When people talk about travel the first thing that comes to my mind, most of the time, is getting on a plane and leaving the country to visit a different country, sometimes even continent. I realised that we tend to take the country that we live in for granted. We venture into travelling a whole country in just a few months, to "make the most of it", even though it would cost an arm and leg. In December 2017, I decided to keep my travel local after I came across a photograph of waterfalls in the Abedare national park. I began researching on the falls and the areas around it, I was surprised by how much there was that I had never seen!

 I ended up taking a ten day trip moving from Nyeri to Nanyuki.  As a photographer I'm constantly either chasing sunsets, wildlife or waterfalls and after the trip I had a million pictures of this and more!  While in Nyeri, we stayed at the Rhino watch Safari Lodge; a beautiful, peaceful and cosy tented camp. The staff were friendly and the views were great. The best view was from the swimming pool which is located on a hill, a small hike up from the main camp and directly opposite Mount Kenya.  During the day you swim with Mount Kenya in the backdrop and in the morning watch the sun rise from the smaller peaks on Mount Kenya. The colours were magical, as seen in the photo, and it was worth the early morning hike up!  Having just moved back from Cape Town, the view here did me justice. 

Since the lodge is not too far away from Ol Pejeta conservancy, we did a day tour to the park.  Being December, it was way too hot to see much game but we did see a huge family of Elephants and that was still worth it! The best part of the elephants were the tusks, they were massive and untouched. From massive elders to new borns, the herd walked with pride and elegance. 

After spending three nights there I moved to Treetops Lodge which is located in the Abedare National Park. My favorite part from the stay here was that the animals come to the watering hole and you can enjoy seeing them from the balcony. On one of the nights came a huge herd of Elephants that had babies and a mother and a baby rhino. Since, both had babies they were very protective. I was lucky to see the mother rhino charge one of the elephant’s into the water. It seemed like a proper battlefield. Not something you would get to see every day. What a sight!

During the day we went exploring for the waterfall. To our surprise, there were three beautiful waterfalls; the Karuru waterfall, which is the longest in Kenya, the Magura waterfalls, which hides a cave where the Mau Mau hid and lastly the Chania falls. The hikes to the falls are challenging for beginners but once you get to the falls the pain simply disappears and is replaced by a feeling of satisfaction and beauty. 

The last stop was Mount Kenya Safari Lodge. This was the most relaxing place of the trip. We stayed in luxurious, cottage-like, bedrooms at the tip of Mount Kenya, you can imagine the view. We were welcomed by their gorgeous in house peacocks!

While there, we visited the animal Orphanage where we saw the endangered Bongo animal. It was amazing to see the rehabilitation and rescue program the conservancy undergoes. It was an amazing learning experience.

Nanyuki and Nyeri sides are so green and so fresh, it was amazing to be in the midst of nature for ten days. What a refreshing experience. It's more reasonable than a trip abroad and the beauty of our country is exhilarating!