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Published: November 6th 2007
Our Room
The mosquito net had holes in it and I woke to find two mosquitos fat with my blood, perched inside the net. They died about 1 second later.And giraffes, and antelope and elephants, and hippos, and crocdiles and..... (this entry is photo-heavy, 52 to be exact. So don't miss the other photos on the subsequent pages.)
Kenya is a beautiful country and I enjoyed my time there. That is not to say that it does not have it's quirks and irritations.
I arrived on a Friday in Nairobi by myself, and made my way to the hotel that had been recommended by our colleagues from Bangaladesh. It was still early, but they had an empty room for me to check in to, so got in took a shower and had a nap. It was probably the worst-looking hotel I had ever stayed in, but the staff was nice and Yannick and I were both trying to save money on this trip, so I just smiled and let it slide. Seriously... for $35/night including breakfast, what could I expect?
Around mid-afternoon and went for small walk. Every travel/backpackers guide I had read suggested to not walk alone in the city, and to not carry a bag, wear a watch, use a camera etc... so I was actually very paranoid about getting mugged. So I only went
Hotel bathroom
The hole in the bottom of the wall is where the water from the next door shower flowed through to get to the drain... I even saw a hotel bar of soap float in... gross. about a radius of 3-4 blocks from the hotel. I did however find a great coffee shop, which is, of course, the first requirement on any good vacation. The temperature never got over 30 degrees, which was truly a thing of beauty after leaving Khartoum. The temperature was 48 degrees when I left. Yuck.
The evening was uneventful, although I noticed that every 4th guy on the street is trying to sell you a safari booking, or trips to touristy places, asking you to visit a certain gift shop or offer his services as guide. Overall I found that Kenyans in Nairobi were quite friendly, even if they weren't trying to sell you something. One man named Charles, actually walked us to the train station, when we asked him for directions, and was nice enough to explain some of the scams that tourists are faced with. Not more than 2 hours after that, a tall guy with no teeth tried to scam us exactly as the guy had described. I couldn't believe it.
Yannick arrived on Saturday morning, and we spent the day walking around the downtown area, checking out gift shops, drinking a few Tusker beers, and
generally having a good time saying "Apana Asanti!" ('No thanks' in Swahili) to all the guys selling stuff on the street. On Sunday we chose a safari company called AMICABRE Travel, and booked a 3 day camping safari that started the next day.
On Monday we departed for Maasai Mara, a national game preserve on that overlaps the Kenya-Tanzania border, about 5 hours SW of Nairobi. The roads were great fo the first 45 mins, and then quickly degenerated into massive potholes, broken asphalt, and huge clouds of dust. Funny thing is, the drivers maintain 80-100km/h on these roads, sometimes with one wheel on the shoulder, one on the broken pavement, resulting the van being tilted on a 30 degree angle for most of the drive. And they don't use their brakes when they see an obstacle in the road, they honk, then swerve around it, never letting their foot off the gas. I think I aged about a year for every hour I spent in the van.
We arrived at the Amicabre campsite, just outside the park entrance and saw we should be staying in canvas tents pitched under thatched roofs. Very cool, and there were two
single beds inside. Not hug but this was a "budget camping sfari" so this is what I expected. The camp employs local Maasai warriors or "moraan" to work within the camp. The two young men we got to know were Moses and Daniel. Both were always friendly and smiling.
on the trip up, we had a chance to get to know our 5 other fellow tourists, and it turned out we had a really great group.
Martin and Martin were both from Sweden and had just finished climbing Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, and said it was a very physically challenging climb. Kilimanjaro is the highest peak in Africa with the summit at over 5900m... I can understand why it was hard.
Marc was from Ireland, and he was in Kenya to run in the Nairobi marathon... dressed as daffodil. Marc is a volunteer fund raiser fo the Cancer Society, and is running marathons all over the world dressed as the daffodil, symbol of the Cancer Society. He had received a really wicked sunburn on this run, as you can see in the pictures. The following weekend, he was off to Buenos Aries to run another marathon... 2 marathons
in seven days... yikes.
Uruvan and Aino were a mother-daughter team from Estonia. I don't really think they knew what they were getting into as they were scared of the lunch time meal, and didn't eat. And were disappointed in the accommodations at the Safari Lodge which is $170 a night. I think they relaxed a bit, but they never really seemed at ease with their surroundings.
That evening we went on a quick drive just before evening and got to see a whole selection of animals including a family of 4 cheetahs. We got to see the sunset over the rolling hills and grasslands, and then headed back to camp. That night after dinner the Maasai who worked in the camp offered to perform their traditional dances for us... for 400 shillings a person. (around $6.50US) I loved seeing the dancing and got some great pictures, but I would have rather been witness to their dancing when they decided to perform it, not only for money. The 4 dances included "hunting the lion, tending the cattle, killing the lion, and (drum roll please) circumcision ceremony." In Maasai culture, it is customary for a boy to remain uncircumcised
Yannick
Dodging the sale... until he is an elder teenager. In this ceremony, he must remain silent, still and expressionless as he is circumcised, in front of the other men. Once this ceremony is complete, he is accepted as an adult and a moraan. Ouch.
Maasai culture alsopractices female genital mutilation/cutting which horrifies me to no end. Something for a future discussion.
The following morning, we got up and spent the whole day in the park. We saw lions, hippos, elephants and giraffes. We also saw a cheetah who had just finished feeding on a wildebeest, hs belly was fat and distended as he panted in the shade of a tree. The worst part was the 40-50 vultures gathered around the carcass, screeching and fighting for the scraps. The sound was horrible, you could hear the flesh being ripped, and the squaking was unlike anything I had ever heard. Almost like the flying beasts in the Lord of the Rings. We only realized that these were all female birds when two huge males showed up, drove all the ladies out, and sat down to eat. Immediately the fighting between the females stopped, and they left the males to eat, undisturbed. If only it
Martin
also dodging the sale... was like this in real life.... (kidding). That night we returned to the camp and met a group of 20 German veterinarians who were touring/inspection projects that were being operated by Vets Without Borders. They run rabies vaccination programs, and are investigating sudden-camel-death, and teaching farmers about how to care for milk products to stop diseases from growing and spreading in the milk. Quite interesting really... the nicest person was Ellen.. she was from Bonn, and used to be a vet, but is now more of journalist/editor for the Vets Without Borders publication in Germany. She was outgoing and friendly, and conducted a mock interview just for laughs at the dinner table to practice using her audio gear.
On the third day, we had an early morning drive and found a lioness that had just killed the wildebeast (picture), and there was this cute lion cub jumping on the carcass like it was gigantic chew toy. After that we returned to the camp and packed our things and ate breakfast. We parted ways with Martin and Martin, who stayed and extra day. and drove back to Nairobi; another hair-raising, stressful, 5 hour drive.
Once back in Nairobi, we
Safari Van
The roof pops straight up, so you can stand an observe the animals... and shoot a bajillion pics. all made plans to get together for supper at an Italian restaurant. It turned out to be quite fancy, and I wore a T-shrirt. Awesome. I've really had enough of living out a suitcase/backpack... time to go home!!!
Marc met a "hot American girl" in the lobby of our hotel, and invited her to dinner with us. Kate was from Arizona, and had just finished a 6 month term living in the bush with the Maasai, working to create a program to educate/prepare Maasai men for employment as game wardens within the Kenya Wildlife Service. She was really cool, and had a lot of great insightful information about the Maasai, who are marginalized by the government and taken advantage of by the tourist industry/operators.
Our last night in Nairobi was quiet, we had a burger and a few beers, and ran into Martin and Martin again! I got up early and headed to the airport, where they confiscated the first aid scissors, (no points) from my first aid kit. Jerks.
Then it was back to Torit for a few more days.... 14 and counting.
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to Canada!!!
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Dani
non-member comment
Seriously jealous, you have no idea. Awesome pictures.