Spending Our HoneyMiles in Kenya

Somewhere Above Italy

I’m on the flight en-route to Kenya and I’m so excited, neither Tom nor I have visited Africa before and I’m envisioning romantic evenings spent around the camp fire whilst gazing out at the stars. I’m also a little apprehensive because instead of a standard wedding gift list, we’ve chosen to have a honeymoon gift list with a company called Honeymiles. Tom thought up all the extra excursions and treats with our travel consultant and didn’t want me to look at our list, so I don’t know what our wedding guests have brought us. I love surprises, talking of which our first Honeymiles gift has arrived, a bottle of champagne from Aunt Rose. Tom printed out a list of all the gifts and messages before we left so that we can think of everyone as our honeymoon unfolds.

Tortelis Camp, Amboseli

We arrived at Amboseli yesterday evening and the destination is just incredible with breathtaking views of Mount Kilimanjaro and the largest elephant population in Africa. Last night we fell asleep in our luxurious tent whilst listening to the sound of the cicadas. It’s so peaceful out here. This morning I was surprised to be woken up early by one of the camp’s porters as we hadn’t made any arrangements until this afternoon, but our guide led us out over the plains where a champagne breakfast was laid out ready for us. This was an incredible surprise that our good friends Natalie and Steve had chosen to buy us from our honeymoon gift registry. The sun was already beating down by this time and as we fed each other champagne and croissants with views of Kilimanjaro in the distance we were both extremely pleased that Honeymiles had provided us with the perfect start to our honeymoon.

Base Camp, Masai Mara

We were both sorry to say goodbye to Amboseli with its breathtaking views, but we’re now at our second destination, an award winning eco-friendly camp in the Masai Mara, and eager to see what surprises our honeymoon gift list has in store for us. This morning Tom’s cousin surprised us with another early morning wake up call. I’m getting pretty used to these on our honeymoon. Her incredible surprise was an excursion lion tracking with a Maasai Guide. I was a little apprehensive at first but the guide soon put me at ease. We were lucky enough to spot three sleepy lionesses and this is definitely one of the key highlights of my honeymoon trip.

Kicheche Mara Camp, Masai Mara

Wow, we’ve just received the most incredible surprise thanks to our honeymoon gift list! A number of our friends and family members clubbed together to buy us a scenic hot air balloon flight over the Maasai Mara. Tom said he’d been bursting to tell me since we first arrived here, but had just about managed not to let on. It was truly incredible and as we huddled together and sipped champagne we spotted so many animals including a wildebeest stampede. This was such a privilege and definitely one of those travel tales that I’ll be telling people forever. I’m now so pleased that I opted to choose Honeymiles instead of a typical wedding gift list; crystal cut glasses are definitely by no means as spectacular as hot air balloon rides. We were thinking about how incredibly kind all our wedding guests and family members were when my Great Aunt provided us with another honeymoon gift list surprise, an open top safari around the Mara. We spotted a couple of giraffes and even a rhinoceros, but no cheetahs yet! We’re both hoping that we see a cheetah before the end of our trip.

Nairobi, Kenya

We did it! We spotted our elusive cheetah last night whilst on a night time safari in the Maasai Mara; we were dining under the stars on another honeymoon gift list surprise, this time brought for us by Tom’s Work Colleagues. It was a lovely end to our stay in the Mara and we got to try all the local delicacies including the potent Kenyan wine. This morning we travelled to Nairobi where we are spending the last few days of our honeymoon. This afternoon we are visiting the Karen Blixen ‘Out of Africa’ Estate, which, you’ve guessed it, is another of our honeymoon gift list surprises; this time from my parents who knew how much I loved her novels whilst growing up. We both plan to spend tomorrow in Nairobi shopping for souvenirs to say thank you to our friends and family for all the incredible gifts that they brought us through Honeymiles.