Countdown To Kenya

We are BEYOND excited about our upcoming trip. Chuck and I will be heading to Kenya in just a few short weeks.

This is a major bucket list item for Chuck who has been obsessed with the Masai tribe for as long as he can remember, and he has no idea why. While we are blessed to travel to some amazing places, this one gives new meaning to the trip of a lifetime.

We will be traveling with Gate 1 Travel once again, this time as part of a Discovery Small Group Tour. We have traveled with them in Thailand and China, and like to travel with them to locations where English is not widely spoken, or there are a lot of places to see that are very spread out. You can see both of those incredible trips in our previous blog posts.

While English is one of two primary languages in Kenya, we know traveling beyond Nairobi to multiple national parks, villages and safari camps could be challenging.

Our travels take us to London and then on to Nairobi; flying on British Airlines. We’ll be arriving a day or so early to acclimate ourselves and explore Nairobi. We’ll be staying at the Radisson Blu Hotel Nairobi, Upper Hill, the same hotel where our tour group will be meeting.

On the two free days we have before the tour start, so we’ll spend one day with the Masai and later enjoy dinner at Carnivore, a top-rated Nairobi restaurant. With the vast Indian influence in Kenya, we expect we’ll also be eating some excellent Indian food.

The rest of the trip includes visits to the Giraffe Centre, Daphne Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage, photo safaris nearly every day (with two many days).

Be sure to check out The Ark Kenya, we are staying there one night. This remarkable hotel is located on a watering hole and notifies guests as animals arrive. They have a live stream feed, and we have been checking it out over the last few weeks. Lots of elephants, Cape buffalo, Thompson’s gazelle, warthogs, and baboons, but keep in mind there is a seven-hour time difference.

We are also staying at two of Intrepid’s tented camps, one in the middle of Samburu National Reserve and the other in the Masai Mara National Reserve.

Chuck, who has a significant fear of heights is sucking it up as we will be doing a sunrise hot air balloon ride over the Massai Mara!

We hope you follow along as we will be posting LOTS of photos of our travels, including local food, places we visit, people and of course the incredible wildlife.