Nairobi, Kenya & Masai Mara Safari 9/3-8, 2006

We arrive in Nairobi about 6:30 a.m. after a flight in a B737, 3 seats across and packed with large black people.  We have come from Durban to Johannesburg, South Africa and then on to Nairobi, Kenya.  A black man sits between us named David and he is very friendly, strange actually.  He actually asks Janeen to marry him!!!  How funny and strange is that????  We get thru customs easily paying $50 for our visa to enter Kenya.  Out of the arrival area and see a desk offering lodging information.  There are many people surrounding the arrival area waiting for arriving passengers.  We take the easiest path thru the people.  The black guy at the counter finds us Hotel Ambassador for $25 a piece for the day/night.  Arriving early like this you get a full value from the room.  We now go with Max to book the safari.  You are actually a commodity here in the airport for selling safaris.  We go with the company called Amicambre, which means "Friendy Travel" in Swahili, for 3 nights, 4 days @ 25,900 shillings or $359.72 each for the entire safari.  This includes transportation to Lake Nakuru from Nairobi, onto Masai Mara on the Serengeti, lodging for the entire trip and food, and the safaris out into the Serengeti Plains and the transportation back to Nairobi.  Lake Nakuru is where the flamingos are in the tour.  We get a taxi thru the tour people for 200 shillings from the airport to our hotel.  The exchange here is S72.5 = $1.  Nairobi seems expensive to me, however the safari was very inexpensive, I thought.  The hotel is not too impressive, very old and I thought expensive for what we were getting.  They put us on the 4th floor.  Other floors seem more updated.  The elevator is so old and takes forever to stop at your floor.  We get hassled by the taxi drive for a tip on taking the luggage.  I pull out a $5 as Janeen just stands there like a bump on a log.  She annoys me very much today!  We get settled in our room and go out walking the streets of Nairobi to find the Internet.  We are practically the only white people in the streets of Nairobi.  The Internet is filled with people using the computers and you can make phone calls here too.  I call Amy and then get on the Internet to check emails and the bank.  We have been alerted to the possible dangers of Nairobi and advised to only go out in the daylight.  Walk back to the hotel to change for dinner.  While at the airport one of the guys had sold us on going to The Carnivore restaurant, another one of those meals where the meat comes around to your table on big metal skewers and you choose if you want that meat selection or not.  It's a meat and food orgy.  He picks us up at the hotel and we head out to The Carnivore.  We pay another $10 for the taxi to and from our hotel and $25 for the dinner a piece.  We supposedly have reservations but get shuttled to the bar to wait for our reserved table.  We are so sleepy from our flight here.  We order water and the bartender brings a bottle to share.  Finally get the table and we wait.  Their service is not good. We ask the protocol.  First soup, bread and salad and meat sauces are served.  The soup is good and the salad-server-tower has veggies on as well as the sauces for the meat.  The table plaque has a flag on it and when your finished you lay it on the table and they no longer stop with meat.  The meat is OK.  We try ostrich, camel, beef, lamb, pork, croc, turkey, chicken.  They have lots of different cuts of beef but the pork ribs are the best.  We have coffee and sorbet for dessert which is also included.  The lime sorbet is so tart I couldn't eat it.  The strawberry sorbet sweet and the passion sorbet in between.  I could only finish the strawberry.  The driver comes by to inquires about our finishing.  I think he thinks we are taking too long and we share with him the terrible service.  Back to the room and immediately to sleep.  Up early with no wake up call as requested.  Rush to breakfast and check out while the driver waits for us.  We have the stuff ready to be mailed and go to the Amicambre office with the driver.  Wilson is our driver.  We had asked about mailing a package home and they are going to take care of it for us.  We are leaving our big cases in their office while we just take small packs on the safari.  We had asked Max at the airport if we would need our travel sheet and pillow for the safari and he tells us no so we leave out sheets in the large cases but do take our pillows with us.  They are pillows we have lifted from the Qantas plane while in Australia.  We get our package together and James goes to the grocery store to get boxes and tape.  We pack the boxes up and leave money with them for the mailings, $65.38 was my part.  They will go by sea arriving in the States in a few months.  We leave for Lake Nakuru.  The road is unbelievable.  I have never seen a more terrible road.  Wilson is driving on either sides of the road as well as all the other cars and trucks.  It is a mess.  We stop high on a mountain range and view the "Rift" which runs from Sudan to Morocco.  I buy a carved piece with elephants in a row and the rift spelled out on the side marking various sites of the rift.  We drive on and stop at another place for a terrible lunch that is included but buy cokes separately for our beverage, not included.  Looking in the shop here I buy a Masai beaded choker necklace and bracelet.  We drive on thru more terrible roads.  Wilson drives on the road where the road is not damaged and then drives off the side of the road, on either side, where the road is too damaged to drive on.  All the traffic is doing the same thing including huge tractor/trailer trucks.  There is dust flying everywhere.  We are now getting dust inside the van so Wilson stops as the door as been set ajar and letting huge amounts of dusty air into the van.  We are all gagging from the dust.  En route Wilson hits a rut and poor Ross is sleeping at the back of the van.  The intense jar from hitting the rut sends Ross upward hitting the top of the van with his head and of course waking him up.  He seems to be ok from the hit.  Arrive at the Lake and check into the Hotel Genevieve.  Our room is OK with no toilet seat again.  Ross Coomber is on the tour with us. He's from the UK but has been working in Ethiopia as a doctor.  He is still attending the university in London and has another year to go.  He decided to have a bit of a holiday before going back.  He's a real nice guy.  He buys a shit load of stuff at the shop by the rift where we had lunch and at very reasonable prices.  We get some food here too and then go to see the flamingos @ 3 p.m.  Drive into Lake Nakuru National Park and the first thing we see is a band of baboons.  Get some good shots of them.  A warthog and some zebras next, then the flamingos.  The Lake is pink with flamingos.  Some are dead on the edge from lack of water.  The Lake is down from some settlement built to the west using the water supply and causing a drought here.  We see buffalo, deer and more zebra.  The flamingos are the lesser (white ones) and the greater (pink ones).  We also see the Thompson Gazelles.  We see the white Rhinos now.  There is one so big and with a huge tusk.  He must be 30 years old or so.  They are just grazing in the grass.  The park is quite beautiful with huge yellow bark acacia trees.  Lots of grazing animals here.  We drive up to a lookout spot and get a great view of the lake.  Wilson takes our picture with Ross in the middle and cuts off the top portion of Ross's head!  More monkeys here on top.  Get shots with a buffalo and flamingos in the background.  More baboons on the way out.  Back to Hotel Genevieve and to bed.  We do have dinner here before retiring and buy sodas and water.  Up for a early breakfast and leave about 8:30 a.m. heading for the Masai Mara Park.  Again the road is atrocious.  We see our first giraffes driving thru the reserve to the camp.  Also see the first sight of the Masai people in their colorful cloaks.  Our tent is cute with a straw roof over it.  Ross immediately finds a spot with sun behind his tent to sun himself.  He's going to Mombasa to the beach for a few days after this trip and wants to have a tan returning to London.  Mombasa is the beach town on the Indian Ocean not too far from Nairobi and in Kenya.  We had wanted to go there and actually had an invitation from a woman we met in Goa, India but did not have the time to go.  We check out the johns and they have toilets in this out house building.  We go on a game drive with Ben now as our guide.  There is a couple from Germany, Andres & Camile and Spiro from Melbourne, Australia.  He's a strange guy.  He's Greek and his parents came to Australia when he was 2.  Tells me how he hates going home to his job and loves Africa.  His son wants to go to New York.  I tell him to quit his job and go to Africa when his son goes to the States.  We have Ben because Spiro requested him for his safari.  Ben is very good.  There are so many animals in Masai Mara.  We see wildebeest, elands, gazelles, impalas, buffalo, giraffes.  The Masai are herding their cattle out of the park and back to their village.  The herd is huge.  The Masai are all dressed in colorful red, orange, purple clothes with colorful beads and long black legs.  They are extremely tall people.  We see this cheetah lying in the Savannah on top of a mound, very clearly visible.  She begins to roll, stand up and move towards us.  She comes towards us and runs between the vehicles and then she strolls off to hunt.  The sun is setting and we come to lions.  They have just killed a zebra and 2 lionesses are feeding on it, one at the head with the ear and the other at the end with her head between the back legs.  It is very exciting.  The pictures I take are too dark as it was getting quite dark and my camera did not seem to be able to adjust.  So I have no pictures of this incident only memories.  Back to the tent and camp very enthused at all that we have seen.  Couldn't believe it!  I get Wilson to get me some ice for my wine and go to dinner.  The food is OK and I offer to share my chilled chardonnay.  Bruce joins me and he is from Melbourne but has been traveling for awhile.  We go out and sit under the stars, Bruce drinking beer and I finish my red bottle now and open the second bottle of chardonnay.  I finish it too and am now drunk.  Go to bed and get sick by the side of my bed, missing most of my clothes, thank God.  Get some on the back of the shirt and on the ski jacket.  UGG....Sleep well on this awful bed because I am drunk.  They wake us for breakfast.  I dress and get the mess cleaned up.  Wash the jacket and let it dry on my bed.  Have breakfast and feel horrible with a slight headache.  Will I ever learn?????  Luckily the tent doesn't smell and my clothes either!  We have breakfast and leave for the day game drive with Ben again.  See lots of giraffes and then 2 leopards in the tree with their tales hanging down and their front legs draped on either side of the branch.  It is very cute and you forget they are wild animals.  You think you could get out and pet them.  We watch them for some time.  The one gets up and changes positions.  I take their pics but not sure they will be very clear.  We drive on and see the lion pride again.  This time they have killed 2 Buffalo.  At first we only see the buffalo that has not been eaten and we wonder why?  A bit later see the one that has been skinned somewhat and mostly consumed.  We watch these lions for quite a while and I get many pics.  There is a big male here with a full mane.  The male from yesterday had a mane that was just beginning to fill out, so he was a young one.  Further on we see elephants and I get some good shots.  She is down in the watering hole scratching her behind and a baby hosing himself and drinking water.  We watch them for quite a time too.  Ben points out a sausage tree and tells us about the animals using the sausages for medicinal purposes.  Saying a monkey would only eat a portion but an elephant the whole sausage.  We drive on seeing lots of animals and we go to the border of Tanzania and Kenya.  The post marking this border has a T21 and a K2 indicating there are 21 of these posts in Tanzania and that is is the Serengeti and then on the Kenya side 2 posts.  I take a pic of Janeen on the pillar and I have her take a pic of me in Tanzania and the Serengeti side.  We go on from there to the Mara River where there are lots of hippos in the water and on the shore.  Crocodiles also.  Before this river, we stopped for lunch on the Savannah with chicken and bad sandwiches.  The sandwiches were 3 piece of bread with butter spread sparingly and small amounts of onion, cucumber and tomato.  It was really silly.  The chicken was good and also juice and a banana.   We got out of the vehicle and sat on the roots of a tree to eat our lunch, all the time on look out for wild beasts!  It was an open clearing high on the Savannah.  Back to the hippos.  They are snorting and moving around in the water collected in big groups almost on top of each other and the young in the center protected by the adults from crocs.  There are crocs on the shore and we watch one enter the water and swim down the river.  We have to hire a guard here to walk along the river bank and he is armed.  These are the soldiers from Kenya's army used for this duty.  We pay him to walk us along the river and tour us.  His name is Tony and I have my pic takes with him.  After the lunch and before the Mara River, we stop at a river with no water, Sand River.  The wilder beasts have been gathering in large numbers to cross.  A gal tells me later that the zebras go first and then when they feel it's safe, the wilder beasts go.  I guess a few zebras cross or turn back.  If they cross the whole herd crosses.  There were really large numbers of wilder beasts and quite a few zebras but no crocs, no water and the crocs in the water are the danger.  Crocs get them as they cross the river.  After we leave the Mara River we see more elephants.  We see a herd of zebra with a baby and I photograph them.  Leave the Park and go to the Masai village. The Masai charge us 1,000 shillings to go thru their village.  A real rip!  Professing this money goes to the school.  Earlier we stopped at the Wilderness Lodge gift shop and I bought lots of stuff, too much!  3 postcards, l doorstop, 3 bottle stops, 1 carved gourd, 1 mouse pad with a leopard sketched on it, a map of the park and a book on the park and 4 stamps to mail cards back to the US all totally over $60.  The Masai village is unbelievable.  They live in huts made from slats of wood covered by cow dung that has been dried out.  Inside they have a fire going and the room is smoke filled, burning my eyes.  The guy from the village who toured us spoke very good English and we were in his home.  He introduced us to his 2 children and wife.  The youngest girl had her nose running and was obviously affected from the smoke in the room.  Ross took the older child, a boy, on his lap.  I took their pic.  He then tells us that he will have another wife.  His father had 4 wives and 17 children.  It is to me, a bizarre society, very patriarchal!  He shows us where they keep the sheep and goats for the night and where they keep the cattle away from the lions at night.  He shows us where he will guard them tomorrow night as they all take turns at century.  Now he corrals us into their selling stands.  A huge circular place with all the individual sellers.  He takes us to his stall area and sells me a lion claw necklace for $20 asking me if Janeen would like the other one.  He does this all on the sly.  Then corrals me to his wife's stuff.  I buy a shield, 2 beaded basket purses and he gives me the carved zebra I had been contemplating, as I told him he cleaned me out of cash!  He then talks to Janeen thru the window of our van and sells her the lion claw necklace for $10.  Well I am pissed and demand from him the return of $10, which he sheepishly and reluctantly does.  So watch out if you shopping with the Masai and bargain diligently!  Back to camp and a shower just before dusk so we can see as there are no lights inside the shower building.  I have only the wash cloth to dry with as Max, the fellow at the airport who booked our tour, told us we would not need our towel or a sleeping bag.  The smallest towel I have ever used in my life.  It feels great.  The shower hot water is heated by a tank in the back of the shower building with a wood fire below the tank.  The shower building looks much like an outhouse.  Sit around outside sharing my cheddar cheese from Capetown wine tour with everyone.  The blond girl from New Zealand wants us all to come to the Lodge bar and drink with them.  I've had it with the wine from the other night but Ross and the French guy go after dinner.  Dinner is again just tolerable.  Haven't liked this food much. Eat and go to bed.  I pay for the water and toilet paper and the guy returns my change from Wilson.   Tonight it's very hard to sleep but I do finally go to sleep.  We are both sleeping on a ratty old foam mattress with a heavy blanket to cover us on a cot with about 5 slots across to hold you.  Very uncomfortable.  The night before I was drunk and slept like a baby.  Tonight I have a problem and wake up alot in the night.  Max should have told us to bring our travel sheet with us as we are just sleeping with our pjs bare to this sleeping arrangement.  UGG!!!  We're up early to go for our last drive @ 6:30 a.m.  We wait in the van for Janeen.  Ross makes a comment that she claimed to only take 5 minutes to get ready and she was at 20 minutes now.  This drive it's another beautiful day but early so I have on my hat, gloves, parka and need it all.  We see giraffes, zebras and see the lion pride again.  This is a different one because the big male lion has a full mane.  He is trying to mate with one of the lionesses but she's not cooperative. He stands in front of her lying there and marks his scent using his back legs to move it around just as a domestic cat would do.  It was very cool.  We watch them walk off to hide in the bushes and see them again a bit later.  We watch the young male call to the other females and they all stroll off separately, a few playing and one crunching and paunching to play with another one.  It was amazing to watch and I have photos of most.  We head back to the camp after watching one of the lionesses hunt the herd of buffalo making her path around them and not in the wind so they could pick up her scent.  Back at the camp we pack up.  I tip Ben 1,000S and we put aside the tip for Wilson of 500S.  Wilson would have been the guide I think for all our trips into the Park but Spiro had requested Ben.  Say good bye to the German couple and Spiro and leave for Nairobi on that awful road.  We have LeAnn and Max from Newcastle, Australia riding with us.  Janeen has her original seat, Ross and I are in the back, LeAnn where I sat and Max in front of me.  Ross had his music on, Janeen too and LeAnn has hers and singing quite loud.  I comment to Max "we're the only ones that can hear her" as he doesn't have a headset on either.  They are staying at a place out of the Lonely Planet for $8 a night, Ross at a backpacker dorm for $13 and we paid $50 for a hotel!  They are dropped off at a different location than where our cases are as I had intended to inquire about a room.  We say our goodbyes to them and Ross as he's picked up too so no opportunity to ask about the backpacker.  Back at the office we get our stuff, information on the package and my package costs more than Janeen's.  I am really confused and certain that James has gotten the slips reversed.  I do find out when getting home that it is the case.  I have Janeen's and she has mine.  So we have to ship them to each other, Janeen returning the overage charge to me.  We tell the Amicambre people we are not going back to the Ambassador at that price.  They find us The Embassy for $25, no breakfast in the a.m. as we leave at 6a.m.  I go for a small meal of salad, soda and 3 veggie samosas here in the hotel, not great food here in Nairobi.  Back to the room.  The room has no windows, 2 twin beds, a sink, separate shower room and then separate toilet.  The toilet does not work properly but I did take a shower and now to bed requesting a wake up at 5:15 a.m.  Awaken at 5:15 a.m. but stay in bed till 5:30.  Have all my stuff ready to go so dress and get stuff downstairs.  I leave my cutters bug lotion which I never used and the hard salami from the Capetown wine tour in the room telling the guy at the desk to get it if he wants it.  The driver is there.  Wait a bit for Janeen in the taxi.  The trip is quick with no traffic this early.  Big hassle with luggage switching liquids and cosmetics into the big bag I am checking.  We are going into London and they have just recently had that arrest of 21 terrorists boarding planes headed for the States and have put all these high restrictions on what can come on board.  This is the first incidence of this nature on our entire trip so far.   Then I have to check my small bag anyway being charged to have it shrink wrapped to the tune of almost $9.  Go thru security 3 times removing my boots.  Before that, I got coffee and an almond croissant that wasn't too good for a quick breakfast.  The coffee was great though.   Buy some Kenya coffee beans and a bottle of Pinotage in duty free and then get a bag of chips before boarding, very expensive potato chips but very good.  Flight is good.  I have an aisle seat with a French woman.  Her husband has been working in Nairobi for 9 months and their headed home now, he on a different flight.  She points out Mt. Kilimenjaro from the plane window and takes 2 pictures for me.  I watch 2 movies, a British film about a family afected by the father's death and weirdness and another I don't note the name of and can't remember now.  We land about 4 a.m.......we're in London......EXPENSIVE........