JAMBO EAST AFRICA: ADVENTURES IN KENYA AN TANZANIA
JULY 10-20, 2025
Most people refer to an African Safari as “the trip of a lifetime”. For Llew and me, it was not quite the same thing as we had been on an African Safari about ten years ago. However, we had spent a whole week in Krueger National Park (NP) in South Africa and had never been to East Africa. We had also heard so much about the Great Migration of about a million beasts (mainly wildebeest—also known as gnu--and zebras) that occurs in East Africa in the months from July-October that we had promised ourselves that our next safari would be in this part of the world. Hence, when we heard in January from our friends in Connecticut, Ralph and Lynn, that a group of them had booked a safari in Kenya and Tanzania, we thought it the perfect opportunity to take in one of the great Natural Wonders of the World—the Great Migration—in person (as opposed to watching it on You Tube videos). By January of this year, we had booked a tour to join them and could not wait to depart, While a majority of the group would be traveling from the US to Africa, we’d be departing from Bombay, India, with the idea of picking up their arriving flight in Nairobi and then traveling onwards with them. Llew did a great job coordinating our flight bookings with theirs and before you knew it, we were ready to say Bye Bye Bombay and Jambo (Hello) Africa.
Wednesday, July 9, 2025:
Bombay-Nairobi.
A Most Luxurious Departure from Bombay.
Since our flight was to depart from Bombay at 2.45 am on July 10, we arranged an Uber car that arrived on schedule at our apartment in Bandra at 10.30 pm and dropped us off at Bombay International Airport at 11.30 pm. As we were not checking in any baggage, we had a smooth check-in process, cleared Immigration easily and had about two hours to use the Adani Lounge for free as we were traveling in Business Class. This facility was simply wonderful as we were able to get complimentary drinks (Llew had red wine, I had a glass of sparkling wine) and an array of buffet-style cocktail snacks and a full dinner. We opted for cheese and crackers, olives, hummus and beetroot dip with pita chips, and vegetarian sushi as we sipped our drinks and used wifi. We were also following the travel progress of other members of our vast team who were leaving from different parts of the world (US, UK and Israel) to connect with the entire team at the lodge in Karatu in Kenya where our first resort was located. These folks were already sending funny pictures of their departure and one could sense the excitement and enthusiasm of the group members as they set out on their own adventure of a lifetime. At boarding time, we used the Lounge restroom facilities and made our way to our gate—by this time, it was past midnight and already Thursday, July 10, 2025. It had been a really luxurious and very smooth departure from Bombay and we looked forward to getting some shut-eye on the aircraft.
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