The 1999 Big Trip: Africa

Part 3: Kenya

 

I was still a bit too queasy to eat breakfast on the flight to Amsterdam, but looking down into the Alpine valleys, filled with fog, was nice. Instinct was the movie on this flight, ho hum. The lay-over in Amsterdam was brief, I bought some candy for Africa, and then flew south.

Once again, I had good seats on the flights, the advantage of booking early. The movies were Wild Wild West (which was dreadful!) and Instinct (again!). I instead looked out of the plane at the Sahara. Even from 39000 feet you can see the shifting sands. (I also got to look down on Libya. Take that, Qaddafi!) I felt well enough to have lunch, which was beef and mashed potatoes. I also had the snack at the end of the flight, a sandwich.

Based on the number of fliers to Nairobi with camera gear, it is obvious that the photo safaris are big business. Arrival was fairly efficient, I even found an ATM that would dispense some cash. I picked up 18000 Kenyan shillings, which was about $250. Turned out to have been a good idea to stock up on Kenyan money, despite the short stay.

The itinerary called for two days and three nights in Kenya, followed by a six day Tanzanian safari. Once I got my luggage, I headed over to the Norfolk Hotel, and old British institution and probably the top hotel in Nairobi. As it was after 9PM when I arrived, the main restaurant was closed. Only the Lord Delamere Court was open, where for dinner I had French onion soup, and fish and chips. Quite filling. I was tired, so I found my room and slept.

For breakfast the next day I had a typical English breakfast: sausage, eggs, bacon and baked beans.

My task for my first morning in Nairobi was to try to find a laundry. This was quite frustrating, as I walked with a laundry bag for 90 minutes, looking for a place that will clean my clothes for less than $100 in less than 48 hours. I did not find any place in downtown willing to take laundry by weight, instead they wanted absurd prices like 220 Ksh for a tee shirt and 500 Ksh for a pair of jeans. That's $3 and $7, respectively. Even the Norfolk was cheaper, though not by much. I performed some triage on my laundry to decide what really needed cleaning, and had it cleaned at the hotel. Sort of reminded me of college days.

Hell, I could have bought more underwear in the US for less than I was spending on cleaning them.

I had a message to check the DBR web site, so I used the hotel computer system to log in and see what was happening. My home machine was not ping-able nor was it coming up; I sent some email to my friend Tai to check it out. I also taught the hotel admin about Netcenter and Site Central, she was impressed.

Downtown Nairobi is interesting. In the middle is the City Market, essentially an open air grocery with more. Probably for the well-to-do, you can buy fruits, vegetables, and even meats. Back at the hotel, I watched the birds in the gardens. Perched black kites (Milvus migrans), pied crows (Corvus alba), robins, and yellow weavers. It was fascinating. The kites were soaring so low you could almost touch them. The climate in Nairobi was cool, particularly after Egypt, but even compared to London.

For lunch, I had the Mexican pizza, which wasn't too bad, and chips. Properly fried potatoes can be delicious, as opposed to the sugar-coated McDonald's french fries. After lunch, I had my first tour. The first stop was a bead factory. While the others on the tour shopped, I watched the sky. It was a good thing I did, as I saw a Verreaux's Eagle (Aquila verreauxi) fly overhead. It was too high to photograph. Two of the people on this tour were to join me for the entire Kenya/Tanzania safari. Both were older women, Mary from Long Island and Patsy from North Carolina. I fear they would drive me crazy by the end of my two weeks, but I was wrong. Five other people joined us, but they were off for Aberdares.

Next stop was the Blixen Museum. There were a lot of "this is a copy used in the film" comments. "Out of Africa" was written by Karen Blixen, and the movie was filmed in the area. The grounds were nice.

Last stop of the day was the giraffe area. It was interesting, but clearly aimed at an unreal experience. You can feed the giraffes, they were quite tame. We had to wait 45 minutes there as one of the women had a problem with her credit card, the result being that I missed sunset at the hotel as we were stuck in traffic.

I ate at the fancy restaurant at the Norfolk. I ordered Thai fish cakes, the three soup sampler (leek & potato, ostrich, and seafood bisque), and ostrich filets. Ostrich has a good, strong flavor. I went to bed and slept.

Bagafecht Weaver

The next morning was another English breakfast, and a full day touring. I was awakened by a buffalo weaver (Pinemellic dinemelli), which was a noisy bird. We were joined by Jeanne from Reading for this tour, and she was joining us in Tanzania. I was picked up an hour late, at 10:30. Our first stop was an elephant "orphanage." Here, humans raise abandoned elephants and rhinos. It was OK, nothing great.

Lunch was at the Carnivore restaurant. This was supposed to be a big event, we were served beef, lamb, pork, chicken, ostrich, zebra, and hartebeest. To be honest, it was difficult to tell any of them apart; all were extremely well cooked and little flavor was left. I think I fed more meat to the cats than I ate myself. I named one cat Neko (she reminded me of Nyssa) and one was Kashka. Kashka was a tortoise shell cat. Another cat, whom I named Godot, joined us after the food was gone, but was quite friendly.

I was pleased to see the cats. I must admit that I was a bit uncomfortable, eating with three women I didn't know, and who were all at least 20 years older. There was no real common ground for conversation.

A gentleman joined us for the afternoon in Nairobi National Park. At last, the first real safari! But before we could enter, we had to stop at another orphanage. For "orphanage," read "zoo." Caged cats, caged monkeys. The monkeys can be released, but not the cats; they are condemned to spend the rest of their lives in cages.

Finally, we entered the park. Lots of birds: maribou (Leptoptilos crumeniferus), Egyptian geese (Alopochen aegyptiacus), vulturine guineafowl (Acryllium vulturinum), sacred ibis (Threskiornis aethiopica), black-winged plover (Vanellus melanopterus), ostrich (Struthio camelus). Then we saw zebras (Equus burchellii), giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis), wildebeest,(Connochaetes taurinus) hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus), grant's gazelle (Gazella granti), greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros), bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus), impala (Aepyceros melampus), thompson's gazelle (Gazella thomsonii), African white-backed vultures (Gyps africanus), black-shouldered kites (Elanus caerulus), an unidentified bee eater, and savanna baboons (Papio cynocephalus). There were thousands of zebra, and at one point, 28 vultures circling. Even saw two jackals (Canis mesomelas). It was amazing, and it is supposed to get better from here.

Maasai Ostrich	Guineafowl
Marabou	Spoonbill
Sacred Ibis and Spoonbill	Sacred Ibis
Long-tailed Cormorant	Burchelli's Zebra
Giraffe	Grant's Gazelle
Gnu (Wildebeest)	Impala
Hartebeest

Click on any image to see a larger picture

After this, we headed back to the Norfolk where I had fish and chips for dinner and went to bed.

I woke early the next morning to get a start on the Tanzanian safari. Breakfast was, once again, an English breakfast. I was picked up at 7:45 for the ride to Arusha in Tanzania. It was a full van, the last two for our Tanzanian safari joined us: Chris and Tracy from Scotland. They were nearer my age. Also, another American joined us for the leg to Arusha, where she was instead heading off for Kilimanjaro.

The drive south to Namanga was uneventful. We stopped at a shop for about 20 minutes, where I saw a white-bellied go-away bird (Corythaixiodes leucogaster), but that was it to Namanga. Passing through Kenyan emigration was fast, and it was a short drive to Tanzania.