Flying on a hot air balloon, like tourists, was never in my mind until we got a freebie to enjoy the luxury.
My friend, Rosemary, was working for a tourism newsmagazine at that time and was always being invited by the stakeholders to visit, sample and write about their hotels.
One of the destinations she was invited to sample in 1997 was Hilton Hotel’s Salt Lick Safari Lodge in Tsavo West National Park in Taita –Taveta County.
The origin of the name Tsavo is not clear; the Akamba community say it means: “Place of slaughter.” It is one of the oldest and largest wildlife parks in the country, established in 1948 by the colonial government, and sits on 13,747 square kilometers. It is located near the town of Voi, along the Nairobi-Mombasa highway and railway line.
She tagged me along for the one of the most enjoyable, luxurious and relaxed weekends.
We started our 300 kilometers journey at 7pm. At Nairobi Railway Station where the hotel had booked a First Class round trip ticket for us on the Nairobi-Mombasa single gauge night train to alight at Voi station.
The six-hour ride was rather noisy with the metal wheels on the rails and the coaches swinging from side to side; it was smooth and relaxing as we watched the sun set in Nairobi suburbs and parts of Kajiado and Machakos districts, which have since been renamed as counties.
The railway staff treated us like royalty; they ensured we had the best expected of First Class passengers. These were clean and ironed bedsheets, blankets and pillows to ensure we had sound sleep on the convertible bench which was used as a bed at night; and a second one could be released and hang from the sides.
Three hours into the journey, one of the catering staff walked past our coach ringing a bell to alert passengers in First and Second class announcing in a loud voice: “Dinner will be served in the buffet car!”
We then took a walk to the restaurant which had sparkling clean linen as table clothes and matching plates, cutlery emblazoned with KR name and logo. Each table had a waiter to serve the passengers with a four- course sumptuous dinner ending with a dessert and option of a cup of tea or coffee. It reminded me of the Kiswahili saying: “Tembea uone (travel so that you can see many things).”
We then returned to our coach and called it a night: my wife on the lower deck while I took the upper deck. Later, we were woken by the KR staff informing us to prepare to alight at Voi station, which was our destination. We picked our luggage and alighted just to find a tour van driver from Salt Lick and Taita Hills Lodge carrying a name tag with our names. He had been dispatched to pick us at midnight and drive us to the beautiful facility in the middle of Tsavo National Park famous for the Big Five namely the elephant, lion, rhino, buffalo and cheetah.
The 30-minute ride on the earth bumpy road was uneventful; we arrived and heaved a sigh of relief as the tour van eased onto the tarmacked road in the compound. The night manager was on hand to welcome us and to give us a welcoming drink and light snacks before we were shown our room for the rest of our holiday in the five-star facility in the bush.
We then called it a night in the well-furnished room, with a view of the breath-taking Taita Hills and plains in the full moon. Breakfast was served from 7am for the early birds and ended at 10am for the late comers. The buildings were an architectural masterpiece; the main hotel had three floors and the entrance had different colours of bougainvillea growing and leaning on the walls. The Salt Lick Lodge had an African-hut design on stilts, with one floor.
We then met the manager who gave us the itinerary and introduced us to a team of 10 journalists and travel agents from Europe who were on a conducted tour and fact-finding mission. We all had breakfast together and went on a game drive 30 minutes later where the tour guide who doubled as the driver, was in his element giving us the history, geography and background of the hotel and the park.
The guide also gave us detailed information about the flora and fauna in the second most popular park, after Masai Mara in Narok County. One of the major attractions during our game drive was Mudanda Rock, a 1.6-kilometer inselberg of stratified rock that acts as a water catchment that supplies a natural dam below.
It offered an excellent vintage point for the hundreds of elephants and other Big Five wild animals that go there to drink daily, especially during dry seasons. The sight to behold was of hundreds of zebras, giraffes, lions, antelopes and cheetahs grazing freely in the wilderness.
The hotel had organized game dinner that evening where we enjoyed the African sunset around a bone fire, with plenty of nyama choma (roast meat) and drinks at a secluded part of the park where we all sat together. Some of the foreign tourists opted to sit on Masai shawls placed on the ground while others, like my wife and I, sat on foldable chairs. Photographers had a field day both during the game drive and at the game meat dinner as traditional dancers entertained us.
Most of the tourists were non-English speakers, so we did not have much conversation between us. But those who spoke English were excited and appreciated the natural heritage that Kenya is blessed with in form of wild animals, birds and open wild country with beautiful hills, valleys, rivers and lakes among others.
Day Two was the climax when we were asked to wake up at 5.30am and prepare for a hot air balloon ride and game drive that was crowned by a champagne breakfast in the wild.
The cost of balloon ride was Kshs10, 000 per person for an hour. We had a special air balloon pilot. It was awesome, something out of this world. It costs about Kshs. 50, 000 today per person per hour and varies from eight to 30 passengers.
We all boarded the basket which was tired to the hot air balloon with gas cylinders of helium in the middle. The pilot lit the gas cylinder after giving us all the safety instructions, before were airborne and watched with awe the beautiful sunrise, hills, valleys and the big range of wild animals and birds.
Everyone on board was excited and did not hide their joy; as some of us took photos while others recorded on their video cameras. For the next hour we enjoyed a serene environment and sweet refreshing breeze from Mt Kilimanjaro in neighboring Tanzania, the second tallest mountain in the world, which swept through the Tsavo towards the Indian Ocean.
Our pilot prepared us for landing on a plateau overlooking the part at a strategic location where the hotel catering unit had been driven to prepare our champagne breakfast.
There was a little tension among us as our pilot brought the air balloon to land as we held our breath and held tight to the basket, which had no seat belts.
We then settled at the picnic site, which was like a scene from the famous movie, Out of Africa, about Danish Baroness Karen Blixen, who came to Kenya for a holiday in the 1920s and fell in love with the country where she lived and wrote books for 17 years. She has a leafy neighborhood in Nairobi city named after her.
By then, I had not seen so much food cooked for a breakfast! It was like a grand wedding and/or State function at State House! We started by being served with a glass of crystal clear champagne, that was my first to be honest, which was followed by a buffet full five-course breakfast.
We were served like royalty, with one waiter per couple, and started with fruits, fresh juices, appetizers, tea and/or coffee with a variety of bread and white and red meat.
From the breakfast, which was actually brunch for some of us, we returned to our respective rooms for a nap, while others changed and went to dip themselves in the pool and have a suntan.
The next morning was time to get up and prepare for the ride to Voi station and board the Nairobi-bound train from Mombasa.
The return trip was at midnight and was uneventful, but the sweet memories of the royal service at Taita Hills Lodge linger on, some three decades later.
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