Half an year ago I decided that the next mountain to climb was Mount Kenya. A friend of mine had told me that it was one of the most beautiful mountains in Africa, in close competition with a mountain in Uganda. He said I was crazy if I went to Tanzania and climbed Kilimanjaro, which is a tourist trap, and also the nature around the mountain was completely destroyed.
So I started my touring kenya experience by looking online for Tour organizers in Nairobi. I wrote to a few different people about my wishes, and quite quickly I fell in love with Josephine from Lilac Roller Safaris. She understood my wishes and also came up with good ideas herself. I liked that she understood that luxury hotels, champagne breakfasts and balloon rides had no interest. I wanted to see Kenya at eye level.

Maasai Mara Tour
Already at the airport, I knew that Josephine’s company was the right one. I landed at 03.30 in the morning and Josephine and her husband picked me up personally. Josephine thought I should try some Safari when I got to the country. So we drove straight to the Masai Mara National park, where she had found a group I could go on Safari with. A little lightheaded, I was thrown into a Jeep with a wonderful group of people. The driver had a good handle on where there was a chance to see the animals and I think we saw everything except the rhinoceros. But fortunately we have plenty of them in Knuthenborg Safaripark 😉.
At some point, the driver will show us the border between Kenya and Tanzania, which is marked with some white stones, where the initials of the country are written. He takes a few trips around the stone and says now you are in Tanzania and now you are back in Kenya. He himself thinks it’s very funny. We drive on and after a 20 min. the driver becomes a little quiet. He has to go to confession and say that he has actually lost track and that he thinks we are driving around Tanzania 😂. There was not much difference between the animals, I can tell.

I watched a BBC nature show on DR1 not too long ago. They filmed exactly in this national park the most amazing pictures of the savannah before and during rain. I remember being green with envy and thinking that you only get pictures like this if you are lucky enough to live there all the time. I only managed to be on the savannah for an hour, then the clouds gathered to storm and rain. Just as I had dreamed of 🙏 . I took more pictures of the sky and savannah than all the animals we saw along the way.
Mount Kenya Tour
After the Safari, one of Josephine’s employees picked me up. Now we’re going to the mountains. It is a 7 hour drive from Nairobi to kickstart my touring kenya expedition. So through Nairobi on foot, with all my mountain gear and to a busy bus station. Because I wanted it at eye level, so I had to get it. A ticket was bought for a seat in a minibus which drove to the nearest town at the foot of Mount Kenya. The drive was an experience in itself. There wasn’t much space, and the joy of sitting close is a prerequisite. The minibus also functioned as package transport, so packages were picked up along the way. As my luggage filled a large part of the luggage compartment, there was only room in the cabin.
Once in the mountain town, I met my mountain guide Ken. He was supposed to be with me for the next 6 days. But before we could find a car that could drive us the last distance to the national park, we had to buy food for the mountain climb. Ken sat me down in a cafe and ordered some food and some coffee and said he would be back in a bit. In Africa, just about now is an open answer.
When I had sat for an hour in the café, I wondered if it might be a longer shopping trip he had gone on. So I went for a walk in the city and sniffed life. It was 4 hours before Ken was back 😂. Now, however, we were in a bit of a hurry, as we had to reach the main entrance to the national park and register, and at the same time reach the first accommodation before the sun went down. We made it all the way to sunset and I must say that Mount Kenya National Park has things under control. Everyone must state their name and telephone number on arrival or persons to be contacted in the event of an accident.

The accommodation/tent pitches in the national park are some of the best I have seen. Toilet conditions and waste are under control. There was even a place where they had showers so you could have a bath. Nice that there is no plastic and toilet paper around the mountain.

If you are going to explore Kenya and the neighboring countries, I think you should contact Josephine and her small Safari agency. Strong women trying to do business in Kenya must be supported. She is decent and will go to great lengths to fulfill your travel wishes. I found out that she sold tours to Mount Kenya but had never been there myself. I kind of laughed at that. Josephine took up the challenge, and took an employee and herself to the first overnight cabin, to experience sleeping in a sleeping bag and eating food from a primus. They had a good trip, although she thinks it was a very long hike to the accommodation. She also thinks it was too cold at night in the mountains. But her next goal is to reach the top 🏔️💪.
The nature in Kenya is definitely worth an experience. #https://www.roller-safaris.co.ke . Touring Kenya with Lilac Safaris and Travel.
This original post has been translated from Danish to English.
Credits to Original author: Kresten Fjord
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