I landed in Kenya for the second time in my life. But this time it was different. Because this time it was not a transit. This was it. This was the beginning my first visit to the African continent.

The anxiety that had been shadowing over my soul for the past two weeks disappeared as soon as my luggage appeared on the luggage carousel (because honestly, is there anything more scary than waiting for your luggage?).

The Kenyan sun touched my skin and my heart, and as I scanned the arrivals crowd full of loud reunions and nervous faces of tourists the excitement only grew.

I spotted my name on a piece of paper and headed towards my driver. A luxury I had treated myself too after two long days of travelling. He happily welcomed me in what I would soon discover to be typical Kenyan warmth.

“Welcome to Kenya, Kat!’

For once in my life I was quiet. It may have been the sleep deprivation, but it was more likely the excitement, because as we made our way into the city of Nairobi I was in awe.

I had heard about the ‘Africa Face’: The child-like smile that dominates the features of tourists across the continent. The sheer wonder and excitement restrained by profiles that only can express so much without attempting to control the jumbled words and unintelligible train of word-vomit resulting from wonder.

The view was simple. Locals gathered and commuted on the side of the congested streets, vendors sold everything from oranges to sunglasses in the midst of the traffic, billboards continued to welcome Obama from his visit mere weeks ago and beyond the city sights and sounds I knew that pure natural beauty and creatures that filled the screen of David Attenborough’s finest documentaries waited to take my breath away.

Before I started my three week camping journey across the country I had the luxury of a hotel for the night. I had the opportunity to meet the ten people and two guides that would be sharing this experience with me and as we excitedly heard about what was yet to come I could spot Africa faces across the group.

After a much needed nights rest, and the luxury of a hot shower (that we may not be experiencing again for a few weeks), we ate breakfast like kings. We had no idea of what to expect of food on the Kenyan, Ugandan and Tanzanian roads and the rich buffet of pancakes, potatoes, ‘passion juice’ and everything else that our hearts desired, fuelled us for our first day on the road to gorillas, giraffes, hippos, chimpanzees, and so much more…