"Done laid around, done stayed around
This old town too long
And it seems like I've got to travel on."
Bob Dylan, Gotta Travel On
This is the continuing account of my 2002 trip to the East African countries of Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda with my friend, Frank Carone. We had just spent 2 weeks in Tanzania (see my previous post in this series) and now we are in..........
Kenya
In the past centuries, the main visitors to Kenya were the Arab traders who plied their dhows along the eastern coast of Africa. These days it's tourist and adventurers who come to Kenya in large numbers - little wonder as it has an amazing variety of attractions.
Kenya s the heart of safari country which encompasses Savannah, lake lands, the dramatic Great Rift Valley, and mountain highlights including Africa's second highest mountain, Mt. Kenya. Breathtaking sights and wildlife, including millions of wildebeest on their annual migration or a herd of elephants crossing the plains will leave you speechless.
***Please note the image quality is limited as these pictures were not digitally captured but rather are prints that have been scanned.***
We waste no time in Nairobi, rather we continue onwards to the coast. We spent a night in Mombasa before taking the local bus to......
Malindi
Malindi has been settle since the 12th century, but it was in the 1980's that it experience a tourist boom (as did all the communities along the Kenyan coast). However, with the collapse of the tourist industry, Malindi once again looks and feels like the sleepy village it is.
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| The yellow building is where we stayed for the night in Malindi. |
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| The best stretch of beach is in front of the Driftwood Beach Club though it does have the drawback of suffering from the brown silt that flows out of the Galana River at the northern end of the bay during rainy season. When we arrived the rainy season had just ended and the dry season was beginning |
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| Local fishermen hauling their net from the muddy waters off of Malindi. They're actually catching tiny sardine-like fish. |
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| The Umota Hotel just outside of Malindi. Nope never stayed in this one, they had no vacancies!! |
Lamu
"Paradise Lost", that's how a friend of Frank's described Lamu. We went for 3 days ended up staying for 9.....Paradise Lost!! Kenya's oldest living town, it acquired a reputation as the Kathmandu of Africa - a place of fantasy and other-worldiness wrapped up in a cloak of medieval romance. It draws globetrotters and that much maligned bunch of people called hippies. The attraction is obvious, Lamu is remote, unique and fascinating self-contained societies that have somehow escaped the depredation of the 20th century with their culture, their centuries old way of life and their architecture intact.
Strictly an Islamic population, the men still wear the full lenght white robes known as khanzus and the kofia caps, and women cover themselves with the black wrap-around bui-bui as they do in other Islamic cultures. Located off the northeastern coast of Kenya, the island was a major slave-based port for the Arabian nations in the north. Until 1963, Lamu was controlled politically by the sultanate of Zanzibar, and although now a part of Kenya, it has a look and feel of an Arabian town.
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| Access to Lamu is by diesel-powered launch from the mainland. Of course safety is not an issue, as the ferry was severely overcrowded and I question the sea-worthiness of the craft. |
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| Lamu town as we approach from the mainland. |
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| The Sunsail Hotel will be our home for 9 nights, breakfast was included, we would have it every morning on the second floor balcony. |
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| Looking out from the second floor balcony of the Sunsail Hotel. It's midday and about 28C and the tide is at its lowest |
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| Same shot as before, except now it's late afternoon and tide is at its highest. |
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| Relaxing at the Sunsail Hotel with my laundry drying on the mosquito net. |
For supper one night we went to.......
Ali Hippy's
In the Lonely Planet Guidebook under the caption of 'Places to Eat', the following is written: "Ali Hippy has been wandering around Lamu town offering home-cooked seafood to travellers for over 30 years. This can be a variable experience, but probably one worth trying once. You can expect to pay around Ksh 200."
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| He promised us all we-could-eat seafood, live entertainment and a traditional Arabian Swahili setting. He delivered on all three, although I'm not sure as to what degree. That's Ali Hippy (the large one) and three of his 12 kids. |
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| There was no electricity in the house, nor was there any ventilation for the wood-buring stove and there was no running water....and to top it off, we all sat on the woven mats placed on the floor. |
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| Ali Hippy had two grandchildren at his house. The little boy was fascinated with the night light on my wristwatch; while his granddaughter was just content to dance the night away listening to her grnadfather sing! |
One day we decided to walk up to the town of
Shela
Shela, a 40 minute walk from Lamu town, is a pleasant little village well worth the wander around (actually quite a few travellers prefer to stay here rather than Lamu). For a white sand beach and crystal clear water you will need to go to Shela.
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| The beach path is the only land route to Shela village. |
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| The Talking Tree Bar is located halfway between Lamu town and Shela. The place was operated by a gentleman aptly named Satan. As we were walking to Shela we decided to check it out for a cold beer. Satan greeted us upon entering his establishment by asking us: "How is Frank and Brian today?" Okay that was weird considering we never met Satan before! Anyway this was the view from his establishment....if this is hell I can handle it!! |
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| After a hot 40 minute stroll we come upon the village of Shela, the only other settlement on Lamu island. This 17th century village has a beautiful beach and a couple of resort hotels and not much else! |
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| Circle around Shela's headland and the full beach come into view...... |
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| There is no beach in Lamu town, rather there's just a muddy, garbage-strewn mess in urgent need of a major clean-up. Shela on the other hand has a white-sand beach that stretches for miles, with crystal clear 28C waters....and not a sole here! |
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| Now this is a beach!! |
One day we decided to explore the old town of Lamu....
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| Lamu's town square with the ever present donkey and men doing nothing at all. |
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| Bougainvillea grace many of the houses in and around Lamu. |
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| The local food market. |
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| The Lamu Fort was built in 1823 by the Sultan of Pate. From 1910 to 1983 it was used as a prison. |
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| The streets are far too narrow to accommodate anything other than pedestrians or donkeys. In fact there is only one motor-powered vehicle on the island and that belongs to the district commissioner. |
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| The picture of innocence. |
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| Fishermen land their catch at the harbour side promenade. |
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| The harbour is alive with commotion as this 12 foot shark was landed.....yes indeed, fresh shark steaks for supper to night!! |
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| Miraa is a small twig that comes from a nearby gnarly evergreen tree and is chewed by many people on the coast. It's usually chewed in a social setting and it creates feelings of confidence and contentment and a flow of ideas. Having said that, I decided to give it a go, so one day Frank, Gabrielle and I sat around for a yarn and a chew!! Because it tastes awful, you also chew bubblegum with it. Well after about a hour of chewing my jaw was ready to call it quits....and I still didn't have a buzz, but we did have a great conversation!!! |
We took a dhow out for a couple of excursions......
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| Dhows waiting for high tide. |
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| The village of Shela as seen from our dhow. |
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| We left early in the morning in order to catch the tide and headed for the reef so that we could do some snorkelling and fishing. The passenger manifest included: Cister (Swede), two Canadian girls, and Frank. The standing individuals are Captain Magic (red shirt) and his first mate! Dhows rely on the wind and tide in order to move forward, but in-between the islands where the wind is non-existent, manpower is the only form propulsion |
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| Frank handlining for supper. The fish that we caught we barbecued on the beach on Mandi Island. |
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| Local fishermen approaching us in the hopes of selling us some of their catch but we had already landed our own fish for the day! |
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| A dhow approaches. |
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| The dhow has no keel and therefore it can become quite tippy, especially when the wind starts to blow. In order to prevent the vessel from capsizing, a member of the crew sits on a long wooden plank that extends out from the side of the dhow, thus creating counter-weight leverage. |
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| The wind and waves made many of the landlubbers sick, so we headed back to calmer waters. |
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| We land on Mandi Island. Our dhow is the one with the larger mast. |
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| An abandoned beach party club.....alas no cold beer for me. |
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| A look at the Shela headlands from across the channel. |
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| Local art purchased from a beach boy in Lamu for 25 cents. |
After spending a few days in Nairobi we take a 9 day safari trip. Our first stop was.......
Created in 1961, the park covers some 180 sq.km. and like most of the other Rift Valley lakes, it is a shallow soda lake. During the drought years prior to 1997, the lake almost dried up but currently it is approximately 3.5 metres deep. The biggest attraction here is the pink flamingos that are synonymous with the lake. However the park (which is surrounded by a large electrical fence) is also know for its introduced black and white rhino's.
Lake Nakuru National Park
Created in 1961, the park covers some 180 sq.km. and like most of the other Rift Valley lakes, it is a shallow soda lake. During the drought years prior to 1997, the lake almost dried up but currently it is approximately 3.5 metres deep. The biggest attraction here is the pink flamingos that are synonymous with the lake. However the park (which is surrounded by a large electrical fence) is also know for its introduced black and white rhino's.
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| DAY 1: We drive from Nairobi to Lake Nakuru National Park. |
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| Four black rhinoceros grazing at Lake Nakuru. Poaching for rhino horn used in traditional Chinese medicine and for dagger handles by Yemen tribesmen has made the African rhinoceros the continent's most endangered large mammal. The black rhino is actually very unpredictable and is prone to charging when alarmed, so we were unable to get very close. They weigh about 1100kg. |
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| The real show in Lake Nakuru is the flamingos. About 1/2 million of them and the noise and smell from them is overpowering. |
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| DAY 2: Drive to Maralal. |
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| Nyahururu, formally known as Thompson Falls, is named after Joseph Thompson who in 1882 became the first European to walk from Mombasa to Lake Victoria. The falls, formed by the waters of the Ewaso Nyiru River, plummets over 72 metres. |
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| Frank heading for the Maralal shopping centre. The people here are friendly, but as soon after stepping off the truck we were surrounded by the so-called "Plastic Boys", trying to sell us anything and everything from bangles to guiding services. |
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| DAY 3: Drive to Kurungu |
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| The Great Rift Valley extends from Lake Turkana in the north to the great plains of Tanzania in the south. |
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| Colleem (Irish dude) checking out the Rift Valley from another angle. |
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| Stopping for lunch under a large Acacia tree |
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| Needing to use the bathroom but having difficulty locating a tree! |
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| Our truck once again overheats. |
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| Of course where our truck overheated the scenery cannot get any better! |
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| The safari travel brochure stated the following for the Kurungu Camp: "Basic ablution facilities in this private camp site....". So how basic is basic? The thatched mound next to the grazing donkeys is the toilet!! |
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| So you were wondering what exactly does this basic facility actually look like inside??? It doesn't get any better!! LOL, well actually it does.....I was sitting on the 2-board throne, minding my own business and contemplating the problems of the world, when 5 native women walked right in front of my.....aaaaah open front door.....big giggle and on they went. |
Lake Turkana
Situated in the northern reaches of Kenya, Lake Turkana is also known as the legendary "Jade Sea". It is Kenya's largest lake and in fact, it is the world's largest permanent desert lake plus the world's largest alkaline lake. A long narrow body of water, it stretches from the Ethiopian border for 265km, yet it only averages 30km wide.
The contrast here are incredible.....daytime temperatures reaching 50C and mirages shimmer in the distance in all directions. In the evening vicious wind squalls whip up seemingly out of nowhere.
The Jade Sea is regarded by many as the birthplace of humanity. In the early 1970's palaeontologists, Richard Leakey, discovered a fossilised skull on the shores of Lake Turkana that dated back 2 1/2 million years and was considered a direct ancestor of Homo Sapiens.
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| DAY 4: Travel from Kurungu Camp to Loyangalani |
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| Day 4 and we start out from Kurungu Camp for a 4 hour drive. |
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| We soon leave all signs of life behind and enter an area of extinct volcanoes and barren shattered lava fields. |
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| Finally you top a ridge and there in front of you - the Jade Sea. |
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| Getting a better look at the Lake. Did I mention it was hot here? How hot does 50C feel.....very very hot. Our guide had mentioned that if there was no wind coming off the lake then we would be in trouble.....fortunately there was a breeze! |
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| It's a breathtaking sight - vast and yet apparently totally barren. You'll see nothing living here except a few brave, stunted thorn trees. |
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| Loyangalani. Just behind the yurt-like, stick and doum-palm dwellings of the Turkana tribespeople is a small oasis and that will be my home for the next 2 nights! |
El-Molo Tribespeople
The little known El-Molo tribe is the smallest tribe in Kenya with less than 200 remaining individuals. The name El-Molo means "the people who eat fish". Their main diet is the giant Nile perch and occasionally crocodiles and hippos (Lake Turkana is home to more than 12,000 crocodiles). They fish using hand made harpoons from the acacia roots and fishing nets made from doum palm fiber.
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| We drove the 15km up the lake to the last surviving villages of the El-Molo tribespeople. |
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| The El-Molo people going about their daily living. |
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| Part of the daily fight for survival in this region of Northern Kenya is the harvesting of food. All throughout the village the El-Molo were splitting fish and drying them in the hot sun. |
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| More fish splitting......just like we do it at home!!! |
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| Having a chat with the chief. |
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| Young boy fetching some water. |
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| Wherever I went the children would follow. I was starting to feel like the Pied Piper. I think they were fascinated with my pale skin and western clothes. |
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| It was so hot that I had to seek the only shelter from the sun, which was under our truck. Of course the kids followed me!! |
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| Heading for Crocodile Island. We were told that the crocodiles living around here were man-eaters and for us not to go swimming.....hard to do when the air temps were topping out at 50C. |
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| Looking back towards the El-Molo village from the desolate shores of Crocodile Island. |
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| I left the main group and wandered up to the northern end of Crocodile Island, where I came across the only family living on the island. This young lady sold me a crocodile tooth for one Kenyan shilling (about 0.50 cents)!! The beads around her neck are supposed to indicate significant events in their life's. |
Later back at our camp.......
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| Loyangalani, believe it or not, has two spring fed swimming pools and you need it as the lake is strictly off limits because of the man-eating crocodile infestation. This pool was a godsend and without it, we would have perished from the intense heat. The beers were so hot, we would place them at the bottom of the pool, where they would become luke-warm. |
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| This colourful kingfisher was a regular visitor at poolside. |
Later that night we convince our truck driver to take us up into the hills where we could hear drums and singing.....
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| Night out at the disco!! Actually we were at a small village about a 10 minute walk from our camp. The tribal dances were taking place all around the Lake and we could hear drumming and singing well into the night. |
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| The Turkana tribespeople are one of Kenya's most colourful and warlike people. The traditional dress of the Turkana people is amazing, as is the number of people who still dress the traditional way. The men cover part of their hair with mud, which is then painted blue and decorated with ostrich and other feathers. The main garment they wear, despite the blast-furnace heat of the region, is a wool blanket. Tattooing is also common and usually has a special meaning. Men are tattooed on the shoulders and upper arms each time they kill an enemy - the right shoulder if they kill a man, the left if they kill a woman; it's surprising the number of men you see with these markings. |
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| Day 6: Eleven hour drive to Wamba |
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| At one time, while we were driving along the excuse for a road, we came across two individuals armed with AK47's waving for us to stop. They told us we had to walk the only portion of the road that was sealed. Of course we argued....the reason became obvious after walking for about 10 minutes; another large truck was broken down and had the road completely blocked. |
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| Our truck had to take a detour through the bush and meet us at the top of the hill. |
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| Much of northern Kenya is desert and the wildlife here reflect that! |
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| Common form of transportation is this part of Kenya. Such a diverse country. |
Samburu National Reserve
Samburu National reserve is situated along the banks of the Ewaso Ngiro River and covers approximately 300 sq.km. The terrain is scrub desertand open savannah plain, broken here and there by small rugged hills.
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| Our camp for two days in Samburu National Reserve. The campsite's permanent tents had two beds, mattresses and clean sheets. The camp's other luxuries included a common bucket shower and a real flushing western toilet. The swooping moth-eating bats at night provided the insect control and entertainment. |
After getting a much needed shower we head into the park......
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| The northern part of the park was quite hilly as compared to the reserve just a few kilometres south. |
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| ....and this is the southern portion of the reserve. |
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| Periodically one of these monolith's jaunt out of the savannah. |
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| The elusive leopard. This highly agile cat normally lifts it's kill up into the trees to avoid losing it to the lions and hyenas. Weighing in at 90kg, this mid-sized cat is mainly nocturnal and very secretive, making seeing this one a rarity. |
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| I don't have a camera with a zoom lens, so you can imagine how close we actually came to this beautiful animal. If he wanted he could have jumped into our open-air truck. |
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| The impala is seen just about everywhere and is extremely fast, agile antelopes able to cover 10 metres in a single jump, which may be upwards of 3 metres high. They are a very graceful animal to watch when they take flight! |
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| A large bird....wild African turkey maybe??? |
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| Mom with baby in tow! |
On Day 9, we head back to Nairobi and the end of our safari to the north of Kenya......
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| As we were leaving our camp at Samburu National Reserve on our final day, we came across this family of lions only about 200 metres from our camp. Only good timing on our part prevented us from becoming potential lion lunch! |
*****
On February 20, 2002 we travel to Uganda (see that post in this blog series) and returned to Kenya on February 25, 2002. My story continues from here.....
*****
The next day we fly to........
Mombasa
Mombasa is the largest port on the East African coast. It has a population of nearly 1/2 million, however it has retained its character and it's a more relaxed place than Nairobi. How relax was it?? We had had enough of Nairobi and decided to fly to Mombassa and stay at a $50Cdn all-inclusive beach resort. All you can eat and drink and enough relaxation to bore you tears!
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| A late day haze comes off the Indian Ocean at high tide. The tide comes right up to the resort's retention wall. I would spend a couple of hours out here each night sucking on a tall cool beer and catching the cool breeze as it came off the ocean. |
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| Midday clouds take hold on the horizon. I talked a beach boy to take me out to the coral reef in his Uncle's dugout and I went snorkelling for a couple of hours. |
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| Frank enjoying an afternoon of doing absolutely NOTHING! |
After all the fun in Mombasa we headed for the........
Masai Mara
The Masai Mara is, with good reason, the most popular national reserve in Kenya, if not the world. This is the Kenya section of the Serengeti Plains and here the wild life abounds. This is also the traditional land of the Masai tribespeople.
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We head to the Masai Mara for our final 4 days.
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Four lion clubs await the return of Mom (and lunch) in an Acacia tree.
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A closer view of the cubs!
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There are three different types of giraffe in Africa, with the Masai Giraffe being the most common. They're up to 5.2 metres tall and can weigh-in at 1400kg.
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The African buffalo. This massive fella didn't mind posing for the camera but he got a little grumpy when we drove closer for a look and he let us know by snorting and pawing his feet at the ground.
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The world's fastest land mammal, the cheetah, reaches speed of 105km/hr. We saw two of the beautiful cats hunting but were unable to get close to them.
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The Masai Mara is 320 sq. km. of open grassland dotted with the distinctive acacia tree.
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The Masai Mara International Airport....I kid you not!
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Lots and lots of elephants roam these plains.
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Did you know that the average elephant will consume 250kg of grass a day??? And now you know.
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The majestic Crown Stork.....
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....and said storks taking flight.
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This is the beginning of the rainy season, and when it rained.....it RAINED. Big storm clouds move in.....
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.....and the rains came down turning the roads into raging rivers.
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We had spotted four lions the night before and decided to go back to the same spot to see if they were successful in their hunt.....they were, and had attracted quite a few hyaenas that patiently waited to move in on the scraps.
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In order to get to the spot where the lions were feasting we had to drive off-road.....big mistake....the ground was pure mud.
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Well this is the result of going off-road after a torrential downpour. Steve (the guy pointing) was our watcher as we were only 100 metres from four lions and the hyaenas.
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Our rescuers were two American researchers who gave us shit for about 10 minutes for driving off-road.....but then they pulled us out!!!
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A Masai village in the distance. The cow-dung and mud huts are placed in a circle and then acacia tree branches are placed around the entire village. The acacia tree has thousands of large four inch spike-like thorns on them and this keeps the lions out of the village. In the night time the Masia will herd their cattle into the compound....after the rains the mud and dung are mixed together, forming the ultimate nuilding material, albeit a stinky one!!
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Looking out towards Tanzanian border.
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The Masai Mara team. Ted, Steve, moi, Frank, Kath, Kate and our driver.
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The sun sets on Africa.
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Cheers.....
DIARY ENTRY: Sunday January 27, 2002 7:19PM: Got up Saturday (Jan 26/02) morning and had arrangements to catch the bus to Nairobi at 1:30PM. Basically; we just laid around until the driver picked us up.
The bus drive from Arusha, Tanzania to Nairobi, Kenya, was uneventful and we arrived there at just after 6:00PM. The problem was we had no Kenyan shillings and few places were willing to accept the few Tanzanian shillings we had. To complicate matters more, Frank was able to arrange for a 10:00PM bus to Mombasa, Kenya. So I searched out an ATM and ......and.....YES Yes it worked!! At last (after two weeks) I was able to get money!!
Got on the bus for the ride to Mombasa completely unprepared. We knew nothing about where we were going or when we would get there or where we would stay when we got there. We got talking to a Kenyan woman who suggested we stay at the White Sands Resort, that turned out to be $250US per night...I don't think so. Finally; after trying several places we found the Gircama Beachside Hotel. It's actually a resort but there are only 55 guest here and they're all old Germans. We're quite a ways out of town and it's expensive ($54 cdn) per night, so we'll be leaving tomorrow to try and get to Lamu. Frank wants to fly but I'll be content just to take the bus. Regardless, we will be better prepared when we get there then we were when we got here!
DIARY ENTRY: Monday January 28, 2002 9:07PM: Woke up this morning and went for a "resort-style" breakfast. It was sinful actually....toast, sausages, eggs, cheese, baked beans, fried potatoes, etc etc We gorged ourselves.
Got a taxi into town only to find out the bus had left for Malindi at 7:30AM, but we were able to catch a local bus so we still made it to Malindi. This is a really nice coastal town, predominantly Muslim and much much more civilised than Mombasa.
Tomorrow we head for Lamu. The local bus leaves at 8:00AM and we have to be there at 7:30AM, so it'll be an early night tonight.
DIARY ENTRY: Wednesday January 30, 2002 11:29AM: Got up yesterday (Tuesday Jan 29/02) and caught the local bus to Lamu. Local buses are always interesting, but this one was particularly interesting: The first sign was when we stopped to pick up armed soldiers. They ride with us because this section of the road from Malindi to Lamu is subject to banditry and bus hijackings!! And the road, well I use this word lightly, more like track and it was horrendous. Craters everywhere and many many detours into the bush because the road had simply vanished.
Every 20 or so minutes we would stop at a local village and take on new passengers....yes sir, lets pack them in! Of course, when we stop the bus would be swarmed with hawkers trying to sell us anything and everything from boiled eggs to fruit to live chickens....and speaking of chickens; it's always interesting when the ladies get on with their baskets of chickens!!
We finally arrived at the ferry crossing for Lamu. The ferry is an open dhow that looks completely unseaworthy and the locals really pack the passengers in. Fortunately the ride to Lamu Island is only 20 minutes and it is a small channel to cross.
So here I am at the Sunsail Hotel on the harbour promenade in Lamu town. Last night we stayed at the Pole Pole Hotel but it was really dirty and our toilet dinner work and the toilet door didn't close, so we looked around and found the Sunsail. It's a much better choice and cleaner hotel (albeit a little more expensive at $20Cdn). The Sunsail has a perfect 2nd floor deck and there's a nice breeze coming off the water.
Lamu is a very interesting island, mainly Islamic, the call to prayer starts at five in the morning. Beer can be had but you can't drink it in public and only certain hotels sell it. There are many beach boys but they leave you alone after the first day (this is a very small community). There are donkeys everywhere wandering the streets, of course that means there is donkey shit everywhere as well!! the weather is extremely pleasing and a nice breeze keeps things cool.
Tonight we go to Ali Hippy's house for supper. He's an old guy we met that takes guest to his house for a "seafood bonanza" Prawns, crab and lobster for $10Cdn. He's even mentioned in the Lonely Planet!
DIARY ENTRY: Friday February 1, 2002 9:38AM: Ali Hippy's was definitely a unique experience. His home is a traditional 14th century Swahili home with no electricity or running water. We sat around on the floor with another couple from Italy (a lot Italians here). Ali sits with us while his family cooks over the wood fire in the kitchen. Ali had 12 children and many if these are also sitting around in the smoke filled dark house. The food is good (not great), but it's traditional and it fills you up. After supper we sit around (on mats on the floor), while Ali and his family play instruments and sing us traditional songs. They were surprisingly very good singers.
The next morning (Thursday Jan 31/02) we got up early because we have a dhow trip planned. The dhow is a small Arabian sailing vessel with a "captain" and mate. We met up with these two Italian girls that were also taking the trip and head out to sea, the plan being that we would catch our meal and then cook it on a beach. Unfortunately, one of the girls started to get seasick and we had to turn back. As it turned out Frank was also starting to get seasick, so our deep sea dhow fishing trip was aborted. We instead went to Manda Island and laid around under a banda shelter, did some swimming and tried fishing from shore. It was a good time even if we never got out to sea. Afterwards we went to a local restaurant in Lamu town. We haven't actually been into the town yet, so today we plan on exploring ancient Lamu.
DIARY ENTRY: Sunday February 3, 2002 10:51AM: Yesterday (Sat. 02/02/02) we headed for Shela to check out the only other reachable town on the island. It's a pretty little town with more expensive resort type hotels and restaurants, but much smaller and quieter than Lamu. I went for a swim and laid around on the beach for a couple of hours. The beach is one of the best I've seen and the water is pissy warm. We were practically the only people on it.
After Shela we went back to the Talking Tree and played chess for a couple of hours and basically whiled away the day. Not much happens on Lamu (especially during the low tourist season).
DIARY ENTRY: Monday February 4, 2002 7:51PM: I'm sitting here at the Sunsail Hotel balcony on a beautiful Monday night. We just got back from a full day of sailing and snorkelling. We left around 8:00AM this morning and sailed to Pate Island and went for a snorkel (except Frank 'cause he can't swim). The first spot we went to, the coral looked like it was dying and there weren't many fish. About an hour here and we moved on to another reef and here there were plenty of fish.
The USA Navy is moving troops into the area so there were helicopters and troop carriers going back and forth (the rumour was 2500 Yanks).
After we finished snorkelling we headed for a beach where the crew cooked fish and rice. We arrived back in Lamu just as it was getting dark. After a shower and I'm ready to go for a beer and some food!!!
DIARY ENTRY: Wednesday February 6, 2002 5:42PM: Yesterday (Tuesday Feb 5/02) was another relaxing day on Lamu. Sun, wind, surf and relaxation!! Frank met a couple of Canadian girls so we showed them all the sites, and after 15 minutes of that, we went for supper.....the New Minas, where else!! After supper we met up with a couple of guys from South Africa and Ireland and decided to go to the Police Canteen for a cold beer. They boys also had a refrigerator back at their hotel with cold beer, so afer the Police Canteen closed, we went there for a beer. It was 1:00AM before we got back to the hotel. The latest I've been out since I started my trip.
Today, at 8:30AM, Captain Magic picked us up at our hotel in dhow and we took the trip over to see the Swahali ruins. They were much-to-do-about-nothing really, but it was a way to pass the day. Later we sailed down to Mandi beach and had dinner with the fish we caught. It was a nice way to spend our last day on Lamu island.
Tomorrow we head back to Nairobi and the hustle and bustle of the big city. We have to book a safari, make some phone calls and check email.
DIARY ENTRY: Saturday February 9, 2002 9:46AM: So here I am in Nairobi waiting to start my 9 day safari to Lake Turkana.
We left Lamu Island on Thursday (Feb 7/02) morning and ot's and lot's of elephants:Larrived in Nairobi in the early afternoon We're staying at the Heron Court Hotel with the infamous Buffalo Bills bar in the front. Unfortunately, I've been feeling sick for the last few days so I haven't had the opportunity to see Nairobi like I would normally do. Actually, all I did yesterday (Friday 02/08/02) was sit around the pool at the hotel and read. Later we ended up going to Florida's (a disco) for a beer, but I was feeling sick enough that I went home.
Today we were up early to catch our safari. We quickly made friends with fellow traveller Colleem, a lawyer from Ireland. He likes his beer!
The first leg of our 9 day safari is to Lake Nakuru National Park. We basically saw the same animals as in previous parks, but we did get a very good close up look at 4 rhinos! The lake is famous for its flamingo population (approximately 1/2 millions birds) whch makes the lake look pink.
We have 15 people on the safari and for the first time Canadians seem to be the majority, there's a gorl from Vancouver, a francophone couple from Quebec and Frank and I.
DIARY ENTRY: Tuesday February 12, 2002 9:36PM: Well there's been a gap between my last entry and this one. A couple of attempts, but unfortunately not successful, so here I am writing in the dark.
We departed Lake Nakuru National Park (on Sunday 02/10/02) at around 8:0AM and headed for Thompson Falls, where we picked up the remaining 3 safari travellers and then we were off to the Yare Camel Club for the night. This would be our last chance for a cold beer, unfortunately, everyone was really tired so by 9:30PM we were all in bed asleep.
The next day (Monday 02/11/02) we were up bright and early and off to the Kurungu camp crossing the equator in the process. The landscape here as gone from Rift Valley to desert shrub. We were told a river runs thru the camp and that we could get cleaned up there. Unfortunately, it wasn't much of a river, more like a stream that was only a couple inches deep. I did get cleaned up however because the dust from the drive had filtered its way into everything. This was the first night sleeping in a tent and it was pretty warm. At around 3:30AM the village roosters starting crowing and occasionally the donkeys would make a blood curdling noise but other than that I had a pretty good nights sleep.
Woke up this morning and broke camp early. The ride to Lake Turkana would only be 4 hours but we went from African desert shrub to lava fields to pure desert.
Lake Turkana was a welcoming site because it was so hot in the desert. Little did we know that it was stifling at the lake today coming n at 52C. I can't remember being so hot and craving something....anything cold! There was supposed to be a place closed to our campsite that had a swimming pool and cold beer, but when we got there the pool was empty and the cooler wasn't working....what a major disappointment. We all wandered into town looking for a place that sold something cold but the most we could find was very warm beer. We did, however, find out that there was another swimming pool in town so we all went there and it was perfect.....much like the cold shower I had earlier today!!
I'm now sittingoutside my tentwriting in my journal. It's a beautiful night but very very hot (42C). I expect sleep will be impossible. Most of the rest of everyone is down by the tha campfire (albeit not real close to it) telling jokes and drinking piss warm beer, however I found the seats brutally painful on my back.
Tomorrow we are to get up early and head for a village of the El-Molo people. They are the smallest tribe in all of Kenya with less than 200 surviving members.
DIARY ENTRY: Friday February 15, 2002 8:12AM: I didn't know it was possible to sweat as much as I did when I was in Lake Turkana. My body in not designed to take a constant onslaught of 50C heat.
Wednesday (02/13/02) we went to an El-Molo village and wandered around for an hour or so. I felt like a real tourist taking pictures of the village and wasn't comfortable with it, so I limited myself to taking pictures of the homes and children. Afterwards we went to Crocodile Island and spent a couple of hours wandering around. It was a bleak and extremely hot place. There was, however, one family living on the place and it is there that I bought my crocodile tooth necklace.!!
That afternoon we headed back to camp and spent the remainder of the day drinking hot beer and lounging in the swimming pool.
Later that night we went to a traditional tribal dance. I have to admit this was a very enlightening experience. The young kids would come up to us, hold our hands and just stand there mesmerized by us, while the older kids and adults would do their dancing. Although we were there we weren't being treated to a "staged" show. This is what they do. And although they may seem very poor and simple with no western comforts, they were happy. We could see this from the way they interacted with each other.
It was a very clear night (it hadn't rained here in four years) and the stars were out in full force. This being the "cradle of man", it was truly awesome knowing that upwards of 2 1/2 million years ago someone else was probably sitting in the same spot as I and looking up at the same stars.
Yesterday (Thursday 02/14/02) was a very long day of driving. We left Lake Turkana and drove for 11 hours to Maralal. This wouldn't have been so bad except I slept only a couple of hours last night. Actually, I ended up hauling my gear out of the tent and sleeping under the stars. Regardless; it was a long, tiresome and very dusty journey and it was nice to be able to sleep in a bed again.
Today we are off to Samburu National Park. It'll take about 5 hours to get there and hopefully we'll get into the permanent camp so that we don't have to set up our own tents.
DIARY ENTRY: Friday February 15, 2002 7:07PM: Well we were lucky to get into the permanent campsite. It's a really nice place within the Samburu National Reserve. The tents are set up with real beds and clean sheets inside, a little table and washbasin outside and a bucket shower!! There's something to be said about taking a shower inside a small tarp enclosure with the hot water coming from a small standard size bucket and monkeys climbing around the trees directly above it.
We went into the Samburu for a drive at around 4:00 and saw a large herd of elephants and a leopard up in a tree. Beautiful animal, but much smaller than I had imagined. Getting dark quickly now, which means supper in near!!
DIARY ENTRY: Sunday February 17, 2002 6:22PM: Yesterday (Saturday 02/16/02) morning we were up very early and headed out for some animal watching. There's a lioness here in Samburu that for some strange reason has taken to adopting baby oryx's (an antelope). The first time it happen the lioness protected the baby for 14 days until it grew so weak from not eating allowing a male lion to kill the oryx. A freak in nature......the lioness would allow the mother oryx to come around to feed the baby. The story was in the national newspaper and all over the internet. Anyway, after the male lion killed the first oryx, the lioness adopted another. This time, we were in the park to see this bizarre behaviour. The oryx was only a day or two old and unfortunately this time the mother didn't stick around, so the baby will definitely die, therefore the park authorities intervened and took the lioness and oryx back to the Nairobi zoo. I expcet they'll study the freak lioness to see why she's taking on this unusual behaviour.
After a late breakfast we went to a swimming hole for a refreshing dip. Our truck got a flat tire coming back so most of us ended up walking the last kilometre.
This morning when we got up an headed back to Nairobi, we saw five lioness' only 250 metres from our camp and heading straight for us. Not the site I would have liked to see at 4:30AM when I got up to use the bathroom or for a good nights sleep in a tent for that matter!!
We crossed over the equator today. I saw the vortex in the northern hemisphere go clockwise and in the southern hemisphere go counter-clockwise and exactly on the equator there was no vortex at all......actually quite interesting to see.
DIARY ENTRY: Saturday March 2, 2002 10:45AM: I now know what it is I don't like about all-inclusive places - boredom. Complete and total boredom. OK so I admit not having to worry about buying a cold beer or looking at another menu does have its benefits, having ot at 10:30AM or earlier can be a bit hard on the system.
We're staying at the Shelley Beach Hotel Resort, an all-inclusive 3-star hotel in Mombasa. We decided to come here and take a break from things. I bought a couple of grams of weed and settled in for four days of drunken bliss. Our first night here we met a young German fella who had purchased an ounce of hash and had only smoked about 10 grams of it (and he was leaving he next morning), so he gave the remains to me (about 20 grams). Now I'm going to be in the same situation as he was, not being here long enough to smoke it all. Regardless, after 4 days of doing nothing, time is coming close to an end in more ways than one.
I went snorkelling yesterday (Friday 03/01/02) out on the reef. I was told most of the reef had been destroyed but this wasn't true. There was lot's of marine life and the reef was in good shape. It was quite enjoyable even though I sunburned my back.
Tomorrow it's back to Nairobi and then off to the Masai Mara and after that it is off to Greece. I've had enough of Africa now and I am looking forward to Greece.
DIARY ENTRY: Sunday March 3, 2002 5:54PM: So once again we're at the Heron Court Hotel in Nairobi. Not for long however, because tomorrow we're off to the Masai Mara for four days.
Last night (Saturday 03/02/02) after the bar closed in the all-you-can-drink resort, six of us went to the "Office". A night club not far from the resort, got slightly drunk but a ggod time was had by all.
DIARY ENTRY: Tueday March 5, 2002 9:05PM: There's a male lion growling just outside the park parameter and just across the riverare hyaenas making their sick laughing sound. The two camp dogs are constantly running in the direction of our tent and barking.....not good. I had to go down to the bathroom at around 4:00AM and I was scared to death.
Today we drove around the Masai Mara. Many many animals incuding lots and lots of lions. At around 4:00PM it started to rain and it came down in buckets. Made like driving through a river at times. Water just built up without having the chance to get soaked up by the ground. The roads became raging rivers and then that turned to mud baths. At one point in the trip the jeep started sliding and skidded right off the road and tipped over onto its side. Scared the shit out of everyone, fortunately we were able to keep the jeep from rolling!
Saw four lion cubs up in an acacia tree. Poster perfect picture.
DIARY ENTRY: Friday March 8, 2002 9:49AM: Back at the Heron Court for the last time. Today I have a lot of things I have to do; laundry, confirm airline ticket, get any trinkets that Frank will bring back to Canada for me, buy a watch and get some money.
The Masai Mara was a good game park and we had good people with us: Ted & Kate, Steve & Kath and Frank & moi.
On Tueday (March 5/02) night we had seen four lions resting up by a water hole, so on Wednesday (March 6/02) morning we decided to drive back and see if they were still there and whether they were successful in hunting. Unfortunately, this is the beginning of the rainy season and when we located the lions (they were successful), we also got stuck in the mud. So here we are, up to the gunnels in mud, four lions less than 100 metres away and about 10 -12 hyaenas a little further from that. Regardless we all piled out of the jeep and attempted to push the jeep out.....to no avail. Two American female researcherscame along in a 4X4 and after giving us shit for going off track, pulled us out.
The rest of the day was rather uneventful until we found two cheetahs that were hunting. Beautiful creatures, they are so streamlined, it's no wonder they're the fastest land animal alive.
That night after heavy rains and supper all of us crashed early....no lions or hyaenas calling in the night this time, but the next day we were told that an elephant had come into the camp!
DIARY ENTRY: Sunday March 10, 2002 10:32AM: Out of Africa!
Frank left last night at around 9:00PM and I was in bed by 10:30PM.. Nothing much more to do at the Heron Court Hotel. I will miss Frank, he was a good travelling companion and we got along very well. Now I'm waiting for my time to leave.
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