Baking Bites in Kenya

I recently got back from a long and fantastic trip to Kenya, where I went on a safari for nearly two weeks! The trip was one of those bucket list trip-of-a-lifetime adventures and it was amazing. Unlike some of my other travels, like to Napa,  Seoul, South Korea and Andalucia, Spain, this trip was not particularly focused on food. Most of my time was spent viewing the countryside and spotting a whole variety of animals, from elephants and rhinos to lions and antelope.

The lodges I stayed at included the Sarova Shaba, Mt Kenya Safari Club, Sarova Lionhill and Sarova Mara – and all of them were really outstanding, and offered many different game-viewing opportunities, as they were all located in different parks in different parts of Kenya. If I had to choose my favorite place to stay, I would say that the Mt Kenya Safari Club was my favorite. This is partly because the lodge was so beautiful, but also because the Mt Kenya Wildlife Conservancy and Animal Orphanage, where they raise and care for orphaned and injured, and also maintain breeding programs for very rare or endangered species in order to introduce more back into the parks. At the orphanage, we were able to feed and pet many of the animals and it was pretty amazing to be able to get so close to them! I certainly never thought I would be feeding ostriches or bongos from my hands on the trip. As for choosing a favorite park, I don’t think I could because they were so diverse I enjoyed them all!

The trip was a package deal so, while I usually spend a lot of time wandering the streets of whatever town/city/country I’m visiting, in Kenya I primarily ate at the safari lodges that I stayed at. East Africa isn’t necessarily known for its food, so the food at the lodges, always served buffet style, was very international. The constant was that there was a lot of quite good Indian food and almost every dessert station at every lodge had at least one version of black forest cake available.

This is definitely a trip worth taking if you’re an animal lover or are just interested in seeing the sights of Kenya. My trip was run by Liberty Africa Safaris and was booked through Lion World Tours and, for those of you who might be thinking of taking such a trip, I would easily recommend both companies. I wanted to share at least a few photos of the trip before getting back to our regularly scheduled baking content. The rest of this post is photo-heavy, so be patient if it takes a moment or two to load, but I posted the photos in a gallery form with brief captions to make things go faster.