Cleaning has always been my least favourite activity, this includes Diwali cleaning as well. However, this year, the cleaning process came bearing gifts. As I cleaned one of my dad’s rarely touched binocular case, I found the first ever travel article I have written. It is an essay which is almost 10 years old based on my very first international trip with my family to Kenya. The encounter is incomplete and was scribbled on a hotel notepad. However, the article is funny, simple and most importantly young at heart. Previously, I was going to rephrase it and share it with you like any other blog post I share. But upon further thought, I have changed my mind and am going to post it exactly the way it was originally written to safeguard the innocence in it. Please excuse the grammatical and punctuation errors in it.
“Our trip started on 11/11/2014 when we left early in the morning for our flight. It was a 7:00 am* flight. We reached there** about 2 hrs early to check in. It’s a long process. We had to fill lots and lots of forms & wherever we went our passports were asked for. By 6:45 am* we were seated in the plane. At 7:00 am* our plane left Mumbai airport. It was a 7 hrs flight. We were served breakfast and juices on the flight. We got down at Nairobi airport**** at about 11:00 am*#. Again we had to fill some more forms. Then we went to pick our luggage. For some time we couldn’t find our luggage, then there was a native who assisted us. Then we checked out and met a jolly fellow. I don’t recall his name. But I remember our driver’s name. He is named Mr. James. He was not at all that social with us. Then after a brief explanation of our tour we had lunch and started off to Masai Mara. We learnt a few things i.e the national language of the people here is ‘Swahili’ and here ‘Jambo’ means ‘hello’ and ‘Haribu’ means welcome. We had a long bumpy ride to Masai Mara. On the way we saw animals like Imphals and wild beasts. We even saw herds of Zebras, Cows, Sheep and Goats. We had dinner there at the hotel Fig Tree Camp*#* and soon went off to sleep.
The next day early morning we had breakfast and tea- coffee and we left for a game drive**#*. We saw the animals we saw the day before and we saw Lionesses. We also saw Hyenas. Later we got stuck in a ditch for about 2 hrs and were saved by some westerners who passed by. Soon after the westerners passed the ditch their car broke down. Then we went to help them. Soon two more cars came after the westerners left. Then we decided to go ahead and we did. But later we didn’t see any animals. We returned back our way to go to the hotel and we saw 4 or 3 Lionesses resting under a tree at about 50 mtrs away our car broke down again. By now we were tired of our car breaking down. But soon there was a car which came and we reached our hotel by lunch time. 
A new car was sent for. In the afternoon we slept in our tent**# with leaving the zip open for air. My dad says there had been a monkey in our tent who stole our mixed fruit juice and left the tent where he burst open our juice and split it all over the place. Many other monkeys also came to lick the juice. This was when my mother saw the monkeys and woke my dad who shooed them away.
Then went for a game drive**#*. This time we saw Giraffes we also saw a Lion and a Lioness mating. We saw Leopards, Crowned Storks and Ostriches. We were there at the hotel by dinner. We had a bath, packed our bags and went to sleep. The next morning we left for Lake Nakuru with a new car a driver named Mr. John. Mr. John was very slow at driving. First he took us to see the Masai village.
There we paid $40 to the Cheifs son and we saw the Masais dance. We saw them jump and heard their ladies sing. Then we were showed how they make fires and we were showed their homes”
This short recount is only of the first leg of our journey in Kenya. If my memory serves me right, my family and me visited the magnificent Lake Nakuru, the unique Mount Kenya Safari Lodge and the bustling city of Nairobi. The experience was unique in itself, perfect for a 14-year-old. It was my first step at an adventure (that I enjoyed). It opened me to the simplicity and beauty of nature. The trip introduced me to the variety of animals and most importantly helped me develop an eye for nature.
* – refers to Indian Standard Time.
** – refers to Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai, India.
*** – refers to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi, Kenya.
*# – refers to East African Time.
*#* – is the name of the Hotel I stayed at with my family at Masai Mara.
**# – When at Masai Mara, we had rented two tents which were fully furnished and equipped with
all the necessary amenities. However, these tents had zips instead of doors.
**#* – refers to the activity of heading out to watch animals, birds, etc. in their natural habitat as a
part of the Kenyan Safari.
TALLER TALES 