Day 2 / Day 1 of tour Met group at 7am and left for Lake Nakuru National Park. We ate sandwich lunches at the entrance of the park, and we were quickly surrounded by monkeys. One of the people in our group was chased by a monkey as she tried to take a picture, and a monkey lunged at me as I was guarding the garbage can and I hissed back. Monkey: 0, me: 1. Sure, I know I'm a lot bigger! We went on a game drive at Lake Nakuru. Lake Nakuru is a soda lake and is known for it's high concentration of flamingos but due to the time of year there were very few. I'm probably repeating myself from an earlier blog, but the highlight was three lions, two were sitting in a ... read more

Day 1 We arrived in Nairobi around 10pm, and compared to India (where all of the taxi drivers were trying to convince Ezio to go with him) it was easy to hire a taxi. We booked the taxi from a desk inside the airport, and the information desk escorted us to the taxi. We arrived at our hotel in Nairobi, the Hotel Boulevard, and our room and washroom were spacious. The next day, we woke up at 9am and ate breakfast (included). There was a surprisingly large selection (pankakes, fruit, tomatoes, bacon, potatoes, etc.) of food; we are accustomed to being served white bread and tea / coffee in other countries. We had the entire day free, and decided to explore Nairobi even though it is nicknamed "Nairobbery". We didn't feel threatened or in danger any ... read more

I'm almost packed, and just realizing that I have way too much stuff, including a large mosquito net, sleeping bag, pillow, clothes, stationary and tons of adapters...hmmm....maybe can find a way to unload... Apparently, there are many unpleasant diseases in Africa that vaccinations are not available for, including bilhizaria, dengue fever, and sleeping sickness. Bilhizaria is particularly interesting, as tiny worms enter through your skin when you swim in fresh water, and attach themselves to your internal organs. I believe it may take a year to develop. Sleeping sickness is from the Tsetse fly, and they are attracted to bright colours, and sleeping sickness causes severe headaches and exhaustion. And it gets more interesting, Deet is not effective against the Tsetse fly. Well, apparently, I'm also reading too much on diseases. Don't panic. At least I ... read more