Aaj Ki Kahani

We bid farewell to Siena Springs camp and were on our way to Lake Elementaita. For most of the travel, I was on the front seat clicking random pictures and asking many many questions to Moses who enthusiastically answered them. The scenery was different. The flat topped Acacia and the Mara trees were lesser in number and there were more of the yellow barked Acacia or the fever Acacia or the Naivasha thorns as it's otherwise called. These trees use barks for photosynthesis and also aid in maintaining the water table. The roots are brewed and given to women after childbirth to regain strength. There were the whistling thorn acacia too which are myrmecophyte that live in a symbiotic relationship with ants. Lake Naivasha is a freshwater lake, highest elevation point of the Kenyan Rift Valley, in Maasai language Nai posha means rough water. The underground water feeds the Olkaria thermal power station, which is situated in the Hells Gate National park. The lake albeit it...

Mambo (wassup) everyone! The Siena Springs camp uses the generator from 5 am to 11 am then again at 6 pm to 11 pm. Off the grid experience! Game Drive is better if done early so we decided to leave by 6.30 giving us enough time for morning activities once the lights are turned on.Got ready and stepped out of the tent to complete darkness then rechecked the time - Sujith glared and flared at me. As the lights switched on I thought it was 5 am and woke him up, how was I to know the lights came an hour early! Our co travelers were fashionably late so we started on our drive at 7.45. We clicked pictures at the entrance of the reserve and did a bit of haggling and bought a few souvenirs from the tribal peddlers. The roof of the van was lifted up 2 feet so we could stand and watch unhindered. We were strictly advised not to step out till the drive is complete, that's another 6 hours or so! We were thrilled to see the numerous Zebras standing in various poses, most of them were o...

A cool breeze welcomed us and the airport looked very ordinary (flying out of Dubai,everything looks ordinary),  the Jomo Kenyatta International airport. We were a group of 25, 5 Tamil speaking couples with noisy kids and us. They were all neighbours in Dubai and have been vacationing together regularly. We were greeted by the travel partners of Akbar travels, a group called Sawa Sawa ('ok ok' in Swahili). A tall dark guy with a unpronounceable name gave us a speech on the expected conduct and the sights planned etc. The Tamil group shared their chapatis and pickle with us, travelling with kids they had lots of eatables, we ate in the parking lot. As we were getting ready to board the minivans (3), he asked just the 2 of us to wait as we were to be accompanied by the couple landing in the next flight from Dubai. We were tired already with the delayed flight and this irked us. After a wait of 1.5 hours, watching the varied crowd coming out of the airport mostly big groups ...

Everybody has a bucket list ...things to do, places to visit etc., all before kicking the bucket. Don't you have one?  Please do take a diary or your phone and jot down the things that come to your mind. You don't need to be past 60 or unwell to frame the list...actually its better to write one in your teens keep adding to it and striking off the activities done, giving yourself more time to empty the bucket.  Well, my list is rather long, and a tad bit ambitious in fact, there's no chance that I ll ever get to empty my bucket! I asked Sujith to list out the places he wanted to see. Where my list had 25 places, Sujith just told me 3. I was surprised, what only 3? He said he would like to refill the bucket as it empties up ...smart guy I say .So not surprisingly Sujith's places to see are all done. Lucky guy he gets to refill his bucket, aha, I had one matching with his list so I am happy to strike it off my list. On the top of my wishlist was Australia. Wat...