The Devil is in the Dee-tails :)

---

🎬 Scene-Setter: Welcome to Chaos

The car stopped. Our eyes stopped. A hippo was just… crossing the road. Not the kind of speed-breaker I expected. A few hours earlier, we were stranded on a no-entry island with another hippo because our boat guy thought suspense is entertainment and made us wait thirty minutes. Perfect timing, because I was also ignoring my dad mid-family fight. Me ignoring authority while a hippo looms? Full circle.

Africa didn’t waste time being subtle.

---

🦁 The Wild Ones (Animals as Co-Stars)

At Maasai Mara, my mom and cousin screamed at our driver to get away from lionesses, and suddenly life was a Nat Geo documentary narrated by my relatives. Adrenaline and annoyance. For a second I thought “wow, I’m living my bucket-list dream”. And also “damn, the world is so much bigger than my bucket list”.

And the line-up of co-stars? Unreal.

• Zebras: casually posing like they invented black-and-white fashion. If Gucci ever runs out of ideas, they should come here.
• Giraffes: me walking alongside one and immediately panicking it’ll step on me by mistake. They’re gentle giants but also built like Amitabh Bachchan which is tall, dramatic, impossible to ignore.
• Elephants: a baby tugging at his mom like “chalo chalo” → proof that babies, across species, are universally annoying and universally loved.

• Hyenas: laughing like judgemental aunties in a shaadi, waiting for you to trip during your dance performance.
• Crocodiles: staring like they always win in a staring contest. Zero chill, only menace.
• Migration: thousands of wildebeests moving like a K3G dance entry. Dust, rhythm, chaos, cinema. Honestly, if Karan Johar had been there, he’d have hired the wildebeests on the spot.

THIS. WAS. CINEMA.

---

👯 Humans are Wilder

And then there were the humans.

• A Maasai man asked if I was married while hitting on my mom in the same breath. (Still deciding who he liked more.)
• In Malindi, we ran into our BnB owner at a casino because apparently roulette is peak nightlife in small towns. Small-town Goa vibes, but with higher stakes.
• At another BnB, I met more dogs than humans highlight of my trip, obviously.

Turns out, animals may run the savannah, but humans are still the funniest species alive.

---

🍕 Food = The Plot Twist

I didn’t think I’d travel to coastal Kenya for… the best pizza of my life. Authentic Italian cheese, salty air, sand in my hair and AR Rahman composing in my mouth. Then came the food tour: Ethiopian platters, Vietnamese bowls, and a cheese-and-cinnamon samosa that exploded my brain. Cinnamon in a samosa? I thought it was betrayal, but no it was plot twist energy.

And the food wasn’t just meals, it was moods. Pizza was the love song, Ethiopian was the comfort hug, Vietnamese was the pep talk, and the samosa? Pure comic relief.

Also, I kept buying hats and only wore one. That’s what I call accessory-level commitment issues. SRK can romance 20 heroines in one movie, but I apparently can’t commit to more than one hat.

---

🌊 Water Baby, Wake-Up Call

Malindi was water-baby heaven. Floating, laughing, sand sticking everywhere. Waves tugging me around like I was in a YJHD Ilahi montage. The ocean had that same energy as an old friend who doesn’t care how messy you are and it’ll hold you anyway.

I walked, I swam, I let the sun burn me unevenly, and still didn’t care. There’s something about salt water that makes you forget deadlines. For a while, it was just me and the sea, both dramatic, both chaotic, both trying to outdo each other in glitter.

And somewhere in all this chaos, I started doing the impossible: waking up at 6 am. More than once. For hikes. For safaris. Me, the girl who has a PhD in oversleeping, actually beating sunrise. Turns out, I love experiences more than I love sleep. Who knew?

---

🌲 Inner Reflections (Forest & Freshness)

The forest trail we hiked felt like my inner world had borrowed green clothes for the day. It was deep, fresh, buzzing. Every rustle felt like a thought I hadn’t had time for back home.

I realised I’m not as indisciplined as I think. I can be Naina and Bunny, depending on the alarm. Maybe I’m allowed to be both: the one who loves sleep and the one who loves being awake for life.

And maybe that’s what Africa was teaching me: to be chattier, freer, softer. To check in with the world instead of hiding from it.

---

🎁 Souvenirs & Soft Ending

I came back with a suitcase full of gifts (which is new incentive for my friends to meet me), and a phrase: “dabo dabo” i.e double. Double laughter, double chaos, double courage.

If Africa were a person, they’d be loud but loving, wild but warm, the friend who drags you out of bed, throws you into the ocean, then hands you pizza.

And that’s what Africa did for me. It didn’t just give me stories, it gave me softness.
Wild, messy, filmi softness. Dabo dabo life.