Timeout At Malewa Wildlife Lodge -Nairobi,Kenya

November 06, 2014

I had the opportunity to go for a hostile environment training course in Nairobi, Kenya. For personal and professional reasons, I will leave the bit about my training. Sorry I'm also not gonna share pictures of the training. Okay, so back to my gist, we landed at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi at about 7am in the morning. Airport formalities took less than 30 minutes, and then a two hour drive to the camp - Malewa Wildlife Lodge. This is a place that is worth visiting. Almost everything here is built from natural material, using indigenous building methods. The rooms are built with mud, thatch and a little bit of cement, the windows are built with leather and a zip to either open or shut it. No keys to the doors, just a small wooden latch to hold it in place.
With no fences and animals moving freely, it took me over two hours to accept the fact that I was going to sleep in a room without proper locks.....We were also given torches and whistles, once in your room, you can't come out on your own, you have to use the whistle to call out to the guards, and the torch to signal them to your room.
No air-conditioning, but you will never miss that for one minute, the place was cold, freezing. The bath...ohhh, it was pure heaven, I didn't want to leave the hot steamy sauna-like bath, and when I got into bed, it was a relief to find a hot water bottle and extra blankets waiting for me.
The electricity here is powered by solar. Waste is recycled. Water is drawn from the Malewa river using hydro power. Cooking is done with gas and eco-bricks. We could only make phone calls at some parts of the camp, thankfully, my room was close to the WiFi spot so I could at-least ping and email from the comfort of my room after the days training. Remember, not having network service all around the camp is a plus, this is no place for you to visit and spend time browsing on your phone all day. You need to let the phones be, and savour nature at its finest.
I looked forward to meal times, it was a five star treatment with the waiters dotting on you. Rides in the truck while heading out to the training ground and back to the lodge in the evenings gave me the opportunity to see various animals, zebras, antelopes, giraffes, hyenas, impalas, warthogs, so many more.
The Somalian guards and the staff are all well cultured, especially my friend +peter lugalia, thanks for the extra lamb on the Barbecue night, and sorry I could not eat the Ugali. Greetings to all my colleagues who came for the training from Mali, South Sudan, South Africa, Bujumbura, Somalia, Mauritius, Senegal. The facilitators too, you made me understand that Journalism no be beans.
I enjoyed my three day stay at the camp, but also had a sense of relief when we moved to Nairobi town, to a place where I could properly lock my doors and windows.
But hey, Malewa Wildlife Lodge is one place I would surely love to visit again....with my hubby this time.