In Destinations

ISLAND LIFE: Top Destination Islands in Kenya.

March 26, 2018 1 Comment

Lonely quiet places sitting pretty in the middle of endless magical water, breezed by cool winds blowing up wild hair and rustling palm leaves, opening up to sparkling sand on pristine beaches calling out your body for some sun tan, Islands are some of the most fascinating and peaceful places to refresh your mind, holiday away or just re-establish your inner peace.

An island is a Perfect definition of getting lost somewhere in the middle of nowhere and it can never be more exotic than the peace and tranquility it brings to free your mind to wander away. It is freedom in pure bliss and magnificence.

Beautiful Island Destinations in Kenya

1. Lamu Archipelago

An old Swahili town that is far away from the mainland and bustles , resting quietly on the northern coast, sets you back to 14^th century history, with great ancient architecture and cultural diversity that is a mix of Swahili, Portuguese, Turkish and Arabic culture. It is a world of Ancient ruins and luxurious hotels outlining the sandy beaches and overlooking the sparkling turquoise ocean going beyond the horizon. The Lamu Fort and Lamu festival are a masterpiece of all Lamu has to offer to any guest wanting a story from Lamu.

Image Source: Destination 360

Ancient Coral houses, Little alley pathways for donkeys and no vehicles are what takes you back to the ancient and untouched beauty of this small historical town. Hop off a speed boat as you get to the island then hop onto a donkey cart to move around the quiet town as you take in the magical surrounding of white sandy beaches and endless ocean waves.

Also:

The luxurious dhow sails breathtakingly open you up to other surrounding and outrageously beautiful islands that are part of the archipelago.

Kiwayu Island which is part of Kiunga Marine National reserve presents you an opportunity aboard glass boats to see the rich marine life.

Manda Island which is the landing strip into Lamu offers great views to the ocean and magical sunset cruises

Pate Island is also a quiet beautiful island with pristine beaches.

2. Mfangano Island

The Largest fresh water lake in Africa shared by 3 countries hosts one of the most beautiful islands; Mfangano Island on the eastern section of Lake Victoria. This rocky island has magical rock art views and one of the best luxurious island resorts in the Lake. Lake Victoria offers magnificent sunset views and what surer way to take all this in than the sunset cruises around Mfangano which will take your breath away.

Image Source: Governors Camp

Also Nearby:

Rusinga Island famous for its political affiliations, one of the most fascinating fishing community and diverse rich Luo and Suba culture.It is a great place to experience the dreamy island life. Best time to visit Rusinga is during the Rusinga Island festival in December.

Migingo Island is the infamous fishing mine that is highly on demand between the Kenyan and Ugandan government and which immerses you to local fishing communities.

Ndere Island hosts a National Park that is home to diverse birdlife and prowling monitor lizards. It offers you a great nature park tour that is refreshing from the Kisumu heat and hustle.

3. Wasini Island

Sitting on the lonely southern coast in Shimoni, Wasini Island is magnetic due to its dolphin tours which are its main attraction at the Kisite Mpunguti national reserve. Aboard motor glass boats, cruising the coral island you get awed by the rich marine life with colorful fish hitting your boat’s glass bottom scaring your heart to skip a beat. Jumping out of the dhow sails to swim with the dolphins or just watch them splash into the air and fashionably swim in the crystal clear waters is a lifetime marine experience.

Image Source: Kifaru Tours

4. Mombasa Island

Mombasa city is the only Kenyan city on an island. Accessible by Nyali Bridge, Makupa causeway and Likoni ferry on the south. It is a city that is rich in cultural diversity, breathtaking ocean views, magical sea waves, enticing sea food and spicy aroma, old Swahili and Portuguese architecture with a touch of classic Arabic, a busy sea port and a quiet and laidback Swahili lifestyle. It is the ideal beach city with numerous luxurious hotels, holiday resorts and fun activities to indulge in.

Also check out my experience on: HOW TO EXPLORE MOMBASA TOWN and FORT JESUS

5. Chale Island

Pristine white sandy beaches lying out on the south coast of Kenya in Kwale county, clear turquoise water, a rich and lush green mangrove forest hanging over coral reefs is a magnet for migratory birds and sea life. Sitting quietly on this island is a luxurious hanging resort that is a perfect get away destination for honeymooners.

South coast is also predominant with mysteriously disappearing islands which pop up on low tide and lay as pretty sparkling sandy islands in the middle of ocean water and disappear on high tides. Join a cruise for sunset dinners or some exotic lunch on these random islands.

6. Crescent Island

Lake Naivasha is thriving out of all the outrageously beautiful cottages and luxurious accommodation and campsites by this Great Rift Valley Lake.

Crescent Island hosts a game sanctuary that is home to free ranging wildlife that is accessible by a nature trail foot trip. It is accessible by both road via the sanctuary farm or by boat from Lake Naivasha. It has a great view to the lake and bird watching, a great spot to watch hippos from a distance and interact with cheeky monkeys. Also check out How to Explore NAIVASHA

Thank you for stopping by 🙂 🙂

In Destinations

Changing your Repeat Trip Experience.

July 24, 2017 No Comments

As Alan Keightley puts it “Once in a while it really hits you that you don’t have to experience the world in the way you have been told to”, Just take the memories and leave the footprints and Oh , the places you’ll go is not down in any map, true places never are.

What you need

New motivation, a better Plan, new activities and goals, highest level of flexibility. A Constant mind will never experience life and taking it from Esther Dyson, “Change means that, what was before was good but not perfect and we need perfect that’s why we do it again.

I need my mind stretched by a new experience, I’m diving for new motivation to write daily, not like am going back to my old dimensions by stopping to write soon but this Monday madness after a packed weekend is getting out of hand. I don’t know if you feel me, but if you’re here quite often reading you’ll say it’s not true, but hey we won’t act like its okay when it’s not unless you want me to lie. When you do tick something same every same time like a clock you get worn out and you need to recharge if not new energy all together. But this I talked about in my previous post reviewing what I’ve been up to Halfway through the year.

A number of times when you embark on a random trip you mostly don’t know what to expect and when you want the same trip to take you away again at least now with a clear outlay of what you want to achieve specifically it’s usually just a perfection of your fuzzy old experience.

I ran out of ideas to make my repeat trip posts new to you but thought i should perhaps share what to do on a repeat trip and the advantages of one so as to encourage you not to throw your imagination away.

BETTER DEALS.

Knowing what exactly to expect, what you want, when and where to find it spicing it up with your first time experience makes your planning so much easy. You get the best accommodation deals, ticket deals, best restaurants and meals and even shopping deals. You even get to avoid asking so much from people who have no clue of even what you are talking about especially if you are looking for places you found on Google. Experience is the best teacher.

TIME EFFICIENCY

This is the greatest of all achievements. Any first time in a new place especially when driving you end up at least partly lost or totally off route even for an hour while trying to find your way to the best place for a certain activity or shopping around for better deals and If you save all that lost time you can do so much In the shortest available time. This helped me write my 10 Ultimate Reasons to visit ‘The Pearl of Africa’, KAMPALA after I was here on my 2^nd visit.

SATISFACTION

I don’t know why I’ve been to Coast more times than I can remember but I know it’s the satisfaction that comes with it every time I’ve been there. So do i share the same compliments for Naivasha. There are too many times I’ve told my friends am not going back to Naivasha cause it’s enough than I’ve kept quiet about going back. Every time I go back to the places I’ve been to before I find something new, some more intriguing adventure and a better experience of even the experiences i had before.

I went back to Jinja and I know I can’t write about it again but you can read about the first time HERE and HERE and apart from redoing the same experiences I had better fun this time, avoided unnecessary expenses and got better deals from everything I did. Am not saying it will be perfect, Mistakes will be there but not as many as the 1^st time.

EARLY PREPARATION.

If it’s an outside country trip, no one gives you a manual of what is really expected of you at the immigration and even the new country you’re going to, things like if you are traveling by road by private means, then you need to clear the car you are driving are only told to you at the border. I’ve seen people leave their cars at the border and have to find other means of transport, so have I seen people waste hours and hours trying to get clearance at the border for lack of necessary clearance requirements, and if not to make it worse I’ve had to personally part with a huge amount of money at the border just to let them give me a leeway of something (Not even so important), I couldn’t get in order at that specific day before I get clearance. How corruption sucks! I’ d say the second trip was so much easier knowing exactly what they needed and where to even get it done.

RIGHT DECISIONS

How do you stay successful? “Making right decisions.”

How do you make right decisions? “Experience.”

How do you get the experience? “Making wrong decisions.”

Of course your first experience on any place a trip takes you opens up your mind, changes your perspective but if you reject the food, fear the religion, avoid the people and have a fixed mind, negative to change then better just stay at home. Your first experience will always help you make the right decisions on everything that includes even going back or picking it up for someone.

And then do I add Language barrier at times. Making assumptions of say East Africans can speak English would not be so much of a good idea. Like half percent of the locals in Uganda wouldn’t even understand what you are saying to them in English or Swahili. But don’t mind, be open minded, just go rumble gamble.

That said and done it’s all a worthwhile experience. Just putting it out there, if you take me to Santorini (Greece) 9 times I still wouldn’t say no to the 10^th. 🙂 🙂

Till the next safari 🙂 🙂

Enjoy the photos you won’t see on a new post.

In Destinations

SECRETS of Lake OLOIDEN

January 16, 2017 No Comments

Beautiful scenes of lush green grass and the yellow barked acacia offering shade to the littered wildlife on the roadside is our welcome site. One of my weird habits is making sure I don’t dine in my place of accommodation and if I have to then it happens once when am super exhausted from a day of adventure.

Well this is usually not easy, especially if you ain’t a foodie like me and always fall hungry just when you are about to sleep, or remember you didn’t eat when you are leaving and you are so behind schedule.

The good side of this is you get to sample many hotels in your few days stay, you just need your accommodation sorted, and then you can have a whole list of away places to visit and your meals whenever and wherever you see good food or feel hungry.

The Downside is you come across a heavenly place than where you are staying and then you wish you can shift, but then you already paid for the whole week stay in your former place and you are tied to your funds, that’s what we call real discipline and self-control. Well, wishes are just that; “Wishes”, sit Order for lunch, eat and move along. Happened to me once in coast and I had to pay for a single night in a different resort just to let the cursing go, get over it and move on. It was the exact feeling you get when you see a classy fashion piece that you can’t afford.

Here it was happening again, Lake Oloiden was one of those hard choices you have to make.

On our drive back to Naivasha from Hells gate, at a distance we saw this isolated beautiful small lake. I actually thought its part of Lake Naivasha, so I asked our guide. “That’s Lake Oloiden and yes it was part of Lake Naivasha before but it’s now separated by around 200 meters, do you want to go?” Yes of course I answered with no hesitation.

Lake Oloiden “meaning Salty lake” is a few Kms from the Olkaria gate if you are coming from Hells gate and around 25km from Naivasha. It’s quite a secretive place located past a small Maasai center and not so popular to the outside population but the Maasai community around here holds it in so much regard.

It has an underground inlet with volcanic ash which makes it salty. It is a home to a few hippos, and a variety of bird species and surrounded by a number of wildlife species like the Warthogs, Giraffes, Gazelles, Zebras and Baboons just to name what I saw .

We didn’t get to see any flamingoes on our visit though we were told it’s a great home of flamingoes which move here especially during the wet season when the water level in Lake Nakuru increases.

We walked around the lake enjoying the views and interacting with the locals.

Boat safaris are available to the lake, but the scenery and quietness is just quite everything if you are looking for a private escapade. There is the Oloiden campsite where you can pitch camp for the night and I think a weekend here with friends would be perfect. “We should have camped here,” Just wishes. We grab some fish with Ugali for Lunch then head off.

The best of places are the Unknown.

Thanks for stopping by.

Love and Love.

In General

SUN-SETTING 2016.

December 31, 2016 No Comments

I finally stayed away from coast this year, probably the only promise I remember making and I’ve kept, then I crossed borders for the first time and I can’t be happier. Taking long drives to make memories, getting blisters in the name of adventure, walking long distances to find the perfect views, waking up so early just for sunrise shots, Bracing the cold water just to take the perfect photos, organizing trips with friends who then back out and I go solo anyway, risking life just to climb rocks, getting super sick due to fatigue, to meeting a lot of new faces who’ve ended up being friends. I’ve been to interesting places this year, made great memories but most important of all I’ve learnt that the best of places are the best kept secrets and it’s you as an individual to create your own adventure and fun.

Some of the ten beautiful places I’ve been to this year are:

JINJA Uganda.

2. River Nile Source.

3. Hells Gate National Park.

4. Lake Elementaita.

5. Crescent Island Naivasha.

6. Lord Egerton Castle.

7. Chebloch Gorge Baringo.

8. Kerio Valley.

9. Kariandusi prehistoric site.

10. Lake Oloiden.

2016 AT A GLANCE.

People do this, I don’t know how many lie or whether it’s true, but am doing this not because everyone else is but because for me this year needs a review. I don’t believe in Christmas anyway so by now you know am not a cliché. 2016 has given me so many opportunities, taken me places I didn’t know I’d go and opened many doors for me.

I Settled in Eldoret this year by the way and that’s one thing am so glad of doing. My friends here make life so much more interesting and lively that I’ve only been back to Nairobi once this year. I even forgot how my wardrobe and shoes look like. In 2016 I have learnt to appreciate life more, value anything small I have, love humans more, be dedicated and work hard, give more(charity makes me so happy) , let things that hurt go easily but above all I’ve learnt to hold onto my happiness, love myself more, be selfish on giving out my heart easily and laugh more. The people who’ve made this possible in every little way are appreciated, they say you never really forget that person who saved you from drowning and well that’s just it. Hey.! my humans, am so glad you all are my ‘squad’. Actually I believe friends are at times the only family you have because I’ve seen this work when I didn’t have anyone else.

Its routine I should have done Christmas posts but well am not everyone else, and why should I anyway when all I did for Christmas was isolate myself, sleep and watch? Anyway back to the point. I do believe in a new year. I know this is having double standards since it’s just a change in calendar but look, my Birthday is a few days(if you take away the year of January) and it sounds fresh to me and gives me more reason to psyche up for 2017. I’ll be turning 25 in two months and the pressure for what I need to achieve by then is building up.

This year I didn’t have any resolutions made, perhaps I was just repeating all the 2015 ones. But it’s been a good year and full of Blessings to me. Am not sure if am making any for 2017, but am sure I’ll pray God opens more doors for my dreams.

Someone asked how many are crossing single to 2017? And I thought, “But I’ve crossed single to every New Year all my life.” Who even thinks of, or asks that? But maybe my only resolution should be to have a baby; almost all my peers do… Huh. Okay maybe 2018 resolutions, 26 won’t be so late after all.

While am eating cake and Milk for supper and writing this article. I am super glad I finally started my own blog. It’s been over, one year debating whether to or not, written articles and edited photos that finally have ended up lost, Civilization is just messed up at times. My friend Mike (who also did my blog and is an IT Guru) has been with me on this all through the almost two year’s idea, (Hi M…J). He also does apps (some of the famous ones in Kenya) and designs websites, so you can halla. (mimickeyim@gmail.com)

I also fell so sick this year and for a moment I even gave up on myself and thought I was really crossing to the other side (something my friends keep telling me, I should never come to that state again). Guys who have headaches all their life, God bless your souls, I don’t know how you do it but it shall be well.

I also followed so many amateur photographers, awesome bloggers especially travel bloggers this year and I realized the world has so much to offer (I’ll share their handles on a blog post later). For once I stopped following Djs Hahaha! Life. But then I’ve had little time to listen to music and I’ve kept playing 2 playlists on my desktop the whole year. I even don’t have a clue about musician’s gossip anymore like I used to.

I am an avid reader of blogs and any creative content on social media and I hope to read more in 2017. I don’t read books by the way; reading for exams in school crushed my interest for books. I have a shelf of books that I have read the first 5 pages at most and stopped when I realized am reading a page over and over. I am a super fan of creatives, good art pieces, and amazing designs I hope to discover more in 2017.

Okay. I’ve run out of ideas on what to write and since I don’t want to lie. Let me say THANK YOU and THANK YOU to all my readers. You guys make me wake up at 2 a.m. to write my travel experiences. Read more and follow me more in 2017. Good things up the sleeves in 2017.

Blog posts will be up on Mondays and Fridays, Oh. And guest writers are welcome on the blog. If you have an awesome travel experience hit me up on mail (clalffina@gmail.com). If you read this to the end or if you schemed through to the end well Thanks for stopping by and always come back and on your way out you can always leave a note for me on the comment box. As I cross over I look forward to more,greater and better adventures on my diary next year.

I WISH YOU AND YOUR LOVED ONES A HAPPY NEW YEAR AND GODS BLESSINGS IN 2017.

Can people stop being dogs on Snap chat in 2017 ? OKay, Bye.

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT.

Love and Love,

In Book and Join a Trip

NAIVASHA ESCAPADES

December 20, 2016 No Comments

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🙂 Like everyone else who lives in Nairobi, “Ticks Naivasha off bucket list” Who am I kidding, Not me really cause I’ve been here thrice now. I don’t get how people travel to just tick off destinations. Most of the places I’ve been to, I have gone back and got totally new and different experiences, or wish to go back.

There’s just something about memories and experiences of travel, that immediately you leave a place you want to go back to explore more, or even have the same experience over and over.

Well let’s get back to Naivasha, mainly known for quick weekend getaways from the City. It’s just two hours’ drive away and you land in a series of luxurious resorts and campsites then you realize you have been so poor in choices all your life, “Ha-ha”.

If I was doing an advertisement, this is where I’d score an A cause I’d put in a whole hour to tell beautiful stories of most of them. That said, I guess by now you get my point, ‘your weekend homes are perfect and you are spoilt for choice’.

Like most offshore resorts I’ve been to its interesting how the entrances always have this “You can never guess what happens here at the back” feeling and Like Mwewe camp, Lake Naivasha Crescent camp is one of those. We really wanted to do a shift tent camp on this trip but the weather wasn’t friendly and from my camp experience before, the cold at night is not so friendly outside, so that idea was out.

Well it’s time to take a Boat ride to Crescent Island. I’ve never been 2 meters away from a Hippo before and “wuueh” as scary as that can get, wait until it suddenly emerges from water and splashes water on you then you realize you have a screaming talent. By the way I never screamed when the Olpejeta rhino hit our car, dumbfound shock, my friend.

There are also a variety of bird species here and the Kingfisher is monster of them all. You need to see it catch fish, and you’ll feel sorry for how the eagle misses chicks.

The outstanding thing about this lake is the dried up yellow barked acacia standing in the water with quite a story you need to go find out.

Crescent Island Game Sanctuary is home to some wild animals but purely no predators, and a walk here among the animals is so refreshing.

Besides you have the monkeys jumping from branch to branch all around you and playing hide and seek games with you to make your walk more interesting.

Our evening boat ride took us to the one of the most beautiful islands I’ve seen. And if my future half is reading this, “can we get that house up there for our vacations, apart from the Maldives Christmas holidays”. Dreaaaams, Okay.

I know I’ve said I love water masses before and cold water is why I hate swimming, but these fishermen were not even aware of the cold weather. Clearly bread doesn’t come on the table easy, but again they seemed to have fun at it. Lake Naivasha is a fresh water lake and hence a great source of income to the surrounding community.

Now that I think about it, “Aren’t they scared of those huge hippos that emerge out of nowhere in the lake”

Outside the camp a few miles from Crescent camp we have a ‘public beach’ where the fishermen sell fish to tourists. They also have bike riding and Camel rides. Did I ever say am so scared of being on an animal, “Ha-ha” there’s this time I thought horse riding was fancy so I tried. You can’t guess what happened, I screamed the hell out immediately it started moving and as much as the guard told me to relax I couldn’t hear any of it till he had to let me down. That was the best day for my small brother; he laughed his heart out leave alone the people staring at me.

I know I love wild animals, but ‘weeh’ in life there are things you don’t play with and we all have phobias, right? But am planning a trip to samburu and camels are involved. Let’s wait see what happens.

Have you been to Naivasha before? What was your experience like? What activities did you do?

Love and Love.