The great migration - part 1

The great migration started in the early morning hours of Sunday the 26th of June. A herd of 18 silicon valley dwelling Indians started the great journey towards the vast verdant plains of East Africa. Four more of our kind were to join us from Bangalore when we reached Nairobi, Kenya.

I would like to say that each pair of eyes held the anticipation of returning to the cradle of life itself, but we were just a bunch of sleepy Jones who had dragged themselves out of bed at 3:30am. We had our share of worry bees in our midst who made sure we left home at 4:15 am to catch a flight at 8:15 am.

For me, new experiences started the moment our ride to the airport arrived. It was a white stretch limousine! This was certainly a first for me. The plush leather seats, the neon stars, the champagne glasses (not lucky enough for the real stuff. Not the hour for it either). I knew I had at least made the right choice in the people to travel with.

We had had numerous meetings and get-together and email exchanges debating what to take, what not to take, how to pack etc. We had all ultimately managed to pack light. About 3 long pants, 3 long tops and a jacket.

We were in all 22 people. Five families of four (The Singhs, The Thirumales, The Vaidyas, The Ghirnikars and The Iyers), our running coach Patel and me.

After hours of flying we finally arrived in Nairobi at dinner time. Thanks to Patel being a Gujarati and our Travel agent in Nairobi being a Gujarati, we were all taken to a wonderful Gujarati restaurant. It had been a long time since I had eaten such tasty Indian food. We all managed to overeat. Mr Jackie Jaikishan had also bought us bags and bags of crunchy Indian snacks. Chakli, mixture, Khara kaddi you name it and we had it. We all resigned to the fact that we would gain a few pounds on this trip.

The hotel we stayed at (The Norfolk) was very nice. Very colonial. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that I had my own room (which turned out to be the case for the whole trip). Nairobi also reminded us all of Bangalore (not as crowded and little cleaner). We were up before day break the next morning (which turned out to be the case for the whole trip) and had a sumptuous buffet breakfast (which turned out to be the case with every meal). We were all loaded into our private bus and carted off to Tanzania.

We were given a little wildlife checklist to check off any birds or animals we saw. This certainly kept the children (10 of them aged between 5 - 11) busy. I was reminded of travels with my own family when I was young. It used to be so much fun to travel with other kids. I remembered counting Gummas (hooded men) with Mallika. This bunch certainly had a blast! We were pleasantly surprised to see a lot of big Cranes, Gazelles and even some Zebras along the way to Tanzania.

Stay tuned for the Tanzanian adventure!