December 2023

In December 2023 our humans would be going on a safari in Kenya, and we got invited to join them. This was a great chance to explore parts of the African contingent. From the capital Nairobi, we would fly to Nanyuki to visit Laikipia and later fly to Maasai Mara for another safari. And we would finish off at the Diani Beach south of Mombasa. Boy, did we look forward this wild safari?

Click each photo to enlarge

We left Mara North on a Cessna Caravan from Mombasa Air Safari. On the way to Diani Airport, we stopped in Keekorok and Amboseli to let off passangers and pick up new ones.
"It's almost like a bus," said Tom. "You press the stop button, when you want to get off, and the aircraft stops at the next airstrip..."

We arrived Diani Airport and were taken to the 5 star hotel Swahili Beach.

Diani Beach, December 2023

We got a great room - a huge room. Around the bed, something was hanging down. Then we learned that it was actually a net to protect us from insects at night.

Before the trip, one of our humans had been advised to eat garlic to keep mosquitos at a distance. So she did. Tom noticed a fairly strong smell in our room.
"The garlic seems to be working; there are no insects here," Tom noticed.
"Yeah, well, it won't be just insects, who'll be keeping a distance..." McBear concluded.

The bathroom was also huuuge! We walked around the indoor swimming pool... well, it was the bath tub to be precise. And the rest of the bathroom was huge too.
"Wait until you see the seating area," Tom pointed out. "It's very open and there's no chance of privacy. No privacy at all!

We had a large balcony. Behind the palm trees we could see parts of the swimming pool... well, pools in plural might be more correct as there were 2 or 3 pools.

Diani Beach, December 2023

There were palm trees every where and one could get coconut juice straight from fresh cut coconuts.

Tom wanted to explore the main building to see what restaurants and especially what bars were open. We decided to sit down and order some coffee and tea before we'd go exploring.

In the main building they also had some incredibly nice and clean rest rooms.
"They take the meaning of rest rooms very literally, don't they?" Tom noticed. "I could spend hours here with a good old Irish whiskey on the rocks - of course provided there wouldn't be too many sitting guests in the locker rooms...
"I wonder what humans would be reading here," McBear pondered, "crime dramas or love stories?"
"McBear, no silly jokes... please!" Roger said.

In the afternoon, the Kahawa Coffee Lounge would open and one could get some yummy pancakes! It was no surprise, that McBear wanted to come here every day.
"Whats' the verdict? Are the pancakes good?" asked Roger.
"They are heaven! I wouldn't mind another three..."

We went down to the beach. This was in fact the Indian Ocean, wow!

Later, one afternoon Kevin and Erasmus also wanted to go down to the beach.
"We haven't had many selfies taken," Kevin claimed.
Erasmus agreed, so our photographer took them down to the beach and put them down on the sand. But it was very wet sand! The beach was very flat for some hundred meters out into the water. So we got wet bums!

Then, it was time to return back to Ireland. Pity. We had had such a great time. From Diani Beach we went to Moi Mombasa Airport and embarked on a Kenya Airways flight to Jomo Kenyatta Airport for a one nights stay.

Next day we got on the flight to Schipol near Amsterdam, however, due to the Storm Pia who raged the North Sea, our KLM flight was cancelled. We got rebooked to a British Airways flight to London Heathrow and from here we got a further delayed flight back to Dublin. Phew, it took us four days to get from Diani Beach to Dublin.