When travel is research and discovery....
The moment to leave has finally arrived. With me on this adventure are my husband and our two children. We board a Blu Panorama 757/200 from Bologna, perfectly on time at 21:30. A smooth journey although it was hard to rest: the airplane seats leave a bit to be desired in terms of comfort... We'll make a stopover in Zanzibar before reaching Mombasa and thus beginning our adventure.
Good morning Kenya, Good morning Mombasa! At 9, after the stopover in Zanzibar, we landed in Mombasa. The visa formalities and baggage collection take us about 2 hours (...but how many people decided, like us, to come to Kenya!). Outside the airport Gabriel is waiting for us, and he leads the way to the minibus that will take us to Watamu, to the Aquarius Beach Resort. About two hours on the road during which we become familiar with the smells, the landscapes and the people of this magical Country. As soon as I arrive, I already feel like a different person! It's just past 13:00 when we arrive at the Hotel, practically in the center of Watamu, on the beach and near a school. Exhausted, lunch is immediately waiting for us, even though we can't wait to rest a bit...we'll do it later on the beach, I hope..... A vain hope because on the beach the beach boys are waiting for us!...
There's time for rest, meanwhile we get to know some of them: Mario, Diego, Mr. Bleu. They speak Italian very well so communicating isn't a problem; they offer to take us anywhere we want, without offending them we put everything off until tomorrow. "Pole pole" they nod, but they already know they've won us over!
After finally getting a good night's sleep, we decide to devote this day to the beach and to discovering the various areas of the Resort, all very welcoming and at the same time intimate. The three pools and the lush vegetation surrounding them immerse you in a unique atmosphere that enchants you! Among palms and Cinchona trees we find ourselves on the beach of fine, very white sand. Today the Beach Boys' welcome is even warmer: Mario, Diego, Mastro Geppetto give us information on the costs and how Safaris and boat trips work. A nice saving compared to the costs of the various agencies at the Hotel! We've practically already decided, we want to trust them and tomorrow morning we'll be right on time for a boat trip to the Marine Park and beyond...
At 8:30, right on time, we're on the beach ready to leave: Mario is already waiting for us! Unfortunately the day isn't as clear as the previous one, in fact it threatens rain...but we're not discouraged, we're sure it will be a beautiful day. The boat arrives and...off we go! With us are two couples from Florence and two women from Udine, mother and daughter. We make friends right away and the day flies by, despite the rain that decided to fall at the marine park, spoiling the view of fish and dolphins... So we change course towards Sardinia 2, a spot in front of the Jacaranda, near Malindi, where at low tide a very white sand is often exposed, allowing you to reach the coral reef on foot.
Here our beach boy friends prepare a fabulous lunch for us: they set up a barbecue in the middle of the water and there they cook swordfish, lobsters and shrimp! As a first course they've already got coconut rice with octopus sauce ready! They don't even leave out fruit: pineapple and bananas! Enjoy your meal! Meanwhile the sun has also come back to cheer us up, along with a myriad of vendors who, despite the distance from the coast, reached our boat on foot to show us their wares. We head back at almost 17:00...Tomorrow a early wake-up awaits us....at 4:30 we leave for the Safari!
I've never seen my two children get up early and on time like this! This holiday is really captivating them and I'm happy about it. I'm convinced that from this experience they will take everything it's offering them: Culture, knowledge, discovery. To reach Tsavo Park we have a good two hours of dirt road ahead of us; today our travel companions are Riccardo, Sandra and Serenella, who were with us on the boat yesterday, along with Mario, our local guide! The safari offers us a unique landscape: Savanna and vegetation alternate, offering the chance to see practically almost all the inhabitants of these places: Gazelles, Impala, Elephants, Zebras, Giraffes, Crocodiles and also...lions. A full day...but when we return we're not at all tired! It's even hard to say goodbye at the end of the day, and Mario suggests he accompany us again tomorrow....Where?
This morning Mario accompanied us to Garota beach, 3-4 km south of Watamu. Here the marine park begins, we're in turtle bay. The bay takes its name from the rock that stands out in the middle of the ocean and looks like a turtle, indeed. A beautiful day and a beautiful beach, practically deserted, ideal for enjoying two hours of sun and swims! After lunch our destination will be Malindi, with the wood factory and a tour of the city, between the chaotic authenticity of the street markets and the excessive quiet of the residential area! Back in Watamu, we say goodbye to Mario and the friends from Florence, who will leave on Friday. Thanks to them for having been our travel companions.
Ever since I arrived, a thought, a conviction has been taking ever more shape within me: I won't be able to return home without having visited the Timboni Orphanage. Why hide from myself that I had decided to do it before leaving? I repeat once again that for me Travel is above all discovery and knowledge, tiptoeing into a culture different from your own and taking from it everything you're capable of taking! The hospitality and helpfulness of the people, their joviality, their ability to live in an essential way, and understanding how many useless things we could do without! In this Magical Country, which captivates you with its smells, its lush vegetation and a starry sky that has no equal in the rest of the planet, the realities of the Orphanages are experiences that every person who comes to Kenya would do well to visit.
Mama Sussy's Orphanage houses about 200 children ranging in age from 1 month to 12 years. In the short time we stayed we tried to give them what perhaps is missing in a place like this: the contact of a hand, a caress, a hug! It was beautiful to get involved and pick up the little ones who then didn't want to know about getting down from our arms. It all lasted too little! When I return, I must find more time for all of you! They greet us joyfully with their songs...They know they've won us over! On this visit we were accompanied by Ulisse (with us in the photos), also met on the beach in Watamu; I want to thank him for the experience he gave us! In the morning together we took a walk on the beach until we reached a place where we could see the monkeys: here's a mother with her little one....he's surely luckier than the little friends of Mama Sussy!
Last day with the friends of a week... On the beach we take the opportunity to say goodbye to everyone: Mario, Diego, Mastro Geppetto, Ulisse, Misha, Omar, the women of the little market on the beach. We hope to leave a good memory with them... and we give away t-shirts, pens, flip-flops, everything we can...they made us spend a week we couldn't have imagined! Goodbyes are always hard, see you next time, my dear friends....there must be a next time! The evening ends with a Kenyan dinner at the Resort and a Masai show.... (as if there were still any need to win us over). Then everyone to bed. Tomorrow wake-up at 5
Tonight we slept little and badly. The thought of having to leave makes us melancholic! I'm not the only one in this state, the rest of the family is in the same mood as me....There it is, that state of mind that many call Mal D'Africa! We couldn't come out of it unscathed, given the way we immersed ourselves from the very first day in this adventure of ours. On the minibus taking us to Mombasa I try to gather my thoughts on the things that struck me most on this Trip and that I won't forget. From Kenya I'll carry with me the acrid and intense smell that inebriates you from the first moment you set foot on its soil; the rich vegetation that wraps around you until you reach the savanna, where the colors fade but still remain warm; and the Ocean, which bathes these beaches of fine, very white sand.
I won't be able to forget the starry sky that at night I found myself admiring, enchanted, from the beach of Watamu: an infinity of stars and constellations, impossible to see in our hemisphere. I won't forget the patience and the skill of the women and men of this land, able to produce objects in wood or jewelry. I won't forget even one of the Beach Boys, without whom we would have had a holiday as recluses. But above all I'll carry with me the eyes and the smiles of all those children who in these days came towards us on the streets and on the beach; I'll try to remember their faces and the faces of the children of Timboni.
The many photos taken will surely help me, but the experience and the emotions I've lived I'll carry inside me, until I can return to live more experiences and more emotions! I want to think that this child waving goodbye to me together with his father is wishing me to come back....See you soon!
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1 reader comments
ti vorrei contattare per questo viaggio.. la mia email è isa_mastro89@live.it..