Let's Talk About Kenya

Kenya is a country on the eastern edge of Africa that lies on the equator with a coast on the Indian Ocean. Since we decided to move to this side of the world, Africa was high on our list of places to visit. It is a 7-hour flight from Kuwait which made it the perfect distance to travel to during our short winter break.

We weren’t sure what it would be like as African Americans in Africa. Let’s face it, we are Americans by birth but at some point, our ancestors were stolen from Africa. This poses the question:  where do we fit in? Everyone in Africa looked at us and knew we weren’t locals. Some people greeted us with warm smiles and handshakes and called us brother and sister. They were quick to make conversation and ask where we were from. Texas incites excitement because they all know exactly where it is and what it looks like. Then it leads to the next set of questions: “Are there lots of guns?” (yes, unfortunately – hangs head in shame) “Does everyone ride horses” (no, but it’s not an uncommon sight) “How do you feel about Donald Trump?” (hangs head in shame again). Other people stared us down as we walked down the beach or through the market with looks of confusion. We often heard names like “cappuccino” to describe our skin tones, and “mzungu” to label us as foreigners.  After two weeks in Africa, we still don’t know where we fit in. One thing is for sure though, we are envious of the fact that they know where they fit in. Every person that we met could tell us what tribe they belonged to, and their complete family history.

This whole trip from start to finish definitely goes down in the books as one of our favorites. It took us so long to write the blog this time because we had no idea how to put everything in words. Here’s our best effort:

Nairobi

Upon arrival, we were greeted at the airport by a local driver named Martin. He won me over within the first hour when he dropped us off at a breakfast spot (Java House) that had pancakes and bacon. All the heart eyes to Martin. After breakfast, he drove us around the city and took us shopping for fabric. We made a special request to see a fire station, a tradition that AJ and I have when we travel to new places. He may be a 4^th grade teacher now, but his eyes lit up as soon as we saw the fire truck. A few of the men came out and introduced themselves and then the Attorney General of Kenya poked his head out of his office. He struck up a conversation about what it was like to be a firefighter in America with AJ, then invited us in to his office to talk further about the department. I don’t think we knew the magnitude of the person we were talking to until later when we saw his face plastered on billboards all across Nairobi.

 

 

 

 

On the last day of our trip we had time to kill before our late-night flight back to Kuwait. We decided to hire another driver named George. Our first stop of the day was to the David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage. This is a center that takes care of baby elephants who have lost their mothers to a variety of different causes. The orphanage keeps the babies for a few years and then releases them into Tsavo East National Park where they are monitored for a few more years until they find a family in the wild. The center is only open to the public for one hour a day to raise awareness and limit human interaction with the elephants. We arrived early enough to get a good spot to watch the handlers feed the babies as they came rumbling down the hill to their play pen. It was a fun time watching massive baby elephants with giant floppy ears gently ease themselves into the muddy water pit and roll around in the dirt.

 

 

 
After leaving the elephant orphanage, George took us to the Giraffe Center. This center was created to protect an endangered species called the Rothschild giraffe. Here we were able to feed and kiss giraffes. AJ didn’t do any of the kissing. Check out his face while feeding one!

 

 

 

 





Our last activity before leaving Nairobi was to visit the Kazuri Bead Factory. This factory hand makes ceramic jewelry before sending it off to several countries to be sold in stores. The factory was initially started in 1975 to help disadvantaged women. Today the factory still employs mostly single women and also provides them with healthcare. We received a private tour of the facilities and the bead making process from clay to finished products. We were also able to meet some of the women who have worked there since the factory’s opening.

 

 

 

Safari

Our safari began with an early morning pickup from our hotel in Nairobi. The safari truck reminds you of a jeep mixed with a suburban with three rows after the driver’s seat. Our vehicle consisted of six passengers: us two, our friends (Joe & Amanda), the tour guide/driver (Daniel), and chef (Joseph). We drove about 6 hours from Nairobi to Maasai Mara. Some of the drive included paved roads, but most of it was a rocky, dirt road. The Mara is a huge game reserve that shares a border with the Serengeti. It is famous for being home to the Big 5. The Big 5 is a term used for Africa’s group of most dangerous animals to hunt, whose predators are only themselves and stupid humans. The Big 5 consists of lions, elephants, buffaloes, rhinos, and leopards. Tracking animals through their natural habitat was one of the best experiences of my life. Going on game drives is a lot like fishing (an activity that we really love) because you have to be incredibly patient and observant to find the animals. It is really hard when you are used to zoos where the animals have nowhere to run and hide. Here they are free to roam and go wherever they please, which might mean that you may not see them. We were really lucky with an awesome tour guide, who not only follows the park rules, but also respects the animals. We saw some tour guides that were driving their trucks in a harassing manner toward the animals. Not okay people!

 

 

 

 

Lake Nakuru

After two days driving around a portion of Maasai Mara, we headed north eight hours to Lake Nakuru. This national park is a lake habitat home to tons of birds and large mammals. It is the only park that we visited that was fenced. This is due to the large population of rhinos that were brought there to be protected from poachers. It is not uncommon to drive around and see park rangers strapped with AK-47s. The sights here were amazingly beautiful, but it wasn’t our favorite because the wildlife seemed to be less active. Then again, we were probably spoiled in the Maasai because we saw the Big 5 so quickly.

 

 

 






Amboseli

After one day at Lake Nakuru, we traveled southeast another eight hours toward the border of Tanzania near Mount Kilimanjaro to Amboseli. This national park has wetlands, savannah, and woodlands, and is known for having a large elephant population. The animals here seemed to be the fattest and most well fed due to the surrounding ecosystem. This was the last park of our safari and the animals here didn’t disappoint. It rained off and on throughout the day and it finally cleared up in the early evening hours. On our way out of the park the last evening, we drove past a huge male elephant walking under a rainbow. There aren’t many words to describe the awesomeness of God and nature.

 

 

 

 

 

Accommodations

Our hotel on the first and last days of the trip in Nairobi was a cute, quiet, hotel surrounded by gardens. The first night was a rude awakening of what it means to be in Africa. I lay awake the whole night, drenched in sweat, listening to mosquitoes buzz around my head and wondering where all the geckos on the wall were. Luckily enough, the morning temperatures were cool enough to offset the lack of AC throughout the night.

 

During the safari, we stayed two nights in lodges and camped in tents for 3 nights. On night number one, we stayed at a camping ground on the outside of the park.  Mind you there are no fences around the park, the animals are free to come and go in any direction. The park and camp are separated by a narrow river bed. Our protection that night consisted of make-shift thorn bush fences and Maasai Warriors walking the camp.  Did I mention that this was AJ’s first time ever camping? It was neat to see him carefully watch everything that Daniel was doing in order to learn how to pitch a tent. After watching him so intensely, AJ set off to build our tent. I have to say that he did a pretty good job. (The tent didn’t fall in the middle of the night at least.)  As the moon replaced the sun, the animals became active. There were hyenas laughing, zebras yipping, and the occasional unidentified call going all night long. This was night number two of no sleep for me. My fear of geckos and malaria carrying mosquitos was replaced with nightmares of hungry hyenas and wildebeest stampedes. (Thanks Lion King)

 

Night number two was God’s way of saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant (Amber)! You have been faithful with a few things (like geckos and things that go bump in the night); and I will put you in charge of many things (like a bed and a hot water shower). Come and share your Master’s happiness (like with a buffet and cold bottled water)!” Sopa Lodge is a chain of hotels in Kenya and Tanzania that are close to all of the major national parks.  We celebrated Christmas here and it was so nice to see a cheesy Santa and big Christmas tree. This was as much Christmas spirit that we’d seen since moving to the Middle East.

 

 

 

On the third and fourth night, we were back to camping in tents. The third night was a “glamping” campsite that included a bar, restaurant, and electricity. It was definitely our favorite site. The fourth night went back to the basic campsite complete with a caged kitchen to store the food from the bad baboons. Thank goodness for long car drives in between the parks, or I never would’ve slept.

 

 On the fifth and final night, we were back at a different Sopa Lodge. This one was by far our favorite place to stay. It had the best view of snowcapped Mount Kilimanjaro and beautiful, well-maintained grounds. It didn’t have AC, but hey you can’t have it all. It also had a giant Maasai warrior, Sammy, as the welcome committee.

 

 

 

In Mombasa, we stayed at an all-inclusive resort on the beach. This was the first time we had AC in our entire time in Africa. Well…sort of. Upon arrival, we were given our room keys and made the trek from the hot, open air lobby to our sauna hotel room. It was probably 100 degrees in there and I had to have a pep talk with myself to keep from crying. That’s how we met the front desk attendant, Kennedy. Amanda and Joe were in the lobby mentioning that their friends were dying upstairs, and Kennedy quickly found us a new room with a working AC unit. And all the people said “Amen.” Besides the brief moment of melting in hell and a gecko harassing me on the ceiling of our room one night, the hotel was fabulous.

 

Food

Africa was tough on us in different ways, but food was never an issue. The safari company provided a chef that cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner when we were not in a lodge. Joseph, our chef, was phenomenal. He was the sweetest man who worked wonders with a propane tank and hot plate. He even let AJ help him prepare meals. When we weren’t with Joseph, or at the resort, we were at Java House. We ate there 3 times! There aren’t a whole lot of food chains as you can imagine, so we found one that we all liked and stuck with it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beach

We stayed about 20 minutes south of Mombasa at a stretch of beach called Diani. We picked this area because it is geared toward tourists and it is considered one of the best beaches in the world. This was our first time in the Indian Ocean, and it did not disappoint. Gorgeous blue, warm water and white, fine sand.

 

 

 

Villages

In between national parks we stopped by a Maasai village to take a tour. It was pretty unreal to see people who choose to live so primitively, but can be so content with everyday life. Upon arrival, we were welcomed by the warriors of the village with song and dance. Immediately AJ and Joe were dragged into the middle of all the action to jump with the warriors. We were then taken into their village where they showed us how they make fire, their homes, and a little more about their culture. Maasai people are a group that inhabit the southern part of Kenya and northern part of Tanzania, around national parks. They have distinctive customs such as polygamy, marriage dowries, and strict male/female roles. They also have an easily identifiable dress that consists of red fabric called a shuka, beaded necklaces, and earrings around their stretched earlobes. After our mini tour, the women came out and greeted us with their traditional song and dance that of course included Amanda and I. I had no idea what was going on or what to do, but it was very cool to be a part of it. We were then taken to their “store” where the women showed off their beaded work from necklaces to bracelets and belts. I could hardly concentrate because I was focused on a little girl under the table. While everyone shopped, I played with as many kids as I could get my hands on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mombasa Village 

Kennedy, the front desk attendant who saved us from heat stroke, invited us to visit his village and meet his soccer team. We made arrangements with him and found a day when he was off of work. He invited us into his home where we met his sister and son. Then we walked outside and met the members of his soccer team. The team had a championship game coming up and Kennedy thought it would be helpful for AJ and Joe to give the boys a motivational speech. The ironic thing is that we were there to provide motivation and they ended up motivating us. These boys had incredible talent and half of them didn’t even have shoes! We heard through the power of Facebook that the boys won their championship.

 

 

 

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Growing up as middle class U.S. citizens, Africa seemed like an unattainable place to visit in our lifetime. Now we can officially say that we have stepped foot in the motherland and we’re so glad that we did. 

“A mind stretched by new experiences can never go back to it’s old dimensions.”