Jaideep and Seema Mehrotra go on an African safari

It is a trip they’re not going to forget in a hurry, for when painter Jaideep Mehrotra, his wife Seema and their daughters — Anushka (15) and Mallika (10) wanted a different experience, they got that alright! “We always try to discover different parts of the world on our family vacation and the safari experience was something different,” says Seema.

Stay and transport
Kenya straddles the Equator and is located on the eastern coast of Africa. “The place has tremendous topographical diversity, including glaciated mountains with snow-capped peaks, the Rift Valley with its scarps and volcanoes, ancient granitic hills, flat savannah bushland and coral reefs and islets, so it was breathtaking,” adds Jaideep.

Since the Mehrotras prefer to plan ahead, they had the intinerary chalked out and drove around. “This way we stopped at a lot more places on the way and saw a lot more game,” he says, adding, “We stayed in a tent and there was something so exciting about being there in the wild. The people are very, very friendly, welcoming and always smiling so that was a big plus.”

In jungle country
First stop was at Nairobi to meet some friends. “We then went to the Masai Mara and watched the
migratory birds and animals — giraffes, elephants and lions too,” recalls Seema. The sights also got them clicking pictures. “Especially at Lake Nakuru
National Park where you can see millions of pink flamingoes as well as the black rhino and leopard and Amboseli National Park which has Mount Kilimanjaro as the backdrop,” she continues. The fun levels rose when it came to the animal encounters. “The kids had a blast at a chimpanzee sanctuary and at Ngorongoro — an extinct crater which has all varieties of animals living in complete harmony — it was a lovely sight!  Seeing the animals up so close was unbelievable and made us realise that animals need to remain in their natural habitat and turn ‘wild’ only when humans encroach on their territory or when they’re attacked,” she says. 
 
‘Game’ for some meat?
There was quite a variety on the menu. “All four  of us are very adventurous foodies, but the kids objected to having zebra and giraffe meat! There are speciality restaurants which claim to serve all kinds of game including crocodile, zebra and giraffe along with lamb, chicken, pork, beef venison.
However, after seeing these majestic animals in the wild, the kids refused to go to the famous carnivore restaurant which serves all this game meat on skewers,” she laughs.

Kenyan souvenirs
While Anushka and Mallika picked up a few beads and knick-knacks, Jaideep and Seema didn’t make any special detours to the markets. There were plenty of ‘touristy’ stores on the way full of local traditional art and craft,” says Jaipdeep.