If you are like us, and have been traveling with children into safe territories (AKA Europe) but starting to feel “Europed” out than this blog is for you. And don’t get me wrong. I LOVE Europe. Europe is glorious, grandiose, historic, great food, great shopping, child friendly. BUT truth be told there are other places to see am I wrong? My husband and I talked about Africa and always said “maybe when our daughters are 10 or older so they can enjoy it”…but wait, are we traveling for them or us? yes of course we want them to enjoy and remember it but we hope that they will do their fair traveling in their life too. So this trip is for us…ahem…with fair flexibility and lots of schlepping around. Ok, so I first started my research with the thinking of doing a “light safari” due to the company present. In my readings I felt the Serengeti in Tanzania was more of a “grownup” type of safari as most of the lodges I researched had age restrictions on the actual games (game is the fancy word for going out and seeing the animals). Most of them only allowed children 6 yrs or older. Serengeti being off the list then I looked in to Kenya. What I now learned is that the Serengeti is a continuation of the Maasai mara in Kenya. Basically the Maasai Mara is a triangle of land between Kenya and Tanzania. So in reality you are not missing anything. Surprisingly I found that most of the lodges in the Kenyan part of the Maasai Mara were child friendly and child welcoming, why? I truly don’t know. At least there were no age restrictions on the lodges I researched. So the first requirement was that my children would be allowed on the games. Second, reading posts and websites I came to the conclusion that having a private guide/car would be best. We all know toddlers run their own agenda and being a New Yorker you are constantly aware of others time and space. So needles to say, only my husband and I had to pay the consequences of a jet lag toddler.
So it was set, the center of our trip would be the Maasai Mara in Kenya. In my readings I came to learn a bit about the Maasai people. I learned that they are great runners and live long healthy lives. I knew I wanted to visit their village, and take my daughters there. Living in NYC you meet people from other cultures all the time but you never see or truly understand how they live. In all our travels we always try to show our daughters that there are other ways of living, of having a house, of dressing, of speaking, of thinking. A trip to Africa cannot be true or complete without visiting the people villages. And it all depends where you go. For us in Kenya it meant visiting the Maasai people.
In my research I came upon beautiful beaches on the east coast of Kenya as this faces the Indian Ocean. To name a few, Watamu, Diani and Lamu. And they all looked beautiful but while looking into Indian Ocean beaches there was one that caught my eye, Mnemba Island. Located on the west coast of Zanzibar. A private island with only one lodge available called AndBeyond Mnemba Island. Second part of our trip was set, Mnemba Island.
So the core of our trip was Maasai Mara and Mnemba Island. Everything that we could get out of the trip would be extra tokens as the two jewels were the above mentioned.
Now the logistics of the trips. I thought breaking the trip would be better for our kids. Getting to Kenya can be either trough Africa, as an example through Ethiopia with a 13 +hr direct flight from NYC to Ethiopia then a 2 hr flight to Nairobi Kenya. I thought that was a bit much for our family. So I took the second option and was to fly trough London. NYC to London, we stayed 2 nights to break it off (frankly we could’ve stayed one night). Then flew to Nairobi, which is a 8hr direct flight from Heathrow airport.
NEWSFLASH: Starting October 28th 2018 Kenyan airways will have a direct flight from JFK to Nairobi.
Now, you cannot fly from London or Ethiopia to Maasai Mara. You have to fly from Nairobi. So your first stop in Kenya most likely has to be Nairobi. In Nairobi there are things to see. We stayed 2 nights in Nairobi at the Hemingway Hotel. Apparently the one place to stay in Nairobi is the Giraffe Manor. If you are lucky to get a reservation (books one year in advance) you should go for it. We only heard amazing things about it. Please go online and see the website, looks amazing. But not enough for me to postpone our trip one year! In Nairobi we did the other 2 musts:
baby elephants being fed
David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. Here they have orphan baby elephants saved from poachers. Only one hour a day (11am-12pm) you can visit and see the baby elephants being fed.
Giraffe Center. This center protects the endangered Rothschilds giraffe. You can feed the giraffes. My two daughters really enjoyed feeding the giraffes.
This was all the time we had available in Nairobi. In my planning I wanted to spend most of our days in the Maasai Mara and Mnemba Island.
From Nairobi you take a small plane (about 30 passengers) to Maasai mara. Its a 45 min flight. It felt like a very safe flight in case you are wondering. One important thing to note here, you are not allowed to take hard case luggage. And cannot weight more than 33lbs each. That made the decision for us to not take strollers of course and to pack lightly.
our jeep waiting for us!
Upon landing we are greeted by our guide and some zebras and gazelles on the landing strip. This is your first encounter of what is to come. I really don’t want to spoil it for you or give you every detail because you will experience it yourself. Just know you will be very happy upon landing. I had this slap happy smile on my face for a few hours after landing. I remember feeling like christmas morning, THAT type of excitement. In Maasai Mara we stayed in Sanctuary Olonana and cannot be more happy. Check out the trip advisor reviews for yourself. I did. They are all good and I can vouch for them. It was just completely renovated this past June 2018 and it looks amazing! The Sanctuary is set next to the Mara river. Every room/logde faces the river. Every day at any time you can see hippos on the river. Outside our lodge there was a family of 4 hippos that greeted us every morning.
this family of hippos lived outside our lodge 
beautiful brand new rooms 
I have to say the best part of Sanctuary Olonana was our guide Joseph. If you decide to stay at Sanctuary Olonana please ask for Joseph, he was great in every way and specially with our daughters. Even thought he always had the safety of the girls in his mind he made very clear that he didn’t want my husband and I to miss out during the outings in the safari. And we didn’t. Cant say enough good things about him. We later found out he was invited by Columbia University to give a TED talk due to the great things he has done to his community. He is a Maasai and has done a great deal for his community. And you can see that everybody at Maasai mara is happy to see him and talk to him. He truly is a special person. Please check his TED talk:
Joseph playing with my daughter 
Ok lets talk about the games. Our jeep was completely open and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I could see the eyes of envy of other tourists that had the misfortunate of being in a covered vehicle. And this is why having a great guide is important. I trusted Joseph. I trusted that he knew what he was doing, where he was taking us, that he knew he had small children in his car and meant something to him. If something didn’t seem safe he would say it, avoid it, didn’t matter if it meant a great picture, or anything else. Having said that, there weren’t many moments like that. Even in the moment a lion walked a few feet from us we weren’t afraid. Maybe because the lion ignored us completely, or because he knew we had utter respect for him. Follow the rules: don’t get out of the car, don’t lean out of the car, and don’t make crazy noise….mmm don’t make crazy noise…toddler..crazy noise…my 2 yr old at one point was very talkative we just drove away.
So this may the major difference when doing a safari with kids. The gazing for hours is not possible. But if you are now traveling to Africa with kids then this is not your first rodeo and you know that the gazing for hours times have left the building. Somethings gotta give!
spotted a cheetah 
the beautiful acacia trees 
hyenas and vultures fighting for lunch 
wildebeest migration 
beautiful eagles 
you can appreciate how close the lions get to the jeeps 
here is our encounter with the king himself…you can’t hear me in the background but Im saying “why are we stopping here?” thankfully both my girls were napping.
So as you can see by the pics above, doing safaris with our girls we got to see pretty much all the animals with the exception of rhinos and leopards. In one evening my husband and I swapped babysitting duties. He went out with the guide to look for rhinos while I stayed with the girls and then on his return he stayed with the girls while I treated myself to the spa. Whatever works for the sanity of the family!
I really made it clear to Joseph that we wanted to visit a Maasai Village in one of the days were there. And it was truly special. My husband and another male tourist were welcomed by all the Maasai men. Then it was the turn for the women. Loved it and loved that my 2 girls were there to see this. We were then taken in to the village and greeted the people. We were taught about the way they live, the way they divide work. Beautiful memories for us and hopefully for my daughters too.
the Maasai men with their characteristic red blankets 
One more thing I read that it was a must while there was a hot air balloon ride over the mara. Wait…a hot air balloon ride with a 2 yr old? having not ever done it myself I was a bit scared but I figured lets book it and once we are there we will see. Worse case scenario I would stay with her and let my husband take my 4 yr old daughter with him. But the pilot said that the weather that day was perfect and would allow my daughter to ride the balloon. I think I was more scared than both my daughters but my husband grandmother rode a hot air balloon at age 94 so I couldn’t let her down. The first thing I thought while going up was “why haven’t we done this before??!” now this is the way to look at things. You can see everything! so beautiful, with the sunrise…1000% worth it.
other balloons you could see at the distance 
spotted a group of giraffes 
spotted some elephants 
upon landing you are welcomed to a beautiful breakfast on the bush 
breakfast with a view
We spent 3 nights at the Maasai mara. I feel is enough IF you plan to visit other places. Like a trip to a beach or visit the Victoria falls, but if not you can definitely justify staying one or two more nights there.
Sadly our time at the Maasai mara came to an end and we then left again to Nairobi to take our flight to Zanzibar. From Nairobi to Zanzibar is a 1.5 hr flight in the same type of plane that took us to the Maasai Mara.
Ok Zanzibar. I have to tell you that I do my research like most of you do using guides. My to go guides are Lonely Planet and Trip advisor. I learned that Zanzibar is a Tanzanian island. It was a melting pot of different cultures and religions but now was predominantly muslim. The main attraction is Stone Town. From stone town we would have to drive about 1.5 hrs to the west coast and then take a 15 min boat drive that would take us to Mnemba Island. We stayed one night in Stone town at the Park Hyatt. I was not impressed with Zanzibar. I won’t go into much detail but apparently the hotels don’t have private beaches. Also, the beaches weren’t as beautiful as I imagined. In the beach strip of our hotel there were lots of local fishing boats. BUT I know some people love Zanzibar and had better experiences. It was just not my cup of tea and to be fair we only stayed there one night.
Arriving to Mnemba island was magical, you are welcomed at the beach by the whole staff. I think the pictures talk by themselves, it truly was paradise. You can only go to that island if staying at the lodge as its a private island. I believe there are snorkeling tours from Zanzibar to the Mnemba island reefs but you cannot actually go to the land. It was a splurge I will admit. If not planning on going to Mnemba Island I would say you can do with out Zanzibar and if you want to do a couple of days on the beach you can probably find a nice beach and resorts on the Kenyan East coast.
all the staff welcomes you 
the rooms are all open 
beautiful installations 
live starfish 
the food was superb…everyday you would see them bringing the fish, lobster, octopus out of the sea… 
Ok so lets talk about some subjects:
Malaria prophylaxis:
Kenya and Tanzania are malaria areas and the CDC recommend prophylaxis if traveling to those areas. I have no issue with vaccines and medications but my daughters do. They scream bloody hell every time I try to give them medication and this was another level of difficulty as they come in pill form and have to be given for 2-3 weeks! Also one of the side effects of the medication is nausea and dizziness. My 2yr old already vomits every time in a car/plane/boat. I opted to concentrate my efforts in preventing mosquito bites. I purchased long sleeve safari/camping clothing, and wore long pants all the time. Long socks and thick hiking shoes. At all times the only exposed skin were the face and hands. For the beach I bought mosquito repellent and avoided being outside in the early mornings and late evenings (when mosquitos are out). All the hotels had nets in the beds. Thankfully none of us were bitten. I don’t suggest skipping the medication at all and if your children don’t have issue with taking medication by all means do it. But sometimes its a difficult option for some families.
Yellow Fever Vaccine
To enter Tanzania a yellow fever vaccine is a requirement IF coming from a country that has Yellow fever such as Kenya. We received the vaccine about a month before our trip and had no complications or side effects. Again, I don’t have issues with medication and vaccines. If the malaria prophylaxis came in a vaccine form we all had gotten it with no problem! When arriving to Zanzibar (Tanzania) you literally cannot enter the airport if you don’t show the yellow card showing vaccination for yellow fever.
Planning:
I did the research myself but to reserve at Mnemba Lodge I had to have a travel agent from AndBeyond contact me and reserve. While discussing our trip she offer to book the domestic flights and Sanctuary Olonana. She was really helpful. If you would like her info please email me and I would gladly send you her info.