Lake Victoria Cultural Safari

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TOUR HIGHLIGHTS

9 DAYS NAIROBI / KERICHO / KISUMU /KIT MIKAYI / MBITA / RUSINGA / TAKAWIRI ISLAND / MFANGANO ISLAND / MBITA / NYAMGONDHO / THIM LICH OHINGA / AWENDO / KILGORIS / MAASAI MARA / NAIROBI.

DETAILED ITINERARY

• Day 1: Nairobi – Kericho

Depart Nairobi early in the morning for a trip through Great Rift Valley with a stop over at the view point to have a glance at Mt Longonot and the breathe taking escarpment to reach Kericho tea hotel which was built in 1950’s by Brooke Bond Tea Company and has an old World airstrip, pitch your tents, enjoy your lunch and then go for an escorted walk in the Tea Plantations. Kericho is a Tea country which has put Kenya to be the world third largest Tea producer after India and Sri Lanka. There are beautiful rolling hills carpeted in neat, bright green tea bushes as far as you can see. The climate here is perfect for Tea with rain falling almost every afternoon. Kericho was named after Ole Kericho, a Maasai Chief who was killed in the battle by the Gusii in the 19th Century. The hotel also has an optional trout fishing activity at a cost.

• Day 2: Kericho – Kisumu – Kit Mikayi – Lwanda Kotieno – Mbita

After an early breakfast, depart from Kericho via Kisumu city to reach Kenya’s most dramatic archaeological sites, a vast granite rock tower called Kit Mikayi. The rock is situated in Kisumu district, Maseno division, East – Seme – location, Kit – Mikayi sub-location, Kangeso village, Kadol clan. The rock which is about 70 to 80 ft tall is located 30kms Far East of Kisumu city and 1km from of Kisumu-Bondo road. The sign board is on the gate of Kit Mikayi primary school then you enter through N’gop-Ngeso primary school. The legendary story behind Kit Mikayi which in Luo means the stone of the first wife is that: Long time ago, there was an old man

The site since time immemorial has been a worship place and is usually being used by the Legion Maria sect and you can see the remains of lit up candles in several colors inside the cave. Inside the cave, it is believed that there is a hole in the middle of the cave which was co-joining Lake Victoria and one time an Asian dropped in and was found dead in Lake Victoria and hence the late Dr. Robert Ouko who was the Member of Parliament for the area by then and also the former most respected Foreign Affairs Minister in Kenya ordered for the closure of that dangerous hole. After this, we take Bondo road and on to the famous Akala Market which is known for its trade in cattle in the whole of Nyanza. Interact with buyers and sellers who come as far as Kisii, Kadem, and Karungu, Migori e.t.c to buy and sell their herds. Drive to Ndori then turn left on Ndori – Lwanda K’Otieno road, for an onward ferry transfer to Mbita at 03:00pm and after about 45min you shall be at Mbita to check in at Lake Victoria Safari village, pitch your tent, then relax for the day. Picnic lunch enroute, dinner and overnight at the campsite.

• Day 3: Rusinga Island full day.

After breakfast, leave the campsite with your picnic lunch and drive past the course way to enter the famous Rusinga Island. Rusinga is an austerely pretty Island with high crags dominating the desolate goat-grazed landscape. A single dirt road is running around its circumference. Life here is difficult, drought commonplace, and high winds a frequent torment. The occasional heavy rain either washes away the soil or sinks into the porous rock, emerging lower down where it creates swamps. Ecologically, the Island is in very dire straits: almost all its trees have been cut down for cooking fuel or been converted into lucrative charcoal. These conditions make farming highly unpredictable and most people rely on some fishing to make ends meet. Yet the islanders, in common with their mainland cousins, remain unfailingly friendly and cheerful bunches, who are more than happy to make contact with wayward visitors. Drive towards left from the junction, stop somewhere and then walk on foot to visit the archeological site where Dr. Mary and Louis Leakey found the skull of Proconsul Africanus which is believed to be approximately 18 million years old and was a man earliest ancestor and so was taken to National Museum of Kenya in Nairobi where you can view it when time allows and at an extra cost. It is also believed that this is one of the first important hominid finds of these two famous archeologists. Besides Ligongo, a visit to sacred rock Kiangata on Rusinga Island is an avoidable. The legendary story about this rock is that, the mother of the sub clan of Wakiangata who are occupying the area went to fetch firewood around the rock and she disappeared and so it is believed that she is leaving inside this sacred rock and whenever you shout, the unique eco sound which comes out of the rock is believed to be the sound of the mother of the Wakiangata sub clan and so the common question asked here is “Kiangata, what have you prepared for us to eat today?” then there is an echo sound which comes out of the rock. After this experience, walk back to the car and further move to Tom Mboya’s mausoleum which lies on family land at Kamasengere on the north side of the island, about 7km by the dirt road from Mbita, or roughly 5km directly across the island. The mausoleum (open most days to visitors) contains various mementoes and gifts Mboya received during his life. Tom Mboya, civil rights champion, trade unionist and charismatic young Luo politician who was gunned down in Nairobi in 1969, sparking off a crisis that led to over forty deaths in widespread rioting and demonstrations.

• Day 4: Mbita – Takawiri – Mfangano – Mbita

After breakfast, with your picnic lunch, enjoy a ride on traditional boat with horse power engine past the two smallest Islands called Mbasa Namiyolo to reach the beautiful Island of Takawiri with very white sands and get to know how they survive and live with the traditional fishing style. This Islands of Lake Victoria are settled by Abasuba tribes who are Bantu speakers and believed to have come from Uganda more than 200yrs ago. Some of them went first to Tanzania before settling here. The name “Suba” means “the people who are always wandering”. The arrival of the Abasuba displaced the Nilotic cattle handling Luo people who moved further North. We ride further to Mfangano Island where we have the geometric rock paintings at Mawanga cave and Kwitone in the Island. It is believed that the rock art pre-dates the migration of both Nilotes and Bantus and is thought to be the work of ancestral Twa, a forager-hunter people who may have been originary related to the pygmies of Eastern Congo.

• Day 5: Mbita – Sindo – Nyamgondho site – Thim Lich Ohinga

After breakfast and after picking your picnic lunch, drive to the interior of Suba land passing through Sindo to have a glance at the most magnificent Ran’gwa hills with very fertile land for agricultural products. The Gusii communities who have settled in the hills are purely subsistence farmers alongside with the locals, Kaksingiri community, then to Magunga, take the deviation to your left hand side and drive to Nyandiwa and onto the amazing site of Nyamgondho. The legend here is there was a poor fisherman from Kamangeta in Tanzania who came to sojourn in Kachwodho clan in Nyandiwa next to the present Nyandiwa fishing beach called Julu son of Ombare, grandson of Omae whom like other fishermen used Migondho kind of fishing to catch fish. Migondho was made from the fibre of sisal which was spinned into a rope attached to a hook with crab as the bait to lure fish to be caught. One day, when Julu son of Ombare went to fish as usual, as he was pulling the rope, suddenly an ugly one eyed woman appeared and requested Julu son of Ombare to take her home and lit fire to make her warm as she was feeling cold. Julu son of Ombare was a very brave man and as per her request, she was taken home and apart from the fire, she lived with Julu son of Ombare and he gave her the name of Adikinyi Nyamgondho (connoting the time and the type of fishing in dholuo). Not knowing that this was luck, they started having cattle and multiplying them day by day. Julu son of Ombare became a very wealthy person and forgot that he was poor and hence he took to drinking proudly and abusing the woman every other day until one time he decided to fight the woman and even said that he doesn’t want an ugly woman like Nyamgondho as he had already married another woman. The lady decided to go back to the lake. Then animals in the compound started following her to the waters. Even Julu son of Ombare could not stop them. The foot prints where they stepped on before jumping into the water are still there and can be seen when there is no much water on the shore. The cowshed which was built for the cattle using the dry stone walls which has no mortars just like the ones in Thim Lich Ohinga and the ones in Lianda Tuwi can also be visited.

• Day 6: Thim Lich Ohinga – Rapogi – Awendo

After breakfast, we leave Thim Lich to Awendo through Rapogi. Awendo is a Sugarcane town and every activity in life revolves around sugarcane growing and sugar making. We will have an opportunity to visit Sony Sugar Company to get to learn how sugar is processed and to amaze at the big sugar plantations and the process of cutting down sugar canes and transporting the same to the factory for crushing. We will then move to Awendo town to check in for our accommodation in a budget hotel, picnic lunch enroute, dinner and overnight at the hotel.

• Day 7: Awendo – Kilgoris – Lolgorien – Maasai Mara

After breakfast in the busy town of Awendo, you will drive to Kilgoris passing through Maize and Sugar plantation, amazing at the beautiful landscape of Nandi and Kipsigis tribes to enter the famous Maasai Mara with an enroute game drive to your campsite, picnic lunch enroute, dinner and overnight.

• Day 8: Maasai Mara Full Day.

Full day will be spent in the vast Maasai Mara in search of its renowned plain game; Black manned Lion, Leopard, Cheetah, and migration of Wild Beast and Zebras. The Savannah country in the Mara with plenty of grass and short trees (shrubs) sustain the bigger number of herbivorous animals which Maasai Mara boost of and also act as vintage to enjoy a wonderful view of the animals. The ride will take you to the famous Mara River where we have a big school of Hippos and plenty of Crocodiles. This section also boasts of many species of Bird life. Drive back with a game drive to your campsite for dinner and overnight. Picnic lunch will be enjoyed on the game. Note: You can also enjoy Balloon ride very early in the morning at an extra cost or a visit to a Maasai village or Nature Walk in between.