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Published: March 16th 2010
Arrived into Nairobi for three nights and stayed at Kikuyu Lodge on the outskirts of Nairobi (apparently Nairobi city centre doesn't have much going for it and can be dangerous at night). The lodge is run by an English guy (Trevor) and his Kenyan son (Geoff) and his cousin (Catherine). Trevor was an interesting guy as he used to fly planes for the UN food programme in Sudan and then set up Rwanda airways with planes he had bought from the British military, so you can guess the type of stories he had to share!
The lodge was a great way to start as I was the only guest at the lodge and so ate with the family and watched TV / had a few beers with them. I was also taken out by Geoff on a full day tour of the sights in Nairobi. This included the elephant sanctuary which is a well respected place as they take in orphaned elephants from poaching. It is also quite a pioneering set up as it is difficult for elephants to to be raised by by humans although the sanctuary adopts a husbandry approach whereby they employ locals who live, feed and sleep with their elephant 24/7! I also visited a giraffe enclosure and had them taking food directly from my lips - probably not the most hygienic thing I've done but it has made for some funny photos! (photos will follow when I get round to it!) I also had a tour of the place where they make Kazurri beads - this was another well respected place which was set up around 20 years ago and which only employs female orphans or single mums - it was great to see places operating that helped the locals; despite Nairobi being a financial centre, it also has huge slums and shanty towns which create their own obvious problems.
Goeff and Catherine also invited me out on the Saturday night with them and their friends into Nairobi. This resulted in me often being the only white guy in some bars of around 200 people! All good natured though and I didn't see any trouble. We ended up in a nightclub called Crazy House and I spent most of the night being grabbed by black women - I must have looked like a walking pound sign made of meat! I was most appreciative of Geoff and Catherine inviting me out though, particularly when they encouraged their friends to speak English rather than Swahili owing to my presence (I asked them not too as I was grateful for them asking me out in the first place!) So, all in all, I really enjoyed Nairobi for the three days I was there.
Before I left Nairobi, I had to meet up with the tour group - our guides are Julias and Barry; both South Africa who speak to each other in Afrikaan (but obviously speak to us in English - both great guys). The tour group amounts to 22 - three couples (one each in their twenties, thirties and fourties), a guy in his late fifties, two ladies in their fourties / fifties, the rest are girls in their 20s (apart from me of course!) There are eight nationalities - English, Canadian, Australian, German, Swedish, Finish, Danish and Dutch. We all get on really well and it has been a great start to the trip. The next blog will follow describing my time in the Serengeti (sorry - we're on day 10 of the trip as I write this so I'm 10 days behind, internet reliability is not the best in Africa!)
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Was it the Tiger shirt?
That is probably why all the women are grabbing you mate!!! Might have a different effect in the serenghetti mind!!! Very jealous mate, hope its going well!!!