Kenya

I’m baaaack!  I haven’t had much to report on during this term now that I’m in my second year and things aren’t so new to me anymore.  But trust me, I do have some post that I’ve been working on. These things just take time and research to complete.  Look out for new post in 2016.  But while we are still in 2015, I would like to share with you my last trip I took just last week.  I went back to The Motherland and visited Kenya!  Kenya was an experience.  From our accommodations to the animals…an experience.

Accommodations: 

Masai Mara Camp

We had three places we stayed in throughout our trip.  When we first arrived in Kenya we took a 5-hour drive out to The Bush also known as the Masai land.  It was a long and bumpy ride.  I felt like I was Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura 2 dying this part of the trip.  When we arrived we were in slight shock when we saw where we would be sleeping for the next two days – tents!  We were literally camping.  The bonus was that we had a cement foundation, a toilet, and shower in our tent.  (Notice how I didn’t say bathroom because I wouldn’t call it that because there was nothing to separate the toilet and shower from the rest of the tent.)  Now some of you may be wondering why we would be in shock if we have access to the internet and could look up what this place looked like before arriving in Kenya.  Well you know how you look at something online and it looks like you can manage and everyone else seems to be okay with it?  No? Well, that’s what I thought.  I must say, I think I did pretty well.  One of my friends even said that it looked like I had done this camping thing before. (I guess that one trip to Yosemite paid off Dad!)

Here’s our tent and my roommate (Rosamund) for the trip!  We stayed in this tent the first night and on the second night we had to be moved because Rosamund saw something near the headboard of my bed with a white tail.  Ummm, we quickly vacated the tent and moved to a new tent that had a real door (the door made us feel a little better).  The two other girls, Ebony and Cidney, joined us in our tent that night because they didn’t want to be too far away from us.  Let’s just say you hear some very interesting noises in the middle of the night when you are camping out in the wild.

My bed that I slept in fully covered with a hoodie and all.  We had to clean up some dead bugs before tucking ourselves in the first night.

Here’s some of our neighbors.  One decided to join us for breakfast our last morning, uninvited might I add.  He jumped on our table, we ran, he got his breakfast, and we (including the men who worked at the camp) had a good laugh.

Lake Nakuru

When we arrived we were greeted by the staff and informed that there was no power.   Now in Kenya a lot of the accommodations in this area turn the generators on during a certain time for you to have  power and warm water.  So initially when we heard no power, I thought well what time does the generator come on?  No, there was no power since yesterday, which meant no hot water, which meant no shower!  On top of that, there already wasn't anything to do as far as entertainment goes once we had gotten there so we got to our room (we were so happy to be in a room and we were in one room which made us feel safe) and we were literally sitting in the dark.   

The staff was nice enough to provide us with a flashlight and kerosene lamp.  We went out to the front porch and played some checkers.  The board was made out of cork and the checker pieces were bottle caps.

We had a "romantic" dinner with the other guest and the cats that lived on the property.  If you know me, you know I was not excited about the cats, but the other guest entertained and fed the cats, which kept them away from me.

When we returned to our room we were a bit bored so I made some shadow puppets.  That didn’t last long and we weren’t tired so we had girl talk.

Nairobi

Every new accommodation was a step up from the last.  We couldn’t wait to make it back to the city and get to our last accommodation – The Fairmont!  This Fairmont is the oldest hotel in Nairobi.  We were so excited to sleep in a comfortable bed and take a nice shower. 

The Trip

Day One:

We traveled.  By the time we made it to the campsite, we felt like we had seen most of Kenya.  If you plan on traveling to Kenya anytime soon make sure you factor in the horrible traffic you will encounter.  At one point it took us two hours to get somewhere that should've taken us twenty minutes.

Traffic in The Bush

Traffic in Nairobi

Day Two:

We went on our safari and saw four of the Big Five animals.  The Big Five are some of the biggest and meanest animals in Kenya – the lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard, and rhino.  We were lucky enough to see everything but the rhino in just one day!  You’ll see a ton of animal pictures in my video.  I was super excited about seeing all these animals and I had a new camera to play with.

Day Three:

Before we left the Masai land, we stopped to visit a Masai village.  We were greeted with a song and dance showcasing the Masai mens' jumping skills.  We were then granted access to see how the Masai live.  
Later that day we visited Lake Nakuru.  When my Dad traveled to Kenya years ago, I remember him showing us pictures of hundreds of flamingos at this lake.  I was very eager to get to the lake and see the same.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite what I remembered from the pictures.  The water levels have risen in the lake and now there aren’t as many flamingos as there once was (thanks a lot Global Warming).  I  did still get to see a lot of flamingos and as a bonus we saw a rhino on our way to our lodge!  Seeing all the Big Five animals...check!

Day Four:

We visited Crater Lake.  We took a guided hike around the park, got pretty close and personal with some zebras and giraffes, and enjoyed a wonderful lunch down by the lake.

 Later that day we headed back to the city and were greeted by the Nairobi traffic.  Once we finally made it to our hotel and dropped off our bags, we met Beverly, a friend of my Dad who has been living in Kenya for many years.  She had some friends over and prepared a wonderful meal for us.  It was my favorite meal of the trip.

Day Five:

We walked around town and bought fabric and souvenirs.  For dinner we visited a local restaurant and pub where our server became our new Kenyan friend.

Day Six:

It was time to head back to the desert.  After getting bumped off my connecting flight from Doha to Dubai, I finally returned at 2:30am in the morning.  I still had to get to Al Ain which was another hour away, sleep for about an hour, and then get up and go to work the next morning...Oh the places I'll go!