Visiting Kenya 2026 Day 11

4 March 2026 – Homeward Bound

Captain Ephraim dropped us at the airport, only about half an hour away, and we caught our 7:00 am flight to Mumbai.

We landed at 3:45 pm and were met by Dipak. On the way we stopped for snacks at a restaurant and then went to visit Mama in Santa Cruz. Afterwards Dipak dropped us at Bandra station, where we boarded our 9:00 pm train to Navsari, arriving there at twenty past midnight.

At Navsari station we were met by Nags, who took us to see off Ashok, Ila, Prabha, and Prakash, who were leaving that day.

And with that, our long-awaited Kenya tour came to an end.

Reflections on a Journey of the Heart

It had been an amazing trip — not because everything was perfect, but because it was full of emotional truth. We had returned to the places where we were born, where our parents had worked, where we had gone to school, prayed, walked, sailed, studied, watched films, shopped, crossed ferries, and simply grown up.

Some houses were gone. Some schools had changed names. Some neighbourhoods were transformed beyond recognition. Some searches ended in disappointment. But many memories were found again, often in unexpected ways: in a temple idol that had remained the same, in a staircase where an old photograph had once been taken, in a railway line, in a derailed train picture on a hotel wall, in a market, in a boxing club, in the red earth after rain, in the taste of cassava chips and madafu by the sea.

We found the people of Kenya to be polite, warm, and friendly everywhere we went. While there, I also managed to polish the little Swahili I knew. The locals were amused and delighted when I spoke it. Swahili is such a sweet language, and hearing it again in its natural home was a joy in itself.

This was not only a holiday. It was an act of remembrance. A return to where life began. A reclaiming of something time had never fully taken away.

We will cherish these memories for the rest of our lives.

And perhaps, if fate is kind, we shall return once more.