Kenya

I walked into Kenya, with mixed feelings. I was not sure what to expect. What I had heard and read in the media about Africa was not positive. People around me asked "Are you seriously going to Africa?", these questions were adding more to the confusion. I reached Nairobi and the feeling was totally different from what I expected. It was a place much cooler than Colombo to start with. The infrastructure development was visible, it looked like a place on the rise. The shopping malls were in comparable caliber to the onces in Malaysia, which is not bad by any standards. The life style there seems to be more easy paced. It was an interesting place and totally different from what I expected.

Cheetah at the nature walk

Going Around
When in Nairobi I got a chance to visit the Nairobi national park. I think its the only national park which is within city limits. We drove around it for about 4 to 5 hours. Our mission was to find the Zimba. The Nairobi national park has only a handful of Lions and our driver picked out a male lion at a distance, in all excitement we tried to get closer, but unfortunately, the path that we took actually took us further away from the Zimba and we missed to take a click of it. But it was a place where we could spot the giraffes, dears, zebras, Ostriches, etc, rather I should say you would see them in herds and after sometime we started to completely ignore them. Anything when too much will loose its value I guess :D

Ostrich at Nairobi National Park

Adjoining the national park you could find a nature walk, which is a zoo like thing, but animals are given more space and visitors are allowed to take a walk. Here the main attraction was the Cheetah. Yours truly was seated on one side of bund and taking the pictures of the Cheetah who had come to the other edge of the bund. Suddenly the cheetah's pose reminded me of the exact pose the cat at home would do to prepare to leap from place to the other. Thank god it just dawned on us what this adorable creature was trying to do and we hurriedly made our way out of its enclosure.

Zebras at Nairobi National Park

Another place which I got to visit was the crocodile farm, I think it was an orphanage for baby crocs. This is where I learnt that discrimination happens even in the animal kingdom. All the albino crocs at the farm had visible injuries. One had a torn jaw, the other was partially blind blind and another had a deep cut. When I inquired from the keeper, he explained that it was indeed discrimination and jealousy.

Dosing at the croc farm

I have been told that I had not enjoyed the real Kenya since I haven't gone out of Nairobi. It seems a visit to Masai mara is a must for any visitor. All in all its indeed a nice place and worth a visit.