We arrived at Nairobi Airport a little ahead of schedule and just behind the group coming thru from London. The wait to get through customs was a long one and we almost saw a fight break out when a rather large family, 11 persons (East Indian, we think) walked straight between two line-ups, forming their own queue and then proceeding to rush to the next open wicket ahead of the actual queue. The group from London had been travelling for almost thirty hours by now and were in no mood to be messed with. There was some accusations thrown out, some raised voices, some complaining to the officials and general commotion. There was not much the officials could do as by the time it was explained and they agreed that it should not have happened the family was pretty much thru the Visa process. It did not escalate further, but it was like watching reality TV.
Eric Rajah, Rick Wiebe and Ray Loxdale were there to meet us at the baggage pick up . . . 52 people, Lots of baggage! Once they got everyone loaded into their assigned vans, we set off for the short drive to the Panari Hotel where we had some breakfast and a short information meeting. Just outside of the Nairobi Airport grounds we saw five giraffe. The Panari is where we’ll be staying our last night in Kenya, so we had a look around the Hotel.
The best part of a trip like this is the people you meet. As we said, we are a group of 52 and have 12 vans for transportation. Our van is one of the few with six people plus driver assigned. We were initially told that this would be the arrangement for the first few days only as the medical team has taken a few vans and already gone off to a village to conduct several clinics. They will meet up with us in a day or so. Many of the other vans have only four passengers so that there is lots of room to manoeuvre when the roofs are opened for viewing on the game drives. We have been in the company of Ed and Brenda Morris of Red Deer and Jim and Gloria Stenhouse of Lacombe. We spent the first hour determining how many points it would take and the rules of how one would be ‘voted off the island’. LOL Really, we all hit it off so well from the get go that we decided we would stay together for the trip. We have had a blast so far as we’ve gotten to know each other better.
On the way to Lake Nakuru National Park we stopped at a view point to see the great expanse of the Rift Valley, which stretches from Israel to Mozambique, over 9,600 km.
As we were driving down into the Rift Valley, it started to rain . . . do you remember the scene in Romancing The Stone where the bus breaks down and Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner were in the jungle . . . well, it rained that hard! When we got to the bottom there was a semi overturned in the red dirt. People are always hustling here. Along the way we saw many vendors selling maize (corn) on the side of the road . . . all they need is a small fire to cook the corn and they are in business. We also went through a small town and vendors run along beside the vehicles and sell drinks and yoghurt.
The roads are an adventure, no wait I mean AN ADVENTURE. You know how they have topes (aka speed bumps) on the highways in Mexico? Well they have them here too although bump is an understatement as these are really small hills and just to keep the drivers honest they also have some that are actually five or six bumps one after another. The main highways are in pretty good shape, however there are people, goats, sheep, burros and cows along the sides of the roads and they are everywhere. Driving at night is even worse as now you can’t see the aforementioned until you are right on them. A greater adventure awaits anyone who ventures off the main roads as they are dirt, mud or rocky affairs and their driveability depends on how recently it has rained and for how long. They drive on the left here and we were told that many of the vehicles are used and imported from Japan. There’s certainly no point in having a new vehicle here . . . it wouldn’t be new for long!
We finally arrived at Nakuru National Game Park and were entertained at the park gates by several families of baboons. Our driver mistakenly left his window open and one jumped right into the van. Nellie was the last to get out and didn’t even notice him as the driver was quicker than the baboon and chased him out before she had a chance to notice. On the way to the Sarova Lionhill Game Lodge we passed many zebra.
At the lodge we were greeted by reception staff with a warm towelette to help rid us of the dust of the road and a glass of juice. This is a common practice at many of the better lodging places. After a short meeting we enjoyed a buffet dinner and then off to our beds we went. We thought our long travel days were behind us . . . but, we were very much mistaken.
Eric Rajah, Rick Wiebe and Ray Loxdale were there to meet us at the baggage pick up . . . 52 people, Lots of baggage! Once they got everyone loaded into their assigned vans, we set off for the short drive to the Panari Hotel where we had some breakfast and a short information meeting. Just outside of the Nairobi Airport grounds we saw five giraffe. The Panari is where we’ll be staying our last night in Kenya, so we had a look around the Hotel.
The best part of a trip like this is the people you meet. As we said, we are a group of 52 and have 12 vans for transportation. Our van is one of the few with six people plus driver assigned. We were initially told that this would be the arrangement for the first few days only as the medical team has taken a few vans and already gone off to a village to conduct several clinics. They will meet up with us in a day or so. Many of the other vans have only four passengers so that there is lots of room to manoeuvre when the roofs are opened for viewing on the game drives. We have been in the company of Ed and Brenda Morris of Red Deer and Jim and Gloria Stenhouse of Lacombe. We spent the first hour determining how many points it would take and the rules of how one would be ‘voted off the island’. LOL Really, we all hit it off so well from the get go that we decided we would stay together for the trip. We have had a blast so far as we’ve gotten to know each other better.
On the way to Lake Nakuru National Park we stopped at a view point to see the great expanse of the Rift Valley, which stretches from Israel to Mozambique, over 9,600 km.
As we were driving down into the Rift Valley, it started to rain . . . do you remember the scene in Romancing The Stone where the bus breaks down and Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner were in the jungle . . . well, it rained that hard! When we got to the bottom there was a semi overturned in the red dirt. People are always hustling here. Along the way we saw many vendors selling maize (corn) on the side of the road . . . all they need is a small fire to cook the corn and they are in business. We also went through a small town and vendors run along beside the vehicles and sell drinks and yoghurt.
The roads are an adventure, no wait I mean AN ADVENTURE. You know how they have topes (aka speed bumps) on the highways in Mexico? Well they have them here too although bump is an understatement as these are really small hills and just to keep the drivers honest they also have some that are actually five or six bumps one after another. The main highways are in pretty good shape, however there are people, goats, sheep, burros and cows along the sides of the roads and they are everywhere. Driving at night is even worse as now you can’t see the aforementioned until you are right on them. A greater adventure awaits anyone who ventures off the main roads as they are dirt, mud or rocky affairs and their driveability depends on how recently it has rained and for how long. They drive on the left here and we were told that many of the vehicles are used and imported from Japan. There’s certainly no point in having a new vehicle here . . . it wouldn’t be new for long!
We finally arrived at Nakuru National Game Park and were entertained at the park gates by several families of baboons. Our driver mistakenly left his window open and one jumped right into the van. Nellie was the last to get out and didn’t even notice him as the driver was quicker than the baboon and chased him out before she had a chance to notice. On the way to the Sarova Lionhill Game Lodge we passed many zebra.
At the lodge we were greeted by reception staff with a warm towelette to help rid us of the dust of the road and a glass of juice. This is a common practice at many of the better lodging places. After a short meeting we enjoyed a buffet dinner and then off to our beds we went. We thought our long travel days were behind us . . . but, we were very much mistaken.
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