East Africa

Posted bysadafzeinoddiniPosted inUncategorized

East Africa – 2021

The magical land of boundless wildlife and natural beauty~

Link to travel photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/A2X7i1HVm18Rx2P1A

Professional close-up wildlife photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/7xTabQSfr2gnNJXH7

Guide for pictures:

You can search for the photo number to get to each section, or just scroll down and click on anything that gets your attention. 🙂 Some photos have captions in “Details”. The idea is to share the whole story, including the small details, so you can just slowly scroll down the pictures and click on whichever you’re interested in. 🙂

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Our most complicated and pre-planned trip so far-

Our trip to East Africa was a truly surreal experience, something I had been thinking of, imagining, and planning for at least 4-5 years, and I was blown away. Finally in the Fall of 2020, and in the middle of the pandemic where there was little hope of things ever getting back to normal, I sat down with my husband and showed him the perfect itinerary, the result of a long trail of back-and-forth communications with many tours and travel companies in the past few months. He did his own sanity check and with a few confirmations with the travel group, we booked our trip to some of the most magical places in Africa for the next Fall and were able to get some of the harder to get experiences like the Gorilla trek which normally requires a booking of 2-3 years ahead of time, only a year in advance.

Below, I’m going to summarize some highlights of our trip:

General:

  • It took 7 vaccine shots (including yellow fever which is a live virus and requires signing off a waiver) prior to the departure, 4 Covid tests, a big bag full of medicine including Malaria pills (which could cause hallucination as a side effect) and a total of 9 flights on major planes and 2 on tiny single engine jet 9-passenger aircrafts, a total 36 hours to get to our first destination (which means only small doses of random and uninterrupted sleep) and another 30-ish hours to get back (for which we almost missed our last flight from Toronto to Vancouver due to the airport being too full and only made it to the check-in as they were closing the door) and a ton of planning, and it was 100% worth it! You could double everything I mentioned above and it would still be worth it. Such a unique and unforgettable experience with memories that will last forever.
  • We managed to fit 2-weeks worth of clothing, hiking gear (including heavy hiking boots), meds, and all the other stuff in 2 carry-on luggage without exceeding the 8 kg per bag weight limit!
  • We found out the day before our 1st flight and at the time of online check-in, that one of our 3 flights to Kigali has been preponed by 24 hours, meaning we would not in any way make it on time, even if we took another flight that left right-away.  A next day flight was also not an option as our Covid test results would not have been valid anymore. Long research and a call back from Air Canada and we ended up getting a whole new flight.
  • Covid: My personal suggestion is unless you are a desperate travel junkie like me, try and avoid travelling until the world is back to normal. Some of the ways Covid affected our trip are:
    • The stress of the whole trip getting cancelled due to Covid! Not only is there the issue of countries not accepting visitors, but you also must ensure negative Covid tests prior to and throughout the trip. We had to do 4 Covid tests, one within 72 hours of departure from Canada, one at the time of arrival to Rwanda followed by a 24-hour hotel quarantine, one at the time of leaving Rwanda for Kenya, and one at the time of departing Kenya, and we were lucky our timing worked for the Gorilla Trek, as normally we would need one specifically for the Gorilla trek as well. If any of these tests came back positive, that would be an end to the whole trip. I had originally planned a pre travel quarantine for the peace of mind, but somehow the 2 weeks before the trip turned out to be some of our most social weeks.
    • Wearing masks during long flights and long layovers at the airport (in our case about 75 hours in total)
    • Having to wear masks throughout the trip depending on the countries’ rules; in both Rwanda and Kenya, they required wearing masks everywhere including outdoor spaces.
    • A very long series of preparation and paperwork required for entering every location. We had a big binder full of different paper-work ready to show to everyone.
  • Going in, the airports were empty but as soon as we got to Frankfurt it was super busy. There were those “rebellious” people who thought they didn’t need to wear a mask on the plane and kept fighting it and then there were also people who wore hazmat suits! Also, most airports were the old fashioned style, where you would walk or take a bus to the plane and then go up the stairs, which is always nostalgic.
  • Getting bed ready for sleep: All of our hotels in East Africa had a thing where they would check in at night/late evening to get your room ready for sleep! The first one happened in Rwanda, when the extremely jetlagged and pre-Covid-test-results-quarantined MM and I were sleeping and heard a knocking on the door and remained confused as the hotel staff came in, re-made our bed, removing all the decorative pillows and keeping the 2 sides untucked. They also put water bottles on our nightstands and towels and sleepers right where we would get off the bed. Some extra touches were in our Honeymoon Tent during the Safari portion of the trip which also included hot water bottles under the blanket to keep us warm at night, and the lovely bed curtains at Giraffe Manor.
  • Fashion: I love love love the African Fashion and the bold colors and designs. I made myself a giraffe scarf specifically for the giraffe manor and I came back from Africa full handed; 2 beautiful coats/blazers with the gorgeous fabrics made in Rwanda, a Masai blanket made in Kenya and most importantly the design of a whole new collection inspired by the East African beauty, nature, and wildlife!

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Rwanda:

  • Rwanda is beautiful, green, fresh, and very clean! It exceeded our expectations by a lot! Our lovely guide, Cibo was very nice, fun, and knowledgeable and really helped us get a feel of the cities we went to. If I were to describe Rwanda based on what I saw, it would be the arable land of red soil and lush green hills, sweet people walking in bright and colorful clothes and happy and friendly kids smiling, waving, and saying hello to visitors. I also really admired how organized Rwanda is and loved some of their initiatives such as the ban on use of plastic bags which happened way before some of the first world countries, their many education centres and universities and the attempt in equal rights for men and women; In fact, Rwanda was the first country to have a majority of women in its government.
  • We took a walk in the city of Kigali during our stay at the hotel and found it to be very well organized, clean, and safe. We tried food at a local café and a restaurant which our guide took us to and the food at both locations was amazing.
  • Malaria: We found 2 Anopheles female mosquitoes (the type that could possibly carry malaria) immediately after we settled in our room (one on the bathroom ceiling that I spotted as I was taking a shower and another in the room that was seen and killed by MM). That scared me off a little as our malaria pills were not effective yet (they must be taken at least 24 hours prior to entering the malaria zone and we ended up taking them later to avoid possible side effects on the plane). I found another one in the middle of the night hovering over MM’s head while he was sleeping and made a scene with a whole karate jump action, but that may have also been a dream or just some malaria pill side effects 😀 (imagine taking a pill to avoid getting a disease with the side effect of seeing the very creature that causes that disease)
  • Food: We tired the local cuisine, and it was really good. Food was heavily vegetable based which I really liked (many different uses of plantains in food), pastries were denser than what I’m used to and on the less sweet side, cakes and other cream-based desserts weren’t that great in my opinion. I tried Paw Paw which was really good. There was a very large selection of tropical juices and some of them are to die for! I drank so much juice that it felt like I was on a juice cleanse with the exception that I also ate a lot of other types of food! 😀 My favorite juices were the all-natural cucumber juice that we had at Kigali Serena (the best), tree tomato juice (the fruit itself and compote were also great), passion fruit juice and hibiscus juice. The local touch on the cheese selection we had at the hotel was quite interesting, as the cheeses looked darker in color and had a more dominant taste and smell.
  • The Drive:
    • Unbelievable scenery including volcanic mountains on all sides, rows of potatoes and other farmed vegetables, trees, colourful houses and farmed animals as we drove towards the Gorilla park. Some of the highlights are the many exotic Angles Trumpet trees, sugar canes that I hadn’t seen up close and coffee bean on trees!
    • As we drove towards Volcanoes National Park on the weekend, we enjoyed not only the beautiful scenery and the colorful houses, but also the sight of many people, old and young, walking in their colorful clothes as they made their ways to their friends/relatives houses for a visit. It is common to visit friends and relatives on Sundays after the church and women generally carry baskets with small gifts such as fruits or plastic containers filled with alcohol on their head and make it look so easy to walk so straight and relaxed while carrying something big and heavy. Men on the other hand, were mostly seen carrying bigger items while walking or biking. Some of the interesting items we saw carried on bikes were a giant door, a full mattress, lots, and lots of farm products such as sugar canes, big chunks of cut trees, banana leaves, and a giant table. One trick they used on the steep uphill highways, was to hold onto a large vehicle like a truck from the back while on their bikes.
  • Local Markets: We checked out a local Market thanks to Cibo, which was a great opportunity to see and talk to the locals. It was a rather overwhelming experience at first; as we were getting in the parking and while the car was still moving, a large crowd with friendly faces came towards us and I suddenly saw a few hands in the car with small products or phones with pictures of products, trying to tell us what they offer at the market and how we should go and checkout their shops. This continued as we got off the car and headed towards the market and the number of people making conversations doubled and tripled as we walked down the market. It was a beautiful market with lots of cool shopping opportunities (which we unfortunately had very limited room for) and I was trying hard to focus on what I actually needed and still keep the conversations with the locals, some of whom made really funny jokes while selling their products. I knew I wanted to get some of the gorgeous fabrics at the market and as we made our way through that section, I got offered by many seamstresses to pick a fabric and have a dress made for me on the spot. The way it works, is you choose your fabric (which is a challenge when you’re the only tourist and so many locals are asking that you pick their shop) and your design (which the seamstresses show a variety of designs on their phones), and then they will get your measurements and make it for you in just an hour. As a fashion designer, I love to find cool fabrics and create my own designs, but I ended up going for the full service and having 2 outfits made at their shop to support the locals and also because it was so cool to see the full process there. Being the indecisive “Chidi Anagonye” that I am, it turned out to be a very stressful 15 minutes while I chose the fabrics among thousands of bright and beautiful colors and my modified designs with at least 50 sets of eyes watching me and trying to sell their own. The outcome was a very chic blazer and a cool and bright blue long coat!
  • Genocide Memorial Museum: A very informative tour about the genocide that happened in Rwanda in 1994, where over 1000 people who were members of Tutsi minority ethnic group as well as some moderate Huto and Twa, were slaughtered by armed militias withing 3 months! We got to hear all about the genocide and watch small documentaries about the survivors of this tragic event, and see the remainders of the victims, as well as some of their photographs. What warmed my heart though, was how Rwandans came together after the genocide to build a better country with peace and a sense of community where people have access to food, housing, education, and an organized and clean environment.
  • Virunga Resort and Spa: This was a brand-new resort with a beautiful colorful garden full of singing birds! We were among their first guests, so it was nice having the whole resort to ourselves and connect with the owner and their team. We really enjoyed the garden and the middle Eastern coal fire in our patio which they lit up for us every night.
  • The Gorilla Trek:
    • The Trek started at the bottom of the hill, where we walked past vegetable farms and later animal farms with sheep and cows and small man-made shelters, occasionally seeing the farmer families working in the fields. It then turned into a tropical dense forest with unique trees, steep muddy paths and occasional giant worms! The vegetation of the narrow trails included stinging nettles and other types of stinging plants similar to Poison Ivy, which we tried to avoid but all got hit by them eventually. 😀
    • We finally got close enough that we could hear the gorillas and see movements of tree branches, which made my heart skip a beat. I got so excited that I kept falling as we made our way down the trek and towards the gorillas.
    • Halfway through the magical hour with the gorillas, it got foggy and made it even more special…our way back was in the fog and so magical!
    • The gorilla family consisted of the main alpha male i.e the Silver back (and my crush!), other adult males and females, teenagers, and babies of all ages (including a really cute little baby that was held by her mama the whole time!). They love bamboo shoots and get more cheerful after eating them, so much that some people believe that the bamboo shoots make them high. While we were there, we witnessed a whole “Reality TV show” drama scene! First, a little bit of background on how the gorillas operate in terms of making love! Generally, the alpha male is the only one who gets to be with all the females of the group. Other males should try and find women elsewhere or wait for the alpha male to get old and retire! While we were enjoying the company of the gorillas and when the silverback was away and out of our sight; the second oldest male of the group came towards one of the females and started making love! One of the babies got away and out of their way second before the action. While (shamefully) watching the scene, we heard a sudden aggressive noise from behind and moved out of the way just in time for the Silverback to come running towards the duo and fighting off the young male. It only lasted a few seconds as he got submissive right away. The three of them sat there awkwardly in a love triangle for a while. The Silverback started eating the bamboo shoots soon after and as he left the group, the female went after him in an apologetic cheerful manner and they went to a hidden den for some lovemaking of their own, while the sad young male stayed there for another 10-15 minutes just looking down and thinking of his actions. The most interesting part was that according to our guide, these two gorillas had been sneaking around and making love in the past and punished for it, but they continued to do that!
    • Another cool and “adrenaline rush” moment was what our guide had warned us about, the famous gorilla chest pounding! This usually starts by the male gorilla standing upright, sucking in air and beating its chest sometimes with a yell and a whole lot of excessive pride, and followed by running towards the threat or whatever they are trying to impress. One of the youngsters in our group did that to show off and while our job was to be chill and not move at all, we all freaked out a little and moved around. The teenage gorilla went towards one of the people in our group and grabbed her ankle softly as he made his way to the other side! I secretly wanted that to happen to me by the Silverback! 😀 I also wouldn’t have minded if the Silverback took me hostage and MM would come and rescue me! (MM did not seem too impressed when I told him :D)
    • About the Gorilla Trek: There are less than 1000 mountain gorillas left in the world and they all live within the Gorillas National Park which is located in the border of Rwanda, Uganda, and Congo. Thanks to proper care and conservations in mostly Rwanda and Uganda, these lovely creatures have gone from extremely endangered to only endangered, but they are still very rare, which is why the permits get sold out up to 3 years in advance! The gorillas had been subject to uncontrolled and illegal hunting, disease, and habitat loss. There are still poachers out there, sometime coming from the border of Congo, which according to the Rwandans is not the safest place, but they have a much better level of security now and with all the research happing, there is hope that their population will grow. For the trek, we had the choice of Easy, Intermediate, and Challenging routes which was based on long the and how steep the hike is. Outs was an intermediate/challenging hike which was about 2.5 hours to get there and 2.5 hours back and of course a golden hour spent with the gorillas. The group consisted of the rangers, trackers, porters, and 4 other visitors. The trackers spend the majority of their time with the gorillas, they basically track them on a daily basis and spend much of their time around them, watching them, listening to them, and learning more and more about them, while still keeping a distance so they can have their privacy. The rangers know the approximate location of the gorillas through communicating with the trackers, they know the gorillas very well too and they also keep us safe against other wild animals in the park such as buffalos and mountain elephants, and the possible dangers from potential poachers or other security issues in Congo. Funny enough, MM’s Garmin later told us that we did pass the border of Rwanda during our trek and ended up going through Congo!
  • Artwork: The artwork was absolutely beautiful! We checked out an art centre near Volcanoes National Park, where we got to see some of the artists at work. Unfortunately, space and weight were two big limiting factors in buying paintings, and we only bought a small sized painting with an abstract design and 3D paint effects, which is now sitting on the wall.

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Kenya

Safari:

  • Such a surreal experience being surrounded by the extremely diverse and out-of-this world wildlife of Eastern Africa. We got there via one of Safari Link’s single engine jet 9-passenger aircrafts which was a cool experience on its own. We could see big herds of animals from the top as we got closer to the first destination and were trying to guess what kind they were by their general size/shape and their colors. Most passengers were headed to the main resort at the Masai Mara, but first they dropped us and some others off at our camp, Leopard Hill, where we were greeted by our lovely guides. We landed while watching a big herd of wildebeest and the 1-hour car ride to the hotel was basically our very first drive of the Safari! The best thing about the drives was the excitement of what you could see next in such vast raw nature.
  • The sunsets were so magical with the outline of different creatures in the glowing fiery sky. Nothing like a chill evening with a Tusker in your hand and the opening scene of “Lion King” as your background.
  • The Rainy Day and the Wild Bathroom: Our last evening/night drive was a rather interesting one with little wildlife action, but we saw really big herds of them gathered together. The rain got so heavy that we all got soaking wet inside the car and had to fully close down all the sides of the car and drive through water and mud which I personally loved! Near the end when it was already dark outside one of our safari mates (the rides were shared between us and a lovely American couple who we got to know and hangout with at the camp too) decided he really needed to use the bathroom (the muddy bumpy road didn’t help) and while we are not allowed to leave the car at night, our guide took a quick scan and gave him the okay since it had been raining the whole evening and the animals had been very quite (we had seen very few and hadn’t heard any in the past 2 hours). Our safari mate left the car for a quick bathroom at the back and as soon as he got there we heard animal roars…he asked quickly: What is it?!! To which the guide responded: Oh its just the hyenas, don’t worry, just come quickly! About 2 second later, we heard another loud roar from the opposite side which we all knew wasn’t insignificant! The second roar was a lion in the dark which we couldn’t even locate! The duo kept making noise and luckily our fellow traveller came back to the car safe and sound!
  • During our last game drive and transport to the fly-out location, we practically drove through a lake-looking river! It was a large body of non-moving water which seemed to continue on both directions like a river and I was expecting to get stuck somewhere but our cool driver (who was different than our usual guide) drove through it fast and easy. Due to the heavy rain from the day before, It was extremely muddy and a really fun ride with lots of sliding and getting stuck and just flying around in the car! We got to see some new species of antelopes that we hadn’t seen before, lots of hippos, and a running ostrich which was one of the animals I had been hoping to see all along (the solo ostrich was running fast and non-stop as if he/she was late for a meeting :D).
  • We saw a very large selection of wild animals up and close in their natural habitat:
    • Wild Cats: Cheetahs (the first cat of the trip), Lions (male, female, lots of babies), Leopards (which is a rare one in the area)
    • Antelopes: from the largest (Eland) to the smallest (Dik Dik, which is the size of a rabbit) and some others in between: Topi (a.k.a Blue Jeans), Thompson’s Gazelle (my favorite), Grand Gazelle, Impalas, Hartebeests and Waterbucks
    • Others: Elephants, Giraffes, Zebras, Pumbas, Monkeys, Baboons, Wildebeests, Hippos, Crocodiles, Jackals, Hyenas, Buffalos, Ostriches, Vultures, Hawks and lots of other birds
  • Some Animal/Vegetation Stories:
    • Hippos spend most of their life in the water! We were only able to see their heads as they wouldn’t come out. The top of their giant heads was just the tip of the iceberg!
    • Buffaloes are always seen with a bunch of birds such as red oxpeckers around them! The little birds hangout on the buffalos’ heads, nostrils, ears, and just about anywhere on their bodies! They have a mutualistic relationship, where the birds feed on the ticks and other insects that irritate the buffaloes and let them know if danger is on the way.
    • The Whistling Thorn tree: These cool trees have very small green leaves that are out of reach and protected by giant spiky thorns and large black/brown lumps that are all over the trees. On our walking Safari, we learnt that the big black lumps or bulbous spines are full of ants that will come out as soon as you shake the branches. These ants have formed a mutualistic relationship with the trees and in exchange for shelter and nectar secretions, they will defend the tree against herbivores by coming out of their shelters and creating an unpleasant smell. That being said, we often saw giraffes eating the leaves of these trees, which is impressive how their long tongues reach out to the leaves without them getting hurt by the giant thorns.
  • Animals Hunting/Eating:
    • The jackals: We witnessed an attempt at hunting a baby topi by 2 jackals. The jackals are much smaller than topis, but they do have a shot at hunting their babies. Their strategy is to hunt in groups of two, where one jackal distracts the mom by going after the baby first and as soon as the mom starts running after the jackal to scare them off, the other jackal will go after the baby. We watched as the jackals got the baby multiple times and had to run away since the mom was very good at protecting the baby. In fact, she managed to tire them enough that they gave up and left. The baby however had wounds around its neck and was bleeding so we’re not sure is she/he survived.
    • The Leopards: On our very first morning ride, we came across a Leopard and her baby on a tree, where the mom was sleeping like a baby (in a seemingly uncomfortable position) and the baby was busy eating the leftovers of an antelope that was hanging off the tree. We waited for a long time and watched the baby go until what we were all hoping for happened; the baby leopard wasn’t careful enough and the antelope fell off the tree. The mom was quick enough to get up from a mellow sleeping position like there is not a worry in the world to a full-on hunt mode; she jumped off the tree to the bushes, got the antelope back up the tree and the duo continued their meal.
  • The Camp: We tried to capture the camp through photos and videos, but they don’t do justice. The camp was right in the heart of Naboisho Conservancy, where you could really experience the magic of Kenyan Savannah. It was our first time “luxury” camping, and it was surreal.
    • Main Lodge: We could see wild animals such as giraffes and zebras grazing while we were dining or hanging out at the lodge. Every day, we left our tents early in the morning when it was still dark out and were escorted by the lodge security in their beautiful masai blankets and with spears in their hands as they walked with us between the main lodge and our tents when it was dark out. We would have a quick breakfast and would go off to our morning drive. Our Afternoon/Evening drive usually ended after the dark and we would get to the main lodge that was lit with many candles and oil lamps and of course a campfire! ❤ We would hang out by the fire with a drink or two and enjoy the moonlight, small bats flying around, and the company of our hosts and other travellers until dinner time. Later at night, we would be escorted back to our tents for sleep with the security people. For our meals, we would get a big breakfast every morning, and 3 course meals for lunch and dinner with a choice for the main course. The food was absolutely great! I loved the Red Snapper Fillet that we got on the first day and all their vegetarian options as they were so flavourful and heartwarming.
    • Honeymoon Tent: The camp was very intimate with only 6 tents located far enough from each other that you could see nothing but the vast and live Kenyan Savannah. The tent was very spacious and decorated very nicely, with 2 sinks, a bathroom, and a shower inside as well as a nice outside shower and an outside firepit. A big part of the magic was the retractable roof, allowing us to see the clouds during the day and the moon and the stars at night before going to sleep. We were there when the moon was at its fullest and had the most beautiful and the brightest night light right in our tent! (so much that one night we just couldn’t go to sleep, and my moon obsession wouldn’t let us close the roof :D). Another cool thing was hearing the wild animals roar, run and jump on the deck of our tent at night, as if we were sleeping outside and next to them. We often had monkey visitors during the day who would come near the tent and play peekaboo! They were so cute and vicious at the same time!
  • Saw many beautiful sunrises and sunsets in the most magical place. One time during an early morning drive, the giant full moon was so beautiful that I sacrificed seeing some cool blue faced large birds that I hadn’t seen before to fully see and capture the moon standing above a tree (yes, I am obsessed with the moon and get as excited every time I see it, and no unfortunately pictures don’t do justice)
  • The Walking Safari: The Walking Safari consisted of us two, our lovely guide and 4 security guards with their spears and their masai blankets. Guns are not allowed in Kenya, so our only means of protection against literally the wildest of animals were the spears, but masais seemed pretty confident about the spears being 100% effective. We started from the camp and just walked towards where we would normally see the animals while hanging out at the camp. It felts so nice to finally walk through the deep and lengthy hole in the ground around the camp that we often saw smaller animals such as monkeys and baboons disappear in and come back from the other side. The tour was really fun, a great opportunity to walk out in the nature of the Kenyan Savanna and get to see the vegetation and different animal footsteps in the mud and their droppings up close. We couldn’t get as close to the animals as we did in the regular safari, except for we came close to a group of cute baby giraffes who didn’t seem scared of us and the time that our security thought they had seen a solo Buffalo and were worried, as they are one of the 3 most dangerous to come across if you are out walking. Some of the highlights were seeing the famous fig trees that we saw from the lounge up close (One of them is called the miracle tree as a lightning cut it right into half many years ago and it still looks great as a whole tree and the other was recently hit by lightning as well, but the cut in this one was very clear), Whistling tree, elephant footsteps, tiny Dik Dik droppings (which looked like caviar :-p) and giant giraffe bones that looked like dinosaur fossils. After about 2 hours we got to a beautifully set table for two out in the nature, with hot coffee, tropical juices, the best breakfast, and the view of a crackling bush fire and the many giraffes roaming around, a.k.a the Bush Breakfast! The Bush breakfast was amazing, and we had a good time after with the chef and his crew who set up the table and made us a very special breakfast.
  • Big 5 and Ugly 5, and 3 most dangerous to come across:
    • Big Five: The Big Five that everyone tries to see during their Safari tour are lion, leopard, elephant, cape buffalo, and rhino, among which we covered the first 4.
    • Ugly Five: The ugliest looking animals are wildebeest, vulture, hyena, warthog (pumba) and the marabou stork, which we were lucky enough to fully cover! 😀
    • Three Most Dangerous to Encounter: Lions (which make sense), solo Buffalos (which kind of make sense), and Elephants (which I never would have guessed, but I guess they are too big and have bad eyesight and you would be helpless if they started running towards you)
  • Women in Charge: I love seeing equal rights for both genders and women in charge in different parts of the world. In Kenya, our main guide for the Safari drive was a very knowledgeable, fun, lovely, and strong women who got us out of many ditches and up rocky areas to see leopards. She often wore beautiful royal blue dresses with tulle details but that did not stop her from being a bada** on the road or during our walking Safari. For the plane ride on the small single jet planes, both our pilot and co-pilot were women as well. Always warms my heart to see the world is recognizing women’s capabilities!
  • Plane turbulence: Our plane ride back was quite different compared to the ride in. Our flight, as opposed to the previous one where they got us off first) was very long and took about 2 hours which included 3 stops along the way, during one of which we got off to get gas too! It was also extremely turbulent and for the last part which was about an hour, we were basically flying through a thick chunk of white clouds which was a little scary compared to flights on regular commercial planes as we could see the cabin crews’ section and through the front windows we would know exactly how and when we were going to shake and be fully blinded by the complete whiteness and that the pilot and the co pilot were more engaged and focused and we could also hear all the beeps that sounded a lot like warning beeps to me.  I got very plane sick (the bumpy road to the airport had not helped) and kept squeezed MM’s hands really hard to calm myself down. (which always works :-p)
  • Fashion inspiration: In our relaxed times, I was focused on capturing all the ideas and inspirations that I got from the Kenyan Savannah and the gorgeous animal prints and color combinations on my one and only digital notebook (I-pad Pro 2nd gen, which despite being an anti-Apple, I strongly recommend). I was mainly inspired by the patterns of zebras, giraffes, and the wild cats which are the bases of my upcoming collection, as well as the colors of the antelopes, which will be part of my next athletic apparel designs. I also really loved all the colorful, heartwarming, and bold designs of the cotton fabrics that were sold at the local markets and wish I had a few more luggage to fill with fabrics!

Giraffe Manor:

  • Everything about the giraffe Manor is a perfect balance of elegance and cultured luxury; every single detail including the inside and outside of the manor, the rooms, the furniture, the stairs, the little booklets inside our rooms, towels and towel holders, and so on. But the most fascinating part is the Rothschild giraffes, an endangered species of giraffes that have been the residents of the manor and the giraffe sanctuary since the 1970s. I had gotten very “plane sick” after our 2 hour overly turbulent flight through the clouds on the small planes and wasn’t feeling well, but somehow as soon as we entered the property and having a sip of our welcome drink, I felt instantly good.
  • My first giraffe encounter was right after the lovely lunch in the garden when I was trying to feed one of the baby giraffes while the staff were away and got hit in the head in the form of a loud metal-like bang. It turns out, I had been attacked by Kelly, one of the nice but not-in-the-mood-for-your-sh*t kind of giraffes of the manor and I happened to have been in her peripheral vision, resulting in the natural reaction of getting me out of her way. It hurt a lot and I immediately got a big bump on my forehead that looked just like Kelly’s forehead bumps!  Later the staff told us how this thing is pretty normal with Kelly, and that we should never ever approach the giraffes on our own or stand in their peripheral vision without actively feeding them! Well, as usual, I learnt my lesson the hard way! 😀
  • Some of the other magical interactions with the giraffes were during the High Tea, early morning feeding by our window, breakfast time, and at the entrance of the building. Some highlights:
    • During the high tea, which was a selection of tea and tasty sweet and savory snacks, we fed the giraffes and I kissed two of them including Eddy, who is the only male around there, much bigger than the rest of the giraffes and kind of a bully towards them as well! All the giraffes would get out of the way as soon as Eddy got close. Eddy was quite interesting as he also loved playing with the long roped swing just outside of the manor. Every morning, he would come and try and untie the swing, push it a few times and then tie it back in between two trees!
    • The next morning, I got up when it was still dark, super excited and eager to feed the giraffes through our rooms’ windows! I saw them hanging out in the sanctuary and opened the windows as soon as it got light outside. Seconds later, as I was getting ready for breakfast, a big head popped up by our window, looking cute and ready for food! The exact same look that Roscoe, our good boy, gives us whenever he wants treats or our food! A second giraffe came by too and we fed them both from the big bowl with giraffe food in our room. Their tongues were long and dark (bluish gray color) and they loved eating!
    • The Breakfast with giraffes, which is probably the most famous thing about giraffe manor was just as magical as I had imagined. The interesting part is the giraffes knew exactly what the daily schedule was and showed up to the main windows right around the time we were having breakfast, looking hungry and impatient!
  • We also saw little pumbas around that were slightly smaller, a lighter brown, and much more social and courageous compared to the ones in the Naboishi Conservancy.
  • The manor had the cutest gift shop, with a lot of handmade items and more elevated gift options. I loved their hand painted cushions.
  • Thanks to a lovely couple’s suggestion, we tried our first Kenyan cocktail, Dawa, at the manor too which was a really good drink! Both warm and refreshing!
  • The garden: The garden was where we would have our meals and it was absolutely gorgeous. At night, it was super romantic with lots of candlelight and coal fires, the lighting reflection on the crystal glassware and the many lightly lit beautiful flowers on the trees. I couldn’t resist a nice red wine in the garden and ended up pairing it with our seafood appetizer which understandably disappointed our server, but obviously he didn’t comment on it (though he did ask to make sure I don’t want white :-p)
  • The staff were really nice and helpful and would go above and beyond to make sure we had a great time.

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Published by sadafzeinoddini

A dreamer, born to explore~ Engineer in the day, raring adventurer always~ Have love for nature and wildlife and a great passion for fashion-

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