I didn’t really have any expectations about weekend trips coming into Nairobi – we were given one 3-day weekend and one 2.5-day weekend to travel, but I didn’t plan anything ahead of time. The first weekend came after the first week of classes, and thankfully we got it together enough to book a safari at masai mara (a popular destination ~5 hour drive from Nairobi). We had one driver the whole weekend who picked us up at the Fairview, an absolute legend named Alex. He did not take any shit from the other drivers, tourists, or the police officers that stopped us (he told them off and we went on our way). We did two drives, one in the afternoon on the day we got there, and one all-day (8am-3pm) the second day. We also visited the masai mara village, which was definitely an experience (the whole village was one family, one man who had 16 different wives). We saw three of the big 5 (buffalo, elephants, and lions) and a cheetah! The place we stayed was also gorgeous – luxury cabin vibes with many monkeys and baboons around, and delicious food.
Below: (Cinematic) digital camera photos & a group picture!
We went on another safari (nairobi national park) on the last Friday of the second week as a class. It was so close to the city (15 minute drive from our hotel) and it was so surreal to see lions, rhinos, etc with the backdrop of the city behind them. We saw lions cubs!!!! (8). Our driver was zooming the entire time, and got us to the coolest animals the fastest out of everyone in the park (in my opinion). He was not messing around – he’d get calls from other drivers/rangers, and we’d be going 40 down a dirt path faster than we could sit down. At one point, he reverse zig-zagged through about 10 other cars to get us a better angle.
We also went to diani beach on our 2.5 day weekend, which was crazy cool. We joked that diani beach had our heart, stomach, and liver. We went to a place to eat on the beach – and they went out, caught the seafood, came back, and cooked it up for us. The beach was absolutely gorgeous and the water was the perfect temperature to swim in. The beach was active with tourists and locals alike: people sunbathing or spearfishing, jetskiing or selling jewelry. We also got a ride to a glass bottom boat that took us to a sandbar to snorkel, where we saw so many different types of sea urchins, eels, and coral.
Below: camels on beach! and yummy food and drinks
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In conclusion: make the most of your weekends, there’s so many amazing (and cheap) things to do nearby! I’m also grateful that I got to come on this trip with such cool people; shoutout to Sam, Katey, and Sherry for keeping me sane in the long airplane lines.