Visiting Kenya 2026 Day 01

Visiting Kenya in 2026

A Journey Back to Our Beginnings

By Mahesh Karadia

Some journeys are holidays. Some are adventures. And some are something much deeper: a return to one’s roots, a reopening of memory, a conversation with time itself.

Our visit to Kenya in February and March 2026 was exactly that. It was not simply a tour, nor only a reunion with places from our childhood. It was, in every sense, a memorial journey — a journey to relive our past.

The four of us who travelled together all shared a rare and powerful bond: we were all born in Kenya, yet all left many decades ago and built our lives elsewhere. Over the years, the idea of returning was often spoken of, but family responsibilities, commitments, and the passing of time meant that the journey never quite happened. At last, now as grandparents, we decided that if we did not go now, perhaps we never would.

So this year, while we were on holiday in India, the idea returned once again. One day, Ramesh suggested that we should all go to Seychelles to celebrate his birthday. But my wife immediately said, “No, not Seychelles — let’s go to Kenya.” That one sentence changed everything. The planning began almost at once, and before long we had arranged what would become a short but unforgettable trip of a lifetime: nine nights and ten days in the land where our lives had begun.

The four travellers were myself, Mahesh Karadia; my wife Hansa; our daughter Shital’s in-laws, Ramesh and Bhartiben. I was born in Nakuru in 1953 and left Kenya in 1971. Hansa was born in Mombasa in 1954 and left in 1965. Ramesh was born in Nairobi in 1954 and left in 1967. Bhartiben was born in 1957 and left in 1969. Like many East African Asians of our generation, we emigrated to the United Kingdom during the unsettled political years of the late 1960s and early 1970s. We had always wanted to return, but life had its own timetable.

This was finally our time.

22 February 2026 – From Navsari to Mumbai

Our journey began in Navsari. We left by car at around 2:30 in the afternoon and drove to Mumbai, reaching the airport at about 9:00 pm. It was a long road journey, but there was excitement in the air from the very beginning. We were not just travelling to another country — we were travelling back into our own histories.

That evening, before flying out, we celebrated Ramesh’s birthday with drinks and dinner at a restaurant outside Mumbai airport. It was a simple but happy start: family, laughter, food, and the anticipation of what lay ahead.