Hello Reader! I am Simran and today in my first blog, I am going to share about my first experience as a tourist. Growing up, I used to be very passionate about travelling and seeing wildlife. All I wanted to do was travel the world and see what is out there. I read the experiences of people who had travelled to see nature and they had so much to say about how travelling had changed their lives. I got so curious to want the experience everyone that had travelled was talking about. Travelling to Africa for me remained a dream until last summer holidays. I decided to fulfil my dreams and to begin exploring this beautiful world and get to know its beautiful creatures.
My First Experience with Wildlife
Soon on arrival in Kenya, our tour guard took us to the Nairobi National Park, and this is where I had my first experience with wildlife. I saw a lot of wildlife such as the Gazelles, lions, leopards, and giraffes, to mention but a few. I thought I was the only one to have this experience, but my group had a lot of questions about those scenarios. This was just the beginning of the African experience. We also visited Lake Nakuru, Lake Naivasha, Maasai Mara, and the Serengeti National Park.
The Mara
Maasai Mara is the most visited Geographic Park in African. This is where we got to experience the best culture, food, and wildlife as it was in the magazines. The Maasai Mara National Park has all kinds of wildlife ranging from lions, rhinos, elephants, leopards, gazelles, buffalos, zebras, giraffes and some of the rarest species of wildlife in the world. We were lucky to have visited in June because this is when the wilder beast closes the Serengeti Rivers. There is no experience like seeing how the full beast braves up to close the Serengeti River which is flooded with crocodiles that prey to them. I got to see the wildlife cycle of life. Predators like lions and leopards feasted on weak gazelles and zebras.
Local Cultures
Beyond the wildlife experience, we got to interact with the local communities living close to the park on the Loita Hills. The tour guard we had been travelling with gave us a brief history of the Maasai tribe and gave us a tour of the village. They build houses with mud, sticks, cow dung and grass. The tour guard said that it was one of the African tribes that had followed their traditions for centuries. The Maasai is a tribe well-known for their cultural dance and is great herdsmen. Women and men from this community came out to entertain us with dancing and milk which they called “mursik” from bottles made from cow skin. Learning about different traditions and customs was educative, and it gave me a close understanding of how important it is to maintain a culture in African communities.
Life Lesson
The experience in Africa was the best thing I have ever had my life as it changed my life for the better. I learnt the importance of conserving culture and the need to travel more and experience more cultures around the world. It has always been my dream to have such fun. As such, it marked one of the historical experiences of my life. It was just a beginning as there is a world to explore. In my next blog, I will share my experience with “The Great White North”. What’s The Great White North? – It’s Canada 🇨🇦
Sim's Blog 