TRAVELBUCKET

TRAVELBUCKET

Tag Archive: Kenya

BRAAI – A WAY OF LIFE!

We have just celebrated Nasionale Braai Dag (National Braai Day) or, as it is officially declared as part of the public holiday system in South Africa, Heritage Day.  This is a yearly celebration on the 24th of September.  I think you can imagine what we as a nation do on this day – we braai!  Although we have 11 official languages in our country the word braai is understood across the board. Now there are no ”official” rules for having a braai.  The people of the Rainbow Nation each has his/her own preference on the when, how and what to braai.  Some of us like to have a basic fire place where you can sit as close as possible to the fire when it is cold – and do not mind smelling like smoke – and some of us like to do a classy braai in a build-in fireplace inside… Read more >

ELEPHANT 101

This post is not about travel as such, but seeing that we had several close encounters with elephants in Mana Pools, Matusadona as well as in many of the Botswana wild parks this may come in handy.  Even in lately in Kruger National Park there were some incidents/accidents. Let’s start off with some interesting and lesser known facts about the trunk of an elephant: Feeling the vibe:  Aside from smell, the trunk is sensitive to vibrations; from the ground it can sense the rumble of faraway herds and even far-off thunder. Mighty muscles:  An elephant’s trunk has eight major muscles on either side and 150,000 muscle bundles in all. It is so strong that it can easily push down trees or roll over a vehicle. Move it:  Like the human tongue, the trunk is a muscular hydrostat – a boneless muscular structure that allows for its excellent maneuverability. Phenomenal sense… Read more >

KENYA – CROSSING THE EQUATOR

I visited Kenya for the first time in 2007 as part of a life long dream to overland Africa from South to North.  We entered through Namanga border post in the South and the whole process on both sides took us a mere 30 minutes – not bad for Africa!  My first introduction to Nairobi was, to say the least, very interesting.  The bumper to bumper traffic is nerve wrecking, but my Better Half was not intimidated at all by this as he is used to driving in Khartoum, where he worked, with even worse traffic.  Thumbs up to him!  You really have to have nerves of steel and adapt or die to cope with the aggressive African drive style, but our trustworthy Garmin GPS took us all the way to Upper Hill campsite in the middle of Nairobi without any glitches. As I had a “fly in” visa for… Read more >

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