Back in Nairobi, on 30th October, we checked into the Wildebeest Eco Camp which is located in the fairly quiet and leafy Karen area of Nairobi. It is a tented camp so we stayed in a "family garden tent - twin room" which was essentially a permanent tent with two beds in it, and we had to walk to the bathroom block. On the website this was listed at from $70 per night.
They do offer other more expensive options called cottage rooms (from $110), deluxe cottage rooms (from $160), deluxe safari tents (from $180) and family garden tents (from £130). The one type of accommodation which to me looked absolutely wonderful for single people were the dorm tents which held perhaps 6 beds ($40 per person) - and were completely empty for the duration of our stay. Finally, they do offer you to camp with your own equipment at just $20 but I didn't see anyone actually doing this! The eco camp also had full and half board options, full detail in the price list below, but my accommodation came to £144.70 for two nights and additionally I paid £158 for food, drinks and the airport transfer. Some breakfasts were included in the price, although I tended to pay extra, so there are definitely ways of keeping the costs down.
On our day of arrival, we just had a swim in the pool (a bit chilly, but great once you got in!) and dinner in the restaurant. Then on Thursday 31st October, we took an Airbnb tour to meet some Massai ladies in Kajiado. This was a whole day tour and was really special, and an excellent price, £139.20 for the two of us. We were picked up by George (driver) and Joy (host) and driven directly from the Wildebeest Eco Camp to Kajiado at 9am arriving about 11am (although it felt faster!).
The ladies had dressed up for us. We walked to their village, and had tea in a traditional hut, had a bit of a song and dance, before relocating to their actual home. Tiger very quickly made friends with a girl the same age as her called Princess and spent quite a while running around, playing with her and chasing the chickens!
We then had a go at making bracelets from beads, before I had a "private chat" with the elder lady who had been married at age 12 to a much older man, run away from the marriage after 2 days back to her family but her father had rejected her. She ended up living on the streets, having four children and contracting HIV. Now, however, she has a healthy life with medically managed HIV, and has bought land from her father and built her own house on it. We were trying to work out how old she was and it seemed as if we were the same age - 46. This was a truly special day I will remember for quite some time. Tiger was a little tired and grumpy upon leaving, probably just a little hot, but she did sleep all the way back to the Wildebeest Eco Camp.
Back in camp, we had another swim, and a lovely dinner. It was particularly relaxing for me as Tiger was able to sit in the little living room that was part of the restaurant!
The following day, I had booked a lovely girl called Valentine as a guide for the day via Airbnb experiences. This was a bit expensive, £136.80, but Valentine just made our day. It was so useful to have another adult, as much as a Kenyan to help us with everything, she paid for all our Ubers and was more of a friend for a day, rather than somebody we had hired!
Our first stop was to the Elephant Orphanage at Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. I agreed I would pay for Valentine, although she was a little cheaper as a resident. It is rather complicated to visit but basically you have to email them at least 2 days before (Valentine did this for us), then we had to buy tickets to the National Park via the e-citizen platform (£153.30), pay a fee for the Uber who dropped us off, and pay an obligatory donation in cash to the SWT ($20 adult, $5 child). Full details here! I also bought souvenirs for £21.82. This was quite expensive but definitely worth it as we watched 20 baby elephant orphans be fed their bottles!
After the orphanage, we took an Uber with Valentine to the Kuona Artists Collective, just north of Kibera in Nairobi, followed by a trip to buy shoes for Tiger (her sandals had fallen apart!) downtown. Tiger particularly enjoyed the abstract artist's studio and making holes in leather!
After our shoe shopping expedition, Valentine took us to a fixed price shop called 'Sanma Boutique' where I spent £51. This was absolutely perfect as I got all the bits I needed without having to haggle! Our day finally ended with a late afternoon meal with Valentine in a shopping centre, before we dropped her off home in an Uber.
Finally, the time had come to head home. We got back to the Eco Lodge for about 7pm ish, had a shower, got changed (Tiger into her pyjamas), had a bit to eat before heading to the airport for our 11.45pm flight back! We paid £30 to get the backpack and tent wrapped, super speedy, and also very helpful to get the tent packed into a box. It was super late, but Tiger played in the children's play area and after that was just engrossed on her iPad before boarding.
Our first flight was just under 9 hours from Nairobi to Brussels, departing at 23.45 and arriving at 06.50. It went as well as it could do really, but I only had 3-4 hours sleep. When we were approaching Brussels I got us changed from PJs into normal clothes so it started to feel a bit more normal and Tiger had a complete burst of energy playing with friends who had shared our outward and return flights!
Our flight from Brussels to London left at 09:40 and landed into London Heathrow at 10:05. By this point I was absolutely knackered. My Dad had said he would pick us up from Uxbridge Station so we had to do our reverse journey on the A10 bus. It was quick and fairly painless but we were both extremely tired. Luckily, we had the afternoon to have a rest and the whole day on Sunday to re-acclimatise and catch up on our sleep. So, so long for now Kenya - it was a blast!
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