Our first time experience touring Kenya

For a long time, Palmar Ragnarsson, a motivational speaker on communication in sports clubs and work places, an author and a basketball coach in Iceland, Europe had always desired to travel to Kenya. 

He travels when it is summer in his country as organisations are closed for summer holidays and for three months he takes expeditions to a country of his choice to explore and experience its food, people and attractions. 

Having read and researched about Kenya on the Internet, he decided to take his first visit to the country last year to the country. 

 “All my life, I always wished to travel to see wild animals. It was a dream. I was always saving for Africa for later.

But when I came here, the thing that was by far my greatest memory were the people in Kenya and not the nature and wildlife.

Because people here are energetic, warm and fan to talk to and this made me happy,” he says. 

Documented experience

He came with no plan, booked a one way ticket to the country and spent his holiday at a hotel in Ngara, Nairobi. While in the country he visited Naivasha, Nyeri, Masai Mara National Reserve, Nanyuki, Nyahururu, Mount Kenya, Samburu, Tsavo, Mombasa, Diani, Malindi, Lamu and Turkana, where he immersed himself in the Kenyan culture. He documented his experiences on his Instagram page, Palmarragg. 

Last year saw a number of travellers tour the country for the first time. Data from the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) indicates that Kenya has recorded a 40.8 per cent  growth in tourism numbers with 663,036 visitors in the period between January and October, 2021, compared to the same period in 2020, which recorded of 470,971 arrivals. 

Popular Dubai vlogger and YouTuber, Khalid Al Ameri, who is known for recording his day to day life in the Middle east with his family also toured the country with his family for the first time. “When you come to a place like Kenya, you do not sleep,” he said. 

From his YouTube chanel, his most exciting experience was at the Mara where he expressed that the trip exceeded every expectation that he had ever imagined having had the rare chance to be able to see the big five in the wild. 

Camp in the wild

“There is a saying in Kenya that says karibu nyumbani, which means welcome home. And that is what my family and I have felt from the very second we touched down this beautiful country,” he said. 

What 37-year-old vlogger loved about the country was the opportunity to camp in the wild, sitting and watching spectacular sunsets before gathering around a bonfire.

He also enjoyed the spectacular performance by an amazing troop of traditional Maasai dancers dressed in their iconic traditional shukas.

“The reason they are called game drives is because whenever you are going out to try and see the animals in their habitat, it is a game of chance.

What I loved about this trip is that we had expectations of what we were going to see.

This exceeded every expectation we could have imagined in terms of the beauty, we got the opportunity to see so much,” he said.

For first timers, tour operators in the country say Kenya has always been about wildlife safaris.

And if you want to see big cats roaming typical savannah landscapes then you won’t be disappointed. However, there’s so much more to the country than safaris.

“There are formidable challenges for hikers in the form of Mount Kenya and the Aberdare Range, as well as sublime stretches of coastline around Mombasa and beyond.

Offshore, the enticing island of Lamu is a heady mix of incredible beaches and Swahili architecture,” Jane Kiari,  a trave agent who has been in the business of organising trips for tourists from the US to Kenya for a decade. 

“For a real adventure, follow bumpy tracks through the parched desert landscapes of the north, where you’ll find old frontier towns, vibrant tribal culture and the shimmering Lake Turkana,” she adds. 

 The world’s most travelled man Fred Finn, who has visited the country more than 600 times and who also came back to the country last year endorsed Kenya as ready for tourism businesses amidst the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

During the pandemic

“We are living in a global pandemic, no one knows when this will end, but I believe that life must continue, I felt that it was the right time to come and visit, especially to be in solidarity with Kenya during this Covid-19 period,” he said. 

 Out of all the countries that Fred has visited, he tipped off potential visitors that Kenya is his favourite destination having thus his over 600 trips into the country so far.

“It’s easy to love Kenya because there is just so much that one can get to enjoy when here.

I enjoy making friends here, seeing the amazing wildlife, the food which makes me want to visit repeatedly,” he marvelled.

“I have travelled for many years and cannot think of any other destination that gives me greater satisfaction than Kenya,” he added.

His first trip in the country was in 1958 and since then, Finn has flown north of 24 million kilometres and has toured more than 150 different nations.

In 1983, he was certified by the Guinness Book of World Records for having flown more air miles than any other passenger in history.

In nearly 37 years, no one has been able to come close to this incredible feat.

Preferred destination

According to Outlook on Recovery searches report last year, at least 30 percent of travellers planning to visit Kenya in the next three months are from the US and have made Kenya their preferred travel destination.

The second was Germany with eight per cent of the booking and the third and fourth were the UK and UAE. 

For Palmer, even as he desired to watch wildlife and be enchanted by the beauty in the country, one thing that he holds dearly in his memories are the people he met. 

He says Kenyans are warm and open minded people. Some of the culture shocks that he experienced, include difference in culture when it comes to time keeping.

He enjoyed eating with his hands as in Icelander, apart from pizza the rest of the meals are eaten with a fork and knife. 

Palmer says it is easier for the people to travel when the economy is better as they have spare money to do so.