For starters, Magical Kenya which is under the Kenya Tourist Board (KTB) sent me an email on Tuesday last week and I was like WHOOOOOOOOOOOAH! They chose me?! Why?
That evening I was in a 111 #NgongKeren mat heading home and I remember smiling all the way from Nairobi to Ngong.
See, this year started on low note, my Mum (#British) suffered a severe stroke and just as things were getting better, she had to have ankle re-re-placement surgery in June and what a huge toll that took on me but because God does not eat ugali and sukuma, He sent angels in form of #KenyansOnTwitter to help finance #British’s surgery *holds back tears*I’m FOREVER grateful to all who support(ed) #TeamBritish.
Back to my safari story. I somehow got a week leave from work and off I was.
Before departure, the KTB team hosted us for tea and a briefing on what our trip was all about.
KTB has really been looking at how to aggressively promote local tourism and they came up with a brill idea of taking bloggers and tweeps with klout on a journey that would be documented live on Twitter.
Is this a good place to mention I came up with the hashtag #TembeaKenya *ahem*
Our work, was to twitpic, check in to foursquare and share our experiences in all the spots we visited.
The #TembeaKenya pack starred:
@Muriux – KTB digital dude aka Father of 3
@CKitil - KTB IT guy aka Governor
@enabiki – Marketing lady aka Siangingi
@TimNjiru – Renowned journalist aka Mangrathi
@Aheshy – Lawyer & Blogger extraordinaire aka Jaber
John - Our awesome driver from Glory Safaris aka Rirac Rested Rorac
@Ngendo87 – Copy writer & failed planker
The #TembeaKenya ride was a mighty Land Cruiser. Now shady me, I’ve never been in a Landie before so you can imagine my excitement when I saw it! The Landie was equipped with a cooler box with bottled water and other liquids we soon nicknamed ‘Mangrathi’.
DAY 1
Wonderful service and superb service we got. After that Kikopey lunch, I couldn’t eat much, I just wanted to sleep. The hotel’s reception and restaurant are in a different compound as the hotel rooms. They are literally across from each other.
I had a double room with a cool view of the lake from my balcony. There was a TV. I was content. Nights there are humid but manageable humid. The one that sets you to sleep pap! But the mozzis are monsters but lucky the rooms are equipped with heavy duty mosquito nets.
DAY 2
In our house after #British got sick, we can no longer afford the luxury of buying certain things. Like bacon. How excited was I when I saw bacon being served for breakfast!
Anyway, it was the day to explore Lake Baringo in our swaggalicious boat rocking orange life boat jackets. The day was hot and full of adventure. We boarded our boats by the lake and our tour guide and the boat driver whose names I forget were the best! They showed us everything.
We got to visit one of the islands, Ol Kokwe which is home to Njemps. There we met a mzee who speaks fluent Maasai, Samburu and Kikuyu.
He entertained us with songs and tales of the lake. I felt like a kid listening to my grandfather. So nostalgic!
After a 2 hour boat ride, we visited the Lake Baringo Reptile Park which is just at the shore. The park exists mainly for educational purposes and many schools and other learning institutions do visit on a regular basis.
Clearly Ahenda has no fear of snakes. She literally ran into the park when she heard we could take pictures with the snakes!! Father of 3 on the other hand, ran the opposite direction.
We drove like 30 minutes to our lunch destination, Lake Bogoria Spa Resort. I loved the relaxing ambiance. Sigh!
DAY 3
It was quite a smooth ride to Lake Nakuru National Park. For you to get in the park, you have to pay at the gate.
The service we received from the entrance was exceptional! We had lunch (I think I inhaled mine! I was super hungry) then we checked into our hotel rooms.
Buffalo! They say the lion is the king of the jungle, well, I say the buffalo is the king maker. Those animals are fierce. They give you this if-you-keep-looking-at-me-I-will-charge look.
We went back to the lodge after sunset and we got there in time for their evening traditional dances. This is where we got to interact with other tourists from all over the world.
DAY 4
We had breakfast and checked out.
Drove to Baboon Cliff which is still in the park and we got a panoramic view of Lake Nakuru from there.
Interestingly, on our way to Baboon Cliff, I met a tweep, Jilani. That’s when I knew Twitter had flattened the world!
At Baboon Cliff, we got to capture some really cool pictures as seen below:
My expectations were surpassed from the moment we stepped into the reception area. We left our luggage in the lobby and we were ushered to the dining are. GRVL has 2 dining area. One is huge and is like a big, classy dining room and the other one is a restaurant that is near the reception and it can accommodate up to 100 people.
The lunch was sooo good!
We went back to the reception and found porters waiting on us with our luggage ready to take us to our rooms.
Ahenda and I got adjacent rooms 19 & 20 unlike Governor who slept in a house where he had to be ferried by a bus..lol! Tim was in room 30, Muriuki 24 and Enabiki 15.
As Ahenda and I walked into our rooms, were started suspecting that they had given us the wrong rooms. Surely a room cannot be that heavenly and have such a fantastic view to top it all up!
It took me like 20 minutes to for it to really sink in that this would be my home for 2 nights. My afternoon swim plan was crushed by rain so we went to Tim’s room aka Club 30 to have disco! Good time!
As we gathered for dinner I started realizing that GRVL is mostly used by government peeps and NGOs to hold conferences and things alike. I remember seeing FAO, NACC et al. By this time in the journey, my stomach could not take in more than 10 spoons of food. It was full. So this is where Eno comes in handy!
After dinner, the disco continued till late!
DAY 5
To access the Island we had to take short boat trip from the mainland out into Lake Naivasha. The nature walk is Ksh. 300 and you are encouraged to tip the guides.
Our boat driver left us in the able hands of Bernard whom till today I believe should be a gym instructor! We spent an hour walking around at our own (read: Bernard’s) pace enjoying the sounds of the Islands wild inhabitants. We ran with the animals and we ran away from some.
At this point, I should probably mention that if you are planning on visiting Crescent Island, wear shoes with a hard sole because they are many thorns that stick on the shoes. It can get very uncomfortable and painful as Tim found out. He did a cart-wheel and the palm of his hands were full of thorns…LQTM!
We also came across a shepherd with his sheep. I felt so at home #NgongKeren.
Bernard really made us walk round the whole island. I think he looked at us and saw how unfit we were and took it upon himself to make us fit with the one hour he had. By the time we were done with the walk, we were beat. But not beat enough to not plank!
Bernard’s walk really took a toll on us and all we could think about was FOOOOOOD!
Ever pictured a place that is so perfect you don’t want to touch it? Welcome, Chui Lodge which is set in the privately owned Oserian Wildlife Sanctuary. It’s an exclusive and exquisite paradise! The hotel and rooms are crafted from simple bush stone, local Acacia with a beautiful twisted Marula roof.
The manager and his staff gave us a great welcome! We sat outside, sipped some good red wine as we took in the serenity of the moment with South African chill house in the background from Tim’s MacBook. The waiter served us with a starter, mushroom crepe followed by pumpkin soup then the main meal, chicken thigh which was topped up with some sinfully sweet dessert.
The heated pool…I could live here.
Against my will, we had to leave :(
As we were heading back to GRVL, we stopped at the little known Crater Lake. It’s a tented camp set within the lake’s natural conservancy.The best part of Crater Lake is the ‘Floating restaurant’. We had drinks and yes, we couldn’t resist the outdated planking craze.
Our last dinner at GRVL was made special by the management (Heritage Hotels) who gave us a complimentary bottle of red wine. Now that’s what I was talking about!
It was hard to believe that it was our last night there.
DAY 6
I was awake by 6am to watch the sunrise and to compliment God on the wonderful works of His hands. I had packed the night before so I was ready to roll like tissue!
All aboard! Mara here we come!
John estimated the journey would take 4 hours but it was shorter due to my alertness! Ever since we had left Nairobi, not once had we fueled the Landie and I was getting concerned. So before we hit Mai Mahiu road, we stopped to fuel. We jazad tanks and we were off.
The B3 Mai Mahiu road to Narok is fantastic but right at the turning into the Mara road, WAHALA DEY!
We were going to be thrown up down up down for 178KMs. I braced myself and consoled myself, ‘Jikaze tu! This is what a Mara safari entails!’
The Landie tourists had a quick bathroom break at Olare Gift Shop which has quality stuff but pricy.
I literally slept through the rest of the journey. I woke up and we were at the main Mara entrance. We had reached the gates of heaven only instead of being ushered in by Angel Gab, we were greeted by Maasai women selling us their articrafts and jewellery. Tim got the chance to pull a flawless British accent! Unforgettable moment!
Another 20KMs and I saw the sign board ‘Sarova Mara’. I couldn’t wipe off the smile on my face! All this while I had been tweeting the manager and for sure he was there to receive us. It’s such little things that made my stay there worth the while.
Porters were at hand to help with our luggage. We were handed cold wet towels to wipe our hands and faces because the dust on that road is no joke!
Sarova Mara, I was here!
The restaurant is like no other! I remember entering and taking pictures with my eyes just to keep in my heart. They have a wide variety of food offered at the buffet set up.
Loved every bit of it!
The porters took us to our tented rooms. Fortunately or unfortunately, my room was the furthest. Tent No. 60
I charged my camera, phone and my spirit! I was feeling so inspired, so alive, so blessed!
We went out for an evening game drive.
Download this song and experience the Mara with me through the pictures!
At this point a lion would have ambushed us but I cared less. I was loving the moment!
DAY 7
We were welcomed by a Moran who told us more about their culture as he was talking other morans came out of nowhere, almost making Ahenda fall into the bonfire. It was a mock attack that scared the crap out of us. Good one guys!
We settled in for dinner and just like the previous evening, the Lodge Manager joined us.
Shared many laughs and endless stories. It was one of those moments you want to cherish for life.
At around 9pm, we went back to the lodge to the cruel reality of it being our last night there and the end of our #TembeaKenya safari.
This was the major highlight of the whole trip. The hot air balloon ride.
Seeing the ballon being prepared and finally taking off with it. That, that was cool!
I made friends and most of all memories!
View videos of the safari. Pictures taken courtesy Muriuki Murithi and I!
You too can do the same. Save up, eat less, travel more!