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Published: June 25th 2008
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Dan the Man
Daniel...my Nairobi expert Woke up in the same clothes. Nice. I organised for the gent that picked me up from the airport yesterday to drive me around for the day, be on standby in case I needed to do emergency shopping in the event that my bag didn't arrive and take me back to the airport to have a friendly chat with South African Airways. Daniel and I got along well and we had a great day. He was a wealth of information about Nairobi and took me to see a few of the sites. It was also great to be able to talk to an average Kenyan about what life is really like. Kenya is a lot more expensive than South Africa. Interest rates for an individual are anywhere between 16 and 30%!
First up, he took me to an Elephant Orphanage which was so cute! I wouldn't say I am a massive elephant lover but I am now in love. I learnt that they feel many of the same emotions that people feel. They get so attached to their keepers that they try and rotate them because they had instances where a keeper resigned and the elephant was so devastated that
Baby Elephants
This photo doesn't illustrate how small it was. So cute! it starved itself to death. I learnt what it really means when people say "you have a memory like an elephant." They have had cases when they release them into the wild and the elephant has a child 15 years later, it has returned to the orphanage and walked straight up to the keeper that looked after it as an infant to show it the baby. So smart and cute!
I also went to a giraffe sanctuary. It was quite surreal to see baboons jumping all over the road on the way but then I fed a giraffe which was even more surreal. Their tongues are so grose! They wanted me to kiss it but I had to refuse! They are such funny animals. They sleep for about 30 mins a day standing up with their eyes open so they never know if they are awake or asleep.
After grabbing some lunch we headed for the airport. I hadn't been able to contact South African Airways at all so I was just praying that the bag came on the same flight. However, Kenya were playing a soccer match in town which was at capacity (about 45,000 people.) The
The Giraffe Sanctuary
She actually let this kiss her! traffic in Nairobi is really bad at the best of the times and this put us in grid lock. Because the traffic is always so bad there are many people that make the most of this opportunity. You can literally buy anything on the side of the road, SIM cards, magazines, there was a man grating cabbage selling graters, handbags, fruit, belts. You name it you can get it through the car window. The pollution is pretty bad a lot of the cars and trucks are very old. Apparently, a lot of second hand cars come from Asia. There a lot of massive trucks and containers coming from Uganda and Tanzania being trucked to the port at Mombassa. I started to get anxious that the plane was going to land and the bag was going to go walkabouts before I got there but when we finally arrived I talked my way into the carousel area, saw it going around took it off as I was passenger on the flight and no one said anything at all! I could have cried I was so happy!
I had to be back at the Hotel for the "pre departure meeting" at 6pm. We left the airport at the same time that the President of Kenya did, he had just arrived from Uganda so luckily the road in front of us had been cleared. Some luck!
At the meeting I met my group for my tour. My two guides are husband and wife from Capetown, South Africa. There is a German couple (Ana and Clemence), a Swedish couple (Hakann and Lena), two Canadian girls (Lindsay and Ellen) and a pommie lass (Rachel). We were leaving early the following morning in 4x4s for the Masai Mara and would be joining the truck in a few days. I'll be overlanding for 31 nights. I have no idea what to expect! The guides said at times it is tough, to be prepared for really hot, really cold, really bad roads, cold showers, no showers and whatever else might come our way. I don't know how often I will be able to be in contact or what the internet connections will be like but wish me luck!
As anyone reading may have noticed I am a few days behind, so I am actually on a computer in a school on the Island of Zanzibar (the money I pay goes to the school) The computer doesn't have a USB port (shame) so I can't upload the photos but stay tuned.
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