Watamu and a Masai Mara safari

We're back in Kenya....! Arrival in Mombasa and the usual rigmarole of paying for the visa and clearing the suitcases through customs. I do everything I can not to have them opened....I've got lots of things for the children! Outside, our dear friend Sergio is waiting for us (excursions manager of the Blue Bay resort). After two hours in the minibus (the road has improved since last October) we arrive at the resort. They assign us our usual room and, without even unpacking, we go to see the beach. Unfortunately there's a lot of seaweed but we don't get discouraged, we'll swim anyway. The first two days we dedicate to complete relaxation. On Sunday evening, in the resort's theatre, we attend Holy Mass celebrated by a priest (he speaks reasonably good Italian), with children dancing and gospel singing.

The resort, by now we've known it for years, is very beautiful and well organised from every point of view. Food, service, cleanliness in the rooms, all excellent. The entertainment team are all friendly and very helpful (absolutely not intrusive); they proposed games on the beach, walks and every evening a show. In the afternoon at 5.30 pm, to the sound of "Out of Africa", tea with biscuits and a chef cooking delicious crepes. Sergio, as usual, organises the Masai Mara safari for us. This time we'll go to Governor's Camp and see another part of the park. The usual departure from Malindi by plane and landing directly on the savannah, where the jeep is waiting for us. Arrival at Governor's Camp, where they give us the most beautiful "suite" tent, right on a bend of the Mara River. We're in the jeep with another couple (French) and the driver.

In the Masai Mara you can go off-road, follow the animals, getting very close to them. After lunch, a buffet, a short nap and then off for the first game drive, where we meet the first animals: wildebeest, zebras, gazelles, elephants, etc.... Back after the fabulous sunset, aperitif by the river, candlelit dinner under a fabulous tent (served at the table), then a chat around a campfire. We go to bed fairly early since the next day the alarm is early (5.30 am). Here we are again in the jeep and the real safari begins, with breakfast in the savannah. We see a very beautiful lion and, close to him, lying down and dozing, no fewer than three lionesses (our driver explains: they are his mates!) Our driver really has a professional eye... he takes us under a tree where we see, among the branches, a leopard eating a gazelle.

We spot in the distance a lion accompanied by a lioness; we get closer and, when we're just a few metres from them, we witness them mating. Our safari continues and again we meet giraffes, wildebeest, zebras, Thomson's gazelles, a family of warthogs, vultures eating a wildebeest, a hyena suckling her cub. Then we approach the river and here we can see some crocodiles, one coming out of the water heading for the bank, and many hippos pressed against one another. This time we didn't see the rhinos; the driver explained why: they stay in another part of the park (the one visited last year).

We go to visit a village where the Maasai live (houses of mud and dung) with their wives, children and animals (this one, I'd say, was a bit of a rip-off!) We return to camp for lunch, an excellent buffet, then, again by jeep, they take us "to the airstrip", where we board the small plane that will take us back to Malindi and from there by minibus to the resort. another wonderful day: the "Blue Safari" organised by the resort and Mrs Ines (an Italian lady who has lived in Malindi for many years). Departure on her boat, a stop for snorkelling, then an aperitif (on the sandbanks) with white wine, papaya, coconut and cashews. Return to her home for lunch based on a grouper appetiser in a marinade with little vegetables, spaghetti with octopus sauce, lobster, grouper or fustella (grilled), fruit, Italian white wine, little biscuits (like cantuccini) made with coconut and Italian coffee.

To finish, a little show of dances by the Samburu tribe and a related little market. we spend a morning wandering around Watamu with our beach boy friends Rashid and Dasha, who take us to see their homes and their wonderful children. In the afternoon, again escorted by them, we go to the beautiful beach of Love Island and stop at the Sun Palm Bar to enjoy a fabulous passion fruit juice. Rashid organises a day for us to go to the mangroves (Mida Creek). Departure from our resort's beach; after an hour we stop for snorkelling, then on the sandbanks where we meet the flamingos, and finally on a little island for lunch (rice with octopus, small lobsters and fruit). Another morning, again accompanied by Rashid, we spend going to see the famous Che Chale beach (golden beach) — it really seems there are myriads of little gold specks.

You get so far by minibus; here we see children and women drawing water from a well (the water is brown) and filling plastic containers (they do this twice a day), which they then use for drinking and cooking. From here on you have to continue by jeep along a dirt road to reach the famous beach..And so the days pass..... in the late afternoon of Friday 9 October, the affectionate farewells of our beach boy friends Dasha and Rashid with his wife and his beautiful little boy Omar. In the evening, a wonderful African dinner on the beach prepared by our resort waiters. And so once again our 15 days flew by! Goodbye wonderful Kenya! Your people, your colours, your smells will be missed! As I write this diary a tear runs down my face….