Nairobi - Kenya (Part One)

Andy - June 11 thru July 5th (hopefully!)
Shannon - June 28 thru July 2nd

A THREE PART BLOG...

PART ONE:

As most of you know, Andy was sent to Ethiopia and Kenya to run a project for work. He left on June 11th for Ethiopia with Coy Buckley (also on the project from KPMG here in Zurich. Coy and his wife Kacey are originally from Mobile, Alabama and Memphis Tennessee). The guys spent about 5 days in Ethiopia before heading to Nairobi where they will remain until about July 5th (fingers crossed!).

Kacey and I were fortunate enough to get sent to visit compliments of KPMG! It was pretty last minute, so we scrambled to get our travel shots in time for the flight. Luckily there is a clinic in Zurich which provides the service and we visited the "tropical doctor" the day before we were set to leave. One Hep A shot, one yellow fever, and one polio shot later (ouch!) plus 3 bottles of the most potent mosquito repellent later we were all set to go. The guys had enough malaria pills to hold us over so we didn't have to pay the $15 per pill (!!!) charge again.

DAY ONE - THURSDAY JUNE 28TH
Finally, on Thursday June 28th (happy birthday Mom!!), we set off on a non-stop Swiss flight to Nairobi. Coy was there to greet us and had already commissioned a driver to take us to the Safari Park Hotel where the guys were stationed. About an hour later, working our way through some major traffic and crazy drivers (I'll spare the details but I was really not prepared for the driving in Nairobi I must say!) we finally arrived at the Safari Park hotel around 7pm. Upon check-in, we were greeted with fresh squeezed fruit juice and hot towels...Clearly the guys have been living the hard life! I was pleasantly surprised at how rustic and beautiful the hotel was. I know a lot of folks at home have been worried about Andy - but you must know, he is living the luxurious life at the Safari Park in his giraffe themed room complete with king size bed, mosquito netting and 24 hour room service...The hotel also has about a half-dozen 5 star restaurants, one of which puts on an "authentic" African show every night.

For our first evening in Nairobi, the four of us (dubbed "The Buckleys and the Blocks") enjoyed all you can eat meat dishes (served straight from the hot sword from the fire pit to your table) along with the African show. The show was pretty great, about 20 guys doing a Cirque-du-Soleil style acrobatic display - we were all pretty impressed. We followed that up with Andy schooling us at black jack in the hotel's casino. Thankfully one of us won some money ;)

DAY TWO - FRIDAY JUNE 29TH
The next morning (Friday) we woke up early, enjoyed a strong cappuccino on the patio, and headed for town with our private driver, George. We spent the day seeing the highlights of Nairobi, starting with the Elephant Orphanage. The Orphanage basically takes in baby elephants that have been abandoned at a very young age. The facility is open daily from 11 - 12pm only. Once inside we were ordered to stand behind a small rope as the babies were ushered in. The first group was about 6 months to a year old - but make no mistake - they were powerful little guys (at birth weighing nearly 250 lbs)! At one point one of the little elephants charged a group of school children standing behind the rope - no one was hurt but it sure was cute to see them all run while the elephant just had no idea how powerful he was! The next group they brought in was a bit older (maybe a year or two old), and these ones came charging down the hill to the wheelbarrows full of waiting bottles of milk. It was really cool to see the keepers feeding the elephants, or in some cases the elephants feeding themselves (those trunks can pick up just about anything, including an extra large baby bottle). We spent the next half hour watching the older elephants splash around in a mud pool and kick around a soccer ball - very easily entertained (both us and the elephants!)

From there, we headed to the Karen Blixen Coffee House for lunch. Karen Blixen spent most of her life in Africa where she grew coffee and famously wrote the book "Out of Africa" . The whole area around the coffee house and the museum is simply named "Karen".
(Above: Karen Blixen Museum)

Next up was the Giraffe Center. The center was established in order to protect the endangered Rothschild giraffe species in Kenya. The center has about 15 giraffes that roam freely. The biggest surprise for us all, was that we were allowed to feed the animals! They came right up to the viewing deck (high up in the air so we could be at eye-level with them) and the keepers gave us small pellets to feed them right out of our hands (or mouths, for the brave - see below). It was hilarious and we had a great time. Below are some pictures of us all feeding Daisy and Betty (the two main giraffes).

Coy and Daisy

Betty

From the Giraffe Center we headed to the Maasai Market in the city. The market was full of different vendors selling their crafts (ceramic bowls, wooden carvings, various leather items, and the bead work that the Maasai are most well known for). The four of us spent a few hours bargaining and wound up with some great purchases (bracelets, belts, bowls, leather passport covers, stools, masks....etc.). Andy and Coy proved to be much harder bargainers than Kacey or I, so luckily we had them with us.

Last stop of the day was the Carnivore Restaurant which was apparently voted as one of the top 50 restaurants in the world some years back. It was again a spread of various all-you-can-eat meats straight from the fire pit (Not only beef, chicken, pork and lamb...but also ostrich and crocodile!).

It was a completely action packed first day in Nairobi - but all in all we felt like we got a really great introduction to the city and were able to see a lot in terms of the real Nairobi in such a short period of time. It was really interesting driving between all these activities. There are areas of Nairobi that are lush, green and clearly well-off while right down the street are rows and rows of metal shacks and people living in poverty.

TO BE CONTINUED....PART TWO.

Masai Mara - Kenya (Part Two)

PART TWO:

DAYS THREE AND FOUR (JUNE 30 - JULY 2)


DAY THREE - SATURDAY JUNE 30TH
On our third day, we woke up early, had our coffee routine on the patio and headed straight for the Wilson airport to fly to the Masai Mara. A quick prop plane 40 minute ride later, and we were touching down on the airstrip just outside of "Governor's Camp" where we'd be staying. The Masai Mara is the most famous park reserve in Kenya (connecting with the Serengeti of Tanzania in the South). The BBC television show "Big Cat Diary" is filmed there and we even saw a few of the guys riding around with their video equipment mounted to their Land Cruisers.

We checked in around 12pm, were again greeted with fresh juice and hot towels, and were shown to our tent houses (one per couple) which were super comfortable. Big king bed, hot running water...and who needs electricity when you have a gas lamp? We had some time to settle in before a huge buffet lunch (where we were assigned our very own waiters for the whole weekend - Harrison and Jackson). (Below: Governor's Camp looking out into the Masai Mara; A tent similar to the one we stayed in)


At 3:30pm we had our first game drive. We were extremely fortunate to be assigned to the lead driver, Joseph, who had worked at the park for 8 years which was quickly apparent from his level of knowledge. He asked us what we wanted to see and we said The Big Five. He just laughed. ("Big Five" = Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Buffalo, Rhino). Now here's where it gets good. Despite the fact that it's extremely rare to spot all 5 of the Big 5 - we made some pretty good progress on our first day. Literally minutes after leaving camp in our open-top Land Cruiser, we spotted a Cape Buffalo about 15 feet from us. Minutes after that, two different herds of elephants, and one very large lone male elephant. We were doing pretty good! About an hour into the drive, we saw our first lions. A pride of 7 lions lazing around in the grass who just couldn't be bothered by the clan of land cruisers and wide lens cameras in their faces! Joseph was pretty thrilled that we'd seen so much just a couple hours into our first game drive - and this is where we all started getting a little cocky. But it continued, next thing we saw was a huge male lion (big mane and all) flopped over in the grass and rolling around. He kind of reminded us of Oscar ;-) According to Joseph the lions are lazy animals, and like nothing more than to just hang out and wait for an easy kill.

So at this point we had about 45 minutes left when Joseph got a call on his radio and took off speeding across the plain in the opposite direction from camp...and drove us right towards two rhinos grazing in the grass. According to him, it is really very rare to spot the Rhinos - ever - so we were super lucky. Now even though rhinos are vegetarians, they are extremely aggressive so we weren't allowed to get very close (not like our 5 foot proximity to the lions). Joseph was visibly tense every time the rhinos made a move - evidently he had once been charged and decided that was not something he ever wanted to experience again, though Andy and Coy had different ideas of what would be fun for them! Luckily we made it out of there without any incident.

There we were - headed back to camp, having checked off 3 of the 5 on our first trip, when a female Cheetah practically crossed our path. She had just eaten and had a huge belly hanging down.

We then headed back to camp for dinner, 4 of 5 checked right off our list (plus Ostriches, Baboons, Gazelles, Zebras, and Antelopes galore). Joseph was pleased with having shown us such a great first day, and we were all tired and ready to rest after so much sun and standing in the Cruiser on the bumpy trails! (We decided it was a pretty good upper body workout).

Dinner was set up on the grass at camp around a big fire and Harrison and Jackson took care of us all night. The food was really unexpectedly delicious - and much Coy's pleasure, all you can eat :-) During dinner a local Maasai tribe came and showed their tribal dance/jumping ritual which they are known for. The men have jumping contests - and those guys can get pretty high! (Though Andy informed us all that he still holds the Jr. High high jump record and could easily jump higher than the Maasai...mmm hmm.) (Below: The traditional Maasai dance - didn't have our camera so this one is courtesy of Wikipedia)

We turned in for the night to our tents (escorted by a park guide so as not to be attacked by any near-by animals) and got some sleep...

DAY FOUR - SUNDAY JULY 1
Sunday was really our first full day at Governor's Camp. We were woken up by one of the Camp guys with fresh coffee at 6am. 6:30am we departed again with Joseph for the first of three game drives of the day. As it was so early and we only had 2 hours for the drive, he took us right to the edge of the Mara River (which splits down the Masai Mara game reserve). He parked the truck and had us walk to the edge - at first we weren't sure we were looking at anything, but quickly realized the river was chock full of Hippos (my favorite safari animal ;) and Crocs. It was amazing watching the hippos (from enormous males to tiny brand new baby hippos) popping in and out of the water and making tons of noise. Very different from being in the Seattle Zoo!

The rest of the morning drive was fairly uneventful - meaning we saw tons of other animals (including two Ostriches mating!) and two or three more herds of elephants. What can we say, we were getting spoiled at that point, but we were still in search of our Leopard to round out our Big Five.

After the "early morning game drive", comes breakfast (heaps of eggs, bacon, hash browns, fresh fruit etc.) and then the "morning game drive". I know, the mind reels at two separate morning drives!

Instead of the "morning drive" we elected to be taken to a local Maasai village. The Maasai tribe is probably the most well known, but not the largest (largest is the Kikuyu tribe to which Joseph our driver belonged). We were welcomed into their village with all the women singing a traditional song for us in the middle of the "town circle"...One note about the "town circle" - the Maasai still live as an indigenous group unlike most other tribes which have since moved into nearby cities. They live in mud huts they make themselves out of cow pies and straw. Literally. It was pretty amazing, I think we all thought we were going to a "village" which really turned out to be a large circular compound with about 40 mud huts and not much else. They raise herds of cows to survive and at night bring the cows inside their village walls so the middle of the village was one big muddy area. The other trick they use for survival (and tuition to send their kids to school), is charging 800 shillings for each tourist to come in! (800 sh = appx. $14 USD). 100 tourists a week at that price adds up quick! We were able to also go inside one of their huts, with ceilings roughly 4 feet high and various small rooms inside, zero furniture or anything. It was really pretty special that they elect to live the way their ancestors lived, rather than moving their tribes to cities like so many others. At the end of the village tour, the ladies laid their goods out so we could bargain for yet more little items to bring back (which wound up equaling one extremely heavy and fragile back pack!)



After the Village visit was lunch (again a huge spread and perfect service) and then the afternoon game drive at 3:30. Given our success with the first afternoon game drive, we were positive we were going to see a Leopard. Sadly, this drive proved to be even more uneventful than the morning drive, and was limited to a Baboon family (which we watched for a long time, cute little guys with bare butts), a bunch of Antelopes (Topi, Waterbuck, and Impala)a huge giraffe, more herds of elephants and some beautiful wild birds (all variations of bright blues and greens).

Sidenote: If you think it's impossible to get a Land Cruiser stuck in the mud - think again. We got stuck in a huge mud puddle and had to have one of the other guys come drag us out with a rope. Joseph said it was his second time EVER getting stuck in the Mara after 8 years of driving. He was surprised that we thought it was so fun getting stuck - we're pretty sure he expected us to be much less entertained!

Joseph did save the best for last though. He took us to a Lily pond full of hippos just near the airstrip we had flown in on, parked the Land Cruiser, let us open the bottle of wine we'd brought along and we hung out while the sun went down...all the while hippos popped in and out of the water and made noise at us....



Back to camp....Just before dinner, the hippos that live just below camp in the Mara River came up onto the grass below the bar and we were about 10 feet from them!Dinner was yet another big feast around the fire, followed by the Buckleys and Blocks closing down the bar with some "Danish Bastard" (a card game). We still haven't established who the champion of the world on that one is.

DAY FIVE - MONDAY JULY 2
Our last day in the Mara...started out early again (6am wake up with coffee) and a 6:30am departure for the "early morning game drive". Within minutes of setting out, we noticed a group of Land Cruisers all crowded around something, so we went to check it out. Imagine our luck! As I am writing this, it is hard to imagine that 24 hours ago I was sitting on top of a truck, 10 feet from a pride of 14 lions devouring a Zebra! As the lions finished their breakfast one by one, we started to notice about 20 different Hyenas coming in in a circle around the lions (and our trucks). Apparently had all the trucks not been there, they would've attacked much sooner. In one big group they came in (along with a few little Jackals) and started to challenge the remaining lions for their food. They were so close that once one of them got a rack of ribs, and you could hear (and see) the Hyena crunching the bones right behind our truck. We watched until the last lion was finally chased off from her game, and the hyenas went in to grab any remaining bones they could grab. On more than one occasion a rogue hyena streaked past our truck holding a full leg bone with hoof still attached. Another one came by with the Zebra's head and full spine...You get the picture!

Back to camp for breakfast...and our morning game drive. We set out and drove to a bend in the Mara River where we saw yet more Crocs and Hippos and hung our there for a bit. Joseph thought we should head to the Leopard territory to see if we couldn't spot one (no pun intended) but alas, we did not. What we did see, was an enormous herd of elephants grazing (quick fact - did you know that elephants eat up to 500 lbs. of grass a day?) beneath a patch of trees. We parked right near them and watched the moms and baby elephants grazing around - when suddenly we saw the large male elephant (who turned out to be nearly 60 years old and weighing somewhere around 15,000 lbs)...grow a 5th leg. Literally, this thing was the largest monstrosity we had all ever seen! Joseph was cracking up and let us in on the fact that the so-called 5th leg can weigh up to 27KG. That is nearly 60 lbs. We got to see him wander around the pack looking for a female to take advantage of. Sadly for him, there weren't any takers, as Kacey said - no one wanted to dance. At this point, he took some interest in our truck parked a bit too near to him and began to charge us as Joseph sped us away! Coy and Andy were really hoping Joseph would slow down so we might at least get a tusk through the side door. Thankfully he didn't grant their wish. The last time an elephant charged Joseph's car (containing a pair of honeymooners) the elephant ripped the door off with his tusk. The honeymooners stayed at Camp the rest of their trip drinking beer.

Well....that is it for our very long Nairobi, Masai Mara blog. A lot of information for just 5 short days, but it really was an amazing trip. Since we've yet to see our Leopard, we decided we'll just have to go back!

P.S. For those concerned parents out there, not one of us got bitten by a single mosquito. Or even saw a mosquito for that matter. Oh and the malaria pills give you completely crazy dreams!

Kenya - Return Trip (Part Three)

The Long Trip Home...

Just a quick little story about traveling home...So we left the Mara around 4pm on Monday. We flew into Wilson airport just outside Nairobi and proceeded to drive two hours through horrendous traffic back to the Safari Park Hotel (normally a 30 minute drive). We'd no sooner gotten there that I had to turn around and hop in another cab back to the International airport (other side of town) for an hour drive for my flight at 11:30pm. (Kacey stayed behind to head back to Ethiopia with Coy for the remainder of the week so I was traveling alone).

Got on the flight and found I was seated in a middle seat between a family (mom breast feeding a 3 year old on my right side, large dad taking up half my seat on my left!). Needless to say there was not much sleep involved!

I somehow managed the 8 hour flight, got back to Zurich and walked into the apartment....to find that our cleaning lady had locked poor Oscar on the balcony. For the past five days. With no food and water. In torrential downpour rain.

Braden & Josh are threatening to report us to the Swiss Federal Animal Protection Agency. I promise he is okay, just a little shaken up and feeling very clingy!

The Kenya Blogs are coming...we promise.

But here is a little preview...