Out There

An Igby Prize essay about the best cheap ways of traveling and the best places to travel in Kenya — from Bildad Makori

To most of us, travelling has gradually become the best activity that one always wants to engage in. To those of us who might not be knowing the exact meaning of this word, travelling is a verb that means to be on a journey, either passing from one point to another often for pleasure or going to conduct something at a distant place. Travelling is on the rise of topping the list to becoming the most loved and chosen hobby by most people if not all people. And the reason as to why it is topping the list is that travelling is:

• Fun.
• Is an engaging activity.
• Leads people to interact.
• Creates profounding long-lasting memories.
• Enriches ones knowledge in terms of learning and getting to know the different cultural aspects socially, economically or politically of the different people that one meets.

Now, take a look at your neighbourhood on weekends. At around age 4 to 10, most lucky young kids are usually taken by their parents, guardians, siblings or relatives for weekend out trips to national parks, stadiums, museums, malls or even to the major town centres like Kenya’s Nairobi’s CBD where there are a lot of children amusement parks. And so you find that as these kids grow later on, they usually develop that interest in always wanting to travel because they know how amazing it is.

In most cases, you always find that during school trips, 8 out of every 10 students always wants to go for those trips and the major reason is that these kids always want to experience each and every moment of the fun that comes along and by going for the trip, they definitely get that. Another reason is that the kids want to utilize that opportunity and join the rest of their friends who will be going and this is so that they may learn and get to see that which they were to see together. Because there is always that great feeling that one always feels when you travel or engage in an activity together with friends, right?

Here in Kenya, this nation is so blessed in matters travelling. Why you ask? Here is the reason. Kenya has many wonderful travel destinations that are very easy to access at an incredibly cheap cost. At some of these destinations, there is actually no cost at all! And the experience that one gets is usually worth the time and everything that costed you in travelling to these places. From the snow-covered peak of Mount Kenya, deep through the cool waters of Indian Ocean, Lake Turkana and the sizzling Lake Victoria, to the natural boiling waters of lake Bogoria and its hot springs after which you meander through the scary Rift Valley escarpments and the ever not so pleasing name of The Hell’s Gate National Park, to the iconic and historic sites of Lord Egerton’s Castle, Fort Jesus and the Ruins of the once so great Gedi… just but to mention a few. So those who are planning to come to Kenya, hope your stay won’t be a bore given all these wonderful places.

That aside, am dead sure that there are those of us saying that they would really love to engage in this exciting hobby but are not able to. The reason being that to them, travelling as a hobby seems to be quite expensive — with all the entrance fees, bus fares and lunch bills that come along. But as much as travelling for sure does involves expenses, it is not all types of travels that do so. Actually, there are some that the expenses are less than a dollar and there are even some that one needs no money! They are absolutely free! And for these kind of people that I have mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph, I would advise them to be local. Local in the sense that they focus on travelling within their locality particularly in natural habitats like forests, rivers, hills, waterfalls and such like. Once they have fully exhausted on all the corners of their locality, they can team up with friends, their peers to be precise and they can save and contribute equally in their next visit to the neighbouring constituency. Believe you me, it will work and you will love it!

Know that you are in the know, why don’t you put on your sneakers, call your buddies and go travelling! Don’t forget to carry your phone or camera and in the end, start regretting as to why you didn’t take a picture of that three-horned chameleon or that amazing cave that you will end up seeing as you will be walking around during your travel.

Safe journey as you will be travelling. Ciao.

Bildad Makori is a young passionate writer, blogger and a lover of art. He hails from Kenya and is a 2nd year student at Chuka University pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. Bildad is a great believer, always dreaming for a better tomorrow and brighter days ahead. Being a blogger, he gets to share and tell of his ideas, thoughts and stories in the best way ever. You can get more of his work on his blog nimimibilly and you can reach to him on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as @BildadMakori.