an extraordinary abundance of wildlife. The nation’s diverse range of traditional African cultures is influenced by over 70 unique ethnic groups from the Maasai, Samburu, Kikuyu, and Turkana tribes to the Arabs and Indians that settled on the coast. Add to this: an exquisite tropical coastline fringed with breathtaking golden sand beaches; gorgeous coral gardens providing excellent snorkeling and diving opportunities; and a slew of lively beach resorts, and it is easy to see why so many visitors flock here from around the world to experience a truly unique African adventure in one of the world’s most pristine safari destinations.
That sounds like a good start to me so let’s get this little adventure on the road!
Saturday, August 3, 2024
We had flown into Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, but because we had stayed at the airport hotel and had seen none of the city at that point, all we really knew about the place was from the information Jess had sent us:
Situated along the Nairobi River in beautiful Kenya, the capital of Nairobi is East Africa’s most cosmopolitan city. It serves as an excellent starting point for African safari trips around Kenya. Nairobi is Africa’s 4th largest city and is a vibrant and exciting place to be. There are some fascinating attractions: its cafe culture, unbridled nightlife, the National Museum, the Karen Blixen Museum and most notably, just 20 minutes from the city centre, wild lions and buffalo roam in the world’s only urban game reserve. Make sure you pay a visit to the elephant orphanage operated by the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust for a once in a lifetime experience.
Day 2-3: House of Waine, Nairobi (Sat, 3 August to Sun, 4 August)
HOUSE of WAINE has 11 bedrooms and a 2-bedroom cottage set on 2.5 acres that blends the elegance of gracious living with The Spirit of Modern Africa in an exclusive and serene setting. Our aim is to provide our guests with an experience that exceeds all their expectations of city hotels and is punctuated by personalized, friendly and excellent service and cuisine in beautiful surroundings.
Located in the peace and quiet of Karen, House of Waine still retains much of the charm of a family home. Guests are assured of a relaxed and informal atmosphere where they can be free to do as much or as little as they like. Upon entering the gates one is transported to another place, one with a gentler, quieter pace, a private retreat where the only noise one will usually hear will the be the sound of the local birdlife.
Our driver met us at midday to take us through the city to the resort where we would be staying for the following two nights. He was really cool, telling us a lot of details about the city and also mentioning that, because the very new freeway we were driving on was built by Chinese migrants, there were many Chinese in Nairobi, however, based on the experiences we would have on our journey, particularly Anna of course, it seemed like almost all of them had left.
It was a half-hour drive before we were in Karen, the rather affluent suburb where our resort was located and our new home until Monday. We drove down narrow streets while baboons waited on the road for passersby to throw them scraps and before long we had passed security at the gate and had driven down the winding path to check into this place, House of Waine:
Because we were in a different region of Africa we wanted to eat some real local food once more and that led us through some street stalls, but despite how much I’d love to try something from them I doubt my stomach could handle anything cooked in those conditions so we opted instead for some twists on local fare at Cultiva Farm. We loved the food, the highlight being a local twist on tacos, and it was a Saturday night with the Olympics in full swing so we looked for a place to have a few drinks and watch some sports that we wouldn’t normally get into. There were a few options, but the best seemed to be taking an Uber to a pub called Que Pasa, and when we arrived we were a little confused at first as to if we were in the right spot. We were in a kind of small, crowded backstreet thoroughfare with people selling clothes and food out the front of a giant supermarket, but we soon found the small entrance that led into the giant tent that was the main area of Que Pasa so we pulled up a pew in the outdoor section and settled in with a couple of drinks while watching the games, interspersed with some really interesting conversations with the staff.
A night out in Karen:
Sunday, August 4, 2024
We wouldn’t have another opportunity to explore Nairobi on this trip so today was the day to do a tour of the city, but first we checked out a really cool market, selling both clothing and household items, as well as fruit and vegetables including what were classed as “tree tomatoes“, but in reality looked like lemons covered in warts. Obviously Anna found some clothes she liked so she bought those and then we got a coffee each as we do every morning before heading to a nearby shopping mall. There wasn’t really a whole lot there for us, but of course we did the obvious thing and checked out the supermarket to see what bizarre items were available for consumption that I could try in Kenya, but there was nothing really out of the ordinary.
The bulk of our afternoon would be spent doing a tour of the city so first a little more about Nairobi:
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nairobi, which translates to ‘place of cool waters’, a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper had a population of 4,397,073 in the 2019 census. The city is commonly referred to as The Green City in the Sun.
Nairobi is home of the Kenyan Parliament Buildings and hosts thousands of Kenyan businesses and key international companies and organizations, including the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment) and the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON). Nairobi is an established hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest stock exchanges in Africa and the second-oldest exchange on the continent. It is Africa’s fourth-largest stock exchange exchange in terms of trading volume, capable of making 10 million trades a day. It also contains the Nairobi National Park. Nairobi joined the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities in 2010.
It was recommended that we do the tour on a Sunday as apparently it’s nowhere near as busy, but if that is truly the case, I would hate to see what a regular day is like in this town. The footpaths were crowded, not just with pedestrians, but also many people with high-end photography equipment so we just figured something was being filmed that day. Then there were the roads. Parts of South East Asia are notorious for their traffic jams, we always hear about how bad it is in Jakarta, Indonesia and I’ve been stuck in gridlock for hours in Manila, Philippines before so what we saw wasn’t unfamiliar, but it was definitely a little unexpected. We also noticed that many bikes and cars had Christian messages on them, such as a motorbike that had ‘God is Generous’ painted on the rear mudflap, however, I’m sure their neighbours to the east may like a word about that.
We waited out the front of a shoe store for our guide and although he was messaging Anna to tell us that he was on his way, we kept having another guy with dreadlocks who hadn’t introduced himself ask us about our tour and constantly tried to convince us he had helped organise it. We saw another tour group nearby so we tried to lose him by making our way through the thick, black exhaust of one of the nearby buses as police and security viciously poked the driver through the window with sticks, and across several other lanes of disorganised traffic at the Parliament Road Roundabout, but they weren’t our people either so we weaved our way back to the shoe store and eventually our guide arrived. It turned out that he and the guy with the dreadlocks were affiliated, but it was all still a bit suspicious considering he didn’t have any ID and we never found out his name.
The three of us set out on foot through the same insane traffic, taking in the sights as we went, one of the first stops being the memorial for the 1998 bombing of the United States Embassy that killed 224 people, but obviously being an embassy no photos were permitted. This would be a continuing pattern as we were led past more government buildings, however, we eventually found ourselves in a large town square that contained The Judiciary as well as a statue of the first President of Kenya. One of the major stops along the tour was a rooftop area near the Convention Centre that had sweeping views over the entire city, allowing us an unobstructed look at the insane traffic gridlock, a housing place for armoured trucks with water canons for crowd dispersal, a kind of creepy looking inflatable playground, and an incredibly sketchy market. In fact, that market was supposed to be one of our stops on the tour, but it is notorious for thieves and pickpockets, especially when it comes to tourists, and we knew we would get constantly hassled and it would become increasingly difficult to leave the further we went in so we opted to skip it. Instead, once done we were led once again down a road where every few metres there were more groups of people with professional photography equipment and curiosity got the better of us so we felt a need to ask our guide. It turns out that they are all attempting, some reasonably successfully, but most not so mush, to become TikTok and Instagram influencers, they just buy the equipment online cheaply from China.
We continued on a past a mosque and there is usually a cash grab for someone at the end of these tours so we were taken into a market building with large vultures with waddles hanging from their throats perched on the roof and once inside we were immediately shown to a stall where a man tried to thrust upon us whatever tourist crap he could and he wouldn’t take “no” as an answer. He was forcing fridge magnets, postcards, bottle openers, ash trays, absolutely anything in our faces while suggesting other items and wouldn’t let us leave. Eventually to get him to leave us alone I told him I would buy a Tusker beer t-shirt if he would just go away and this seemed to please him, me not so much when he told me it was US$75.00! We just walked away, but he wasn’t having it, blocking the entrance and dropping the price to US$50.00. We said US$20.00 if he’d just f__k off, but he tried to make us feel guilty about ripping him off so to avoid spending the night in a small stall in a building surrounded by vultures we finally got him to accept US$30.00 for a hideous, fake yellow beer t-shirt that we’re ultimately going to use just for mopping up dog piss when we get home.
The evening followed a similar trend to the previous night, some drinks and some snacks nearby at The Talisman before returning to Que Pasa for beers and the Olympics. As we were driven back we passed some of the buses you can see in the following images and at night these are covered with flashing neon lights and deafening, pumping bass coming out of mounted speakers, but we eventually made it to the pub and pulled up our same outdoor seats. We were going to eat there and we had the option of hot wings that went up to ‘Taliban’ level, but we had an early flight the next morning so best to play it safe and just order a pizza, all the while our server, Joshua, kicked back and chatted all night about our lives and his. It’s surprising how much the average Kenyan knows about Singapore!
Lumpy lemons and Nairobi on a quiet Sunday afternoon during some breaks in the traffic, both on foot and the road:
Monday, August 5, 2024
Now the day was upon us where we would be leaving Nairobi and heading to Amboseli National Park to get this safari underway!:
Day 4-5: Elewana Tortilis Camp Amboseli, Amboseli National Park (Mon, 5 August to Tue, 6 August)
Located in the southern reaches of Kenya, the Amboseli National Park is renowned for its excellent variety of wildlife such as Maasai giraffe, elephant, lion and cheetah and not surprisingly it is one of Kenya’s most popular parks. The landscape of Amboseli is dominated by the majestic snowcap of Mount Kilimanjaro, as well as open plains, acacia woodland, swamps and the massif of Ol Doinyo Orok. The birding is excellent, especially closer to the lakes and swamps. The park is famous for being the best place in Africa to get close to large herds of elephants among other wildlife species. Other attractions include opportunities to meet the Maasai people and soak up spectacular views of Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest free-standing mountain in the world.
Overnight: Elewana Tortilis Camp Amboseli
Amboseli is best known for its unrivalled views of Kilimanjaro and the local elephant population. There are over 1000 elephants in the park’s eco-system, featuring some of the largest in Africa. Elewana Tortilis Camp is situated in one of Amboseli’s areas of Acacia Tortilis woodland, with the majestic backdrop of Africa’s highest mountain, and the World’s highest free-standing mountain, snow-capped Kilimanjaro. Game drives, walks, sundowners and bush meals take place both inside the park and within a private 30,000-acre game concession. The tents are all spacious, with king or twin beds and elegant ensuite bathrooms. There is a main lounge, bar and dining area, all exquisitely built with natural materials and thatched roofs.
Yes, she was staying in a place called ‘Karen’
Despite hitting the hay early the previous night, this morning was still painful as we had to be up at around 5:30am in order to get ready and get to the airport in time for our flight which was to depart at around 7:00am so we left our main suitcases at the hotel to collect at the end of the safari and loaded our smaller swags into the car as we had been instructed. While we were waiting in the pint-sized airport there was a miserable elderly couple from the US who felt the need to be on the plane immediately and were complaining the whole time, just bringing up how things were back in Chicago, but in a few days we would find out what had put the pair in such a foul mood.
We boarded our tiny plane and maybe 30 minutes later we were disembarking at the camp where we would be staying for the next couple of nights. While some paperwork was being sorted and our luggage was being taken from the plane, a Chinese tour group all having brought large suitcases despite the instructions, I wandered around, looking at all of the animal bones displayed on the ground and then spotted an enormous herd of zebras on the horizon so I figured we might be in a great spot to begin this adventure and we definitely wouldn’t be disappointed.
We didn’t even go to our tent, our driver, Juma, just insisted we head out immediately so we got in our jeep with another American couple that we would be spending a good amount of time with over the coming days, Jim and Terri, and for the next few hours we navigated the dusty, bumpy tracks under the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro, being blown away at every turn by what we were fortunate enough to see. Unfortunately, once we had set out we discovered that Anna’s camera hadn’t charged despite it having been plugged in overnight so that morning as we passed countless gazelles and wildebeests, herds of zebras and elephants with their babies, lions and giraffes just wandering around while hippos relaxed in a lake, the only way to capture it all would be on my phone, but luckily it doesn’t do too badly.
Some photos and videos from that first venture out immediately after landing:
Once we had returned from that first drive around we were taken to our tents, ours being the last in line and almost a 15-minute walk from all of the communal areas. I use the term ‘tent’ loosely, however, because although it was a canvas, tent-like structure, Anna doesn’t rough it, she only does glamping so having an in-built shower and two basins still passes as a tent to her. The first thing we had to do once inside was to get that camera charged properly so we could use it again on our second drive around after lunch. Once we had eaten we had time to kill so we relaxed outside in some deckchairs, watching giraffes and baboons come down to drink out of a pond near the camp, while birds, lizards, and small deer roamed around:
We would be heading back out in the Jeep at 4:30pm for a drive around the park ending at dusk and this time Anna’s camera would be charged so we took the long walk down to our tent to collect it. As would be the case for the entire duration of our safari we would need to lock the zips on our tent with a carabiner clip when we were out or even sleeping to prevent animals entering, but things were a little stricter here at Amboseli; we would also need to keep our swags in a large, wooden chest and my medication was required to be kept under a wooden box behind the bed, because over time some of the baboons and other monkeys had not only figured out how to get past the barriers into the camp, but some had even managed to open the carabiners as well. Apparently once they’re inside they have a tendency to rummage through luggage and even eat any pills left around.
4:30pm was soon upon us and we were back in the jeep with Jim and Terri for another bumpy ride, all of us doing our best to avoid whiplash or even a dislocated head as Juma took us around once more. He was fantastic at spotting animals and on this ride there were even more to be seen with ostriches putting on courtship displays while flamingoes and ibises stood in nearby ponds. Herds of elephants, including a pregnant one, were all around us again, but this time we were able to get up much closer to the lions and lionesses, Anna and myself both able to capture them as the sun began to set. Once it was dark we were back at the camp for dinner, eating drinking, and laughing at one of the female members of the Chinese tour group trying her best to become an influencer as she had people photograph her in all of her Louis Vuitton and Channel gear, but once again we had an early start the following day so we went back to our tent that thankfully hadn’t been ravaged by baboons.
On the road again:
Tuesday, August 6, 2024
We were up early and back in the jeep at 6:30am for our second and final day in Amboseli National Park. It was probably from all of the dust blowing up off the tracks the previous day, but I woke up coughing and with a blocked nose, however, I guess that was kind of to be expected so we drove around for about two and a half hours, this time, besides more elephants, seeing baboons, impalas, buffalo, and hippos walking around, but an uncommon site we witnessed was ostriches mating. The previous day we had seen the courtship display and today we saw the deed being done.
We stopped of for a quick coffee break and then it was on to something a little different for the morning — Anna, Jim, Terri, and myself were to visit a traditional Maasai tribe:
The Maasai are a Nilotic ethnic group inhabiting northern, central and southern Kenya and northern Tanzania, near the African Great Lakes region. The Maasai speak the Maa language (ɔl Maa), a member of the Nilotic language family that is related to the Dinka, Kalenjin and Nuer languages. Except for some elders living in rural areas, most Maasai people speak the official languages of Kenya and Tanzania, Swahili and English.
The Maasai population has been reported as numbering 1,189,522 in Kenya in the 2019 census, compared to 377,089 in the 1989 census, though many Maasai view the census as government meddling and therefore either refuse to participate or actively provide false information.
When we arrived at their village we were welcomed with a traditional dance and then eventually were expected to take part, which meant after being given a ceremonial stick we were to make particular steps with a rhythm before jumping in the air quickly multiple times. A lot of the the tribesmen around me were significantly younger than us, plus the fact that we had been sitting in a jeep with poor suspension on extremely rough roads for 3-4 hours at a time twice per day made this a little difficult, but the four of us did what we could.
Once the welcoming ceremonies were finished one of the first stops in the village was with a traditional medicine man. He brought up four different medical ailments and then showed us the plants and roots that were ground into a powder as a remedy for each, but there seemed to be a common theme in how they worked; pretty much all of them caused vomiting or diarrhoea, sometimes both, and that’s how the condition would rapidly leave the body. One of the ailments they treated this way was actual diarrhoea, but it seems kind of redundant to me to cure someone of having the shits by giving them something that causes them to have the shits, but the medicine man swore by it. Another was a cure for joint pain so when he asked if anyone would like one of his four remedies, in an effort to humour him when nobody else was willing to step up, I volunteered to take that one. He told me he would prepare it and calculate the price later, but I have absolutely no intention of pooping out some tendonitis, I’ll stick to Panadol.
Next we were taken to two people who showed us how remarkably easy it is to make a fire using sticks, they did it in about two minutes, and then we were led inside a traditional Maasai hut. These huts consist of a wooden frame with a thatched roof, but the walls are made of dried cow manure. You read that correctly, it’s amazing how many things these people make from cow dung and their houses are just one of them. We went inside one of these huts and it was extremely cramped inside and almost pitch black. Most of the huts have a similar layout so we were guided down a small, narrow corridor into a main room and the entire time I was unable to stand upright. As far as I am aware I’m not claustrophobic, but once inside I started to feel really lightheaded so initially I was a little concerned that the jet lag and overall lack of sleep was going to cause me to have a seizure, but it never happened, although if it did there was probably something available that could help remove the epilepsy from my body via the bowel. The hut didn’t really smell, but maybe it was the fumes that come with being enclosed in walls of cow shit so I continued looking at what we were being shown, including holes in the ground used for cooking, as well as a bed in another room, before heading back out in the sun and catching my breath.
By this point our look into Maasai life had almost concluded, the medicine man brought over my joint sawdust at a cost of US$30.00 and then we were led to some market stalls. I had paid for my medicine already so I should’ve been fine, but once again the young guide constantly tried to hassle us into buying something. I understand they probably needed the money more than us, but constantly pointing out items that we don’t want or can’t even take on a plane, such as the large ceremonial dagger he tried to convince me to purchase or a handcrafted wooden spoon that was displayed on a pile of elephant turds. It was even more annoying when we tried to move to an area where there might be something that we could be interested in only to have our path blocked and repeatedly told, “Slowly, slowly!”. Eventually we got out of there, Anna buying two bowls made of beads just so we could leave and me with my one-gram bag of sawdust.
More animals, this time including baboons, hippos on land, and water buffalos, plus a clip of some ostrich coitus:
Later, spending some time with the Maasai tribe, visiting their huts, and watching them start a fire from scratch with relative ease:
Our morning amongst the wildlife and the Maasai was complete so it was back to the camp for lunch and relaxation. Well, we at least tried to eat in peace while the Instagram influencer was on a rather loud phone call with what seemed to be her manager. Once we had finished lunch we spent the afternoon in much the same way as the previous day, just laying in the shade and taking in the dry African heat, a pleasant escape from the humidity of Singapore, all the while me trying to clear all of the dust from my sinuses.
4:30pm was soon upon us once more, meaning it was time for another spinal readjustment in the jeep while we scoured the landscape for more wildlife. We saw most of the usual suspects as well as some hyenas, but the most impressive ending was an enormous family of at least 36 elephants, several of the males on musth. Once we were done driving around, all of the jeeps went up to a lookout point to enjoy some sunset drinks, the Instagram star constantly posing for what she wanted to be “spontaneous” looking photos of her being busted having a glass of champagne in the wild at sunset in all of her brandname attire, Anna mocking her in some of her own pictures, while myself and Juma compared our photos of musthy elephant dongs. This gave our group a few laughs, but his artistic looking shot took the cake, him continuing to tell me that when he took the photo there was a trail of footprints with a line running down the centre the entire way. Impressive.
Once the sun had set it was back to the camp for dinner with Anna, myself, Jim, and Terri showing each other our photos from the day, but when it got to Anna’s shots parodying the Chinese influencer, Jim informed us that apparently she had been having topless photos taken by the pool earlier in the day. Was that what the agent was calling about?
Anyway, wrapping up our final day in Amboseli National Park:
So that brings an end to the first leg of our stay in Africa, but stay tuned for upcoming installments where we see white rhinos while “camping” in Lewa Conservancy, witness the madness that is the crossing of the wildebeests in Masai Mara, and then fly over to Uganda and go gorilla trekking in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park.
Beautiful place.