The Kenya Safari experience is as memorable as it sounds. If you’ve never been to Africa, then prepare yourself for an assault on the senses the likes of which you’ve never encountered. The countryside, the sounds, smells, the animals, the risks and the reality of encountering wild animals in their natural environment, the types of animals you usually see in zoos, is mind blowing. One cannot get enough of seeing nature at its best and that’s why they keep coming back for more. Trust me, one trip is not enough to experience this magical land!

We (ours and another family) left for Kenya after taking our yellow fever vaccinations. On reaching Nairobi airport we found our guide, Jackson who was the backbone of our trip. After spending a night at Nairobi, we left for the highlight of the trip, the world famous Masai Mara National Reserve, widely regarded as the best game-viewing park in Kenya. We passed through the Great Rift Valley and the Equator to reach the land of The "Big Five" (lions, leopards, buffaloes, elephants and rhinos), and more than a million wildebeests and zebras that migrate annually to Masai Mara from the parched Serengeti plains of neighboring Tanzania (The Great Migration). The three days spent at this national reserve was heaven. Far from the madding crowd with no background disturbance of the mobiles ringing, with only the pure rolling grasslands and wide-open savannahs, the Masai Mara was the kind of unfettered, sprawling wilderness you thought only existed on Hollywood film sets. Here the land pulses with raw energy and a dazzling array of animals takes centre stage. There was a feast of lions, zebras, gazelles, giraffes and by the third day they became a routine! The most unforgettable experience was a near-miss kill that we witnessed of a cheetah trying to kill a gazelle! Can’t be described in words!! It was amazing how adept our guide was with the reserve. He could smell, sight and even possibly talk to these animals.

Our next destination was to the great Lake Nakaru. This lake offers one of the world's most spectacular wildlife sights: brilliant pink flamingos as far as the eye can see. When conditions are right, between one and two million lesser and greater flamingos feed around the shores of the shallow soda lake, together with tens of thousands of other birds. The Lake Nakaru National Park also was a treat as we could see lionesses and their cubs so closely and it was amazing to see how oblivious they were of our preence. We next went to the foothills of Mount Kenya to enjoy nature in its purity in our tented camps. Overlooking a floodlit waterhole, the camp offered us an unforgettable to watch and photograph animals in their natural habitat.

Our final halt was at the Amboseli National Park, which is at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro. . Although the National Park is fairly small (392 sq km), it is so rich in both flora and fauna that it has recently been designated an international biosphere reserve. Despite going from India, the land of elephants, we saw the most amazing herd of almost 200 elephants in all different sizes.
Finally it was time to bid adieu to our friend Jackson who had made our trip so memorable and thoroughly enjoyable. It was the kind of trip that changes how you look at the world and leaves you wanting more.