Last year after the miserable state I was in after the Turkey trip was called off at the last moment owing to the volatile relations with our neighbour, and thereafter planning and cancelling another couple of trips with family, I was hardly hopeful of anything else turning up. But me and my friend with wheels on her legs and wings on her shoulders made plans after plans in WhatsApp! From Georgia to Kyrgyzstan, from Croatia to Greenland we weighed all the ridiculous ideas. Budget, kids' academic session, spouse's commitments! Georgia was almost done when tickets sky rocketed and we stepped back. Kenya was very costly as well but thanks to her enterprising efforts, she got hold of a local Nairobi agent and the budget seemed doable!
Flight booking options were limited, we got a fair deal from Gulf Air but booked on the weekdays to cut on the fare. After flights were booked the momentum picks up, office formalities, itinerary finalisation with the agent, deal finalisation..then came the yellow fever vaccination part. The process was smooth for me , booking online slot and getting it done. Polio shot wasn't necessary for Kenya though my freaky husband insisted I get it done voluntarily! I tried asking the authorities once but they didn't pay any attention and neither did I. My friend got yellow fever vaccination done at Mandir Marg, under NDMC. Next part and the most loved part was the shopping for the trip... but reading the blogs about beiges, olives, browns, all covered attires, spirits were dampening! Though it seemed my friend did not give two hoots and dressed in all bright and sundry mostly... but still I loved to stick to the codes! Zudio gave me some good cargoes, tops in nude colours and at a very reasonable price. Yes I did not carry any fancy dress because I intended to keep myself covered lest I get any vector bites and my husband's literally going to isolate me for the rest of my life if I bring any African infection home!! Such is his zest for life and living but let's not digress from our Kenyan Code here!!
All olives and beiges!!
Gulf Air flight was smooth, so was Bahrain airport. We used some little connections we had for some free seats and not sure how they worked but Bahrain Nairobi leg was upgraded to business classs!! We were like 😳😳 flabbergasted!! Our names were called and we were asked to stand apart from the rest of the queue. And yes racist, colourist whatever you call me, first time in my life I felt very ' gora' to be precise!! I'll just quote an anecdote my husband ( sorry about the husband stuff appearing repeatedly, his stories are more embedded in my life then I'd like to believe) . So husband was in his Germany office for few months. One day some fire alarm at his Siegburg office and all employees came outside. He had told me later, ' They were all white!! And I stood out! It felt kind of weird!' Likewise I felt very 'gora' standing apart from the queue, the women in the queue gossiping, laughing, pushing each other somehow felt non European... somewhat like us..we were travelling to a new continent after all! There was a bit of should I say history nudging me, being singled out, being offered business classs seats leaving out mostly coloured people in the queue! Well I know it must be nothing of the sort , our connections did it for us...but at a fleeting moment I remembered Gandhiji being pushed out from his first class apartment at South Africa! But these are for writing and reminiscing, there we were over the clouds, took pictures in our business classs comfortable seats , stretching our legs and boy! We were at the top of the world!
After a comfortable sleep, morning we got down at the Jomo Kenyatta airport. It seemed a quietish terminal, later while returning we saw the bigger terminal. This one seemed like Kanpur/ Silchar as we could relate. Immigration was smooth and since me and friend do not get to meet much working at different offices, we were busy catching up with the gossip and the immigration person actually called to grab our attention! Well girl trips are pure fun! Here I've to mention though the washrooms were pretty ordinary but surprisingly very clean at the small terminal and we freshened up before getting out.
Our driver was in touch, but as it happened, other random persons were offering us drives, safaris before we could spot our agent! We told them politely everything was booked, but one actually told us ' Well if your person doesn't turn up, I'm here!!!' Yes we were a bit taken aback!! But our person appeared very soon and dropped us at their office where we made the final payment. It wasn't that we were not apprehensive dishing hard earned dollars at a darkish fourth fifth floor office...but went on as planned. Thereafter we were shown our vehicle, a biggish Land Cruiser for the remaining seven days till we fly from Nairobi to Delhi! And there we met our sweetheart Kevin who was our driver cum guide cum our agony uncle for the rest of our trip.
Breakfast was at a store with a cafe, some samosa like mexican snacks, sandwich, coffee and we set for our dream to Masaimara. The drive was through roads, hills very much like my home Northeast, first break was for the Rift Valley view and some souvenir shopping, I got some lovely wooden Hippos, Zebras though it's better to wait and buy because there can be huge bargain which I learnt gradually!
Yes they love their animals skins!
Lunch was at a roadside stall, with a buffet sort surprisingly with parathas, greens, chicken, rajma types not any exotic African stuff. Later I discovered they love their greens like us, also Indian food is quite popular and stood with heads held high in the vast continental menu!
Entry into Masaimara !
Well the second part will follow soon.. with our three nights at Masaimara unfurling a parallel world which we never imagined to witness!
