Description

“Adventure is a path. Real adventure – self-determined, self-motivated, often risky – forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind – and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.” –Mark Jenkins

Monday 29 December 2014

Pleased to say it's about time to start getting ready for the next trip.

I know Christmas is only just behind us and New Year's is still to come, but I am more concerned with how quickly Valentine's day will arrive, as that's the day my sister and I board our flight to Nairobi for a week of photographic safari in the Masai Mara..... 7 weeks to go!!!
I know Kenya has not had a good time of it in recent years and news channels have followed Kenya's story as their military entered Somalia at the end of 2011 to fight Al-Shabab Islamist militants. I understand that Somalians have since carried out major reprisal attacks inside Kenya, but that these have lessened in the last few months. As always, I look to our Foreign Office website for guidance....
Looking at this map, we are thankfully not going anywhere which our government consider to be risky. We are also not planning on spending any time actually in Nairobi; we arrive late and go straight to a recommended hotel on the "right" side of town where we will be collected at 8am the following morning for our transfer to Wilson Airport and a short flight out to the Mara reserve. Our return trip is a straight-through and should therefore present no major risk either. As with any trip, home or abroad, it's my belief that being responsible, being alert and not doing anything to put yourself in unnecessary danger should be the default mode of behavior - that and of course making sure there is a Masai Warrior on hand at all times. :-)