Hello to all near and far and welcome to the very first entry of my (our, as Marlene reads this over my shoulder) travel blog to Africa.
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| Ladies Going for High Tea at Buckingham |
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| Standing Guard |
Our first stop on this trip found us arriving at London's Heathrow airport, slightly blurry eyed and grumpy from a lack of sleep on our over night flight. Our first order of business was to try to find something to eat, and we quickly settled on trying to find the hole in the wall Cafe we found ourselves at 3 years ago which served AMAZING baked Jacket potatoes. For those who don't know, these are giant potatoes stuffed with anything from cheese and beans (Marlene's choice) to curry chicken (my choice). We were positive that we were in the correct area of the city but were simply unable to find said restaurant so we opted for similar cafe (they are a dime a dozen). Once our potatoes were actually cooked (it took 2 attempts and they still weren't cooked!) we made quick work of them and we were off to a quick walking tour of the city Marlene style. We made a quick pass by Buckingham palace where we were treated to a display of very proper English men and women set to have "high tea" in the palace...I found their hats to be quite amusing...blame it on lack of sleep. After a few quick photos we were on to our real destination, Green Park. Oh that's right, we were THOSE people who made a temporary bed on the grass under a large tree and slept the afternoon away! Well maybe not the entire afternoon, but we had a good lie down and caught up on some much needed zzzzz. We then had a meandering walk through the park and continued onward to catch a glimpse of Big Ben, Scotland Yard, Westminster Abbey, Parliament buildings etc etc. It was a quick visit but alas, we had a plane to Nairobi to catch...plus the underground train ride took a little longer then expected.
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| After our nap in Green Park |
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Our welcome Ostrich...the first animal you see if your good luck animal |
Immediately upon boarding our overnight Virgin Air flight we both knew it was going to be a much better experience...everything just seemed to be vibrant and the atmosphere on board was much more appealing then that of the Air India Flight...not to say that I got much sleep, but I at least got a few hours before landing in Nairobi. Upon arrival we truly did feel like celebrities as our tour leader held a placard bearing our names, and we had 3 more gentlemen to welcome us to beautiful Kenya. The first being our driver/guide Mike, the second, our excellent cook Guidian, and the third, none other then Mr. Mbuthia!! Mr Mbuthia is the father of my ex roomate Anne, whom, for those of you who attended our wedding, had the second reading at our ceremony. Anyway, he was there to accept a package consisting of Arm and Hammer tooth paste brought to him straight from Canada at his request...don't ask LOL. Anyhow, our initial impressions of Kenyan people were exactly as we expected...happy, friendly, and welcoming. We already knew we were in good hands.
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| Marlene making the most of her first game drive |
So, immediately upon arrival and a quick monetary exchange later, we were off to our very first game drive in Amboseli National Park. It took about 5 hours to drive to the park putting us at the park at approximately 3PM. Along the way we had already discovered many things #1 the roads are atrocious, being from Sudbury, I've always heard of pot holes you could lose your front end in but I had never actually seen one..until now! You know its bad when in order to avoid potholes you consistently drive on the wrong side of the road (which is the right side for us North Americans) and will take to the shoulders and ditches because they are...ahem...a smoother ride. #2 Kenya still believes in strong local farming and the results are delicious, fresh, ripe fruit. Our cook stopped several times along the way to pick up fresh ingredients for our meals to come. #3 The shop keepers will try any tactic including barter, trade, guilt, and occasionally intimidation in order to sell us things we clearly did not want. I can't count the number of times I heard "why you not want to promote my business" or "my name is George buy something to remember me by" and when all else fails "ok you want to trade your hat for something? How 'bout a pen so I can give to my children" on and on...we were entertained by the consistency of these lines, its like every shop keeper took some course on how to sell stuff to tourists...that being said, we did manage to pick up some really beautiful items to bring back and there is certainly a lot of talented artists to be found.
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| momma and baby Gazelle |
On our way through the arid plains toward Amboseli Park several large volcanoes began to appear on the horizon and we eagerly anticipated our first sighting of Kilimanjaro..which we have since discovered is quite elusive and mostly hidden by clouds except at sunrise..guess what we were going to do the next morning!! The area surrounding Amboseli is resided by the Masai people. A very strong and traditional people who refuse to give in to western ideals. These are the people (woman) who walk 20km to fetch both water and firewood to maintain their subsistence. It was quite striking to see their bright red clothes against the paleness of the arid plains. Not to mention gaining a bit of experience at the sight of these people going about their daily business.
Finally into the park!! Amboseli is located off the main highway down 25km of dirt road, and this is the type of dirt road that has received ZERO maintenance probably since it was built...so 25km equates to about 1hour of incredibly rough terrain. The very first creature to greet us (and this wasn't the actual park just yet) was the Ostrich...not exactly the most exotic or exciting of animals, but as we were about to find out, the best was definitely yet to come.
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| Giraffes in Amboseli |
Our first order of business was to get to camp and to have lunch, then it was off to the game drive! Our accommodations for two nights were quite simple, but there were toilets and hot water, and we also got up graded to a banda (heavy canvas tents with full beds in them) so we had nothing to complain about. After a quick meal of pasta and tea we set out into the hot African sun for our first evening game drive in Amboseli. Almost immediately upon arrival into the park we were greeted with zebra, giraffe, antelope, gazelle, elephant, and even lions! We were extremely lucky to have found lions so early on...luck seemed to be the one recurring theme throughout the entire journey. There was a mother lion and her two young daughters standing around a zebra they had just killed. We watched in amazement for several minutes as the lions guarded their kill and also began to shred it up, devouring large chunks of meet. As incredible as this was to us, we had not even seen 1/10th of the park yet, so we continued on our safari and saw many more animals and birds, but nothing as exciting as the lions. As the sun begins to set in that stunning African brilliance we returned to the sight of the lions. They are still resting from the long day...something we both needed to do.
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| Sunset over Amboseli savanah |
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