It’s not all work and no play for us VSO volunteers. My first Christmas away from home was a very different experience, taking in a safari on the Maasai Mara and a relaxing beach holiday at the coast.
I met up with six other volunteers in Nairobi for an alternative Christmas celebration of pesto pasta and pizza, exchange of gifts, and a visit to Nairobi’s Arboretum. On the 26th we headed to the Maasai Mara for our safari and camping trip.
I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of wildlife we got to see: Zebra, buffalo, elephant, hippo, wildebeest, giraffe, lion, cheetah, gazelle, hyena, jackal, ostrich and many other species of bird. Unfortunately the rhino and leopard managed to elude us, but with 1510 km sq to roam around, that’s not surprising.
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- Sunrise from our veranda
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- Great scuba-diving on the reef
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- Acrobats on the beach
We took the night train from Nairobi to Mombasa (an interesting experiencing in itself!) to meet up with more volunteers at the coast for New Years. On arrival at Tiwi Beach, our accommodation seemed like the perfect picturesque hide-away. The views of the ocean and white sandy beaches were amazing, but by the end of our stay I felt like I’d been a guest at Fawlty Towers!
Diani Beach, a few miles south of Tiwi, is a beautiful long beach with a strip of hotel resorts, restaurants and bars, so lots of choice in the evenings. It’s also the place to go for water sports: I didn’t try the kite surfing, but a couple of us joined a scuba-diving trip out on the reef. My Alternative Christmas was a great way to re-charge the batteries, catch up with friends and see a bit more of Kenya.
