Seeing lions, leopard, rhino and is always a huge thrill but the Samburu region of Kenya is about so much more than the big five. Samburu, Buffalo Springs, and Shaba are three parks that come together connected by rivers, volcanic mountains, and golden waves of grass–and with a backdrop like this, everything seems to come…
Most first time safari-goers head for the famous Maasai Mara or Serengeti but for those in the know, Kenya’s Meru Park is where the wild things are. Five hours north of Nairobi, the landscape is unlike any other with bright red cotton soil, the multi-branch doum palms, and 13 winding rivers that draw thousands of…
The Maasai Mara is hands down one of the most spectacular places on earth. With over 1,600,000 wildebeest, zebra, impala, lions and cheetahs migrating through its surreal landscape annually, this Kenyan park offers a safari experience like no other. The Maasai Mara and the Serengeti are the same contiguous landmass, separated only by the crocodile-infested…
After watching the frenzy of wildebeest and zebra darting back and forth across the Mara river, crocs nipping at them underwater, and leopards waiting for them on the other side, we didn’t think any more action was possible…but in the Maasai Mara there is no cap on the adventures in a day. Enter the greatest…
We entered Tanzania in quite possibly the most difficult, unorthodox, and (in hind-sight) rewarding ways possible. After our four-day overland haul we were rewarded with Zanzibar’s white white-washed Swahili architecture, lush spice plantations, and total luxury on the eastern white sand beaches. Then we made our way inland, staying with friends in Arusha, helping a…
The Serengeti is perhaps the most famous park in Africa and the Ngorongoro Crater is its most coveted section. So special in fact that it has become a conservation area of its own to protect the densely populated wildlife, varied landscape, and the Maasai tribe that lives there. One down side is that the park…
There is an undeniable mystique about Zanzibar. At the time of planning our trip to Africa we admittedly didn’t even know much about it, except we had to go. Technically it’s a part of Tanzania and shares the Swahili culture that extends down to Mozambique, but we quickly realized it is a world unto itself….
We experienced Mozambique by train, bus, taxi, pick-up truck, kayak, chapa van, 18-wheeler (sitting in the back with the cargo!), dhow sail boat, row boat, and a few other modes of transport during our stay in this fascinating country. Each step gave us invaluable insight and access into the inner workings of Mozambique, its people,…
Tourism touts like to throw the word “untouched” around, but if that statement was ever true about a place, it would be about Ibo Island. Pulling up to this 10-km stretch of coral in the Quirmbas Archipelago you see fisherman mending their nets, women in colorful khoi khois collecting shellfish, dhows floating amongst the mangroves…
If you’ve dreamed of the perfect desert isle, the kind you think is only possible in Photoshopped screen-savers, it exists and its name is Medjumbe. Rani Resorts claimed this serpentine sandbar hovering above the turquoise water in Mozambique’s Quirambas Archipelago and made this private island into a 13-chalet honeymooner’s paradise. Welcome drinks Upon arrival we…
It’s hard to imagine amidst the crumbling coral walls and dirt streets that the mile-long Ilha de Mozambique was the capital of a Portuguese East Africa and their gateway to global trade. As a UNESCO world heritage site, we expected this little island off central Mozambique to be teeming with tourists but due its disrepair…