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Published: March 26th 2006
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This morning we headed out for a quick safari, going to be the last of the trip. The days just disappeared so quickly. We continued to keep an eye out for the reclusive rhinocerous still missing from the big five list but had to do with some antelopes and waterbuck instead. When we returned to the camp we packed our gear into the cars and prepared for the drive back to Nairobi. At this point a lot of the people wanted a group photo taken and we lined up like a school photograph while people dashed to the cars to collect their cameras. As we kept standing there our guide taking one picture after the other in the stark sunshine I suddenly started to feel a bit dizzy. The next thing I know I wake up inside one of the huts after what seems like a good night's sleep, turns out I had fainted and collapsed on top of the poor people standing in front of me. What an embarrassment! I wonder if Magellan ever collapsed at the bridge... A mild case of sunstroke to be sure, and I had to take it rather easy on the way back to Nairobi.
Eland Antelopes (Tragelaphus oryx)
Yes, I would also have appreciated if they would walk this way instead... As we arrived in the capital we still had some sightseeing left to do. We visited the villa which used to be the home of the famous Danish author Karen Blixen, and I had to take it real slow and sit down in the shadows to prevent myself from passing out again. Not that it mattered to me much, I didn't pay that much attention to this part of the trip. In the evening we drove to a hotel where we would have our farewell dinner, the plane heading back to Scandinavia the next morning. My bad medical condition at least meant that it was easy to avoid the dressed up evening dinner.
Closing comments: This was the first time I went on a trip on my own, and the first time I had travelled for holiday in many years. Although I had a really memorable trip and a good experience it resulted in a lot of missed opportunities due to me being very inexperienced. For example, I only brought along a limited supply of film. At eight rolls of 24 shots I figured I was well equipped but had I made the trip again I would bring at least 30x36. With the animals being the priority I ended up with absolutely no pictures of anything not related to the safari. My fellow travellers, the Dream Camp, the masai village next to the camp, the countryside, the horrible Nairobi slums, even a picture of myself in my dorky khaki vest. At the time it simply didn't seem important. Take heed kids, always, always, always carry the camera!
Secondly, I didn't keep a journal. I did write a list of all the animals I managed to see and identify, but I have no logs to even help me remember which dates (or exactly how many days) I was actually there, or which events transpired on which days. This is a major blunder and fortunately I still have enough hints to jog my memory, and as I started to write this blog more and more things started to slide forward from the back of the head. Still, not writing at least a simple checkpoint log is inexcusable. I guess I don't have to go on preaching to the converted on a site like this though.
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