A Newbie’s Information to Travelling for the First Time
Kenya is without doubt one of the biggest international locations to go to if you’re trying to start your first safari trip. The excursions are very budget-friendly, the nation is stuffed with breathtaking nationwide parks and vistas, and there are numerous extra alternatives for journey than in different nations’ safaris.
On this piece, you’ll uncover all the pieces there’s to do in Kenya, in addition to all the data it’s essential start planning your vacation. Listed here are the ten biggest issues to do in Kenya, from happening sport drives to trekking gorges to using throughout a wildlife protect:
1. Discover the Massive 5 in Maasai Mara.
In fact, seeing wild animals is without doubt one of the major goals of a Safari journey, and also you’ll definitely have to identify all 5 Massive 5 species in Africa: leopards, lions, elephants, buffalos, and rhinos. The Maasai Mara Nationwide Reserve is the best location to view them.
The Maasai Mara is a part of the Serengeti ecosystem, which straddles the Tanzanian and Kenyan borders and incorporates tens of millions of animals that don’t acknowledge nationwide boundaries. You’ll see a variety of creatures at this wildlife reserve, from elephants to unusual species like serval cats, elands, and extra.
I’ve been on quite a lot of memorable safari journeys, and I’ve to say that Maasai Mara is without doubt one of the finest locations on the earth to go on a safari. It was right here that I had encounters with the entire Massive 5, together with the elusive leopard, for the primary time.
Though the Maasai Mara isn’t a nationwide park, it doesn’t observe the stick-to-the-road rule, permitting drivers to get extremely shut to those animals and permitting you to actually observe them.
There are a number of journey packages that can carry you to the Maasai Mara, however as a result of it’s a 6-hour drive from Nairobi, I recommend doing a 3-day itinerary that means that you can totally get pleasure from your journey and spend two nights in a tented camp.
With a three-day journey, you’ll begin your first night time on a sport drive and end the next day with a whole 12-hour journey across the reserve in search of the entire animals you want to see. Loads of time for the entire Massive 5 to look for you.
2. Take a Journey to a Maasai Village.
The vast majority of multi-day journeys to the Maasai Mara will embody a cease at a Maasai Village, the place you might find out how the Maasais reside off their land, how they constructed their mud houses, and why they have to relocate each three months because of termite infestation (termite points).
In the course of the stroll, you’ll be accompanied by a real Maasai information and he’ll educate you all in regards to the space’s land and conventional medicines, in addition to how they create fires and extra.
At first, I used to be towards this kind of habits, however I went with a bunch of people anyway as a result of the half the place we needed to pay to enter and promote us trinkets felt considerably pressured.
I’m not saying it’s straightforward to be a lady, however I’m additionally not suggesting that there aren’t advantages. For instance, what number of instances have you ever been invited to a Maasai village and discovered about their lives? For those who’ve by no means been to a Maasai Village earlier than, this expertise will likely be fascinating.
3. At Lake Nakura, Observe Black and White Rhinos within the Wild.
The rhinos have been one of many Massive 5 that I had but to see up shut earlier than my journey to Kenya, and it solely took 5 minutes into our sport drive at Lake Nakuru to identify a black rhino, adopted by 15 extra minutes with a household of white rhinos grazing alongside the lake’s banks.
Lake Nakuru has a wholesome inhabitants of white rhinos, so you shouldn’t have any downside seeing them alongside the principle highway chomping on vegetation and shrubs. They’re much more accustomed to people than their shut kin, the black rhinos.
Black rhinos are shy and select to be alone, so that you’ll have a more durable time seeing them wherever. Fortuitously, Lake Nakuru isn’t very huge, and it received’t take lengthy earlier than you discover one.
Lake Nakuru is without doubt one of the finest locations in Africa to see pink flamingos, in addition to many different colourful birds you’ve in all probability by no means seen earlier than. Critically, I didn’t know what a spoonbill seemed like till now, and guess what? Their beaks are actually formed like a spoon!
If you wish to see Lake Nakuru in addition to the Maasai Mara in a single tour, I strongly advise that you just go along with a 4-5 day itinerary that can ceaselessly cease at Lake Nakuru on the best way again and in addition Lake Naivasha.
4. Lake Naivasha is a Nice Location for a Boat Safari.
One other freshwater lake, Lake Naivasha isn’t removed from Lake Nakuru and is ceaselessly included in a multi-day itinerary cease after seeing Maasai Mara and Lake Nakuru, the place you might go on a ship journey.
The Mara River is house to a number of species of fish and different aquatic creatures, together with giraffes, ostriches, and eagles. For those who’ve already spent three days within the Maasai Mara and Lake Nakuru on overland sport drives, it will undoubtedly be a welcome change.
If you wish to see Lake Naivasha in your journey, you’ll want a 6-7 day itinerary that additionally contains Hell’s Gate Nationwide Park and Amboseli, that are each attractive nationwide parks in Kenya.
5. Take a motorbike experience round Hell’s Gate Nationwide Park.
The animals of Hell’s Gate Nationwide Park are among the many few within the nation, if not the world, the place you might even see them on a motorbike as you tour by the park, amongst giraffes, buffalos, and zebra.
There aren’t any predators on this atmosphere, so that you’ll be fairly safe. That stated, when you strategy buffalo too intently, they might turn out to be aggressive, so a automobile must be out there to you as you bicycle internationally on your safety.
