African adventure with Fi and Paul

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What a way to end my trip, just over a week exploring Kenya! It was absolutely amazing, and started from the very minute I got picked up from the door of the plane... yes, Fi looked after me very well, and knowing my nervous disposition travelling (which I think has now been completely cured!) she used her contacts to come and pick me up from the door of the plane!

But I was told in no uncertain terms that we had a strict timetable to follow. It was an hours drive to get to her place, then an hour and a half to shower, do my hair and make up (have a glass of champagne - of course, it was Fi and I, there was going to be champagne!), change into the dress she had borrowed for me and we were off to a ball at the Museum thrown by the Candians - so there! But wait, there's more! Some lovely Britts picked us up and brought us back to their place to wait for the bus... and offered us a couple of glasses of champagne... and then they brought out the Taittinger... oh my, Fi what a brithday present, tickets to a ball and fancy french champagne Ive only ever seen on posters! Hehehe, what an introduction.

But the strict timetable didnt finish with getting to the ballbecause we had early morning flights to go to Amboselli (or Amb-o-sli as the non-locals, with no idea - me - prefer to call it) at the base of Mt Kilimanjaro. The airport was my first introduction to "the African way". We got to the airport like good girls an hour before the flight. We drove up and someone just picked up our bags from the car, asked if we were going to Amboselli and then took the bags away with him... ok, so no bag tags, I can do this 😊 Then we go to check in... the guy has a sheet of paper with three names printed on it, none of them Fi's... the guy looked very apologetic, then apologised and said that we should take a seat, get a coffee and he would sort it out for us. Wow, what service, we had paid, but didnt have any receipts with us, and he was the one apologising and sorting it out. Of course it was sorted, but then they showed us to the plane... part of me wished it hadnt been sorted... there was a little 18 seater plane, where it was the pilot that turned around in his seat to give us the safety run down of "the exit doors are here". But it was fine, and well worth it as we avoided a 5 hour drive on, from all reports, some very rough and unfinished roads.

We had three very relaxing and exhilirating days in Amboselli where the game drives started from the transfer to the lodge and we drove through a herd of elephants eating the trees on the side of the road, close enough to touch, with the little baby elephants as well. It was amazing.

Having been out all night, we started the stay with a little nanna nap to prepare ourselves for the afternoon game drive. Oh my, I have never seen so many animals in one place in my life! And there were elephants as far as the eye could see, they werent joking when they said Amboselli had the highest number of elephants in any park in Africa (and I guess that means the world as well?). The royal treatment in Africa continued as well, I dont know who Fi paid off to organise it, but we had a front row cabin looking right at the mountian, and then had our very own vehicle with driver for the whole time we were in the park - to go where we wanted, when we wanted, it was the best way to do it!

The plains at the base of "Killy" (as the locals affectionately call her) have lakes that are fed from the mountain's snow melt through underground water ways and are the life source of the animals that live in the park. In and around these lakes there were elephants, hippos, zebras, wilderbeasts, cape buffalo and more types of birds than you could count (oh, including the secretary bird from "Bed Knobs and Broomsticks" from those who loved that movie as a kid as much as I did...? Anyone...? Please...?).

After driving around for an hour, we started talking about how great it would be to see a lion... and then 5 minutes later... there she was! Now, all of the lions are blurring a bit, but I think the first one had just finished eating, with the carcase 10m away and the blood still around her mouth (yes, the thrill of the kill does get you when you are on a game drive!).

We had another two days of game drives, and waching the lions (and seeing some up very close and personal... a bit "risky" as the driver said, but he was always ready with the engine going to get us out of there quick smart!) and giraffes, and elephants, and zebras, and hippos and... but when that all got a little too much, we had a nice relaxing massage after all that hard work!

For the first two days and night Killy decided to sleep covered in clouds, but on our thrid night, she came out in spectacular style. We decided to take our driver and a bottle of wine and head to a hill about an hours drive from the lodge to watch the sunset. Our driver had never ben there, but the receptionist said that it was a nice spot... OMG! Nice is a huge understatement! We were perched on a hill, between the plains and mountains in the distance where the sun set, and on the other side of us, there was Killy, out in all her glory, basking in the sun - it was perfect, and put to shame any other sunset I have ever watched. It was very hard to leave, but despite us threatening to miss our flight, somehow, they managed to get us back to the airport on time the next morning 😞

Back in Nairobi I got a taste of the ex-pat lifestyle, which is really very good. There are lots of grand old houses that have been converted into very nice restaurants, serving lovely food and cocktails, so who could resist? Oh and the flowers! Flower exports are apparently the thrid largest industry for Kenya, and so the off cuts that are not good enough for Europe are sold for a pitance at the local shops and on the side of the road... we bought enough flowers to fill the house, I would guess about $200 worth, for $30! I was like a kid in a candy store!

Nairobi also has Giraffe Manor, where you can go and feed and pat and.... kiss the giraffes. And yes, it took a bit of convincing, but I made a new friend and kissed a giraffe. Well actually I kissed him 4 times as Fi who was supposed to be taking the photo kept getting it wrong and saying "oh, missed it again, you'll have to have another kiss"!

But while I say there are lots of lovely restaurants frequented by the ex-pats, we did go out one night for the local fare of "nyama choama" (I think I spelt it right...? pronounce "yumma chumma"). Where we were the only group of white people in the restaurant, which is usually a good sign if the locals are filling up a place, right? But the method of ordering went:

Fi: We have 6 people, what do you think we need?
Waiter: Hmm, 6 people, I would suggest 4.5kg of goat, I'll give you the leg, and a chicken.
Fi: that sounds good, but can we have some goat ribs as well.
Waiter: If you like, so 4.5kg of goat, some goat ribs and a chicken.

And then we sat there where from our table we could see the butchery, the grill and the kitchen, where the meat went from hanging on the rack - sorry, where the whole goat went from hanging on the rack - to be choped up, passed through the window to be grilled and then out to the table to be chopped up and hour and a half later. And yes, incase you still dont quite believe me, I did eat goat, and I ate the goat knowing that I had seen it go through the whole cooking process right before my eyes! It tasted just like lamb actually and was cooked beautifully!

The next weekend, Fi, Paul and I headed off the Lake Nakuru, about a 2 hour drive from Nairobi, where I was very excited to see the flamingoes. It was spectacular! There are suposed to be around 1.5million flamingoes around the lake, and they hug the shore during the day looking like a bright pink algal bloom. Which is quite ironic as they get their pink colour from eating the algae in the lake.

The park lands around the lake are also filled with animals, including the rare black rhino which we saw one of the last 500 in the world, just outside our tents (yes, I said our tents, I went camping... but camping in a tent with an ensuite, definitely Stephanie friendly camping, I havent changed that much after all of these adventures!).

Having our own car was great, and Paul drove the three of us around, manouvering the road and mud (although he manouvered us through, rather than around all the mud!) and since they had been there a couple of times before, they knew all the good spots to go. We saw lots and lots of giraffes, again, up really close (the best spot was on the airstrip actually, where they were happily wandering around) and rhinos. We had one close encounter with a rhino that decided he liked standing in the middle of the road we were trying to drive down and after watching and daring us to come at him for 10minutes, decided to move only 2m to the side and watch us very closely as we drove past (a bit of an adrenaline rush!).

But the highlight of the trip was watching a female lion just as the sun was starting to set. As we knew she would be soon going to hunt, we decided to play the waiting game and sit. After about half an hour we were rewarded with her mate coming to keep her company (and make sure she got his dinner). We were just talking and then turned around and this huge male lion had come from no where and sauntered up the hill to her! But after another half hour, she pricked up her ears and stared intently into the distance at the base of a hill, where a few minutes later an eland (big deer type animal) came around the corner. She quietly got up and slunk off into the grass... where after about 15minutes of us trying to will the eland into her strike area, the animal got smart and ran away... hehehe, had you there didnt I? We wanted to see the chase as well, but apparently those animals do have a survival instinct!

Two nights in Nakuru went way too fast, and we were soon on our way back to Nairobi, where I had to catch the 11.30pm flight out 😞 and after about 30 hours of flying and 48hours without sleep I made it home... I cant believe it has been two months! It has been amazing and I am most definitely spinning around ideas for my next adventures, it is going to take a while to calm down and get back into things at home - I have only on this trip realised how good we have it here, and as a female that I am really very lucky to be able to do anything I want, where I want and when I want (but thanks to Ben for being my chaperone where I wasnt really allowed to do all of that!).

Ok, so the rest of my birthday today (hehehe, hint hint) will be spent going back to unpacking and washing and back to the real world of work tomorrow - although since I couldnt drag myself out of bed until 1.30 this afternoon - 6.30am Kenyan time - fingers crossed I will make it... I'll put my order in for coffee now... Paul? Please? ;-)

And dont worry, I have plenty more photos than were put up here, and when I see you all, you will be bailed up and made to look at all of them!!!

Love to all,

Steph xxoo

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Photos

The elephants
Close enough to touch!

Lions snoozing
only about 5m away from us!

The herd
They passed right behind the car!

Sundowners
With Killy in the background...