biking safari in Kenya

Joseph repairing my flat tire

My mom before she quit

Yesterday we went on a 10 mile bike safari in a private conservation park near Nairobi, Kenya. The person that ran the tour was a man named Joseph (a good friend of my dad). Hillary (another friend of my dad) also joined us. First, we took a 1 hour car ride from the Karen area of Nairobi and drove to the Swara Acacia lodge which is in the park. When we arrived, we had  samosas, they were pretty good but the Trader Joe’s samosas are way better. The staff at the lodge had a slingshot to shoot and try to scare the monkeys because they would try to steal food so I asked for it then I shot the monkeys and the birds. After a while of hanging out on the property, we picked out our bikes and made our way to the trail. We saw a Thompson gazelle, a type of gazelle with horns like a buck. In the beginning, the trail was pretty easy with little bumps but it got harder later.

Almost right away, we saw a group of ostriches and they were all females (we knew because the males have a pinkish neck and the females have a tan neck). We rode a little bit further and then we saw 8 giraffes but they were far away so we began to bike towards them. My mom ended up leaving in the middle of the bike ride because the heat started to kick in and I started sweating a little too because of the intense sun beating down on you and there were no big trees for shade. We saw a giraffe up close, it was right in front of us eating (fun fact: giraffes eat 30 to 75 pounds of leaves, twigs, and bark a day). Eventually after eating enough, this giraffe crossed the trail  to be with the rest of the herd, (another fun fact: the darker the spots on the giraffe, the older it is). We continued our bike ride and saw a bunch of warthogs (the Kenyans call them Pumbaa). Warthogs like to dig big holes or burrows in the ground on the trails and they also make bumps with their hoofs so you have to pay attention because the bike can get stuck easily. We stopped for some water and chips and then I noticed my tire was flat so Joseph repaired it like a pro. As we approached the end of the trail, the ride was the best part because it was downhill and no bumps so you could drift by going super fast using the rear brake then snapping your handle bars so that was superfun. once we got back I was gassed so I got a coke to refresh me and I would definitely do it again.