Karibu Kenya

Nairobi

We left the dusty streets of Cairo behind and headed south, officially crossing into the southern hemisphere. We landed in Nairobi, Kenya at a very uncivilized hour of 4:30am. We have learned this is common for air travel on this continent: Weird departure and arrival times help facilitate some of the immense distances involved. Thanks to some local contacts we were able to arrange for a driver, James, who picked us up at the airport in the wee hours of our first day. James would help us out several times during our 2 weeks in Kenya, navigating the streets and highways with ease.

The feeling of East Africa hits you right away - especially the friendliness of the people - they say ‘karibu’ which means “you are welcome” - although it can be used as a “you’re welcome” after a thank you (asante), it is most often used with a different emphasis, always accompanied by a warm smile, handshake and friendly face, saying to you sincerely “you are welcome (here)” - and you feel that way. 

Erin & Caitlin

Caitlin makes a mean cake!

Old friends on the continent, and Erin’s previous love of East Africa from her time in Uganda, made our transition here feel easy. In Nairobi we reconnected with Caitlin, an old friend of Erin’s who took us to cool local haunts (that we never would have found on our own), taught us the ropes of Nairobi and shared a wealth of local knowledge. The first night she took us to a sports bar that had cricket batting cages, mini golf and a Liverpool football game on the BIG screen and become a fast friend of Finlay with this surprise experience. She hosted us at her beautiful home for a lovely home cooked meal – thanks Caitlin!

Everywhere is lush and green - including in the bustling city of Nairobi. The next morning we travelled to Nairobi National Park - the only national park found within a capital city in the world - which borders this city of approximately 6 million people. Here we visited the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage to meet the 12 young rescue elephants who live there and to learn the story behind these magnificent creatures. The baby elephants range in age from just a few weeks old to 2-3 years. Many are orphaned due to poaching activities. We saw them get fed, play in a mud bath and even got to pet them. Magical. The keepers feed them a mixture of human infant formula and oats. The emcee teaching the crowd offered, without skipping a beat “you may ask why we use human formula? Well, we have found it’s the closest thing to what they find in nature, they like it and besides….it’s hard to milk a wild elephant…!

A few days later we visited the Giraffe Centre to participate in feeding these tall, majestic creatures who are being rehabilitated for reintroduction into the wild. The kids have been so excited that this phase of our travels is focused on learning about subjects that are very much alive! Another Nairobi highlight was hiking through Kararu Forest – the second largest urban forest in the world.

Meeting the baby elephants

Having some milk

We also got to meet Titan a baby rhino

Giraffe's are so silly looking up close

We stayed in the central neighbourhood of Westlands during our time in Nairobi. We found it to be very safe and walkable. To get around we elected for Ubers as they are ubiquitous and the public bus system is a little more complicated than in other major cities. Here there are a plethora of small ‘matatus’ (buses) that run routes that are not always clear and seemingly continue to pick people up along the route until the van can literally fit no more people. These buses are all colourfully painted - we even saw a Toronto Blue Jays themed one! The mall next to our apartment had a trampoline park and an open-air food court on the top floor. This allowed the boys to burn off some steam while Erin and Ian enjoyed margaritas and fresh guacamole nearby. Made us wonder why the trampoline facilities back home are all out of the way in industrial parks without a beer garden in sight. 

Great Rift Valley

After our urban experience we were excited to explore the countryside and had arranged to stay in the Lake Naivasha area. The Great Rift Valley, that Lake Navaisha is situated in, is a section of Africa that stretches for 6000km down the African continent. It is believed that humans originated here. This area offers a unique geological experience and the drive from Nairobi to our lodge took us along the edge of the valley giving us an amazing view as we descended into the cradle of humanity. We stayed in two different locations while exploring Lake Naivasha. First at Sanctuary Farm was an “eco-cabin” style building situated in a fenced-off game farm. Our instructions for our stay were not to go outside after dark because of the hippos that roam the farm after dark eating their dinner. Sure enough, come evening we heard some rustling outside and went to check- and were shocked to see a pair of hippos within 10 feet of the front door (in case you didn’t know Hippos are by far the most dangerous animal in Africa as they are aggressive and territorial – despite being vegetarian). Not sure who was more shocked by Ian poking his head out the door - Ian or the hippo? Thankfully they were so shocked that a quick flash from the headlamp sent them scurrying to a more respectful distance. We spent a few days here walking the grounds during the day (when the hippos are safely in the lake and the rest of the animals roamed) and catching up on some home-schooling. The facility offers horseback rides where you can ride amongst the local zebra, wildebeest and giraffe who find it easier to accept humans who are on horseback. The boys had their first real experience on the back of a horse (we know we’re bad Albertans).

One of the closest parks to this area is Hell’s Gate National Park. This national park is famous for its dramatic scenery, geothermal activity and unique activities such as climbing, hiking and mountain biking. To enjoy all this park has to offer it is recommended to explore by bike with a hired guide: We met Bennett at the front gate who helped us pick our bikes out. Although many of the bikes appear to be left over from the era of British colonialism, they are well loved and cared for and were more than adequate to take us along the dirt roads of this stunning park.  Bennett's knowledge of this slice of Africa was very helpful in exploring Ol Norowa Gorge, a deep gorge that is one of the primary inspirations for the Lion King movies. The geology and geothermal activity here cuts deep gorges that offer a unique hiking experience. Unfortunately, a group of tourists got caught in a flash flood in 2019 so this area is now only accessible with a guide.

We finished our time at Lake Naivasha on Crescent Island, a small island that has a few rentable Airbnbs and a restaurant. We were greeted by the resident zebras who were grabbing some shade by our porch. Ian sat and had a beer with them and they hardly budged. The island is a very well kept preserve that used to have a road that connected it to the mainland. The water level has increased in recent years due to climate change and as a result the giraffes that call the island home have been stuck here. Thankfully there are plenty of Acacia trees for them to snack on. The island has no predators for the giraffes, zebra, pelicans, antelopes and other locals so ultimately they look quite content here. The island is easily walkable and can be circumnavigated in about an hour giving the place a peaceful feeling. We ended our daily walks with a cold beer and some cards with a couple of ostriches that hang out behind the restaurant. 

The hippo feeding crew

On Crescent Island

The ostrich out back

Ian's beer drinking companions

Just a giraffe

Count the giraffes in this picture

On the boat to Crescent Island

Sanctuary Farm

Evening hippo sighting

Overlooking the Great Rift Vally

Hell's Gate Park

Bennet our guide for the day

Horses and zebras

Our return to Nairobi was met with some safari supply runs for last minute provisions of sunscreen and a round of haircuts for the boys at the aptly named Trillionaire Barbershop. Our last night was spent reconnecting and reminiscing with old friends from Calgary who have made Nairobi home. It was great fun to see our boys connect with kids their own age, and play nonstop for hours. Thank you Anthony and Lisa for all the advice while planning our East Africa travels and for a wonderfully nostalgic night!

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Finlay

Kenya is probably in my top three favorite countries because everybody was so nice and kind. It was also nice seeing people my parents knew beforehand because we have a higher chance of seeing them again. I also really liked my first taste of African animals at a place called Sanctuary Farm. There we saw some zebras, antelope and giraffes. After that we went to Crescent Island which you could see from Sanctuary Farm; there were a lot of the same animals there, but something really fun was that we got to feed some hippos.

Jasper

One of my favourite parts of Kenya was meeting new friends the Slaters and Caitlin (she makes the best bread). I really liked seeing baby elephants, but they were so dirty. I got amazing news that one of my friends back home is moving a block away from me! I also went on my first ever horse back ride at Sanctuary Farm where we got to see our first hyena.