Vast savannas peppered with immense herds of wildlife, snow-capped equatorial mountains, traditional peoples who bring soul and color to the earth – welcome to Kenya.
We finally arrived at the final frontier, the lakeside city of Kisumu. Since its founding in the early 20th century, Kenya’s third city has always had a bit of a different flavor than the rest of the country. Kisumu has been home to many Luo people, a community with roots in the Nubian...
Since there were no safe parking spots, we stayed overnight at the Impala Sanctuary in Kisumu. This 1-sq-km sanctuary is home to a small impala herd and provides substantial grazing grounds for local hippos. In addition to the impala, there are cages of other Kenyan antelope and monkeys...
The pretty good road from Nakuru brought us to the cooler and hilly area around Kericho. The town remains a mesmerizing wallpaper-worthy sea of greens in the landscape and is home to several tea farms and factories. One of Kenya’s largest exports and oldest industries is its black tea...
Nakuru is the biggest city in the Rift Valley. It lies near the Mau Escarpment on the north shore of Lake Nakuru, near the heart of the Kikuyu people’s homeland. It is the fourth-largest urban hub in Kenya, lying 1850m above sea level. This was a town formed in 1904 by the British...
We arrived late in the afternoon at Lake Nakuru, and it took us quite some time to get approval from rangers to park there overnight. This park is among Kenya’s finest national parks, flanked by rocky escarpments, pockets of acacia forest, and at least one waterfall. The park is...
Today, we hired a small car with a driver (half day 2000 KES) to explore the surroundings of Lake Naivasha and Lake Oloiden. Lake Naivasha, hugged by grassy banks and shingled with cacti and sand olive trees, is the Rift Valley’s highest lake (1884m above sea level). You can hire a...
Late afternoon, we arrived at Elsa Gate of the dry, dusty, but infinitely peaceful Hell’s Gate National Park. It is a rare Kenyan park made for bicycles and walking. Large carnivores are rare, so we rented bikes (800 KES) and paid a cycling fee (250 KES) and a park entrance fee (28...
After the whole day of driving (468 km), we arrived at midnight at the Sekenani gate of the famous Maasai Mara National Reserve. Rangers were pretty shocked but allowed us to park behind the gate just a few steps from the main building. The following day, we paid the “special”...
There are several Maasai villages around Amboseli. Visiting a Maasai village is a great way to learn about the traditions and culture of the Maasai people, but it could also be a scam. They tried to charge us 3000 KES per person, but we ultimately paid 500 KES per person after lengthy...
Google Maps offers two roads from Tsavo East National Park to Amboseli National Park. Still, these are not roads but some paths through the Tsavo NP; you must pay the entrance fee (54,34 USD) and carefully drive through; it’s probably passable with a small 4WD, but not with our...