The land of colours

Every trip is an experience in itself, and that's exactly why travelling is beautiful. Every trip, whether good, bad or "weird", is unique!!! This is my second trip to Kenya, always in the same area, Watamu-Malindi, with the same "intentions", always a week, this time at the end of October, always me and only me but it was completely different, it was beautiful, at times it was also bad, it was definitely "weird", thanks to the very kind indulgence of my travel companions: Mrs Michy and Mr Yppo. I set off with my nice suitcase stuffed full to empty and hand over to a friend who was my guide on my first trip and has 3 kids in his care (his grandchildren)............

and with a happy heart because I was going back to a beautiful sea, to take a trip into the savannah which is an emotion to be lived, and then because I was going back to experience "that atmosphere" that you feel there, even and despite the situations of absolute material poverty, which you'll see, should "disturb" it. There were causes of disturbance: the pestering of the kids but also of the hotel's excursion man, the incredible low tide (it's a sight to see but it makes swimming impossible), the uninterrupted rain,.... you couldn't believe it, on the big sofas under the blanket chatting (drinking a long coffee... a very long one...

and biscuits), but how lovely, telling each other a bit, making friends, organising the safari, chatting with the lads who work at the Barracuda Inn who, with the very few tourists there are in this period, can afford to spend more time with us, there are 13/17 of us depending on the day, in the whole complex and it's like being at home, the food is excellent and the rooms are very pretty; that same rain of that afternoon accompanied us the whole way to Amboseli. It was incredible how our driver managed to get us from Watamu to Amboseli in that downpour!!!! rain was pouring in everywhere and it was pretty cold too, we were all sleepy and looking outside was impossible because of the dark and the rain.....

we tried to sleep but it was really a feat!!!!! never as for Abdul driving and in the end the situation that could have been "bad" became a beautiful adventure and I'd do it again the same way (the same way???) because it's worth it!!!!! Amboseli in the last week of October appeared to me like a glimpse onto another planet, similar to ours in its nature but with completely different colours and in certain expanses with indefinable colours in the true sense,... when a fast cloud passes everything transforms, in a change of path, on arrival a beautiful sandstorm seen being born, growing and passing over us..... the sky changes colour and all at once it truly becomes "impalpable", the animals around gradually become more undefined until they disappear, you glimpse only a giraffe passing, and then see nothing more,....

being in nothingness!!!! fantastic!!!! it would have been better if the front window hadn't broken right during the trip (I'm not joking!!) and so we found ourselves "in the sand cloud" despite Lenny's heroic efforts to keep it as "closed" as possible.... heading back towards the Kibu we all laughed about it together and after a beautiful evening at the KIbu where I slept in a tent that was fantastic, in a very comfortable bed, after a good dinner and a cigarette around the fire.... under a slightly cloudy sky that the next day promised clear... and clear it was!!!! we arrived at the Stavo east with the window fixed. The Stavo is simply beautiful, in any season, the colours change and its countless shades full of energy, but the beauty of nature in this "park" is truly unique.

We stay at the Voi, it feels like coming back "home", it's regenerating to sit comfortably and watch the animals arrive, pass and perhaps stop at the little lake, in the enveloping peace of the heart of Africa. Oh well, peace doesn't last long where Mrs Michy and Mr Yppo are, because they're "D & D", the perfect combination of "fun and disaster"!!! We had our good night out and on waking at 6 all together looking for a pharmacy or something similar for Mrs Michy. Our guide Lenny and the driver Abdul were much more than kind and patient, and everything they did for us went well beyond the "Safari package".

Meeting people like them warms the heart like receiving a hug, because even though our problems and discomforts can be truly little compared to theirs, they were always available and ready to help us, with their beautiful way of laughing and looking at life like that!!! Going back on safari 7 months after the previous one rekindled in me the same strong emotions, the same thoughts and absolutely the desire to be able to go back again, each time it's a new discovery that strengthens the love and respect for nature, the animal and human world that follows the cycle of life with its rhythms, its "rules"......... Leaving the Stavo area and slowly heading back home leaves a bit of melancholy....

the three days should have been more: who knows how many other landscapes, how many emotions, how many animals and who knows what they're "doing"??!! The sunsets and starry skies of the savannah, its sounds.... oops!!! what was that???... could it be a lion??'!!!! the gaze gets lost among the plants and trees with strange or imposing shapes like the baobabs, every movement could be an animal, and when you see it, perhaps approaching, and then continuing on its way, in its land.... well I consider myself very lucky to have been able to witness it, an entirely insignificant guest in a "world" in which we have no "powers" but can only allow ourselves to admire...

Anyway, back to our Barracuda, it's a must, as every day I was in Watamu, to stop at the Spuntino for an unequalled coffee!!! true, excellent, healthy Italian coffee, in the company of Shabba, the owner, with his wife Pina and all the friends who from time to time are passing through, stop for a hello or for the whole evening... It's here that we spent my "last evening", after the day shopping for the orphanage and visiting the God our father centre in Timboni, an experience that triggered very conflicting feelings in me (but these I can't describe, we're not talking about a sunset over the sea)....

Sad, yes, unfortunately sad, I was in my soul, but consciously happy in my heart for the beautiful week just spent, at the beautiful dinner among friends under the African sky, with a light, very pleasant breeze, with so many emotions to bring back home, eating a delicious lobster (oh yes!!!) accompanied by coconut rice and octopus sauce... in Kenya the food is excellent!!!! Back home in fact I often relive the strong emotions this week gave me, they're certainly not all happy, the last day is the first emotion I think of regarding this trip... and it's not happy but very strong.. Strong like so many other situations, stories of people who live in a beautiful place and it's the only thing they have... Will the power of "Africa blues" apply to them too???????