A Holiday in a Land Full of Emotions

The emotions begin before we even land, as we fly over Kilimanjaro — arid plains followed by lush green ones, sharp and contrasting differences. Mombasa, chaotic, with a facet of daily life that lets us savour the smell and traditions of Africa, a coming and going of cars, trucks, matatu, carts and bicycles accompanied by a pungent smell of diesel, and then the landscape changes as we head out along the road that will take us to Watamu — green fields with small villages and then agave plantations and coconut palms.

We arrive at the Aquarius beach resort, in Swahili style with roofs made of palm leaves, set among the greenery of its gardens with a central pool, welcoming and family-friendly and with excellent food, where 2 Masai welcome us, and 300 metres away the beach of sand as fine as talcum powder, soft and white as snow, borders a transparent sea with small patches of seaweed at this time of year. We visit Watamu and savour everyday life; we're immediately pounced on by the local lads saying..the mozzarellas have arrived..come, we have souvenirs to take back to Italy, looking costs nothing..hakuna matata, we're in Kenya, the Beach Boys couldn't be missing, some annoying at first but then really friendly.

Of course not all of them are reliable for excursions, but you just need to ask the tourists who have been there for days and they'll recommend the best ones — and who knows their own land better than them? We decide to do everything with one of them, with ZUCCHERO, an exceptional lad, well organised, serious and professional, who managed to give us unforgettable emotions of his land. We set off straight away with the safari, an early start, but the adrenaline was such that the sooner we left, the sooner we discovered this fantastic world, and I assure you we lived the adventure, the real one. The route gives us snapshots of daily life; we cross villages beyond our understanding, huts made of wood and mud with no services, no electricity; goats and chickens with a small vegetable garden are their survival.

At the edges of the roads women walk with large baskets on their heads, heavy and full of anything, and how they manage not to drop them, I really don't know; and then men on bicycles with 3...4 sacks of charcoal or cans full of water. My eyes watch, amazed, and then finally we arrive at Tsavo East Park. The guides tell us, from now on silence, let's listen to nature that will guide us to the adventure, and let's sharpen our sight. The emotion of being in the savannah was such that we didn't know where to look; every shape seemed to us an animal moving, and then we didn't know what awaited us.

The arid savannah with a surreal look, imperceptible horizons with no sense of scale, every corner different with indescribable changes of landscape, red-orange earth, brown grass with brilliant green acacia trees and majestic silver-grey baobabs — all of this is around our eyes, and when you least expect it a hyena runs past in front of us and further on a small group of zebras. The euphoria goes through the roof at the first sight of these animals; we get close and they don't even notice; we stop, enchanted by their beauty, we're there in their habitat, in their environment, in the savannah.

Then something happens: the driver sets off suddenly and the guide looks at us laughing, telling us aia..aia..aia today you have luck big as elephant, big surprise, wait, and further on he stops and tells us to look to the right; he moves slowly forward and under a small acacia we see a lioness eating her prey; we're 2 metres from her, the blood pulses, my heart in my throat, goosebumps from the emotion — it can't be, it's a dream, no, it's real. The most beautiful image is having looked the lioness in the eyes, her feline, captivating gaze — I'll never forget it; I found myself catapulted into one of those documentaries I'd always seen on TV.

Now sure of being in the savannah and having seen what I never expected, happy, I look around to see more, and I find myself among gazelles, dik-diks, buffalo, antelopes and lots of elephants, but I don't see her...ah yes, there she is, elegant, slender with that very long neck, my favourite is in front of me, the giraffe, and how beautiful she is and how tall, I'm left enchanted. We carry on and yet another surprise: in front of us, like an arrow, a leopard jumps down from a tree, quickly escapes into the grass and leaves its prey on the tree, a gazelle making the last movements of its life. From afar we also see the cheetah and the lion, closing the day with a breathtaking sunset. Tired, we arrive at the tented camp where we'll spend the night; the setting takes us back in time, it feels like being in a film of the colonial period.

The tent is very well equipped, nothing is missing, a hot shower and then outside to watch the stars that almost touch the ground. The savannah gives its emotions at night too; the animal calls sound like a distant song made to send you to sleep. It's dawn, the trumpeting of the elephants wakes us and off we go to more emotions that follow one after another; travelling along the river we see crocodiles, hippos, ostriches, marabou storks, and then we go to the Masai village, where they welcome us with welcome dances.

Their clothes in red and purple and their jewellery with a thousand multicoloured beads fascinate us, but their sandals strike us most because they're so unusual, made with rubber like that of car tyres and rectangular, shaped so they don't have the outline of the foot so as not to leave footprints that would reveal the direction they're walking; and then their houses, made of the savannah's red earth and cow dung, in a shape that to us looks like a big tent but is in fact made that way so the water slides off better during the rainy season. This is how the day ends, and we return to the resort, enjoying the wonderful sea over the following days. The marvellous beach gives us, besides its charm, snapshots of life — small huts used as souvenir shops with Masai statues and savannah animals, sarongs and necklaces of every kind, in colours that blend really well with the rest of the setting.

To get to the beach we always choose to take the little path outside so as to pass among the village people, and here you only have to look at a shop from outside and you're already inside; and if you look at 1, you have to look at them all; at first it's a bit suffocating but then you can't do without it, you become friends with everyone and having a chat with them becomes pleasant and fun. We make the most of this sea with colourful fish and starfish. Zucchero takes us to the island of love, named for its heart shape, to the marine park and the mangroves, and then to Sardegna 2, and here we really touch the bottom...the sea is crystal clear, the starfish enormous, and to finish, a barbecue in the middle of the sea, on a strip of sand, 2 grills and lots of lobsters going straight from the sea to the grill....fantastic.

The return home draws near; the children's smiles are imprinted on the heart; in people's eyes there's a particular light of serenity that we'll take home with us in the memory of this land which, with its colours, has given facets of emotion that can only be savoured here; from today we'll look at Kenya with different eyes, or rather with a different heart. Thanks to ZUCCHERO and his helper MOMO, who together made this wonderful holiday, which we'll never forget, unique and moving. Zucchero, an exceptional and professional lad, contact him on his website. He'll know how to give you unforgettable emotions and much more than the agencies offer; you'll never go to their discos and dance with the Masai if not with the Beach Boys...and the fun is open to all ages.