Five O'Clock Somewhere At Kenya's Naboisho Camp

Posted by Forbes

After an invigorating few hours of late afternoon hiking through Kenya’s Mara Naboisho Conservancy, you will have earned your sundowner drinks on a chunk of high ground with views that stretch forever. While you trekked, staff at the high-end Naboisho Camp will have driven over to the property’s fly camping site (a basic tent option, that is) to greet you with your cocktail of choice prepared right at a makeshift bar in the bush.

Picnics and sundowners can be arranged pretty much anywhere around Naboisho Camp lands. —Courtesy Naboisho Camp/Asilia Africa

All you have to do is sit back on a canvas folding chair in front of a campfire and rave about all the wildlife you just saw in their natural habitat. As the sun sets and darkness takes over, guides will share traditional Masai tales with you, as well as give you a primer on ecology in this 50,000-square-acre area just next to the famous Masai Mara game reserve. 

Earlier, upon your arrival by small plane from Nairobi, wildebeest and common zebra will likely have been hanging around the dirt runway until shooed away for your descent. On the hour-plus overland drive to Naboisho Camp, guide Benjamin Kisemei will explain the rhythms of life here; for example, that there is plenty of water for resident wildebeest in the wet season when rutting begins; and, that wildebeest and zebra don’t graze the same grasses, but are companions for security.

Perfect for drinks and wildlife viewing, this deck is off the main lodge at Naboisho Camp. —Courtesy Naboisho Camp/Asilia Africa

On afternoon game drives in a Land Rover during your sojourn at Naboisho, you’ll learn to recognize bachelor pods of male impalas by their horns, and to distinguish them from Thomson’s gazelles. You’ll discover other hoofed animals like cox hartebeests, bushbucks, and topis whose black rings on their legs make it look like they’re wearing blue jeans. You’ll be amused by the tiny oxpecker birds sitting on the backs of huge water buffalo. 

Benjamin will further explain that the Masai boys you see driving cattle will do so until around 6 p.m., at which time predators will come out as the cattle vacate the conservancy. Distant thunder and lightening may fill the sky on the plains, and if you’re lucky a tower of giraffes will appear silhouetted against the sunset as you head back to camp.

One True Thing About Kenya

Posted by National Geographic: Digital Nomad

A giraffe crosses Chyulu Hills National Park in southeastern Kenya with Mount Kilimanjaro in the background. (Photograph by Lucas Vallecillos, VWPics/Redux)

“In your text, treat Africa as if it were one country.”

That’s tongue-in-cheek advice from Kenyan writer Binyavanga Wainaina’s brilliant satirical essay “How to Write About Africa.”

I came across it because I’ll be traveling around Kenya as National Geographic Travel’s Digital Nomad for the next month, and, if I’m being honest, I’m not yet sure how to write—as Ernest Hemingway might put it—“one true sentence” about the country.

This is my first time to Kenya, which, incidentally, happens to be the first African nation I knew by name. When I was a kid, family friends returning from a trip there regaled us with tales of safari camps and baby hippos that never left me.

In the coming weeks I’ll see thousands of blue wildebeests migrate across the Masai Mara reserve; solo hike through the Great Rift Valley; snorkel in the Indian ocean; ride a horse past giraffes with Mount Kilimanjaro as the backdrop in Kenya’s least visited national park, Chyulu Hills; and—importantly—talk with Kenyans. Who knows, maybe I’ll even catch a country music show in Nairobi.

Of late, the country of 44 million has been in the news owing to its distant past, complex present, and promising future.

In the spring of 2015, rough-hewn stone tools found in Kenya’s Turkana Basin helped science “push back the dawn of culture by 700,000 years.”

Meanwhile, in late July, United States President Barack Obama (whose late father was Kenyan) joined entrepreneurs at an international summit in Nairobi that helped position Kenya—and its growing economy—as a beacon for a new globally connected Africa.

This is welcome news after violence along the country’s border with Somalia prompted the U.S. State Department and other governments to caution travelers. I’ll be avoiding those areas, which fortunately leaves the bulk of Kenya to explore.

For me at least, pre-research for major trips is half the fun. In the course of my preparation, I read the 1937 book Out of Africa by Karen von Blixen-Finecke (pen name Isak Dinesen), but preferred Beryl Markham’s account of living in the country during the same time period, when what is now Kenya was under British colonial rule.

In West With the Night, Markham, who grew up on a farm near the Great Rift Valley and went on to become an iconic bush pilot who crossed the Atlantic, writes, “There are as many Africas as there are books about Africa.”

The best I’ve read so far is Binyavanga Wainaina’s One Day I Will Write About This Place, a memoir of growing up outside Nairobi and learning to write. He describes a love of breakdancing, being mesmerized by Lionel Ritchie’s teeth, and life as a “Cold War kid”—which ultimately sounds a lot like my life growing up in Oklahoma.

In the weeks before my plane was to leave, I’ve caught myself telling people “I’m going to Africa.” But if all goes right, my experience on the ground will change that.

If I have any one goal—other than to fall in love with the place, see some animals, meet locals I won’t forget, and find at least one true sentence—it’ll be to say after my trip not “I went to Africa,” but “I went to Kenya.”

Robert Reid is National Geographic Travel’s Digital Nomad, exploring the world with passion and purpose. Follow his adventures in #MagicalKenya on Twitter and Instagram. 

Five Easy Ways to Take a Digital Detox

Posted by Travel + Leisure

Travelers thrive on being connected to the world. It’s in our nature to want to meet new people, experience different cultures and places—and share the journey. But when you can go just about anywhere these days and still get a signal on your phone, feeding that urge to Instagram everything can actually leave us more deeply disengaged from a destination (and our travel companions) than we realize.   

While evidence against the overuse of technology is mounting—from smartphone addiction to its negative effects on the brain to the dangers of Wi-Fi exposure around children—according to a recent study from HR consulting firm Randstad, 42% of us still feel compelled to check work email on vacation.

“Our need for instantaneous flow of information is detrimental to our mental and physical health,” says endurance/athletic coach Ellen Miller. “The behavior can become quite compulsive and addictive, and lead to a more sedentary lifestyle. Whether cycling or hiking or walking, it is so important to put down technology and reconnect with nature.”

Consider these five getaway tips that make it easy to forget about the Internet so you can be fully in the moment—without having to record it.

Go back to camp

Friends and family might be used to your head-in-the-icloud tendencies at dinner, but with new people it’s almost impossible not to be aware of your own awkward, must-take-a-selfie behavior, especially while exchanging stories around a campfire. Sensing a growing demand for unplugged vacations, outfitters are crafting itineraries tailored to the tech-obsessed generation.

The more wild the setting, the less likely you are to crave technology. On safari, there’s nothing on your phone worth turning away from a dazzle of zebras or a herd of bathing elephants. Preempt the impulse to later Instagram your close encounter with a baboon by booking a stay at an Internet-averse place like Asilia Naboisho Camp, situated in a private 50,000-acre conservancy near the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya.  

And when it’s finally time to log back in at work, the experience of having been freed from the Web, even for a little while, will have a profound and lingering effect. You’ll see. 

10 Great Spots To Scuba Dive Around The World

Posted by Forbes Travel Guide



From Queensland, Australia to Cancun, oceans of warm, crystal clear water are practically begging you to jump in. Whether you’re a beginner or going for your PADI certification, these are 10 ideal spots to make a splash, no matter where you are in the world.

Mombasa, KenyaThe Indian Ocean is warm year-round, which makes diving off the coast of Mombasa a treat. One great place to go for an underwater outing is off Watamu, 65 miles north of the city. Aqua Ventures trains members of the British Armed Forces, so you know they’re serious about safety. When you go out with them, expect to spot coral reef, giant sea turtles, vibrant schools of fish and eel.
Where to Stay
If you’re lucky, you’ll catch a glimpse of whales from the beach at Hemingways Watamu. The team here is warm and especially helpful to families with young children. It’s easy to organize activities, from snorkeling and diving to a trip to see the lush, 13th-century Gedi Ruins. Complimentary afternoon tea is a delight and a nice break from all of the adventures.

11 Incredible, scenic places to take a yoga class

Posted by SheKnows

The vacation bucket list for yogis

Yoga is an activity that brings peace, flexibility and healthy breathing to the individual. Your scenery should inspire you to achieve this state of relaxation, be it inside an ordinary yoga studio or in breathtaking whereabouts. Here are some of our top picks for the latter.

5. Yoga in the bush — Kenya

Image: Kinondo Kwetu

The yoga classes given by the luxurious Kinondo Kwetu is located on a "secret" abutment on a cliff that juts out over the Indian Ocean. Yoga is performed in an open air studio allowing gentle breezes to pass through. By being concealed in a grove of trees on the cliff, it's easy to meditate without distraction.

Discover Kenya and the Caribbean

Posted by World Footprints Radio

World Footprints will introduce the African country of Kenya--considered to be the Cradle of Civilization because its history can be traced back six million years ago.  Kenya is also considered the heart of Africa and the safari epicenter of the world.  We'll learn more about this ancient country from Jacinta Nzioka with the Kenyan Tourism Board.