Hakunah Matata

After leaving Nepal we had a bit of a marathon trip in getting over to Nairobi. Our flight left Nepal in the afternoon and arrived back in Delhi in the evening. We booked a cheap $20 hotel near the airport since we weren’t flying out until the next morning. The hotel itself was okay, but in the morning (1:30am) when we had to head back to the airport they tried to charge us double the shuttle price. We argued and pointed out there price list, which they had covered over with newspaper from the night before, when we had seen uncovered. In the end they claimed it was a night service price and we were stuck since we needed to get to the airport, so we had no choice but to pay the price.

From Delhi we flew to Doha, Qatar for a brief layover before heading on to Nairobi. The airport is interesting because it is pretty new, sparkling clean and serviced almost exclusively by the Qatar based airline. It seemed that only 2 flights in the entire morning were not from the Qatar airline. The airport had a mosque inside which we assume was to make sure that at any of the designated prayer times the Muslims had access to a mosque.

Then, finally we were on our way to Nairobi. Out of our entire 4 month voyage Christine was most excited about the Nepal portion of our trip; however, Kenya was what I was most looking forward to. A very good friend of mine that I have known since about 3 years old, Chris, has been living in Kenya for many years. The thought of seeing Africa, the incredible wildlife, and a life-long friend was very exciting. My father also grew up in neighbouring Ethiopia, so I have been raised on stories of Africa. (Left - Hovan and his good friend Chris).

When we landed in the afternoon we were picked up by a driver that Chris uses regularly. We had been out of the airport not more than 3 minutes when we saw giraffes in the distance. Too cool!! The trip through Nairobi and out to the complex where we were staying was pleasant and about 45 minutes. The city itself seems quite clean and comparatively quiet on the traffic front when compared to India.

Chris and his wife Sherene are teachers at Rosslyn Academy, a Christian school designed to teach missionary children. The school goes from primary all the way up to high school graduation and has about 500 students, including diplomat kids and those of children whose parents have business interests in Nairobi. The staff at the academy all have accommodation within the complex grounds and things are very well guarded. The street the academy is just off of holds the UN complex for western Africa, the US embassy along with about 10 other embassies. Funny enough the academy is sandwiched between the US embassies staff living quarters and the Iraqi embassy. Security is tight all around as Kenya can be a very dangerous place where robberies and car jackings and other violent crimes are a somewhat common place occurrence. One must always be vigilant.

Above - Rosslyn Academy

When we arrived at the academy we were introduced to Chris and Sherene’s beautiful baby girl Amaya. We also had the opportunity to meet their nighbours across the street, Tim and Lisa along with their two boys Max and Simon. It turned out that Chris’s place is a bit small for visitors so they arranged for us to stay with Tim and Lisa. Tim also happens to be Chris’s boss, and the principle of the Academy’s high school. Tim and Lisa are an absolutely wonderful couple and they completely opened their home to us and made us feel so very welcome. After so long in tents and hostels and hotels it was very nice to be in a home, especially such a nice one where we are treated like 5 star guests. (Right - Lisa and Tim).

It turns out that the day we arrived was Tim’s birthday, so we all piled into their 9 seat vehicle and went out for some delicious Indian food. Along the way we got a bit of an education on Kenya and some political and social back history. It seems sad that terrible corruption still plagues the country and often in such blatantly obvious ways. We also got a lesson on the driving rules in the country, limited so they appear. Still the Kenyans are much lighter on the horn than most of the Asian countries we visited and nothing can compare with India’s traffic situation, so to us it seemed reasonably tame, if not a little erratic. (Left - Lisa, Simon & Max).

On our way back from dinner a giant wolf spider decided to make it’s presence known on the outside of the car. When we returned to the academy, Chris and Tim managed to capture it in a container. The spider was absolutely enormous and not only was it large, the legs were incredibly thick. Very creepy.

Christine and I spent the next two days lounging around the academy and taking the odd trip here or there. We were treated to a tour around the entire campus and it is quite the facility. There are a number of well designed buildings, gorgeous grounds, a pool, lots of sports fields and a track. The US marine detachment guarding the embassy also uses the grounds to train, as most places aren’t safe enough, so we actually saw a marine running laps around the track (he was doing them in army issue boots). They seem to have most of the modern amenities of a western school and I have no doubt that the quality of education is quite high by western standards. We also were able to spend a bit of time watching Chris in action as a teacher, and I think he is a natural. I had the pleasure of having Chris’s father as a teacher when I was in elementary school and much of the family is in the education system. Chris is a natural at building good relations with his students, but still has that ability to be strict and serious when necessary and crack the whip so that the students learn. (Right - Tim & Lisa's Porch).

A good deal of our time has been spent on Tim and Lisa’s patio which has an amazing view down to a river and up a small valley the other side. It is so quiet and peaceful that we just sat and read, lazed in the hammock, drank tea, ate snacks and spent time chatting with Lisa or playing with Amaya when we could. They have been a couple of lazy days. We have also been eating well as there is a constant flow of delicious meals and continuous snacks. Many people here have staff to help with cleaning and cooking and the cost for staff is less per day than it would be for one hour of help in Canada. They are so kind and hard working. Apparently Chris hasn’t washed a single dish, done laundry or cleaned his bathroom once in the 6 years he has been in Kenya. That sounds pretty good to me.

We also took a trip to a jewelry shop that specializes in rare beads, such as trade beads which were used to buy slaves, (in some cases one bead was enough to buy another human life – so very sad) extinct black corral, and many traditional styles of local areas. Many of these beads and pieces are no longer being made as the skill has been lost through the centuries, so there are limited numbers left. One type of bead that Christine fell in love with was the bright burgundy of the Samburu tribe. The Samburu are closely related to the very famous Maasai tribe. In Samburu tradition a male would kill a lion and then receive a bead from the elders. He would then give the bead to a woman he felt was beautiful. Once a woman had a necklace with a significant number of beads, she would be eligible for proposal. The more beads a women had the more beautiful she was considered. I bought Christine a bracelet and earrings that contained 9 beads. I now have to find a way to hunt and kill 9 lions with either a spear or my bare hands in the next week and half, so I guess that’s the end of my lounging on the porch.

We really enjoyed our few days spending some good time with Chris and Sherene and Amaya as well as making friends with Tim and Lisa and their boys. It was incredibly relaxing and very peaceful. The break gave us some time to collect ourselves before we set off on our safari.

On Thursday morning we were picked up early by Ian, a driver for the safari company whose services we engaged. Ian was requested by Chris as a driver that he has used a number of times in the past and who does an excellent job. Ian was driving a standard safari van that has a pop top which allows us to stand and look out without obstruction when we are in the parks.

Chris had helped me make arrangements with the safari expedition since I had no idea what I was doing. He recommended a visit to 3 parks over a week and a schedule that I think was a very functional and common one. The trip to the first park was the longest drive of the whole trip and we spent about 5 hours driving out of Nairobi. Along the way Ian stopped at a few places where we could look at some local handicrafts or points of interest. The second stop we made was at the equator where we were treated to a demonstration on the correolis effect. A gentleman explained to us that water drains a different way depending on the hemisphere one is in. We walked about 20 metres from the equator into the northern hemisphere, and he drained water through a bowl showing that the water turned clockwise and that the water draining out the bottom was corkscrewing thusly. Then he walked us down to the southern hemisphere and demonstrated that it drained counter clockwise. At the equator he showed that the water drained straight down. It was very entertaining and somewhat reminiscent of a Simpson’s episode that focused on the same issue. (Right - Hovan and I at the equator).

In the afternoon we arrived at the Samburu game park, which is the same tribal area that I bought the lion beads for Christine. On our way into the lodge we passed a bunch of reticulated giraffe and saw an elephant in the distance. The lodge we stayed at turned out to be a wonderful facility with really nice rooms, a great pool, and phenomenal buffet feasts. We were treated at the door to a cold eucalyptus cloth that was very refreshing after the long drive. Then we were offered some fresh squeezed juice and led off to our room. The thing about Samburu is that it’s incredibly hot and the room only had a fan to keep cool, but the pool always served to cool us down. (Left - the beautiful lodge we stayed at).

Our lodge sat facing the river and we had the pleasure of viewing crocodiles sunning themselves on the shore. Monkeys, baboons and tropical birds are all around and we have enough wildlife off our balcony to give us a show without going anywhere. One monkey actually stalked us all the way from the restaurant because we had snacks in our hand for later and he hoped to make a quick hit and run, but we never gave him the opportunity. (Right - Monkeys in the hotel compound).

We went out for an afternoon game drive after getting settled in. The pattern is typically to do a drive early in the morning for about 2 ½ hours before breakfast and another at 3:30-4:00 in the afternoon for another 2-3 hours. This is the time of the day that the animals are moving around more and increases the chance of spotting them. We had 3 game drives in Samburu, which may seem like a lot, but the parks are very large and there is much to see. We had a fairly lengthy mental list of animals we wanted to see, not the least of which are the Big 5. The Big 5 are: Lion, Leopard, Rhino, Elephant and Buffalo. The Buffalo seems like an odd one amongst the others, but apparently they are very dangerous and if you are out in a field close to one they will very likely charge you, due to their somewhat aggressive nature. (Left - Abundant wildlife)

Kenya has an incredible diversity in the wildlife, and the number of different types of gazelles and antelope is amazing. They are very easy to spot, in large numbers and all over the place. We were told that generally the gazelle families have males with horns and females without. The antelopes are a bigger class and both males and females have horns. You can see all kinds from the tiny Dik-Dik to the Oryx in abundance and scarcely does 5 minutes go by without seeing some, so there is always wildlife around. We will never be able to outline all the animals we have seen on our drives, so we’ll keep to the highlights and the big “popular” ones. (Right - Dik-dik).

On our first drive we came across a lion lying near a kill and keeping an eye on it. In Samburu many of the males do not have manes, so Ian had to explain to us that it was in fact a male. His kill was a baby elephant and there was enough of the carcass left to identify it. We watched him for quite a while, and at one point he passed about three feet from the van, so we got a really nice close view of him. We were a bit disappointed to leave him, but Ian promised that we would see many more over the course of the week. True enough we rounded the corner and about 7 seconds later spotted another male, and he did have a mane, sparse though it was. Through the drive we also got a good view of a giraffe up close and personal, and they are a fascinating creature as they look so very different from anything else on earth. (Left - Lion going to guard its kill).

The next day we enjoyed two more drives and they started off a bit slow. We did spot a very lengthy cobra, and that creeped me out, not being a fan of poisonous snakes. We also found a sizeable tortoise out in a rocky desert area. In the afternoon we came across the same lion as the day before, once again he was lying down not really moving much and enjoying probably his 10th nap of the day. Near the end of the day we discovered a wonderful herd of giraffes, elephants (including a couple of cute babies) and our first zebra. The zebra was strange as they are apparently found in large herds and he was all by himself. The zebra was pretty shy, but we got really close to the giraffes who seem not to care in the least how close we got. The elephants were also pretty casual in their attitude to us and apart from sheltering the young ones were content to let us get close. On our way back to the lodge we saw a family of warthogs waddling along. (Left - Giraffe and the lone zebra we saw).

We really enjoyed our time in Samburu not least because we saw our very first wildlife there. The park is a bit remote so the trails are rugged and bumpy and there was hardly anyone in the park. Apparently we stayed in the nicest lodge in the park and it only had 10 guests to fill the 72 bungalows they had, so definitely a quiet time in low season. We also got a good appreciation for not only how durable the vans are, but how good a driver Ian is. Every time we came to a rough spot that I assumed we would get stuck, Ian handled it with aplomb. Christine and I even found our travel legs as we stood and held on, balancing and bouncing all over the rocky terrain. (Right - Elephant and her baby).

Now we are off to Mount Kenya for the next leg of the safari.

Best wishes from us to you,

Christine and Hovan