Travel Diaries: Kenya – Our first African Adventure

These Travel Diaries refer to our June 2011 holiday to Kenya. We booked an all-inclusive holiday with TUI, and booked our safari independently through F King Safaris

I love travelling. I love discovering new places. What I don’t like is a 9 and a half hour overnight flight. Particularly as I’m unable to sleep on aeroplanes. Especially when I’m cramped into a middle seat, unable to even read by the 2 watt ‘nightlight’ trying to penetrate the darkness all around me. And the food is awful. I’m more than a little grumpy by the time we land in Kenya at Moi International Airport in Mombasa. The queue to get through immigration is moving slower than a snail on crutches and my newly straight hair is fast turning into a not-so-fetching Afro.

Finally, we’re through Arrivals. The African sunshine is beating down on us and the transfer coach driver hands us a much needed bottle of water. We’re finally on our way to the hotel. Our holiday starts here. But first we have to face the hour and a half transfer. I am amused at my first sight of goats running across the road. And I’m also amused by the people waving at us like we’re some sort of tourist attraction. I am less amused when we have to wait for a ferry big enough to take our coach over to South Mombasa. I just want to sleep.

Finally we reach our home from home for the next two weeks, Diani Sea Lodge. For a three-star hotel, under £2k for the two of us, the hotel is more than adequate. No, it doesn’t have the little personal touches that one expects in a more prestigious hotel. There are no little bottles of shampoo and conditioner in the bathroom. There’s no free mini-bar – there’s not even a fridge. There are no towel swans scattered with rose petals on our bed.

But in those big, luxurious hotels with every luxury available, do the bar staff know your name and what you’re drinking by the end of the first night? Does everyone greet you warmly and take an interest in how you are? This is what sets Diani Sea Lodge aside from the huge monstrous European and Caribbean complexes – its fantastic customer service.

Room key finally in hand (and our suitcases being manhandled by the ever-present, ever-friendly staff), we can relax! Except, we can’t. Issue No 1. The sound of a generator next door which sounds like a helicopter taking off puts paid to peaceful afternoons lounging on our terrace. Problem No 2. There’s a distinct lack of air-conditioning. Or so we think. The cool air being distributed is as soft as a baby’s breath. We lie on the bed slowly roasting and melting into a pool of sweat. It’s unbearable.

Over to reception we go. I’m not a natural complainer, but the heat in Room 17 is insufferable and the generator noise is not conducive to a relaxing holiday… We’re told by the receptionist – with his ever-present smile – that what we are experiencing is a power cut.

“Ha!” we exclaim. “But the lights are working!”

Mr Smiley Receptionist explains that the lights are powered by a back-up generator, but they don’t provide enough power to run the aircon units as well.

“This back-up generator? It wouldn’t be right behind Room 17, would it?”

Yes it transpires. It is.

Convinced that Mr Smiley Receptionist is trying to force us into paying for an upgraded room – we amble down to the pool bar for a beer. The alcohol is not particularly helpful to our exhaustion, so we head back to our room. We open the door, insert the key into the power socket. Our air con is now emitting Arctic winds.

We spend our first evening – quite deservedly – at that pool bar. It’s where we will spend most of our evenings. We chat to our fellow holiday makers, and we compare travel stories and make and receive recommendations. This is what I love most about travelling, and in thirty or forty years time (and hopefully more!) I hope the Fletches will be chatting to young fresh-faced whippersnappers over a cheeky cocktail and telling them all about our wonderful travel experiences.

Days 1-3 – Musings on Mozzies and Monkeys

Days 1-3 pass by in a peaceful blur of sunshine, swimming, food, alcohol. However there are some noteworthy happenings.

I wake up on Day 1 to discover that my body has become some sort of mosquito feeding ground overnight. Every part of my legs is covered in angry red lumps. And then the itching starts. After dousing myself in eau de mozzie repellent before venturing out the previous night, I can only assume it was during the short period I spent out on the terrace reading (after the generator noise had finally ceased). Kenya bugs hate me.

Day 2’s afternoon sunbathing session is interrupted by a rainstorm of monsoon proportions which sends guests scattering every which way. Determined not to let it upset our afternoon, Mr Fletche and I set up camp at the inside bar for a particularly competitive game of Travel Scrabble

Day 3. Mr Fletche is the victim of serious crime. It still pains him to talk about it – you can see the shivers running down his spine when faced with two words. Monkey. And coconut. Yes, a coconut-stealing monkey robs Mr Fletche. For the first couple of days we’re charmed by the Vervet & Columbine monkeys happily jumping around the hotel, swinging from tree to tree. Now we’re reduced to gathering up all our belongings in our arms and hissing whenever a monkey comes within 20 feet of our sunloungers.

So this was the first three days of our first African Adventure in Kenya. Before the safari and getting into bed with a Masaai Warrior. Before our trip on a traditional dhow. And before the sickness, and dehydration, and fainting… You can read more about our Kenya trip by clicking on the links!