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Masai Mara Safari Packing List – What You Absolutely Need!

01.15.17

Hi friends! We just got back from an EPIC trip to Kenya and today I’m going to share with you the perfect Masai Mara Safari Packing list, so you have absolutely everything while you’re in the bush!

First, and most important thing to note is you MUST pack light! To get to the Masai Mara, you need to take a light aircraft, and the weight allowance per person is 30 kg. So, I highly recommend a backpack or tote bag that can take a lot of wear and tear!

Okay, so now for the list. I thought I would break it down in sections.

Masai Mara Safari Packing List

1. Flight Essentials

Passport
VISA – you need a Kenya Visa to enter the country which you can get once you land in Kenya or if you like to plan ahead, you can apply online. The cost is $50 USD.
Travel shots/vaccines: you need to get a Yellow Fever vaccine, you will not be allowed to enter back to your country if you don’t have one. Another thing to note about the Yellow Fever shot is you need to have taken it at least 10 days before entering Kenya. So make sure to do this ahead of time, the shot will last you 20 years once you take it!. Also, you should probably take Malaria pills as well just to be safe. We actually took Hep B as well as Tetanus shots, but I don’t think those are necessary for traveling to Kenya. But better safe than sorry right?
We packed an ENTIRE backpack full of food because the flight from Toronto is not short! It took us over 24 hours to reach our first destination. So I highly recommend packing snacks for the flight so you don’t have to spend a ton of money at the airport (because airport food is ridiculously expensive for some reason).

2. Clothes to Pack

Do not pack any white or black clothes unless you can’t avoid it. White gets dirty very quick (lots of dust/sand in Africa) and black attracts bugs/insects.
Pack clothes that are pale colors.
Depending on when you are going (dry season or wet season), pack a rain jacket.
It gets very cold in the mornings and evenings and super hot during the day time. You usually go for game drives in the mornings (6am-10am) and evenings (4pm-10pm), so make sure to pack appropriate clothing. I recommend packing light pants and shirts and a sweater/jacket to stay warm when it gets chilly.
Remember it is very dusty in Africa, so pack clothes you don’t mind getting dirty, etc.
Pack shoes that you don’t mind getting dirty as well or are long lasting. I brought my Sorels and I thought they were the perfect shoes for safari. You definitely don’t want to pack sandals though.

3. Miscellaneous Items to Pack

Sunscreen!
Insect Repellent. The higher the Dat number the better, although the highest number you can get in Canada is 30 unfortunately. We actually didn’t need to use it too much, because the tents we stayed in were netted and lighted. Lights repel insects!
CAMERA!!! Make sure to take a good quality camera with a lens that allows you to zoom in quite a bit. We actually rented a lens which was much cheaper.

Now that you have everything packed using this Masai Mara Safari Packing List, you’re all set to have the most amazing safari experience! I can’t wait to go back to Africa!! Check out more posts about our African Safari. This one for all about Giraffe Manor and this one about the Maasai Mara.

Kamfort Food

Vegan Baked Falafel Recipe

01.07.17

The first time I had falafel was when my sister made them for our weekly games night and they were DELICIOUS!!! I’m not one to try new things, so I was a bit uncertain, but they were surprisingly so so delicious, especially when served in a pita. The only downside was that they were fried. I love fried food, but always feel guilty eating too much of it. So when I found this recipe for a vegan baked falafel that tasted equally as good as the traditional fried one, in the book Vegan Sandwiches Save The Day, I had to share! We have made these several times now and have made some slight adjustments, but the authors of the book, Celine Steen and Tamasin Noyes are the ones to praise for such an amazing recipe.

My favorite way to serve the falafel is a pita. I just spread some Vegenaise on the sides and fill the pita with some shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, and cucumbers and topped with some Creamy Cucumber dressing or hummus.

INGREDIENTS – Vegan Baked Falafel

2 cups chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup onion, minced

1/4 cup lemon juice

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp parsley, minced

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp red pepper flakes

2 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp olive oil

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 pinch black pepper

2 tsp baking powder

3 tbsp all purpose flour

1 tbsp olive oil, for brushing

DIRECTIONS – Vegan Baked Falafel

Preheat oven to 400’F.

Brush a baking tray with some olive oil.

Mix together all ingredients except baking powder and all purpose flour and mash together using a potato masher.

Once mashed, add in baking powder and all purpose flour and use your hands to form into a dough.

Now, make small tablespoon sized balls, and flatten slightly and place onto baking tray.

Repeat. This recipe should give you around 20-24 balls.

Bake at 400’F for 10 minutes. After 15 minutes, flip sides and bake another 5 minutes.

Kamfy Living

2 Ideas for Wrapping Gifts Using Supplies you Have at Home

12.20.16

As you can tell from my blog, I like to find creative ways to make things using items I have at home. I am all about saving money, so I try to find inexpensive ways to do things that normally people spend a ton of money on. And wrapping paper and accessories can really cost a lot! It’s the holiday season and people are already on tight budgets, so I hope the ideas I share with you today will help you out and prevent you from having to spend additional money just to wrap your gift. I will focus today’s post on using items you probably already have at home so you don’t have to go out to buy anything.

But this does involve being the type of person that doesn’t throw things away. Think about what you are throwing out and whether it can be recycled, repurposed or donated. If you apply this mentality, I’m sure you will accumulate items that will help you save money and for the purposes of this blog, wrap gifts!

Next time you receive a gift from anyone, keep the gift bag, tissue paper, ribbon, wrapping paper, or whatever accessory they used to wrap the gift. This is a good way to start your collection. Although, in this blog post, I didn’t use any of these items!

For the first idea, I used leftover wallpaper! I have this beautiful wallpaper from Rifle Paper Co. and while we were applying it on our bedroom wall, I kept every scrap that was left over because I thought it would make an awesome gift wrap! And it does! It’s beautiful, crisp and white and fits perfectly for a holiday gift wrap. To finish it off, I used a scrap piece of fabric to tie a bow around it! I enjoy sewing and usually have a bunch of fabric scraps that I collect but can never find a use for. But for wrapping, they are the perfect! To add a final special touch, I added a piece of fir, an acorn, and a twig, all of which you can find in your backyard!

This second idea is my personal favorite! What I did was use the clear plastic box that the Ferrero Rocher chocolate came in from my previous post. This box when correctly accessorized can look very classy, especially when whatever you are gifting is also visually appealing. I added some fresh fir tree branches cut into small pieces and layered them into the box as a filler. The fir smells amazing and is the perfect filler that you can get right from your backyard! I placed my gift items on top. To finish it off, I used another piece of fabric cut into the size of a ribbon and tied it around the box and placed a couple of dried lavender pieces that I had lying around.

I think these gift wrap ideas turned out amazing and I hope I inspired you to think outside the box and use whatever you have at home to create a beautiful wrap for your gifts! Please let me know in the comments below what you use to wrap gifts and what you think of the ideas I shared today!