Karibu (welcome) To Our Safari
Here we are, in beautiful Kenya for our safari with Kenya Walking Survivors Safaris. Of course, we landed and our luggage didn’t arrive with us. So off we go to the complaints desk and spend an hour filling out our information and figuring out what we are going to do to get our luggage back. Our driver was waiting outside so David went out to find him. He gave them his phone number so that when our luggage arrives they could contact him. That’s all we can do for now! Thank god we had our back packs with all our cameras or Day 1 would be very disappointing.
Our guide and new friend for the next 12 days is John. We were expecting to be sharing the safari with other people, but no, we have him and the car to ourselves. He is very kind and wants to make sure we have a great time. We went right away to get a sim card for the phone to ensure David can still work. From day 1 John is saying “We are a team”. He means we work together and if we spot something he doesn’t we tell him to stop. His mission is to make sure we see THE BIG 5! So, our journey to the first lodge is 6 hours so we will be stopping for lunch on the way. The road was a 2 way and so busy! It was the main road from Tanzania and the coast and full of trucks. The trucks were so old that there were breakdowns every couple of miles and because the drivers have to work so hard and are not properly trained there are also loads of accidents. Because we didn’t have our luggage we also stopped to buy some toothbrushes, toothpaste and some basic essentials. While we stopped we had some chicken and chips. The amount of food that was given to us was for at least 4 people hahaha so the food we didn’t eat we gave to the children outside that were looking for food. This became a second nature to us when we didn’t finish something our food went to the people instead of throwing it out.
After lunch we got back on the road and about 3 or so hours later there is a stop point to have a bathroom break and stretch our legs. To get to the bathrooms you have to walk through stalls that people are trying to sell us handmade items. We get very anxious when we get confronted and nagged to buy things. I did end up buying a soap stone elephant which we haggled and got a good price. I felt bad haggling but we can’t pay the first price they ask for because the prices are outrageous.
We finally arrived at our first lodge in Voi – Tsavo East and John checked us in and we were taken to our room. There is a schedule for the day but due to the factors we encountered at the airport and the long drive we made it to the resort for dinner. It’s a beautiful place. We went to the bar area before dinner to relax for a bit and have a drink. David ordered a cold beer and was given a cold Tusker we went over to sit near the fence, just on the other side of the fence is where the animals will come to visit to watering hole. David took a large gulp of beer and almost spat it out! He then read the label, it was not beer at all, it was a cider. He went to talk to the barman and was told that as they didn’t have any cold beer they had given him a cider instead. He came back with a warm beer with an ice cube. There were many birds enjoying the water and it wasn’t until the second night when we saw some animals come by to hang out. There is a huge selection of different foods for you to enjoy at breakfast, lunch and dinner. There are no complaints that you don’t have enough to eat. During the day because they don’t go back to the resort for lunch, you are given a lunch box with a large variety to have.
