Rio De Janeiro – Party City

In the morning, we woke up bright and early to board our flight from Pantanal to Rio de Janeiro – one of the most exciting cities in the world. It was a hopping flight from Sao Paulo with a layover of an hour plus. Unfortunately, our flight got delayed from Pantanal and by the time we reached Sao Paulo it was too late… even though we ran to the gate, we saw our flight take off right before our eyes. This was the first flight we missed in our lives for no fault of ours. After having a difficult conversation with the ground staff and explaining our situation, we got the boarding pass for our next flight, only to know that the gate number of the flight had changed at the last moment. If you were sitting at the airport, this is what you would have seen: an Asian couple with 2 small children literally running and dragging their kids (like you see in the movies) from one end of the airport to the other and then back again to the other. OMG, the language barrier really gave us a ‘run’ for our money! It was the final call for our flight when we boarded huffing and puffing. 

We were at our wits end, not only because we had missed our original connecting flight but had almost missed the second as well! There was more stress not only due to what we had gone through but because it was New Year’s Eve. How does that affect us? Well, the roads get closed to Copacabana at around 5pm to host one of the biggest parties in the world, with 3 million people from all over the world who gather around the iconic beaches of Copacabana. To top it all, I had booked the hotel in the heart of it, where all the action happens. So you can imagine, after this stressful journey, if we wouldn’t have reached before the roads closed, the taxi would have left us at the outskirts of the city, with 2 small kids and suitcases to drag to a location that we didn’t know, and no knowledge of the local language to help us with directions. Now you know why our anxiety level was hitting the rooftop.

Finally, to our relief, we managed to reach in time, checked into our hotel, and went for an early dinner. Our hotel was close to the beach and had a beautiful view of the Favelas. We returned to our room to change for the New Year’s Eve party - it is a tradition in Brazil to wear white on New Year’s Eve as it brings good luck for the coming year. Thankfully I was aware of this and had made it a point to bring white clothes for all of us. Rio de Janeiro is one of the top 10 destinations for New Year’s celebrations and Rio does live up to its party city name. The city thrives on sports, dance, music, beach, sun and there seems to be a lust for life that manifests itself into this ginormous New Year’s party. This was also one of the reasons I had planned my trip in such a way that I don’t miss out on this spectacle. By evening we could see a sea of people flocking on the roads heading towards the beach and all we had to do was blend in and be one with the crowd to see the world’s biggest firework show at midnight.

When we reached the beach, it was a challenge to find a spot for us. Finally, when we did, you should have seen the vibe of the place, people came fully prepared with their cooler boxes loaded with booze, beach umbrellas, and chairs, I think the ones on hire were all sold out. I had these 2 plastic raincoats that luckily I was carrying in my bag that I spread out for the kids. Aan was too tired so he was dozing off in between and Aananya was too busy to care about the commotion, loud music, etc. happening around her, she was way too happy making her sandcastles; while Aakaash and I were just soaking in the energy that was oozing out of millions. Finally, the countdown started, and we were ready for the fireworks display. I have never ever seen such a long and beautiful firework show, it definitely was one of the most unique experiences I have had. For those 15 minutes, it looked like it was bright as day. When you see the fireworks happening you feel like a kid in candy land who is awestruck by every striking light. We also stepped into the sea at midnight and jumped 7 waves – this is a tradition that is also supposed to bring good luck. After the fireworks finished, people started dispersing – some to continue partying in different clubs and some, like us, to retire for the night for we had loads of sightseeing to do the next morning.

Although, at night, we couldn’t sleep well… my great idea to stay in the heart of the party land backfired. I forgot to think about the people who would not retire when I chose to hit the bed, so occasionally we kept hearing people partying all through the night. We woke up groggy in the morning, yet all pumped to continue our tour. We finished our breakfast but, surprisingly, our guide was late. We waited and waited and then waited some more. Finally, we started making calls to find out what happened? To our dismay, the travel company had goofed up and there was no arrangement done for the day’s tour. We didn’t let that dampen our spirits, so we decided to take it on as an adventure. With a lot of difficulties, because of the language barrier, we were finally able to reach the most famous coastal mountain - Sugarloaf. This mountain has wonderful views of the city, bay, skyscrapers, and the world-famous Christ de Redeemer. Rio is one of the few cities in the world that gives you the best of both worlds, the sea and the mountain in the same view. Aakaash is more of a mountain person and I love the sea, so this city was a perfect haven for us. We did have to stand in the queues, which could have been avoided had our guide been there with us but other than that we pretty much continued our sightseeing. We took the cable car to reach this 396-meter-high mountain; the beautiful landscape and breathtaking views left us speechless.

The next morning, we took it easy, relaxed, and walked around to have a feel of the city. The kids loved playing in a playground close to our hotel. When you talk about Brazil, apart from the wildlife, sports, New Year’s there is another thing that you can’t miss. That is the world-famous Carnival of Rio which happens in February but we couldn’t have stayed for that long obviously, so we decided to do the next best thing and went to see what you can call a spectacular re-enactment of the carnival, it’s like a glimpse of the real thing. Hence, we booked the Plataforma Show for the night. We were supposed to see a similar show in Iguazu, which we missed (to know why, you will have to go back and read my blog on the Iguazu Falls - one of the seven wonders of Nature). The tour bus came, picked us up, and took us for dinner which was followed by the show that we were all excited to watch.

The Plataforma Show represents the colorful and varied mix of rhythmic dances and dramatic drumming of Brazil and often features the previous year’s winning Samba school dancers. You can experience the electric energy and excitement of the carnival by being in the presence of live, upbeat samba music, unbelievable professional dancers in brilliant and vibrant costumes. Watching this 2-hour show makes you realize what it would be like in the real carnival with outrageously colorful and exuberant costumes with theatrical and thrilling Brazilian martial arts demonstrations and pulsating lights that definitely makes it one hell of a show to watch.  Sometimes it’s essential to go out with a bang and this was the perfect way to end this beautiful trip to Brazil.

Wild Wild Pantanal

We boarded our flight from Foz do Iguazu to Pantanal. As I told you in my first blog about Brazil, I was dying to go to Amazon but couldn’t because of cost constraints. So we decided on the next best thing – Pantanal. The main reason for the trip was to truly experience one of South America’s top wildlife destinations. It is also the world’s largest tropical wetland and the world’s largest flooded grassland; you can imagine the kind of flora and fauna it has. Although Amazon is more popular, Pantanal’s open spaces make it easier to spot animals in their natural habitat. It’s an impossible thought that I would go all the way to Brazil and come back without interacting with wildlife through my lens.

When we landed at Pantanal, we straight away started our journey to reach the middle of nowhere, amidst nature, a place that I associate with more than anything in the world, my peace and tranquility. My excitement grew as we drove closer to the dusty road and finally reached Pousada Rio Claro – the place that we would be exploring for the next 3 days. That’s where our adventure was to start – we reached at twilight and were taken to our room. After freshening up we decided to go for dinner and Aananya followed me out of the room not realizing that she was in the middle of hundreds of bugs that had gathered all around the floor due to the lights. The only thing left for the 5-year-old was to cling onto me and cry. The kids hated the night because they would freak out seeing the number of bugs all around attracted to the light. However, during the day, Aan and Aananya loved to lounge on the hammock, which was outside our room and most of their time spent in there, eating snacks and playing games. I was getting relieved to see that both Aan and Aananya were recovering well from their fever and that the meds were working (it all started in Iguazu Falls).

The next day started with our first boat safari ever. Finally, I was in the world’s largest inland wetland and a UNESCO world heritage site. I was totally awestruck with the wildlife that surrounded us and the moment our safari started we saw very inquisitive otters, who literally swam up to our boat to enquire as to who was traveling in their territory. Not only that, as we went along the stream, there was a huge family of otters that literally came out from the groves across the bank and swam next to our boat. I never knew otters were such inquisitive souls, one of which even showed off how to catch a big fish. It was such a wonderful start to see the animals in their natural habitat doing their thing. I feel so much pain when I see deforestation and how we are encroaching slowly but surely on their territory and then harm these beautiful creatures saying – it must be done due to human-animal conflict. Anyway, let’s get back to the boat safari. We got to see a plethora of species of birds, Iguana, different kinds of lizards, turtles, caimans and piranhas just to name a few. The more we discovered this unique wetland the more the wildlife became spectacular.

We were very lucky that the ranch that we were staying in was right next to the river. This place was very basic but was giving us all that we needed – an unforgettable experience amidst untouched nature. The next morning, we were very excited since it was going to be our first horseback safari. I was definitely nervous since I had not sat on a horse with reins in my hands ever. We started our safari into the wild. Aakaash took Aananya with him and Aan and I had our own horses to steer. We rode into the dense forest, and sometimes I wouldn’t know how to steer the horse in the right direction and end up riding into the bushes. Our guide tried to tell me how to steer in whatever broken English he knew, and I managed somehow. It was definitely very tricky. Aan also managed to get past somehow. We did have a good game – saw deers, so many species of birds, cagado also known as the river tortoise, loads of small insects, bugs, beautiful species of caterpillars and spiders, and the world-famous tarantula.

After we came back Aakaash enjoyed galloping on the horse for quite some time however things took an unexpected turn and what do you know, finally our 4^th wicket succumbed to whatever infection we had. After we came back, we realized Aakaash was running a high fever and we had no more antibiotics left. So just with paracetamol, we tried to curb the fever, which was not doing a very good job. I knew how he felt with whatever this was. We were around 140kms away from civilization so there was no question of buying antibiotics. Aakaash somehow managed with paracetamol, and coffee made him feel better for some reason. We had a night safari planned for that day, so Aakaash wrapped himself well and gave us company, despite feeling unwell. We did see some bandit raccoons, poisonous frogs and spiders, tarantulas and other nocturnal animals. It is always a wonderful experience to go for a night safari, the same scenery changes into something else completely!

The best part about staying in the middle of nowhere is that you are in the home of the wildlife. There was this friendly white little bird that would come and perch herself on us. I think she was used to humans and was sure that we would not harm her. There was also a tortoise that paid a visit to our lodge. In the morning, Aakaash, Aan and Aanya went horse riding. I bailed out since I had no intention of steering into bushes anymore. After lunch, we were ready for our last boat safari and were going to cruise the wetlands of Pantanal for the last time. Since Aakaash was feeling miserable, he decided to stay back and rest. I decided to take Aan and go for the safari. Generally, Aakaash is the camera person and the videographer of the trip and I thought it would be just like the first day so decided not to take the camera. Big mistake! What was I thinking, I should have known better!

It was one of the best experiences ever. There was an eagle perched far away on a tree. Our guide took a box full of fishes then whistled and threw the fish in the air, and the eagle glided and took the fish away! You can imagine how much I was cursing myself for leaving behind the camera. Not only that then came the otters who had already shown us their fishing skills on the previous safari. This time our guide decided to distribute free fish and they jumped high out of the water to grab the fish. We saw so many caimans, resting on floating logs. Some were missing chunks of their tail; our guide informed us that probably they were hurt and piranhas attacked the wound. All in all, we had a wonderful sighting and much more. This was our goodbye safari to Pantanal.

The next morning Aakaash was thankfully feeling a little better. We were to drive back to civilization, stay the night there and the following day we were to take our flight back to Rio. The adventure never stops though, so wait till you read the next blog, where I’ll share what happened when we went to catch our flight to Rio.

Iguazu Falls – One of the seven wonders of Nature

Our next destination was Foz do Iguazu. When we landed, our car was there to take us to our hotel Recanto, which was a gorgeous hotel with a thermal pool with a huge water park within the hotel. We all were super excited that the next 3 days were going to be awesome, in the lap of luxury, before we head to our next destination that would be rough and wild. More about that in the next blog.

So here we were, all super excited, including the parents of 2 small kids splashing around in the pool and enjoying the water slides. Since this day was just to relax and rejuvenate, we enjoyed the water park till it got dark. I came back to our suite early to get ready for the Christmas Eve dinner. When the 3 water babies - Aan, Aananya and Aakaash came back to the suite, they straight away jumped into the jacuzzi and played around some more!

I was watching them from the bed through the bathroom glass wall and that’s when I gave them the reality check that they had to wash a suitcase full of clothes. Earlier when I came to get ready, I opened the suitcase only to find that a sunscreen bottle had burst and spoilt a lot of our clothes. So, they took all the clothes into the jacuzzi and made a game out of that as well! Anyway, the job was done well in a playful manner and we all headed for - as Aanya says a “fancy-schmancy” dinner.

In the morning, I was so ready for the tour - this was the reason that I had pulled the entire family from one corner of Brazil to the other. I would say that no trip is complete to Brazil without visiting the awe-inspiring sight of the crashing falls of Iguazu. Iguazu Falls is the largest waterfall system in the world, 3 times wider than Niagara Falls, and has a greater width than Victoria Falls. It is one of the seven wonders of nature and has been also a popular spot for many Hollywood movies. Not only were we going to see the most amazing and powerful natural wonder, but we were also going to get up close and personal with it, maneuvering the boat to go as close to the falls and feel the power of it. 

So, we started our tour to the great Iguazu falls, which is situated in a designated UNESCO world heritage national park. Luckily for us, the weather was perfect, bright and sunny, therefore we had a great viewing. After our boat ride where we felt the spray of the fall on us, our driver took us to different vantage and viewpoints so that we could get our perfect clicks of this majestic fall. The falls are divided between 3 countries, so you can view it from Brazil, Argentina or Paraguay However, the viewing is better from Brazil’s side since it has better access to the main falls.

Almost towards the end of our tour, I started feeling really cold, and given that it was a nice sunny day, it was very odd. After a while, I realized I wasn’t feeling so well that I couldn’t even step out of the van to take our last few pics. By the time we reached back to our room and checked my temperature, I was already running 102. I told Aakaash to take the kids to the water park, popped paracetamol and slept, although I was afraid that I will not be able to sleep at night, but I was too tired to stay awake. At night, Aakaash came woke me up since our Christmas dinner was planned and I mustered all my strength to go and have dinner. It was a huge buffet spread and I think they refused to serve food in the room. After coming back to the room, I just crashed.

As a rule, whenever we are traveling, we always carry antibiotics, one set of the adult dose, one set for Aan and one for Aananya because the dosage was different for both of them. When I got up in the morning, I was still burning up, and lo and behold, Aan decided to give me company. We didn’t wait and started antibiotics for both of us. In a foreign country, on a vacation where English is not a spoken language, we didn’t want to take any chances. It was a challenge to buy milk for kids in a supermarket in Rio where there were so many tourists and this place was not a commercial place so the challenges would have been more. I told Aakaash to go ahead with Aananya and continue the tour. I think they went to the bird park but to my surprise, they came back sooner than expected. 

Aakaash reached the park and realized that Aananya had decided to join our gang, so he canceled the program and came back. We started her on antibiotics as well, especially given that the next course of our travel was going to be in a very remote place where normal facilities were not easily accessible. There was another evening tour that was planned for the night, which we had to cancel given that 3 wickets were down out of 4. We were just hoping and praying that we all get better soon. At night we ordered food in the room and just rested since the next day we were to take our flight out. My fever had reduced, and I had started to feel better. Aan had started to look better as well. We were a little concerned for Aananya because throughout the night her fever was not coming down and we were hoping that her body is able to fight through whatever this was. By God’s grace, the next morning Aananya’s fever came down and we were ready to take the flight to our next destination.

 

Brazillllll… lllaaa llaa laaaa…

South America is the only continent that I have not visited yet. So, we decided to visit the largest country in South America – Brazil, a beautiful country packed with a wide variety of landscapes and experiences. My dream vacation would have been the Amazon rainforest… however, when we saw how expensive the tickets and stay were, we had to forgo that part of the journey. I did not lose hope though and instead we went to the world’s largest wetland – Pantanal, more about that later...

Our itinerary was set, and we were off to explore the 6th inhabitant continent and my last as well. Antarctica is the 7th continent left but I don’t think that I can ever make it there, story for another time. We took the early morning flight from Nairobi at 5am with a stopover at Addis Abba and our flight landed at 8pm in Rio de Janeiro, which gave us enough time to recoup and be fresh for the next morning. I was mighty excited since I was going to finally see my 4th Wonder of the World. On our way from the airport to the hotel, I got a glimpse of Christ the Redeemer perched up on a hill with beautiful lights surrounding it. Seeing it, I was smiling ear to ear and couldn’t wait till the next morning to see it up close and personal. In the morning, we realized that our hotel was very close to the beach, with the ocean peeking at us. After breakfast our open-air jeep was there to pick us up so we could begin our quest to see this beautiful city.

Rio de Janeiro is indeed one of the most beautiful and exciting cities in the world. The city is surrounded by the tropical green granite-based mountains and the deep blue sea, so it has the best of both worlds- beautiful beaches, coves, ridges, hills and is partly covered by tropical forests. Our scenic drive was along Copacabana, Ipanema, Leblon beach to visit Santa Teresa. This traditional district has winding, narrow streets, colorful buildings with a view of lush landscape that makes it an inspiring trip for a lot of artists and tourists. On the way we saw beautiful graffiti on the walls. This picture is taken from the moving jeep, the graffiti is so beautifully done that it looks like we are probably somewhere indoors. 

Our first stop was the Selaron Steps, which is the world’s most beautiful staircase that has been decorated with more than 2000 colorful mosaic tiles. This diverse staircase features 60 different countries and is one of Rio de Janeiro’s most vibrant and striking landmarks. After clicking few pictures, we moved to the most awaited part of the trip.

Our next stop was the reason for my visit to Brazil – Christ the Redeemer – my 4^th wonder of the world and also the 4^th largest statue of Jesus Christ in the world in addition the largest art deco style sculpture on the planet. So how could I ever miss this! As we were driving up Corcovado hill, we saw the favelas (slums of Rio) but as we ascended more through the curvy hill, my heart dropped rather quickly for I could see the cloud bank had blessed us and I knew I would not get the view I wanted. Anyway, thanks to our travel agent, who had booked the tickets and time slot in advance, we didn’t have to wait in the long queue. But when we finally reached the top, to my disappointment, the statue was covered with fog, which is expected most of the time.  As you can see, we took whatever partial pictures we could and called it a day as we had to get up early morning to catch a flight to Iguazu. Look out for my next post about Day 2 in Brazil!

The last leg of the road trip - Edinburgh

Fort Augustus - Stirling - Glasgow - Edinburgh

I would be lying if I said all days of this trip were awesome and equally enjoyable. Some days were more interesting than the others. However, one thing was clear to me that by the end of the trip - Scotland feels magical and I had started to romanticize it a lot more than I expected! It had been an incredible trip and we had finally reached the last leg of our journey. I will miss the heather-covered moors that lead down to sea cliffs and the rugged beaches of the UK.

Today was going to be one of those fantastic gem of a day. Me reuniting with my sister and spending the last 3 days in Scotland, before I bid farewell to this beautiful country; coming back for sure to have another adventure and explore it a little more. Our drive started with a beautiful rainbow greeting us a gorgeous morning. Driving through the tiny roads right between mountains, passing by the enormous lakes, we finally made our way to Stirling castle. The castle is one of the largest iconic landmarks of Scotland, an architectural masterpiece perched upon a hill, defended by steep cliffs that surround it on 3 sides. It indeed is an impressive castle that is wrapped around by a magnificent history. While wandering through the castle we came across an interesting room where we were greeted by costumed court officials, maid of honor and bodyguards. You could dress up in period costume, click pictures and play with medieval instruments. All the 3 kids, you know what I mean, had a blast playing dress up and clicking pictures.

After the tour, we drove to my sister’s apartment and had a hearty meal. Having spent some joyful time together, we called it a night and went back to our B&B. Next morning, we went to Glasgow to have a feel of the town, just hung around and enjoyed a relaxing day.

Then, for the first time in 7 years, I was going to leave the kids for the night, with my sister. How did I plan to spend the evening? Definitely not the way it turned out. I had seen these lovely photo frames, which I wanted to use at Aananya’s 5^th birthday party since I was getting a live photo-booth for her birthday. I wanted to put the pictures clicked during the party in these photo frames and gift to the guests. I managed to get only a handful. So, after we left the kids with my sister, Aakaash and I went from one town to the next to find those particular photo frames. After hitting 2 nearby towns without any luck, I finally found it in the third town… and there went our first ever evening without kids in 7 years.

The next day we were to meet at Edinburgh Castle. Rinku got the kids directly to the castle, after the kids saw her university in Stirling and enjoyed the coach ride to Edinburgh. Edinburgh Castle is Scotland’s most visited historical castle and the lavish architecture that beckons you to make it a must see in your list. The view of Edinburgh from the castle top is breathtaking. The kids enjoyed taking pictures with the Scottish guard, who was happy to oblige us and posed for our pics. We went on a tour of the castle where there were performers dressed in medieval costumes enacting a part of history. Queen Mary’s chamber was fascinating to see and from there we walked towards the Scottish National War Memorial.

Later we walked along the Royal Mile and found a cute comfy restaurant to replenish the calories we had burnt. It suddenly dawned upon us that this was the last day of this beautiful trip. I bid farewell to my sister with a heavy heart. UK has a wild beauty that can’t be tamed, and I enjoyed exploring every bit of it. This indeed had been an incredible trip. Au Revoir.

Isle of Skye to Fort Augustus

To plan a road trip can be a mammoth task but it sure is an ideal way to see the countryside. During our entire road trip this drive was my personal favorite; gorgeous weather, peaceful long road, not a soul visible for miles and not a care in the world. Like all the worldly worries and stress were stripped away from us. From time to time there were herds of sheep and flock of birds that you could see and hear, and we felt like we were one with the nature. The natural beauty of Isle of Skye, the largest island of Scotland, is truly unique. The dramatic change in the landscape is spectacular and diverse. Driving through the mountain range surrounded by the clouds is surreal and intriguing. The fog that seems to hang over the beautiful land of unpredictable weather with the magical mist covering the greenery makes you feel like you are in a dreamy enchanted forest that will make you believe in magic.

We drove past so many waterfalls, but I remember one waterfall that we stopped at and hiked up to greet was the Brides veil waterfall. The hike can be slightly unsteady with loose rocks on some parts of the trail, but it makes you appreciate the landscape even more. This beautiful waterfall weaved its way down the rocky landscape creating crystal clear water in its wake like a bride’s beautiful veil. We stopped here for a while to admire the view and took some photos.

Driving through tiny hills, passing so many cottages, waterfalls and little lochs, our next stop was the Kilt Rock and Mealt Waterfall at Isle of Skye. This jaw dropping panoramic scenery across the mountain out to the rugged sea was beautiful. From the top of the cliff when you look straight down to the sea my heart did give a flutter. Scotland is known for kilts and the rock formation from the viewpoint on the coast of Isle of Skye looks ridiculously like a pleated kilt hence the name. Although the weather was windy and cold, we did make the most out of the magnificent view. Despite the cold and rain, the natural beauty around was making me fall in love with Scotland. Whether you are beneath the clouds or under the bright sunshine, Scotland does find a way to captivate your heart.

Sometimes just to see a gorgeous view we would shrug off the wind, run to the viewpoint, capture the scenery and run back to our car. We finally reached Fort Augustus where we saw this beautiful Caledonian Canal and we stopped to explore it. I think this was one of the best things I found about this road trip - the liberty to stop anywhere, anytime, without a schedule to follow, impromptu plans and places to see. Luckily the weather was in our favor and it stopped raining and we could enjoy the beautiful canal walk.

From there we headed to hunt something for which so many people had dedicated their entire lives and we were going to have a small taste of their dedication. I could feel it rising in my chest- that feeling you get when you embark upon a new adventure. I know it sounds childish but when you are in Lochness the aura is such that it makes you a believer for a while at least. We were going to go on a hunt for the world famous lochness monster Nesse. It was the last evening cruise for the day and with hope we took on the journey to see the famous monster of the world. The orange background of sky was set for us, the only thing left to make it a successful cruise was for Nesse to show up. The boat radars were trying to track any activity under the water, any indication that she was there somewhere close to us lurking below the deep, dark and stunningly beautiful water shying away from human contact. We weren’t lucky enough to catch a glimpse of her and the moon had made its appearance in the horizon and we knew it was time for us to drive towards Inverness where we had made our hotel booking.

  During all our travels across the world, we have never been so impromptu about anything. Our booking is always well in advance. However, this place called Fort Augustine, a quaint town had enticed us enough that we wanted to stay the night here rather than driving to our destination in Inverness. We quickly googled to see if there were any bed and breakfast available and fortunately, found one available near to us. We cancelled our previous booking and decided to spend the night in Fort Augustine.

Where there’s a will there’s a way…..

It was a beautiful sunny morning in Fort William when we all got ready on time and were at the station ready to board the 10am Jacobite Express. I know my sister really wanted to go on this train and we finally did make it this time; being way ahead of the schedule so that we didn’t miss this last opportunity to get on the train together! This train journey is described as one of the most spectacular journeys in the world. This 84-mile round trip takes you through impressive routes starting from the highest mountain in Britani- Ben Nevis, passes by the deepest freshwater loch in Britain and the shortest river in Britain – Loch Morar and finally rests next to the deepest seawater loch in Europe – Loch Nevis.

So, if you want to go see some of the most beautiful natural landscapes that Scotland has to offer, this train is a must for you. I think all of us got excited on the train when we approached the 21 arched Glenfinnan viaduct which has become even more popular because of the famous train scene of Harry Potter. The train stopped at Mallaig for an hour and a half where we were able to enjoy walking around the busy fishing port and we grabbed a quick lunch at the stopover. Later we got back on the train and were on our way back to Fort William witnessing the spectacular scenery unravel before us.

It was now time for my sister and I to say our goodbyes to our small road trip together and meet again back in Stirling in a few days before I headed back home to Nairobi. The four of us went ahead with our journey to the Isle of Skye. On our way we were supposed to see the Eilean Donan Castle but since we’d taken the train in the morning, we’d missed our chance to go inside the castle as it was closed. Even then we were delighted to see the beautiful castle from outside, which is one of the most photographed views of Scotland. The castle might look familiar to you as it was featured in one of the James Bond movies. This magnificent castle is strategically located on its own little island overlooking the Isle of Skye, surrounded by water and a small bridge connecting it to the mainland. 

I think one of the most dramatic landscapes that I have driven through is Isle of Skye. The drive through the mountains, waterfalls, sea cliffs can’t be explained in words. For hours together we kept driving like we were the only ones left in this beautiful raw, untouched, unpolluted world of fairies and greenery. Our resting point for the day was a small cottage located in the middle of the highland with no neighbors for miles and miles away. They had a horse ranch where these gorgeous horses with their foals were grazing. The kids enjoyed watching the foals playing around jumping, kicking, getting tired, then suckling and fooling around with each other. It was a treat to see such serene environment where you can see greenery till your eyes meet the sky. Aakaash enjoyed petting the horses and played with the watch dogs there. Finally, we called it a night to be well-rested and ready to explore the final remaining leg of the journey.