After three long days of traveling (one by road and the other two by plane) we finally made it to Kenya and were greeted with a friendly, “Welcome to Nairobi!” The gentleman waiting for us was smiling and holding up a sign. After introductions, he let us know that he would go get the vehicle and be right back to pick us up. As we waited for him to pull the car around, we noticed how great the cool air felt on our skin and how fresh it smelled. It was a welcome change from the stuffy plane we had been stuck in for the past 8.5 hours. “Okay” I thought, “this is real now.” Up to this point I had been so focused on making it through the travel portion to get to Kenya that I hadn’t allowed myself to get overly excited. “Jambo” my dad said. “What?” I replied. “Jambo, it means hello in Swahili. Asante means thank you.” It looks like the girls and I will have an opportunity to practice some Swahili while we are here.

Promptly after leaving the airport in Nairobi, we saw a small herd of Zebra right next to the road. “Oh look. There are some zebra (zeh-bruh),” our driver stated, acting as if it was an everyday occurence for him. The girls squeeled with excitement. Not even 5 minutes away from the airport and we were already seeing wildlife.

Arriving at our hotel, Ole Sereni, was wonderful. The architectural design and lighting of the building was gorgeous. Everything about it was done up on a grand scale. We were greeted by our guide, Simon, and some hotel personnel who proceeded to take our bags and put them through a scanner to detect for dangerous items. I hadn’t seen this happen in a hotel before, but it felt familiar after all we had been through at various airports recently. Walking into the hotel, there was a huge lobby area with winding staircases on each side. There was metal work and wood work all over the place that shows how much detail was put into the design of this hotel. The name of the hotel is taken from the Maasai name for the area meaning ‘place of tranquility’. Another fun fact about it is that it is the only city hotel in the world that borders a national game park. Our guide showed us around the hotel and then showed us to our rooms so we could get some shut-eye. We plan on having a slow morning tomorrow and then will be meeting up with Simon for lunch and feeding giraffes in the afternoon, which is one of the things Jade has been most excited about for the entire trip. For now, we are going to get some rest, but will post more soon!

*The featured image is from the hotel website and was taken on the back side of the hotel looking out onto the national park.