Tembea kenya – why you should Travel Kenya

Tembea Kenya – in the Swahili language, means Travel Kenya. To know Kenya is to love it. Kenya isn’t gaudy and show-offish. She is an acquired taste that grows into an addiction. Tembea Kenya – travel this country and immerse yourself in the culture.

Here’s a couple of real-life stories;

A friend of a friend left town the other day – she had lived here for 3 years. She had never been to the coast, on a safari, to see Mount Kenya, or Kilimanjaro, or the Great Rift Valley. Heck! she had never been to the Village Market.

My friend’s parents came over. They went to the coast. It was too hot, too slow, too African. They booked a flight home early.

Another friend visited Kenya, she stayed in the city. We suggested a safari – Nairobi National Park, which is a 10-minute drive from our house. “I have no interest in Safari” she said. She went home without having seen a single animal.

What do these people have in common? They all stated that they dislike Kenya and have no plans to return.

I told these stories to my friend’s last night. 

Unsurprisingly, they are up in arms. “How can you not like Kenya?”

How can you not love a beach that is voted the best in the world? How can you not love safari, to be dazed by the midnight stars, to experience the thrill of nature laid bare? How can you not love volcanoes in the Great Rift Valley, the salt of the Indian Ocean, monkeys peering from trees, chameleons on your breakfast table, the curved prow of a 100-year-old dhow?

I ruminate and realise that the few people that I know that didn’t fall hard in love with Kenya didn’t travel Kenya. They didn’t open their eyes to see the beauty behind the dust, the power behind the poverty. They came with a preconceived view of a country and viewed it with blinkered eyes.

I, like many others in the Western world, was brought up on an unhealthy diet of torrid tales of Africa. Until I was in my early 20s my opinions of this continent were derived 50% through adverts on Children in Need – ubiquitous malnourished child walking to a well – and 50% through movies and books that talked of man-eating lions and snakes that swallow you whole.

I was fed negative images of Africa from my earliest childhood, but it took me about 15 minutes before I realized that it was all bullshit.

If you have expressed a desire to travel here, then surely you should spend the time to brush up on the basics. In ALL countries there is corruption, poverty, homelessness – this isn’t endemic to Kenya, or the African continent. 

If you are privileged enough to travel to this amazing country, then come with your eyes open. The pictures that were painted in your mind as a child are not the true reality of Kenya. While there is poverty and suffering, while there are indeed lions that eat men and snakes that would have you for supper. This isn’t the sum of Kenya. No, not even a little bit.

Change the narrative and leave Kenya telling different stories of Africa.

Why I Love Kenya – Tembea Kenya

The culture, the climate, the colobus, the coconuts – there’s a whole heap to love about Kenya but here are my favourite places to go. Don’t just visit Nairobi, Tembea Kenya, baby.

Watamu

The other day, someone told me they weren’t a fan of Watamu. I promptly unfriended them. Jokes. But seriously WTF!. If I could live anywhere in Kenya, it would be Watamu. White sand beaches, secret coves, dhow rides up Mida Creek, turtles, whales, dolphins, manta rays, Italian restaurants, dawa’s with your feet in the sand. 

• Read about Watamu here
• Where to stay here
• Best restaurants in Watamu
• Watamu beach Kenya: an insiders guide
• All you need to know about Turtle Bay Watamu

Maasai Mara National Park

It’s a bucket-list destination for the migration, but the migration is a tiny part of a thriving ecosystem. Tourists visit in their thousands and take up spots along the side of the Mara and Talek rivers, waiting for the wildebeest to cross. They sometimes wait for hours, spending their precious days, waiting for a crossing that may never happen. I’d rather concentrate on the beauty that is all around you. The honey-hued dawns, hyena families nipping at vultures, huge lion prides hiding in bushes, red rose sunsets, fields of grass that reach to the horizon. A leopard up a tree, a jackal crouched behind a rock, a million wildebeest following the leader.

• Read about the Maasai Mara here.
• Where to stay here.
• How to do to the migration for cheap here.
• Naibor Camp – Best Masai Mara Camps Review

Amboseli National Park

Regular readers of this blog will know that Amboseli is my absolute favourite safari destination in Kenya. The swamp lakes that mirror the sky, the baby elephants wriggling gleefully in the mud, pink flamingos flaunting their finery, Kilimanjaro – that naughty temptress – peeking out from behind the clouds. What Amboseli lacks in rhino and lions it makes up for in elephants.

• Where to stay in Amboseli here.

Lamu

Culture, sea, sun, sand. In that order. Lamu is winding donkey-filled streets, 3 storey buildings crowded together to glimpse the sea. Dhows drifting over bays filled with sand dollars and buildings and boats that creak with age, wind, salt and the wisdom of 10 generations of mzees.

• Where to stay in Lamu here.

Nairobi

Hey! I never said don’t come to Nairobi, I said don’t make it the only destination on your travels around Kenya.

Nairobi is a thriving city that offers more the deeper you delve. Fabulous 5-star restaurants, colonial mansions,sunsets over the Ngong Hills, nightclubs that thump into the early morning, modern shopping centre with well-known brands, winding markets selling designer clothes at a fraction of the price back home. Visit the Giraffe Centre, Karura Forest, David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage or Nairobi National Park for your animal fix.

• Read about Nairobi here
• The best restaurants in Nairobi here
• Where to stay in Nairobi here
• 24 Hours in Nairobi – 1 day in Nairobi, Kenya
• The Best Spa in Nairobi – 7 top picks
• 15 Best day trips from Nairobi
• 12 best 5 Star Hotels In Nairobi
• Buy The Expat Guide to Nairobi here

Lake Nakuru National Park

Lake Nakuru and its sister lake Elementaita are home to some of the largest flocks of flamingos in the world. At certain times of the year, the lake waters are tinged candyfloss pink, the hills green, the sand white, and the flamingos a lurid disco fuschia.

It’s a banquet for the eyes. The rift lakes are remote, peaceful paradises that offer a peek into a former time: colonial fortress here, a distant outpost there. As with many places outside the major cities, my stress levels hit snooze as soon as I arrive. There is something about fish eagles, nibbling zebra, and wide-open skies that soothes my tired soul.

• Where to stay at Lake Elementaita and Nakuru here
• Where to stay at Lake Naivasha here

Kitengela Hot Glass

Walking into Kitengela’s Hot Glass is to arrive in a rather beautiful fever dream. An acid drive haze of stunning glassware woven into shapes that beg to come home with you. Kitengela is famous for its glass and can be found as far as the lauded halls of Harrods and dining tables of the celebrities. At Kitengela you can take some of this precious glass home but you can also see what glassmakers get up to when they’ve had a few drinks (this. I am sure, is the only explanation for the serpentine shapes, thunderstruck cars, and eerie goblins that pepper the surroundings). Tembea Kenya. It’s a mad, mad world.

Read about Kitengela Hot Glass here.

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Tembea Kenya – use the links below to travel Kenya safely and cheaply

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