Yes, it's safe to go to Kenya

On safari in southern Kenya, we were fascinated by the king of beasts.

Clearly, they were not so fascinated by us.

The hornbill was the model for the character Zazu in The Lion King.

Also in The Lion King, the wise shaman Rafiki is a baboon.

Dancers and singers in traditional Masai dress greet visitors to Amboseli Sopa Lodge in southern Kenya.

Yellow-billed oxpecker perches on the back of an oryx. Click on the photo to see more detail.

Young boy by the open doorway to a typical home in his Masai village in southern Kenya.

Curious vervet monkey at the window of my room at the Serena Beach Hotel and Spa on the Indian Ocean coast.

Riding a camel for the first time on the sands of the Indian Ocean coast.

Sound and light show at Fort Jesus, a Portuguese bastion and slave fort built in 1593 in Mombasa, Kenya.

Mt. Kilimanjaro pokes through the clouds in aerial photo taken on flight from Mombasa to Nairobi.

Hippos loll in Mzima Springs in Tsavo West National Park in southern Kenya.

Giraffe stops to stare at photographers in Tsavo West National Park in southern Kenya.

Brilliant plummage of vulturine guineafowl in Tsavo West National Park in southern Kenya.

Injured lioness and her two cubs at Taita Hills Wildlife Sanctuary in southern Kenya.

In a leafy Nairobi suburb, the Karen Blixen Museum, a colonial farmhouse where the author of Out of Africa lived for many years.

Young Kenyan woman at the Karen Blixen Museum, a colonial farmhouse where the author of Out of Africa lived.

Used by all 42 ethnic groups in Kenya, gourds are on exhibit at the newly renovated and expanded Nairobi National Museum.

Masai staff at the Amboseli Sopa Lodge greet visitors with a traditional dance.

Baby elephant is protected by adults at Amboseli National Park in southern Kenya.

Published June 7, 2008

'Jambo' and 'karibu' from Kenya

By Lorne Mallin

TAITA HILLS WILDLIFE SANCTUARY, Kenya — From the safety of the popped top of our safari van, we pointed our cameras at the tawny head of a lioness sitting a dozen metres away in the tall grasses of the southern Kenyan savanna.

Then the heads of her two young cubs also peeked through the leaves. Many more shutter clicks. As the mother lion roused herself to move, we could see that she was lame. Our driver and guide James Mungai Njungo pointed out that she was very scrawny.

Later, Willie Mwadilo, manager of the nearby Sarova Salt Lick Game Lodge, told me the lion had been kicked when she attacked a powerful Cape buffalo. A veterinarian had treated her and her leg was expected to heal. And (psst, don't tell anyone) she and her cubs were getting food to keep them alive.

Mwadilo hopes the Kenyan tourism industry will also heal and thrive again. Tourism, the East African country's biggest foreign-currency earner, was deeply wounded by ethnic violence that erupted after disputed elections at the end of the year.

He said his occupancy rates had plummeted from an expected 80 or more percent to less than 12 per cent. I heard similar figures from other operators. The economic effects have been far-reaching, ruining for example the farmers who supply vegetables to the lodges and the souvenir shopkeepers who rely on a steady stream of visitors. Kenya is just a little smaller than Manitoba and almost 60 percent of its 38 million people live on less than $2 a day. Thousands have lost jobs.

It's a shame because Kenya is a magnificent destination. Like many Canadians, I grew up hoping someday I'd go to Africa and see the wild animals.

We saw so much on a week-long press tour spent embedded with Kenya's charm offensive — several lions, herds of elephants with adorably cute babies, giraffes, zebras, hippos, baboons, hyenas, oryx, antelope, gazelles and stunning birds. The Kenya Tourist Board and the tourist industry spent about $1.6 million to bring more than 200 foreign travel journalists here, including nine from Canada.

My mission was to get a sense of whether it's safe to travel again in Kenya, where two million visitors spent about $1 billion last year. Peace is a relative term in Kenya. Not a single tourist was harmed during all of the unrest in January and February when more than 1,000 Kenyans were killed and hundreds of thousands fled their homes. While we were there a power-sharing cabinet was announced. But the day we left several people died in gang-related violence in non-tourist areas.

So, on balance I'd say it's very safe. Just stay on the well-worn tourist track. That's what we did and I had a fantastic time with our van of four journalists from Montreal, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and me, a native of Winnipeg from Vancouver.

First we flew into the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, an unremarkable-looking city of about three million people with some remarkable attractions. There are fascinating museums and galleries, great shopping, interesting people watching, a rich variety of food and at Nairobi National Park more than a hint of Kenya's fabulous wildlife.

If you've read Out of Africa or seen the 1985 Oscar-winning movie starring Robert Redford and Meryl Streep, the Karen Blixen Museum is a must. Blixen, who wrote the novel, lived in the colonial farmhouse between 1914 and 1931 and it is full of memorabilia from that time as well as props from the movie. Ironic detail: Blixen was a heavy smoker but a sign advises as you enter the house "Lungs at work. No smoking please."

After visiting the house, linger in the area for a delightful outdoor lunch at the Karen Blixen Coffee Garden and Cottages.

We were among the first visitors to the newly refurbished and expanded Nairobi National Museum. It includes Turkana Boy, which is considered the most complete early human fossil dating back 1.5 million years. I was captivated by an exhibit of dozens of gourds, which are used by all of the 42 ethnic groups in Kenya for everyday tasks.

We rested a night at the Nairobi Hilton and then our driver Mungai pointed his van south to national parks for two days of game drives in Amboseli and Tsavo West national parks as well as the private Taita Hills sanctuary. Once we left the paved highway we experienced what Mungai called the "Kenyan massage" on rutted dirt roads. It felt like my kidneys were put through a cement mixer.

But it was worth it. The diversity and amount of wildlife is beyond belief. When a herd of elephants wanted to cross the road in front of our van, they definitely got the right of way. And we got the thrill of taking their pictures.

It's a photographer's dream, no matter if you have a basic point-and-shoot or the fanciest gear. Many animals are close to the road and they're not spooked by the vehicles.

Staying at the luxury Amboseli Sopa Lodge and Salt Lick Lodge made our safari experience even more fun. Both have their own creative interpretations of the local hut styles.

From Tsavo West National Park we drove to exotic, hot and humid Mombasa on the Indian Ocean coast, where few Canadians have vacationed.

On the way we stopped at a village of the Masai tribe, where we were shown their dances and their homes built from mud, cow dung and sticks. Even though the Kenya Tourist Board paid for us to take any photos we wanted, and the money was going directly to the villagers, it still felt inappropriate to be sticking our cameras in their faces.

North and south of Mombasa, gorgeous resorts grace the palm-fringed coastline. I stayed at a jewel called the Serena Beach Hotel and Spa, whose spacious rooms feature beautiful details. One unexpected attraction was a vervet monkey staring in a window when I awoke. I was forewarned not to open the window. They'll come in and make off with anything that attracts their fancy.

Throughout Kenya, we enjoyed roast meat, seafood and Indian cuisine. I especially liked a simple dish at breakfast at the Serena Beach: mbaazi in coconut milk, usually made with pigeon peas but in this case cowpeas.

I teamed up with a Seattle writer, Jennifer Haupt, to go snorkelling. Our schedule restricted us to a less than ideal time of day for viewing fish. But we saw quite a few from a Buccaneer Diving boat and it was simply wonderful to be floating in the warm Indian Ocean. Back on the beach we went for camel rides.

At night, the journalists boarded a traditional dhow boat for a 45-minute cruise to Mombasa's Old Town. We walked the ancient streets that lead to Fort Jesus, a fabled Portuguese bastion with metre-thick coral walls built in 1593. Much of the fort's history was detailed in a sound and light show with actors in period costumes. The fort's key role in the slave trade was not mentioned.

On the flight back to Nairobi, we were treated to a spectacular view of Mt. Kilimanjaro poking through the clouds.

Despite coming during the rainy season, I got caught in only one downpour. There's better weather and most amazing wildlife experience in late summer — winter for Kenyans on the other side of the equator — when millions of wildebeests migrate north through the Masai Mara Game Reserve.

Everywhere in Kenya, people were very happy to see us, greeting us with "Jambo" (hello, in Swahili) and "Karibu" (welcome). They'll be happy to see you, too.

Kenya is safe, for tourists, says U of M prof

NAIROBI, Kenya — On the faculty of both the University of Manitoba and the University of Nairobi, Larry Gelmon is uniquely positioned to advise Manitobans about travelling to Kenya.

"Canadians who freely travel to Mexico, Jamaica, Colombia or Brazil (or, for that matter, Detroit or Dallas) should not fear a trip to Kenya," Dr. Gelmon told me by e-mail.

He's the senior UofM representative on the AIDS research collaboration between the two universities and has been here 18 years.

Dr. Gelmon said the collaboration's annual meeting in Nairobi in January was postponed because of the unrest in the country but it was held in mid-April with almost 20 researchers and administrators coming from Winnipeg.

"They attended the conference, and many of them took off on the weekend to visit some of the splendid sites to see in Kenya, all without incident," he said.

"We have been welcoming visitors from Canada for many years, practically all of whom are staggered by the variety of things to see here and the beauty of the country."

If you go

• Kenya Airways flies direct to Nairobi from London.
• Check with travel agents for bargains as Kenya woos back visitors.
• Our driver-guide Mungai works for a great company called Paws Africa Safaris: www.pawsafrica.com.
• The official Kenya destination website is www.magickenya.com.
• The Lonely Planet's Kenya guide is a solid resource.
• You're not required to get a Yellow Fever vaccination but I got one anyway, as well as hepatitis shots and anti-malarials. Consult www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/tmp-pmv/pub-eng.php.
• Once again the homeopathic remedy No Jet Lag saved me from that dreaded malady.