Kenya - part 3

This blog may be as confusing as any of my others because I have a number of topics to cover. I hope you can follow it.

Nairobi

I saw some of the sights of Nairobi but they all seem to focus on the wildlife of the area, which I suppose is understandable. Here are some of the highlights.

The Nairobi National Park Animal Orphanage was interesting and there were lots of animals. It was much like one of our smaller zoos and I was a bit disappointed to know that the orphans just come here and stay. They don’t seem to try and return them to the wild at all so I was trying to tell them about our orphaned bears and how we try to return them to the wild. There were lions, cheetahs, warthogs, savo cats, gazelles, buffaloes, impalas, ostriches, a silverback fox, crown cranes, hyenas and probably more that I am forgetting. After seeing most of them in the wild, they just didn’t look as nice in these cages. It was good to see some of the smaller cats though because I definitely would have thought they were just house cats. They look and act the same except for the fact that they are wild. In some cases the scientists really aren’t sure if they were house cats that went wild or if they were wild cats to start with.

The Daphne Sheldrick’s Orphanage is for baby elephants who are orphaned. Mr. Sheldrick was once the park warden in Tsavo National Park and it was his wife Daphne who started worrying about the orphaned elephants. The orphanage currently has many baby elephants up to about 5 years of age and they came from parks all over Kenya. After the age of 5 they are taken back out to Tsavo National Park and most are accepted very quickly by one of the elephant herds. Because elephants are such social animals, they have to teach the babies proper social behaviour. If they don’t have proper manners and they try to go back to the herd they will be rejected and run off by the leaders in the herd. The guide here described the process of moving them first to the orphanage and then back to the parks and it certainly sounded like tricky business. The little ones were having their milk when we were there and one baby elephant can guzzle a couple litres of milk pretty quickly. The workers just seem to be pouring it down their throats and that was fine by the elephants. Because there were so many people around I missed all the details on exactly what they feed them.

After lunch it was time for a mud bath and it was cute to watch them rolling in the mud and dirt. Cute, that is, until they decided to get just a bit too close and the humans got a little muddier than expected. There was nothing but a rope separating about 20 little ones from us and at times they would get pushing and shoving and be more on our side than on theirs so the workers would have to come and push them back. They may be cute little babies but they are still hundreds of pounds and you really don’t want them stepping on your toes or pushing you against a tree. This particular orphanage has a big area but tourists are only allowed in this one open feeding area, and only for about an hour each day around lunch time. Of course if you pay to adopt an elephant orphan, then you have the right to come back at night as well. Elephants live to be 60 or 70 years old so people like to adopt them so they can follow their history for many years.

I really should have started this blog by saying that I have now been kissed by a native Kenyan. That might have got the attention of a few curious people at least. Well, let me tell you it was quite an experience. At the Giraffe Centre you can feed and hug the giraffes and yes, they even kiss you. You hold the food in your hand, preferably one pellet at a time so it lasts longer, and the giraffes just lick it off with their big slimy tongues. Eventually you get to the point where you have your arm around one and feeding it, and then when you have your arms crossed in front of you and you are feeding two at a time. Of course you always have to be facing forward because they are snapping pictures like crazy. And the last part, for those who are brave enough, is to hold the tiny pellet between your lips and let the giraffe give you a great big sloppy kiss. Well I did it and have the picture to prove it. I should have put it on video but I didn’t think about that until later. It actually wasn’t all that bad but then maybe as I get older I’m becoming less discriminating about who kisses me and the quality of their kisses. That’s about it for the giraffe centre. They have a large area and lots of giraffes and you get to get really close and personal with them because they seem to really like people, especially people with food in their hands or mouths. The people of course are standing on a balcony about twenty feet up; otherwise you’d never be able to reach these long-necked giants. And they really do have lovely faces and pretty eyes. They are quite cute.

Following a quick wash, we went to the Karen Blixen Restaurant for lunch. It was a beautiful, cool setting out in the garden and a very enjoyable meal. There is a small guest cottage on the sight so we toured that. It is a pretty house and where they filmed some of “Out of Africa”. The main Karen Blixen Museum is just a bit further down the road. It is a larger house and very nice. Some of the original furniture and pictures are included inside and some of the original coffee grinding machines are out in the yard, which is very green and beautiful. I never did get the whole story about Karen Blixen but I think she was Danish and came to Kenya to marry Baron von Blixen. It was not a great marriage and she had several other men in her life as well. She spent a lot of her time in Kenya and wrote a number of stories about Africa under her real name and under the pen name of Isak Dinesen. “Out of Africa” is certainly the best known work and definitely the focus of the museum seems to be Meryl Streep and Robert Redford pictures from the movie.

The Nairobi Safari Walk was a great way to end the day. It is a huge park with a boardwalk throughout and there are all kinds of animals to see. They are fenced in but they have large areas to roam so it doesn’t seem too bad. The pigmy hippos were particularly cute as they waddled around and stood under the water hose to get all wet and shiny and clean looking – probably just so they could go and roll in the mud or dirt but I didn’t see that part. The tortoises moving slowly across the fields were huge. There was also a bongo so that was a real treat since we never did see one in the wild. They are beautiful animals that look like a large antelope with a very sleep brown body accented by thin white lines around its body and other white markings on its face and neck. Its horns are long and twisted and it looks like a very regal animal. There were also gazelles, oryx, dik-diks, impalas, ostriches, zebras and hyenas among other animals. I got another good close up look at a huge rhino as well, and even got to pet Milo, the resident cheetah. There was also a light browny, orange coloured animal with white stripes that looked like a zebra. I never did figure out exactly what it was. The scenery was nice and the walk was very relaxing. I would recommend it to anyone who comes to Nairobi. If you can’t afford the time or money for a safari, the walk covers just about everything. It was so big that I didn’t actually cover the whole area because I just didn’t have time. Perhaps I’ll have to go back to see the monkeys and baboons and other animals that I didn’t get to see.

The National Museum in Nairobi is currently closed for renovations but I did go to the Snake Park, which is right next door. It had lots of snakes and crocs and turtles but really wasn’t anything too exciting. The Museum is reallyk being expanded so it will be interesting to see what it includes in the future.

I went to eat at The Carnivore one night. The Canadian tour group was supposed to do this on its last night in Nairobi but it got cancelled. Everyone said it was the thing to do so I did it. The place is huge and has an indoor and outdoor eating area. In the centre is a huge circular charcoal pit area and they have large skewers or Maasai swords of food cooking all around it. They bring you soup to start and then a selection of salad stuff and a lot of sauces or dips arrive at the table to stay for the rest of the meal. They also bring you a baked potato and then they just continually bring you food until you finally admit you’ve had enough and lower the flag at your table. The food comes on the skewers and they pull off or carve off as much as you’d like to try. I tried crocodile meat but it wasn’t very exciting. There was also pork sausages, spareribs, roast beef, chicken wings / legs, lamb and venison, as well as chicken livers or kidneys which I didn’t try. I’m missing a few because I think there were 11 in total but I can’t remember what they were now. You can rest assured that there was no giraffe or elephant meat or anything like that on the menu. Only the crocodile seemed truly foreign to me. And after all that food, of course there was dessert as well. It was a great meal and very entertaining to watch all these guys in zebra aprons running around with skewers serving meat.

I also toured around Nairobi a bit and saw some of the main parks and buildings and attractions, which look just like any other big city. There are certainly very nice parts of the city and also some parts which are not so attractive. From the main highway to the north you have a view of the great slum of Nairobi where something like 800,000 people live with no running water or sewers or any kind of decent facilities. It just looks like a lot of tiny wooden or tin huts from the highway and it’s impossible to imagine what it’s really like. It’s hard to imagine such a place in any city and Nairobi is no different. The rest of life just seems to go on around it as if it doesn’t exist.

Eastern Kenya Trip

I left Nairobi on the 11th and head toward the coast with one stop in Tsavo East National Park at the Serena Lodge. It was about a four hour drive from Nairobi to Tsavo East and it was very enjoyable, especially once in the park and looking for animals once again.

Tsavo West National Park is 7,700 square kilometers and that is the park we stayed in for the one night. It is about half way between Nairobi and Mombasa. Tsavo East National Park is 11,300 square kilometers and the largest park in Kenya. The highway between Nairobi and Mombasa is the dividing line between the two parks.

Tsavo is important for one major thing and that is the man eaters. Tsavo means place of slaughter and the lions are the man eaters that caused the slaughter. Those who have seen the movies “Ghost in the Darkness” or “The Man-Eaters of Tsavo” will know all about the lions that attacked villages and people. It was a very scary movie and apparently very true. They don’t know why the lions in Tsavo became so savage but it is the only area where many humans were attacked and eaten. It is definitely better these days but I decided not to go for any late night walks anyway.

Tsavo West and the area just outside the park is also home of the Shetani lava flow. The Shetani cone is a volcano in the Chyulus mountain range and it erupted within the last 500 years. The mountain itself seems a long way away but the lava flow came down in fingers and covered a large distance. When you are in the middle of it, it definitely looks like a bleak universe with nothing but hard black porous rock everywhere. It will be a long time before any vegetation or wildlife occupies the area.

Because we were going out of the park just a short distance we had to take an armed guard with us. Apparently it’s not the dangerous wildlife but the dangerous humans they worry about so we didn’t stick around for long. His gun looked like it would take care of things but then the bad guys might have something even better than our guard’s automatic weapon. After we returned to the park I did ask what kind of weapon it was. It sounded like something I’d heard of before, like an MK40 or something, but I’ve now forgotten. Personally I just don’t like being that close to guns so I think I blocked out the details.

Tsavo West also contains the Mzima Springs, a real desert oasis. The clear water bubbles out of the volcanic rocks from an underground stream that comes from the Chyulu Mountains some 10 kilometers away. The hills were created by volcanic action within the last 500 years thus the spring is also relatively new. There is an upper pond and a lower pond and these then flow into the Mzima River.

The volcanic rock of the mountains catches all the rain and acts as a filter. The harder rock beneath won’t let the water through so it flows above the harder rock through the porous rock and comes up in the springs as pure, clear water. The water in the spring flows into the ponds at a rate of 282,000 litres per minute. The spring supplies all the water for Tsavo and surrounding areas as well as Mombasa, several hundred miles away, and all villages enroute. The pipeline to Mombasa flows simply on gradient as the land slopes down to sea level and it handles 22,000 litres per minute so the total flow from the spring is 304,000 liters per minute.

There are hippos in the upper lake and crocodiles in the lower lake. The upper lake also has a lot of fish, which were very friendly in the underwater viewing area. I think they were probably used to being fed by the tourists but they didn’t get anything from me. The hippos were very noisy at times and it was interesting to listen to them. I can’t actually describe the sound to you other than to say it was a deep grunting sound of various lengths and pitches. Hopefully I have some video that will provide the real sound. There were also lots of black-faced monkeys around and they were cute as well, especially the little ones.

Kilaguni, our Serena resort in Tsavo West, was fantastic. The room was huge with a large window overlooking the local watering hole and the Chyulu Mountains and even Mount Kilimanjaro. There were two nice comfortable chairs facing the window and the windows slid open like sliding doors so you could enjoy the view and the fresh breeze at the same time. The dining room was also open and facing in the same direction so we saw lots of animals without even leaving the resort: storks, agama lizards, warthogs, elands, impalas, water bucks, storks, squirrels, mongoose, baboons, etc. right outside the windows. Apparently larger animals normally come to the watering hole but because it’s been so wet and there are pools every where they have no reason to come at the moment.

On the drives through the park we also saw zebras, giraffes, ostriches, goshawks, monkeys, dik-diks, a leopard, Grant’s gazelles, a lot of beautiful birds and tsetse flies galore. The latter just seem to stick to the windows of the vehicle and won’t let go. It’s as if they know there is meat inside to enjoy. We finally lost them when we passed a group of baboons so I assume that meat looked even better. We also saw a rock hyrax, which was a new one to me. It looked like a lizard peeking out of the rocks to me but in fact it is like a guinea pig and lives in the rocks.

The baobab tree was also new to me. It has a very thick trunk and few branches with high fruit that the elephants eat. The natives believe that the tree cures mumps and I was almost ready to believe it might have some curative power until they said you had to run around it seven times for it to work. That type of cure I’m not too sure of.

There were beautiful white flowers all along the roadsides inside and outside of the park. They were ipomeas, which is another member of the morning glory family, and they certainly brightened up the drives even in the driest of places.

Between Nairobi and Mombasa the scenery changes regularly from dry to lush and from flat to hilly. It was a beautiful drive but long on their roads. The 500 kilometers took almost 8 hours despite the fact that the road except for about 50 kilometers is paved. It was actually one of the best roads I’ve seen in Kenya.

There were many small villages along the way. Emali was a small village but very busy. There were many small shops along the road and lots of people selling things at the roadside – onions, papayas (pawpaw), corn, etc. It is in a very green area with some parts flat and some parts rolling hills.

It was interesting to see the crews out cutting the grass along the sides of the highway. They were simply men swinging what the guide called slashers. They were just big curved knives and they just kept swinging away. When a large path of the grass was cut they would rake it and pile it up. Considering how hot and humid it was, it looked like very hard work to me and I couldn’t imagine many Canadians doing it.

I should mention that I am eating a lot of fruit these days and I’m actually starting to like passion fruit and papaya and mango. Their pineapple is also delicious and their watermelon is very refreshing. Their vegetables are also really good – beans, peas, carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, spinach, corn, potatoes, etc. It’s all great except for the corn which has kernels much larger and tougher than we are used to. Their beef also leaves a bit to be desired but their fish, pork, chicken and lamb are great. I think the Kenyans eat much more healthy food than some of us Canadians do. Luckily they like chocolate for dessert because that always makes my meal for me. And they even have an appropriately named milk supply for us milk lovers – Brookside Maziwa or Brookside Milk.

Mombasa

We went for a tour of Fort Jesus, the 1593 fort built by the Portuguese. The Portuguese actually reached Mombasa in 1498 but didn’t stay long at that stage. I guess Vasco da Gama preferred Malindi further to the north. They came back to build the fort after the Turks started building on the sight and they finally recognized the importance of protecting the local harbour. Fort Jesus was the name given to the fort since the Portuguese considered themselves to be the representatives of Christendom and sailed under the flag of Christ. And I guess I really should say that the fort was carved, not built, since it was originally made of corals that were carved on sight. I didn’t quite figure out how that worked but perhaps the area was once under water and the coral reef was left behind when the sea water lowered. Or then again, maybe they brought coral blocks up from the reef in the sea and carved them into bricks to build the fort. I may have to investigate that further at a later date.

The Arabs took over the fort in 1697 after surrounding it and starving the Portuguese – some of their skeletons were just found within the fort grounds. In 1728 the Portuguese gained the fort again but a year later the Arabs took it again and the Portuguese left for good. After that it changed hands many times. Eventually the British got involved and from 1895 to 1958 it was used by them as a government prison.

One of the original very deep cisterns is still there. It supplied water for the area and lasted for several years – luckily for those who were under siege at any time. There are Portuguese paintings on some of the walls – very basic but interesting with ships and fish and animals shown. The main gate to the fort was from the water and there was another gate to the land. There are beautifully carved ebony doors in some places and they are the originals from hundreds of years ago – too solid and hard for even termites to bother. There was a chapel at one time but it is now in ruins with just the outline of rocks for the walls. They have an exhibit of some of the artifacts that have been unearthed at the fort, everything from shoe buckles to weapons to pottery.

We had a guide when we did this tour and he also took us through the nearby old town to see Vasco da Gama’s house and the Royal or Queen’s house. Da Gama’s house has porches all around and is considered the oldest house in Mombasa. The house is three or four stories high and faces the ocean to the east so I’m sure it would probably be a beautiful place to watch the sun rise.

The Royal or Queen’s house was in the same neighbourhood as the fort and Vasco da Gama’s house. Apparently it was the official home of the monarchy when in Kenya and is still used by members of the royal family when they come to visit Kenya. We of course did not get invited in but I’m sure it is lovely inside and the views would be spectacular.

Now our guide after all this, informs us that he wants some money. We were going to give him a tip but we certainly weren’t going to give him anything near the amount he requested. After much discussion and explaining to him that he should have told us up front that he was a separate or private tour guide and wanted to be paid so much money for his tour. We thought, since he was at the entrance to the fort where we had just paid our entrance fee, that he was part of the service offered within the fort. Anyway, I don’t think he was too happy with us but that’s too bad. I think there is a definite reason that he asked for his money while we were still in the streets of the Old Town and not back at the museum where there were several tourist police standing by.

The Mamba Village is mainly just a crocodile farm with thousands of crocodiles of every size and age. Supposedly it is the largest crocodile farm in Africa. It was very hot when we were there so the very smart crocs were simply resting in the sun, probably wondering why the stupid humans were out again walking in the heat of the day. The main attraction in the park is a croc named Big Daddy. He is believed to be over 100 years old and he weighs almost 1,000 kilograms. He has been at the park since 1986 and was transferred here after eating his fifth human. I guess they figured they might as well put him in a separate area and feed him regularly instead of having him roam free and feed on more humans. The park also had snakes and spiders and you could go for camel or horse rides but the main attraction was the crocs. They feed some of them daily by suspending food from some scaffolding over the pond. Apparently things get quite active in the pond at that stage with all the crocs splashing around and trying to stretch or jump up to reach the suspended food. We missed that particular feeding frenzy so things were calm when we went by.

The Bamburi Nature Trail is a private park of 75 acres. It is mostly forest area and was very cool and shady in most spots. Out in the open it was very hot because the trees around were stopping any breeze that did exist. We had a tour guide with us as we walked around the trails. I decided after a bit that it was good that he was there because we would never have found half the sights there were to see. They had a number of giraffes who were there for feeding. The black-faced monkeys were nearby hoping for a bite to eat as well. One of them had a little baby that the guide thought was only a few days old. It was cute to see him or her hanging on under his mother’s belly as she walked along. The little tail came up and looped around the mother’s bigger tail for added support.

They actually feed the buffaloes here, which was a new one for me. It was pretty unexciting though. The feed was just thrown on the ground and two of the buffaloes came up to eat. The only funny part was watching the monkeys try to reach in and grab some of the food. They also tried to do that with the hippo food. The hippos were pretty slow getting out of the water to get to their food so the crown crane got their first. When the monkeys arrived, the crown crane took a defensive posture and spread its wings to scare away the monkeys. They eventually got some food though. And when the hippos arrived, the crane left but some of the monkeys stayed so I’m not sure who actually won that little war.

There were a couple of elands in the park and it was nice to see them up close. There were also water bucks and bush bucks but they didn’t get too close. There was a whole area for snakes and the pythons and boas were the most popular – definitely the largest too. And there were crocs in pens throughout the park. The little ones were very cute. I think they called that area croc kindergarten. There were other sizes as well and some of the largest were indeed huge. They even had some albinos amongst the group. They aren’t actually white as I would imagine an albino, but they are definitely lighter.

There were huge tortoises around the park. The one Madagascar tortoise was 120 years old and weighed 150 kilos. Mzee, as she was called, adopted a baby hippo when it was orphaned and they were faithful companions for some time. Currently they are separated and Mzee is very depressed and hides most of the day. No one told us what really happened to separate them but it may have just been the right time to do so and to get the hippo back to a normal hippo life. It would have been nice to have seen them together as I really can’t imagine it.

Mombasa itself is a large city, the second or third largest in Kenya with over a million people. It has some wide paved streets with boulevards and parking and it also has a lot of smaller dustier streets as well. The land is quite flat and dry so without pavement it is quite dusty. There are palm trees around in the nicer residential areas but much of the downtown area is treeless.

On our tour of the city we realized later that we missed the Mombasa tusks, which are a symbol of the city. The large tusks were a present to (or from) her Majesty the Queen (or perhaps his Majesty the King since I don’t exactly know the year!). There are four tusks with two crossing each side of the divided street. The effect is that of a giant stylized M, which stands for Mombasa and Majesty.

The Port of Mombasa serves not only Kenya but also Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi as those countries are all land locked. Given that piece of information I guess it really isn’t any wonder that there are so many trucks on the roads.

Mombasa itself is an island of 5 square kilometers. To get to the north coast of the mainland where the resort was located you had to cross to the island over a 400 meter bridge and then cross back again to the mainland farther to the north because there are no roads up the coast of the mainland. To the south of the island a ferry crosses between the mainland and the island.

The Sarova Whitesands Resort in Mombasa was wonderful. It was a huge resort with many pools and restaurants and lounges. We were on half board, which meant breakfast and dinner, and that was enough to last the whole day. The resort had the most wonderful powdery white sand beach that I have every experienced. The water was really shallow and clear and warm. It must have been over 35 degrees because it was refreshing in the 35 – 40 degree heat but didn’t feel cool at all. It was very humid all day long but there was always a strong breeze blowing at the beach and that kept the situation very bearable and enjoyable.

There was a reef further out in the water so you could see the waves breaking there. At shore it was just perfectly calm which was nice for just sitting in the water and cooling down when you came from touring. The beach was very flat and there was a lot of it, especially at low tide. It wasn’t very busy because it’s not high season yet so there weren’t may people on the beach. I have to say that I really enjoyed my first dip in the Indian Ocean. Mombasa was definitely a fantastic place to relax for a few days.

I joined several people at Bob’s Disco for a drink one night. It was a large outdoor facility with tables and chairs simply set on the pavement of the parking lot, a wide-screen showing a soccer game, and loud music blaring over giant speakers. It wasn’t what we would call a disco but probably more of a casual outdoor sports bar. We had a drink and then returned to the hotel. I should say that Tuskers beer isn’t bad for a local beer. However, the bottles are much larger than I need in one sitting!

Other thoughts on Kenya – mainly from last two trips

Samburu has duom palms which are really interesting trees. They are the only palms with branches and in fact they might not be branches at all as opposed to just the trunk splitting evenly because the tree is always even. It goes up and splits into two branches. Then each of those two branches can split again. And at the very top of each branch you get palm leaves. The acacia trees looked impressive wherever we went and the cactus-like euphorbia trees were huge.

More Swahili Vocabulary

Lion – Simba
Elephant – Tembo or Ndovu
Buffalo – Nyati Rhino – Kifaru
Leopard - Chui
Kwaheri – Goodbye
Lala Salama – Good night, sleep well
Mimi Nakupenda – I love you (and no, I ws not actually hearing or saying this to anyone!)

Sign on front of truck - Amini Mungo, which means Trust in God. Mungo means God.

Sheng – a slang mix of English and Swahili used by the young people when they want to talk about things without the older folks understanding them.
Sasa – Hi
Mambo – What’s up?
Poa or Fit - Cool

Jeff’s van is the sita unga, which is a small antelope found in Jeff’s home area. It is able to walk on marshy areas as it has big padded feet. It is often said to be walking on water.

Gazelles and Impalas
Thompson’s have straight horns, definite black lines on the side and brown buttocks.
Grants have curved horns, white buttocks and no black lines on the side.
Impalas are golden brown all over and have curved horns.

I was at one point on the Great North Road, which goes all the way to Cairo. It was one of the dirtier, dustier, rougher roads of the journey and only partially paved. Having seen some of the roads and dust in Egypt, I can't imagine the condition of the road gets any better to the north.

On Sundays, the roads and streets are filled with people of all ages dressed up and walking to Church. Some of the clothes are very western looking and some look very much like what I would assume to be traditional African. And then some of the ladies clothes look Western in style but the colours and accessories are definitely African. Some of the colours are so vibrant and bright, and the hats are quite incredible.

And speaking of hats or head apparel, I can't believe how easily these people carry heavy loads on their heads. Men, women and children all carry water jugs, baskets, boxes, bundles of wood, bags of charcoal and many other objects. Their posture is fantastic and they seem to carry their loads effortlessly. I've even seen several ladies with their purses on their heads and that would certainly be better for their back and shoulders than having a heavy purse slung over one shoulder all day.

If you don’t carry things on your head you move it via cart. These are simple wooden carts with two wheels and handles out front. Occasionally you see a mule or oxen hooked up to the cart but mainly it is just men pulling or pushing them. Sometimes the loads look incredibly heavy and they have to move them up and down hills on horrible roads and tracks. Not many people have cars or trucks so it really is the only way to get around. And at times, given their road conditions, I’m sure walking the carts through the fields is much faster for getting where you have to go.

The scenery is so diversified in Kenya – high mountains, flat plains, dry barren flat lands, lush green areas. I remember saying one part looked like Southwestern Ontario at one point and that it looked like the Okanagan valley in another point. And of course the mountains with glaciers and all the highlands around them add another perspective. It would take a long time to really see the whole country but at least I now know just how varied it is.

I went through Thika on my journeys. I don’t remember the story but I do remember reading the book or seeing the movie of The Flame Trees of Thika. It was a very modern town with large modern homes. Del Monte has a pineapple factory there and there are pineapple fields all around. In fact there were lots of agricultural crops all around. The area is called the highlands and they grow corn, coffee, bananas, etc. It’s a hilly area and very beautiful with lots of large trees and many of them with beautiful flowers.

Saturday is a big day for markets. Karotina is a huge market for used clothes and it was quite amazing to see all the vendors with their goods spread out on blankets on the dusty ground. There were throngs of people everywhere. There was also a Chaka market for fruit and vegetables. The produce looked delicious and that market was also very busy.

They have school on Saturdays and the students were all walking home from school around lunch time the one day. They wear uniforms. Some were burgundy and some were blue but they all looked very smart. I’ve seen many different school uniforms since then.

Some economic points:
- 50,000 shillings ($1,000) per month for teachers at public school and 80,000 shillings ($1,600) per month for lecturers at university level.
- $200-300 per month for drivers/guides plus their tips.
- $1,200 per month for police officers – results in a lot of corruption.
- 15 million shillings ($300,000) would buy a luxury house with many bedrooms and bathrooms, pool, acreage, etc.

The first president of Kenya was Kenyatta and the country was named after him. What was it called before? Nobody could actually answer that questions so I searched the internet and found that it is now the Republic of Kenya but before that it was simply called Kenya referring to the colony and Kenya the British Protectorate.

Everyone seems to have a cell phone here. They can be herding cattle or carrying jugs of water on their heads or working in the local market but they might also be talking on their cell phones. Land lines can take up to a year to get so when cell phones came in everyone started buying them. Now the land line companies are going out of business and we did see a lot of empty lines along the way.

For some reason I do very well keeping track of the animals but I have totally neglected the birds. I must have a hundred birds’ names scribbled in my book but I’ve written nothing about them. They have some incredibly beautiful birds in Kenya. The superb starling is one that we kept seeing over and over. The weaver birds with their fancy nests were everywhere. The red and yellow billed horn bills were so colourful and fun to watch. The crown cranes were very elegant and stately looking. The wido birds had really long tails. Goaways, mouse birds, chatterers, doves, kingfishers, sparrows, boubous, finches, sun birds, woodpeckers, etc. – all of them were interesting and I have sorely neglected them. Sorry birds!

Black cotton soil is extremely sticky and slippery when it rains and it’s almost like driving on ice and snow. The vehicles slide in all directions and get stuck even in a 4 X 4. They dump almost anything on the roads and pack it down to avoid the slippery soil. I was amazed at the size of stones they were throwing on to the roads.

The tribes in Kenya are very different. The Masai are very thin and tall. Jeff’s tribe, whose name I have forgotten, is shorter and stockier. The Samburu seemed to be shorter and slimmer. At one of the gates the attendant was small and had almost oriental eyes. That was apparently a Somali tribe from the north. The Kamba tribe, part of Bantu tribe, lives around Mombasa and they are a smaller size.


Okay, I’m now back in Nairobi and planning for the next few trips, which seems to be a difficult task. I have been waiting for the Vintage Africa people to come up with a proposed itinerary because they have offices in all the places I was interested in going to. However, I keep getting a different story all the time and all of their quotes are expensive so I’m not sure that’s going to work. In the meantime, I could have been booking things myself and sometimes I think that would be much easier than waiting for someone else to reply. It now appears that I will be spending a few more days in Nairobi but I will keep you posted on when that changes.

Kwaheri.

Jayne

Kenya, part two

I have now completed my northern safari and spent some time in Nairobi so I figured I should start writing again although their system is pretty unreliable so I may not get anywhere with this at all.

My two days in Nairobi between safaris were wonderful. I got to rest and do laundry and catch up on my writing and more importantly, be close to a toilet when needed. I’m not sure what I ate or drank on that last day but something certainly wasn’t right. However, it was a perfect time to have such a problem – much better than being out in the bush on safari with lions and snakes and a million other things around if you really had to go.

I left on my northern safari on the 3rd and as it turned out it was just the tour guide and I so it was kind of like a private tour except that the itinerary was set by someone else. Of course my first request was “no shopping” so on this tour I did not have to put up with all the stores and salespeople that were on previous tours.

I wasn’t too sure what we would talk about for five days but talking certainly didn’t seem to be a problem. We talked continually and I probably learned way more about the Kenyan people and their culture than I ever would have in a larger group. And of course I learned a lot about the animals and parks and the country’s history and geography as well. And considering how many times I had to ask for clarification, I think I finally can tell the difference between a leopard and a cheetah, between a common zebra and Grevy’s zebra, and between Masai, Rothschild and Reticulated giraffes. And if I get it wrong some time, just don’t tell Geoff!

On our first day we drove towards Mount Kenya but it was covered in clouds so I didn’t see it. We went to a park called Sweetwaters Wildlife Sanctuary, which is a large 30,000 hectare private park. I started to panic when I saw the words “tented resort” on the signs because I really am not a camper in any sense. However, when we got there and I actually saw my tent I figured I would survive just fine. It was probably 12 by 20 feet in total, of very sturdy material and had rugs on the floor in the front bedroom area. At the back and separated by another flap there was a full bathroom – shower, toilet and sink – at so I had all the comforts of home. It was quite cool at night, especially in the tents but I slept well thanks to the nice hot water bottles they placed in my bed to warm it up. And all night long you could hear the sounds of the animals around you – birds, crickets and even other larger deeper sounds that I couldn’t identify and didn’t really want to know.

We arrived at Sweetwaters in time for lunch and then did a game drive in the afternoon. That night I also went on a night safari. Being a private resort in a private park, these people are allowed to do this. I wasn’t sure what you would see at night but it was a very happening place with lots of activity. My van had a doctor from Nairobi and her son and a guest of theirs from London. They were just out for the weekend and when I thought about it, it really did sound like a great way to spend the weekend.

Part of the afternoon drive included going to the chimp sanctuary. It is part of the Jane Goodall system and the local guide introduced me to some interesting chimps. George, the baby of the group, was very entertaining as he played with branches, tried to stand on his head, rolled around and kept trying to no avail to get someone else to play with him. Poco was pretty laid back and just put up with George and kept an eye on him. Judy went ambling through at one point but didn’t stay long. And sitting pensively throughout the whole time was Socrates. I don’t know who chooses the names but they couldn’t have found a better one for this guy unless they had called him The Thinker. He sat with his legs crossed in front of him, one arm folded across his chest and the other elbow resting on the first arm and with his hand holding his chin. He had the most serious and yet puzzled look on his face and it really did look like he was thinking or philosophizing. It was priceless and a Kodak moment all at once.

I forget how many chimps they have in the sanctuary but they are divided into at least two different groups so the males don’t get into any fights. They have a huge area to roam around in (247 hectares) and it is an absolutely beautiful setting. All of the chimps came to them abandoned or sick or mistreated and their stories are all posted on the walls. It was quite unbelievable to read the stories and hear about their condition prior to arrival but they certainly seem to be thriving now so the sanctuary is doing a great job.

The afternoon also included a trip to see Morani, the most photographed rhino in the world. And considering how many shots the guides take of you feeding and petting Morani, it is no surprise that he is the most photographed in the world. He is very friendly and easy to feed because he likes his sugar cane, but petting him definitely means getting dirty. Like all rhinos, Morani loves mud and dirt baths and he had certainly had one just before my arrival.

Aside from the chimps and Morani, there were no new animals that I can think of. The evening drive also didn’t have any new animals but it was sure interesting to see them at night. If the water buffaloes look mean during the day, you should see them when they have the entire van surrounded and they really don’t like the intrusion. It’s easy to see why they are the most dangerous animal to humans. I think even the Sweetwaters’ driver was wondering how he was going to back out of the situation. He told us that he had experienced a buffalo charging a van before and he really didn’t want to experience it again. We all agreed that was fine and helped him back discretely out of the dead end.

They carry strong floodlights on the vans for the night safaris and the animals’ eyes are the first things that show up. We saw zebras, hyenas, elephants, impalas, gazelles and many more than I can’t remember now. Many were definitely nocturnal animals and on the prowl while others were already settled down for the night before we disturbed them.

On Sunday the 4th we left Sweetwaters in the morning and headed toward Samburu National Reserve. As we left I finally had a good view of Mt Kenya, which is much higher and more impressive than I originally thought (17,058 feet). It is the second highest mountain in Africa. Mt Kilimanjaro is the highest. Mt Kenya has about 8 glaciers on it and is the source of four main rivers and much of the drinking water in Kenya.

The highlands or Mt. Kenya area we were driving through was incredibly lush and green and very much an agricultural area. The scenery was breathtaking and the crops looked fantastic. It was a very beautiful area. And then we started to get lower and the land started to get flatter and drier. By the time we reached Samburu we were in a desert area and not much was growing at all. Kenya is a large country and has such varied scenery that it’s wonderful just driving around. And I must say that the roads were great. We were on highway 90% of the time on this northern safari and the highways were good. There were no big holes or bumps so the ride was basically smooth, and when we did hit dirt roads the dust level was much lower than before. Of course that could have something to do with the rain as I think it rained almost every evening, which is most unusual for this time of year.

On the way into the resort at Samburu we saw four of the park’s big five – reticulated giraffe, oryx, Somalian ostrich and gerenuk. The reticulate giraffes are as big as the other giraffes. Their main differentiation is the reticulation in their colour scheme. It took me a while to understand the differences but once compared to the others it’s pretty simple. The ostrich looked like any other ostrich to me and it’s just the colour of the legs and neck that make it different. I’m not even going to comment on the colour because every time I did on the safari I got it wrong! The oryx was totally new to me. I don’t think they taught us about the oryx when we were in school but it is a very beautiful animal. I guess I’d describe it as a large deer or a slim moose shape with a light grey body with white belly and a bold black swoosh along the side of its belly up to its neck, and a head with beautiful markings and straight horns. It’s a very regal or classy looking animal but please don’t go by my description if you really want to know what it looks like! The gerenuk was also interesting and new to me. It is much smaller member of the antelope family and has very delicate features but large eyes. It has long legs and a long neck and its claim to fame is that it stands and even walks on its two back feet while reaching taller branches to get food. I got pictures of some gerenuks but not while standing on their back legs. I guess they just weren’t interested in posing for pictures that day.

The Serena resort in Samburu is right on the Uaso Ngrio (brown water) river and it feels like it is in a jungle since the vegetation is so thick. They say this is an unusual year and generally the area is much drier so I’m not sure what it would be like normally. There was lots of wildlife right around the resort including crocodiles on the river bank, black-faced monkeys in the trees and right on your patios when you opened your curtains, and beautiful birds that would try to join you at your dining table. The rooms are single or duplex buildings along the river and the reception, restaurant, lounge, etc. are in the centre. Most of the areas are open to the elements and a Samburu warrior spends his day simply shooing birds and monkeys away from the food areas by shooting stones at them with a sling shot. He has some impact but it’s very limited. Within a couple minutes they are right back again. Howver, it is entertaining for the tourists.

We spent two nights in Samburu. There are three parks in the area: Samburu, Buffalo Springs and Shaba. We did a late afternoon drive on the first day and then an early morning, lunch time and early evening drive on the second day. We saw lots of animals and I think they have all been mentioned at one time or another before. The highlight for me was the leopard sleeping up in the tree. We were really close to the tree and had a great view and he looked so quiet and nice. He was literally just sprawled on his belly over a branch with two legs hanging down either side. His head was slightly to one side and his tail hung down the other side. Even though he didn’t appear to move a muscle he was still fun to watch and take pictures of.

I just thought of the one different, or at least slightly different, animal. We finally on the last afternoon found some Grevy’s zebras. They just looked like zebras to me so it was hard to figure out what was different. Then we found some common zebras nearby and it was very easy to clarify. While common zebras have very wide black stripes on white all around their bodies, the Grevys have many more stripes and thinner stripes and their bellies are white. The Grevys are also bigger and have a mane and tail like a horse. It’s easy to see the difference when they are side by side but perhaps not so clear in this description.

I guess I should also mention the dik-dik or smallest member of the antelope family. This guy was very hard to find and I almost always missed him. He is so tiny and moves so quickly that if you don’t see him at first glance he is soon hidden by the grass. Luckily Geoff was quick at spotting them so I think I got a couple of good pictures over the two days.

The resort does a 7 p.m. talk each night so the two I went to were on 1) the park and its animals and 2) the Samburu people and their customs. Both were interesting but the girl talked so fast that at times it was hard to understand her even though she was speaking English. Her speed of talking is hilarious given her speed of walking. I did the bird walk with her the one morning and I honestly thought I’d fall asleep while walking. I have never experienced such a slow pace in my life and I don’t think it was for the purpose of spotting birds. Slow just seems to be the speed for many Kenyans. You can’t even say they amble because that would be too fast for the actual speed. I guess the heat just makes them move slower to conserve energy and cut down on the perspiration.

At 6:30 each night they fed the crocodiles so that was fun to watch too. I have to say that I never realized just how lazy crocodiles were and how slowly they moved on ground. Some of them were so big they could only take about six small steps before flopping down on the ground for a rest. Then they would do another six steps and flop again. It’s actually quite hilarious to watch. And they are the same when they eat. They take about 6 chomping bites and then they appear to lapse into a coma. Then their eyes suddenly open and they chomp on something else for half a minute before going comatose again. It’s really quite intriguing and amusing to watch. Maybe it's just that Kenyan pace again.

For the one lunch time game drive, a number of the vans just went down to the river to sit in the shade and watch the elephants play in the water. They are obviously creatures of habit because they showed up exactly where and when they were expected and it was fun to see them. The river bank had a bit of a drop to it so sometimes the elephant would kneel down and try to reach the water with its trunk. Other times it would try to put one or two legs down and leave the other two up and bent while it got a drink. And of course the little ones didn’t know what to do so it was fun to see them tumble into the river and then scramble back up with the help of several strong trunks of the other elephants, and I’m sure the mother was one of them. At one point they found a spring running into the river and making a puddle before it got there. At that stage they all started pushing and shoving and splashing and rolling around until everyone was completely wet and covered in mud – just the way they like it.

The Samburu people have an area where they do their traditional dances every day so I went to see that one afternoon. Their colours and beadwork are wonderful and their dances were quite interesting. Again all the noise was made by the people themselves and there were no instruments. The men did most of the singing but there was one song where the women joined in and it was really nice.

Shaba has a “swimming hole” that is quite famous. It was actually formed by a bomb during WWII. The Italians thought they were bombing Nairobi, which was British at the time, but instead the bomb landed in the middle of nowhere over 300 miles to the north. It’s hard to believe they could be that far off but apparently all the lights in Nairobi were turned off and the lights in a small remote village were turned on and even extended so the Italians would think it was Nairobi. I guess it worked. I asked Geoff if he told that same story to his Italian tourists and he said they never get Italians on tour. I then wondered if it was because they were too embarrassed to come or whether they still hadn’t figured out the correct location.

On Tuesday the 7th we left Samburu and headed south again toward Aberdare National Park and my next night’s accommodation on The Ark. We had crossed the equator going north and now crossed it again going south. I stopped and watched the demonstration of how things change in the northern and southern hemispheres. It was interesting to see that just a few steps in one direction or the other had the water draining and twisting the opposite way, and at the equator it ran straight. I knew it was true but the demonstration right on the spot was very impressive. I even have a certificate saying that I crossed the equator and watched the demonstration.

We arrived at the Aberdare Country Club around 1 p.m. Geoff left me there and went off to some nearby town for the rest of the day and night and promised to come back the next day to pick me up. I had lunch at the club and walked around the resort. It is now a Fairmont resort (I think that was it. It was certainly something very familiar to me.) and the country club part is actually now closed for renovations. The country club used to be a family estate n colonial times and it is beautiful. It is on the side of a hill and overlooks a lot of beautiful country. The grounds are huge and well groomed and I had a very relaxing lunch enjoying the view.

After lunch we went on a game drive through the country club and got to walk around with the animals, mainly zebras, giraffes, gazelles, etc. After that we drove around for another two hours and went through some of the densest and lushest areas I have seen in Kenya. The immediate area was beautiful and the sights down into the valleys were breathtaking. We saw elephants, buffaloes, warthogs, marsh bucks, hyenas, impalas, baboon and elands to name a few. The last one I think is new to my blog. Basically it is just another member of the antelope family and it has straight spiralling horns. It looks somewhat like an oryx except the oryx has longer and straighter horns that don’t spiral.

We climbed further up the mountain and the temperature kept getting cooler (which was nice to the Canadians on the journey but the Kenyans thought it was freezing!) At about the 7,500 foot level, The Ark appeared. It is a lodge on the hillside overlooking a natural watering hole and mineral lick. The animals come to the watering hole and all the guests at the lodge just sit and watch them. It was quite wonderful. I stayed up until about midnight and was up again before 6 a.m. watching the animals. There are buzzers in each room and they ring in the night if animals appear. 1 ring for elephants, 2 rings for rhinos, 3 for leopards, etc. The night we were there no new animals came in the night so there were no buzzers. It had rained that day so I guess there was no need for them to come to the watering hole for water.

There are four floors on The Ark and each floor has a viewing area over the pond. Some are enclosed and some are open so people can decide which works best for them. In the evening we had a large group of elephants to watch as they rolled around in the mud and played in the water. There were also hyenas, buffalo, otters, bushbucks, bush pigs, giant forest hogs, waterbucks, warthogs and many birds around at various times. In the morning we left before 8 a.m. but there were impalas, gazelles, buffaloes, warthogs, elephants, etc. milling about – basically the same as the previous night. We had a gorgeous sunrise and one of the best views of Mt. Kenya – although it was far away and in a slight mist.

Once back down at the Country Club, Geoff and I continued our journey and finished our tour in Nairobi. Finding a hotel in Nairobi has been a challenge. There are several large conferences on including a United Nation's summit on something. I picked up my second bag from the Intercontinental but couldn’t stay there because they were full. I ended up not far away at the Silver Springs Resort but that was only for one night. The next day I moved to the Norfolk where luckily I could stay put for a couple days. This place is fantastic but it’s also expensive. Nairobi definitely needs more hotels and preferably at the lower end of the scale! If I ever have to come back on business though, the Norfolk is definitely the place to stay. It is right across the street from the University of Nairobi, which is a very nice campus.

The northern tour was very different from the southern tour. We had smooth paved roads all the way and no drives of over 5 hours in a day. There were some construction sights but they were minimal. The parks had dirt roads of course but nothing like on the southern route. And with the rain almost every day, the dust wasn’t quite as big a factor. The folks on my first trip would have loved this one just for those reasons!

The resorts were great and each one very unique. The tent at Sweetwater and The Ark in Aberdare were both worth the extra money just because of their location. The Samburu Serena was neat for its location along the river and its open-air concept but it was just a step below the others in uniqueness.

I now know from Geoff that we traveled 1,700 km on our first safari but I forgot to ask him about the second safari. I think it would have been significantly shorter but it was just as good from a safari perspective.

Well, I think that has to be it for now. I'll have more notes on Kenya in general and some notes on Nairobi specifically some time soon.

Tomorrow I am heading to Mombasa with a stop over in Tsavo National Park for one night. Mombasa will be just for relaxation and a little touring. After that I'm not sure where I'm off to but probably farther south in Africa.

As the Kenyans would say in Swahili, Kwaheri or goodbye.

Jayne

Jambo (hello) from Kenya

I am going to write about Kenya while it is fresh in my mind. I'll have to go back to Egypt later. If I don't get a few days between trips and tours I just can't seem to keep up. For now I'll just say that Egypt was fantastic. That tour finished on the 24th and on the evening of the 25th we flew to Kenya. I spent most of the day on the 25th trying to arrange for me to join the group going to Kenya so not much time to write about Egypt then. As it ended I went to the airport with the land portion of the trip confirmed but no airline ticket and no visa for Kenya. However, it all worked out and I've had a fantastic week here.

We flew to Nairobi and it is a beautiful, clean city - at least the part we saw and in comparison to Cairo! The countryside is green and varied - flat, hilly, mountainous, dry, wet, etc. The towns are small with tiny buildings and lots of markets stalls. The people are authentically native, many still wearing their colourful costumes. And none of them are fat. They must walk up to 10 miles to get to the markets or shops they need. Trucks and tour buses and vans were basically the only vehicles on the roads and the roads were horrible. Paved roads had big potholes and bumps and the gravel roads are potted washboards. It was quite a journey but it was well worth it.

Our lodge for the first night was on the other side of Amboseli National Park below Mount Kilimanjaro and on the way in we saw zebras, giraffes, impalas, wildebeests, warthogs, ostriches, gazelles, elephants, storks, pelicans, baboons, monkeys, cheetahs and many other birds and animals that I can’t remember right now. It was totally awesome and that was just on the way in.

We arrived at our lodge, which was in the middle of nowhere but a very beautiful middle of nowhere. It was flat land all around – dry, grassy, marshlands, scrub, small trees, etc. and all just below Mt. Kilimanjaro, which is a pretty awesome sight. It seems to just appear from a shroud of clouds and its white snow capped top stands out sharply against the clear blue sky.

The rooms at the resort were single or duplex units. The grounds were very clean and green and there were many beautiful flowers around. The dining room was buffet style and the food was great. We had three meals a day provided each day so sometimes they pack us a picnic lunch if we are on an all day safari.

After we arrived we had lunch and then went out for another safari which was as good as the drive in. We really got close to many of the animals and we just sat and watched them. On the original drive in we couldn’t stay for long in any one place because we had to make lunch before 3 p.m. The afternoon safari was much more leisurely.

One herd of elephants went right between the jeeps and vans. That’s when you realize just how big they really are. They were much bigger than the vans and just seemed to tower over them. That’s the big ones of course. The younger ones were much smaller and really cute to watch. It was interesting to see how all the elephants fall into line and start following once the matriarch of the herd starts moving. And the old bull generally brings up the rear. Other bulls, young and old, were on their own and following the herds. The herds were anywhere from 20 to 50 in size and at times they just seemed to fill the horizon. There are over 1,500 elephants in the park so I don’t think we saw all of them. However, we did see a lot of them.

We saw them grazing and just standing about. We saw them on the move and we saw them in the mud and/or the water rolling around, sitting or spraying themselves to keep cool. The one little baby, probably only about 2 months old according to our guide, was always hungry but Mom just wasn’t staying still so the little one kept chasing after her. AT one point the little one fell into some deeper water – just lost her footing and slid into the water – and it was so cute. Almost as cute as the warthogs that started running when we drove past. The one in front suddenly stopped and the one behind ran right into the front one’s rear end. At that point they both jumped and took off in opposite directions at full tilt. It was hilarious. According to Jeff, these guys have such short memories that if a predator is chasing them they will suddenly forget and just stop and start grazing. I sometimes wonder about my memory but I think even I would remember that a lion was chasing me.

The other animal we laughed and joked about all the time was the lowly wildebeest. There always seemed to be just one and it was always just standing and staring. It was if they were just pop-up statues that appeared whenever a jeep or van went by. And unfortunately for them since they are not cute or majestic or …, we just kept ignoring them – no stops, no pictures, just jokes.

The drives on the safari all start blending together after while but they were all wonderful. The animals were always there although the lions were elusive at times. We did sit and watch 2 prides for some time though. The second had just killed a buffalo and some of the lions were full and resting while others were pigging out on their kill and yet others were waiting for their turn and sometimes not too patiently. They were quite far back from the road so my pictures won’t be great. However, looking through the binoculars presented an incredible view.

As we left that scene and headed back to the lodge we saw a leopard sitting in a tree. He was also quite far away and we couldn’t get any closer as one of the vans was stuck across the road and several other vans were already stranded behind it. My pictures show a tree with several main branches straight out from the trunk. On the lowest one to the right there is a blob and that’s the leopard. His tail is hanging down below the branch and the swinging tail is often what the guides notice first when they spot a leopard. The tail is also most noticeable on the lion. He is often in the tall grass but the swinging tail rises above the grass and catches your attention.

The first day we saw a lion there were a number of vans on the side road and the lions were moving across the filed. Every one else left and gambled that the lions would keep moving forward and reach the main road but we stayed in our position. Then, when we’re all alone, Jeff discovers that we have a flat tire. Tim gets out to help Jeff and the three ladies stand guard. Sue and I kept lookout on the lions who did move closer but were no real threat. Gay in the meantime was looking out for snakes since the guys were crouched in the grass changing the tire. We all survived and decided it was just another aspect of our safari. We had three vans for our group, driven by Jeff, George and Eddie, and the other two both got stuck at different times. I guess Jeff just wanted to be different.

Amboseli National Park was my favourite. It was about a 7 hour drive from Nairobi on very rough roads but it was our first stop and the animals were incredible, especially the elephants. We stayed at that resort for two nights. All our lodges were Sopa properties.

The second day there we did a longer morning and afternoon safari with a picnic lunch that we ate at the top of a low hill overlooking he spectacular scenery and all kinds of wildlife including huge herds of elephants. It was quite a setting.

Even staying on the roads you can get so close to the animals that we notices their eyelashes. They all seem to have long beautiful eyelashes and considering how dusty it is, that’s a good thing. The size of the animals is also amazing. Elephants are huge and you can see why they weigh tons. Giraffes are so tall when standing up straight. At over 20 feet in height and right at the roadside, they just tower over us in our little van. And the gazelles and impalas look so small and delicate but boy can they run and leap. It was fascinating watching them when they took off. And at the other extreme the hippos and rhinos look so heavy that you’d wonder how they could move at all. We didn’t actually see either moving quickly but Jeff assured us that at least the rhino could move when necessary.

It’s so different seeing the animals in the wild. They run and roam freely and find their own food, and the scenery is so beautiful around them – much better than bars and the back of a small pen.

On the third day we left Amboseli and had a long, hot, bumpy, dusty ride of about 10 hours. We had a picnic lunch along the way and just like every other tour, they expect you to shop when you stop. The locals have all kinds of African souvenirs but I haven’t been tempted to buy anything yet.
We stopped at Lake Nakuru National Park and looked at the hundreds, maybe thousands of lesser and greater flamingos in hot pink or white. They are quite a sight on the lake and this is their low season. I can’t imagine it with many more in the high season. From a distance they look like a solid line of colour. When you get up closer they are fun to watch as they are constantly moving back and forth with their heads down in the water searching for food. Unless we just happened to catch them at a feeding time, these flamingos don’t seem to stand on one leg like the ones I’ve seen in Florida and other places. These ones are constantly in motion.

We also saw some hippos in the lake but they really just looked like oval shaped mounds in the water. We didn’t seem to catch them with their head out of the water or moving. We also saw some white rhinos up on the land, not in the water. They really weren’t white but I guess they have a certain amount of camouflage ability and can vary from white to beige to light brown. The ones we saw were in a family of mom, dad and baby. They were fun to watch through the binoculars but not much by my camera.

Our resort for the night was at Lake Naivasha. It looked like a wonderful resort but we arrived late and left early so didn’t have much of a chance to check it out. I had a lovely room with an entrance hall, bedroom with two double beds, and a sunken living room with huge circular couch looking out of floor to ceiling glass about 20 feet across. The hippos apparently wander the grounds freely so this would have been a good viewing spot. Because of the hippos you had to have security with you at all times when you were outside even just to go to dinner. And of course they always expected a tip! In the morning as we were eating our breakfast a hippo appeared in the garden so I guess the warnings weren’t just all hype.

Our first lodge had small huts and apparently we were also supposed to have security with us there. The first couple of times I wandered out on my own and no one joined me. Gary and Gay on the other hand always had an escort so go figure. The guard told them it was because “the critter” from the lake often frightens the guests. We never did figure out what “the critter” was so perhaps it didn’t really exist.

Boy am I jumping around on this. However, I’m putting various pieces together and they just don’t seem to flow in order at times. So sorry but this is what you get!

On day four we got up early and went for a boat ride on Lake Naivasha to see the island where “Out of Africa” was filmed and to see the hippos and flamingos and other birds and animals. It was a beautiful clear calm morning. The boats were small and held about 8 people each so we took two out. We went to the hippos first and they were much closer this time. There was a group of about 30 just standing around in the water. Every few minutes more would go down under the water and others would come up where you didn’t expect them at all. It was nice to have such a close look at such a large group.

On the other side of the lake we saw lots of animals and birds and flowers. The water lilies or whatever they were swayed to and fro in such large groups that you almost started swaying with them. They seemed to stretch for miles all around the island, which apparently really isn’t an island but rather a long peninsula. And you can walk there so that would have been nice also.

On the green banks of the island there were different kinds of grazing animals such as impalas and gazelles. I think there were only small animals, not big ones like elephants and giraffes but I really can’t remember for sure. The birds were very colourful and of various types – flamingoes, cranes, egrets, etc.

After the boat ride we had a long, bumpy, dusty ride to Masai Mara National Park. The last part went more quickly, or at least it seemed to, because there were animals around to watch. We had a late lunch at the resort followed by a late afternoon safari and two more drives at (6:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.) the next day. We saw many of the same animals but fewer elephants than in Amboseli and more lions than Amboseli. We also saw the leopard here and the topi – a deer-like animal, which I’m obviously not spelling right!

We also spotted a cheetah with a dead gazelle. He was just dragging his kill into a thicket but when we arrived he abandoned it and went into the thicket himself. We waited for quite a while but he didn’t come out again for us. The thicket was really close to the road so I got a couple of great pictures before he disappeared.

We saw a Jackson’s Widow doing his mating dance. The Jackson’s Widow is a long-tailed bird and it just appears to jump in the air – straight up and straight down. I’m not sure where the females were and how they were reacting to the display. Sue also saw a dick dick (?), which is a small antelope that jumps quite high. Apparently I will see more of them when on the northern safari.

I’m trying to think of other animals we saw that I haven’t mentioned like the hart beast, silver back jackals, bat eared foxes, marsh bucks, water buffalo, cape buffalo, mongooses (as opposed to mongeese!) and Egyptian geese, great white egrets and crowned cranes and vulture. It’s a good thing that Gay kept a list of everything we saw because I would never have remember them all!

The ostriches deserve a special mention as they entertained us several times. First of all they appear to be even bigger than our ostriches, especially the males, and we caught them several times running the field or down the road. There were lots of them and it was fun to see them run. They have such long legs and at times when they were flapping their wings they were really showing us a lot of leg! And their eyes and eyelashes were huge too.

I also enjoyed the hyenas at the 10 p.m. feeding at the last resort. I wasn’t there as they put the food out at the start so I don’t know if they got much then. After that they didn’t get much because they were afraid of the other animals especially the domestic house cat. He came up and they all scurried away. Then one or several of them would come back, peer over the edge, see the cat and just turn and run. It was quite funny to watch so we were all laughing. And yes, the hyenas were laughing too. What a funny sound!

Our last resort was upon the hillside with a wonderful view of the valley. We didn’t need escorts to our room here but there really was only one line of huts and we weren’t allowed to go out of the boundaried area. Just about dinnertime at 7:30 p.m. we had a torrential down pour and a fantastic thunder and lighting show. As we ate our dinner we all wondered if we’d be able to get out in the morning.

The roads are just so hard to describe but at times we were crossing small streams which were going to get bigger with the rain. At other times we were going over solid rock with big drops or holes in it. At other times we were on dirt roads that were full of deep potholes or totally washboard in nature. And at other times we were going through deep mud which was well defined by deep ruts and was very slippery. We decided Jeff would do just fine driving in Canadian snow as he handled the slips and slides expertly.

The vans all have snorkels (at least that’s what I’m calling the) on the sides so they can go through deep water. Apparently during the rainy season over Christmas this past year, the water was up to the windows several times. I’m not sure I’d like experiencing that.

Anyway, the rain we had definitely made the roads worse but we did fine while staying on the main roads and avoiding certain areas. However, we were glad it didn’t continue raining although it was cloudy for the next two days. Of course a benefit of the rain is that it eliminates the dust at least for a while. They greeted us at each resort with wet towels and that were black after just wiping your face. Everything and everybody was covered in dust. The rain did wonders for that situation.

Much of this southern safari was through the Rift Valley, the largest valley in the world stretching from Jordan in the north to Mozambique in the south. Gradually the continent is rifting apart and in some distant future the east and west sections will separate but definitely not in our lifetime. Although it’s a valley, in Kenya it is 80000 feet above sea level.

The scenery is beautiful in southern Kenya and goes from very green and lush to much drier. In some places agriculture is very important and in other areas there is barely enough vegetation for grazing animals. The acacia trees, both large and small, are everywhere with their flat umbrella-like tops. There are also trees that look like large cactus but they aren’t cactus. The trees with silver bark also stand out but I don’t remember their name. And one of the birds builds hundreds of nests in a tree but only uses a few of them. The others are just decoys against predators.

Education is free at public school for the first 8 years but they must pay for high school (four years) and university (four years). Wages are very low, especially for government jobs. The private sector pays better. The government is very poor and can’t afford things like free education and good roads. The EU and other foreign organizations are helping with infrastructure but there is a long way to go.

The lower middle class suburb of Nairobi that we drove through looked like a slum to me. However, the people were dressed nicely and they all had homes so they seemed very comfortable. And I guess in this warmer climate you really don’t need a well-constructed house. Jeff said he lived in an apartment but I don’t know what kind. Is a tour guide / driver middle class or lower middle class? I’m not sure I’d have the nerve to ask him.

The hotel in Nairobi is near the business section of the city and right across from the government building. There is a beautiful park to the right and it looks like a great place for a walk. However, no one recommends such a thing especially at night. So for now I’m content to stay inside. The government uses the hotel regularly for meetings so it’s really a very busy spot. Today the head of security for the hotel and the head of security for the country ate breakfast at the table in front of me. They were treated like royalty so I just had to ask the waitress who they were.

The rural towns are just a street or two along the main road and small buildings or shacks at best. There are shops and markets along the main streets and the streets are always busy with lots of people around. The people walk everywhere or take the shuttle vans. No one has their own vehicle. I don’t think Jeff even has one as he said he was still saving to buy a vehicle and it didn’t sound like a second one or a replacement one.

The Masai people walk everywhere. They herd animals and have done so for centuries. Their villages have stick walls around the outside then a row of mud and stick houses then an open circle around another stick wall. Every night the animals (cows and goats mainly) are brought into the center area for protection. The Masai keep fires lit outside the outer wall and take turns guarding the outer perimeter all night. In the morning the animals are let out and the Mesai men herd them to the pastures for grazing. They are everywhere on the landscape and easily identified by the bright red clothes worn by the elders. Younger men and boys have smaller herds to watch over. Some days they might walk 10 to 20 miles in search of good grazing and water, and then return at night. They used to move around a lot but now the villages generally stay put and the herders wander as needed.

Their homes are very simple with just wooden cots and benches on the inside. They still start fires by rubbing two woods together and it only takes about 30 seconds. They wear intricately beaded jewelry and decorations, which they also sell to the tourists. They charge for visits to their village but it was worth it just to see how they live. They are polygamists and a man can have up to 10 wives. We laughed about the fact that each wife had to have a home for her and her children and the husband would place a spear in the ground of the house he was staying in that night. I supposed that’s handy to know in case of emergency but we thought it left the other wives rather obviously unprotected.

The Masai did a welcome dance for us at the village and also in the resorts. Their only form of music is their voices and the sounds are almost like the throat singing of the Canadian north with a number of high pitched squeals thrown in. Their dances are relatively simple but the main one for us seemed to involve jumping. Standing in one spot they simply jump 2-3 feet in the air. When they are in the tall grasses they need to be able to jump high to see if there are nay dangers or predators round and the dance signifies this. The higher a man can jump is also a factor in being chosen for marriage as the higher jumper will be the better protector.

The ladies are in charge of the homestead. They even make the homes themselves. Some of them have to walk miles to get water, which they carry back on their heads or on a stick across their shoulders. They also gather wood and dung for the fires and prepare the meals, look after the children and make clothes and beads.

The diet of the tribe we visited was pretty foreign to us. They eat no vegetables as they won’t grow in the area. They eat meat and drink blood. They are incredibly slim and in good shape and appear very healthy. Aside from the diet, I think we could all take a lesson from these people and all their walking. There is probably a very good reason that Kenyans win most of the marathons and long distance races!

They have their own medicines including a bark to chew for the same effects as viagra. Women during pregnancy drink something that keeps the baby slim to aid in easy childbirth. I wondered if it had any residual effect resulting in their overall slimness as adults.

We visited their school, which also serves as a church. It had a black board and some benches but not much else. The kids were cute and did a great job of reciting their ABCs and counting by 10s. It’s a one-room schoolhouse for all primary grades so probably ages 3 to 12. The youngest ones appeared to be really young! The teacher splits them into 3 groups for their lessons, which are all taught in English. It was nice to see all their eager faces. It was also interesting to see the questions on the board, things like, “how many eyes do three Masai have?” or “how many noses do two cows have?” They were cute.

I think I said earlier that Amboseli was my favourite park. There were so many animals and the elephants were incredible. Lakes Nakuru and Naivasha were just sort of side trips fro me and didn’t add anything too new except for the white rhino and more flamingos and hippos. Masai Mara was beautiful as a park but the animals weren’t as plentiful as I had expected since it is the park every one talks about. It would be interesting to come back after the northern migration from the Serengeti when over a million wildebeest and all kinds of other animals return. Either that or I have to go to Serengeti now to see them there.

Masai Mara means dotted or spotted plain and it would have been nice to see it from a hot air balloon to get the real bird’s eye perspective. However, the balloon trip got cancelled so that was not to be. From the tops of the hills you could certainly get the spotted effect as all the round trees dotted the landscape. The savannah was very beautiful with its rolling hills – very much like the foothills of Alberta.

Kenya has no minerals or oil. Its main sectors are agriculture and tourism. Tea, sugar, coffee and wheat are the its main agricultural products. Their tax rate is only 18% but they don’t get much in exchange for that. In the cities such as Nairobi the unemployment is about 57% so it’s hard to see how the situation will change in the near future. If tourism is to play a key role they will have to make some serious investments in the area and apparently that department received the largest budget increase this year. All that said, I’d still recommend a visit to Kenya as it is a beautiful country and the animals are amazing. I think it might even require a return visit in the future.

Well, I think that’s it for now so I should say goodbye in Swahili and go get something to eat.

Kwaheri

Jayne

PS – I leave on Saturday for a safari trip through North Kenya so will be out of internet contact for another week. They don’t even have phones, let alone internet in the rural areas. And the electricity and hot water are only available at certain times of the day at the resorts since it’s so expensive. The resorts are great but you really just have to work to their schedule.

If Egypt gets done tomorrow I’ll post it. Otherwise the next posting will probably be another epic from Kenya in a week or so.