Photos!

Here's the link to our photos. We whittled them down from 971 to 228. :) 

Kenya and Zanzibar pics 2009

Zanzibar and Stone Town

On Saturday morning, Donga the cab driver took us to the airport again. This time it was the large airport that we'd flown into from Dulles/London. 

After a little confusion on the correct terminal we checked in and waited for our flight. It was only about 30 minutes late, which we discovered, is the norm for anything in Africa. As Kevin put it "TIA (This is Africa)." Our flight had a stop over in Mombasa and then we were on our way again. When we landed in Zanzibar, the first thing we saw after clearing immigration was the ladies at 3 currency exchange places waving Zanzibar shillings at us and shouting from behind their counters. We chose the best rate and were on our way with our new Monopoly money. We'd just gotten used to the Kenyan shilling exchange rate (78) and now we had to learn a new one: 1300. Try dividing everything by 1300 in your head- not fun. 

We negotiated our cab fare to Kendwa Rocks hotel, which was about 1 hour away. We weren't sure a few times if the car would make it, since it made a horrendous noise every time the driver shifted gears and he didn't help it by flying over a speed bump. The roads in Zanzibar are much better than the ones in the Mara. The only time it was a bit dicey was the last few yards to our hotel. That road was extremely rocky and again, we didn't think the little car would make it. 

After we finally got checked in (there was a little mix up with our reservation b/c they'd put the room in Kevin's name) we were shown to our beach bungalow. All the rooms have names and ours was Mafia- haha!! It turns out that it's also the name of an island off the coast of Zanzibar. We took a walk down to the beach and put our feet in the Indian Ocean for the first time. So cool! It was warm and turquoise, like what you see in the Caribbean. We really didn't do anything the rest of the day except eat and drink. As it turns out, there was a full moon party at our hotel that night. The full moon was actually earlier that week, but they postponed the party to take advantage of the holiday weekend. 

Because there was a party, the dinner was a buffet, which was awesome. Dessert was the best- some kind of bananas with mini doughnuts in a cream sauce. After dinner there was a DJ and an acrobatic show. The acrobats were cool. Lots of fire and ridiculous stunts. However, since we'd been up since 6 a.m. that day, we weren't feeling an all nighter. We went back to our bungalow which was on the beach, so the noise from the party was super loud. We're not sure what time the party ended. Probably around 4 a.m. 

Sunday morning (Easter morning) we woke up and had breakfast. We missed being with our families on Easter, but the view of the Indian Ocean made it a little easier. We really did nothing Sunday: ate, read, ate again, went for a walk, swam and ate again. There's not a whole lot to do on the beach but relax, so it was nice. 

Monday morning we asked the hotel to call a taxi for us at 9:30 a.m. to take us to our hotel in Stone Town, about 1 hour away. Shockingly, the taxi was on time. This guy drove a large van which was much better equipped to handle the little access road to/from our hotel. And this guy drove really fast, so we reached our next hotel, Tembo House, in no time. 

The hotel is right on the water so the views are great. With our hand drawn map from Mackey, we headed out to explore Stone Town. Our first stop was the House of Wonders, built in the 1880s as a palace. The doors inside were amazing. We went to the top and took pictures of the city. It was super hot that day, so being anywhere there was a nice breeze was fine by me. Sadly, the Forodhani Gardens were closed for repairs. We'd read a lot about them in the guide book and had looked foward to visiting them, but oh well. From what we could see from the upper balcony of the House of Wonders, they looked beautiful. 

We spent the rest of the day wandering in and out of the shops, bargaining for souvenirs, visiting the spice/fish market and visiting Freddy Mercury's bar. This is how I got my blisters, but it was worth it. The market was amazing. So many sights, sounds and smells. I didn't enjoy the fish part of it as much as Mark did. In addition to fish, some were selling octupus and squid, both of the fresh and dried variety. I had no idea you could eat dried octopus. I loved all the spices. You could also choose your live chicken there and have it killed for you right there. Mark took some really great pictures of the city, the markets and the people that day. 

The sunset that night was obscured by clouds but the colors were still pretty. That's also when we learned that the hotel doesn't serve alcohol. The city is heavily Muslim, so that's fairly common to find. We just didn't know our hotel followed those rules, too. Not to fear, Livingstone's bar was next door so we headed there for a pre-dinner drink. 

Dinner was at Monsoon, a Mackey recommeded place. The dining room didn't have tables and chairs. Instead it had low tables and cushions to sit on while you ate. You also had to take off your shoes at the door. See the pic, above. We had a great dinner: hummus, veggie curry for me, king prawns for Mark (both with 5 different sides), 1 bottle of wine, 2 teas and 1 dessert all for $45! 

Tuesday morning was the start of a loooong day. We had to eat, check out, and finish souvenir shopping all before 11:30 a.m. to catch our 1:30 p.m. flight back to Nairobi. We got it all done and made our way to the airport. It was super hot again Tuesday so we were dying even that early in the morning while shopping. The airport didn't have A/C except in the duty free shop, so we made a few trips in and out of there. 

Our flight landed about about 4:30 p.m. in Nairobi and Kevin was there to meet us. Our flight back to Dulles via London was at 11:45 p.m., so we had some time to kill. He took us to a brewery that an Indian guy had opened in an industrial park that wasn't far from the airport. It's a large, open space and decorated like a lounge. Very pretty. We stayed there for a little bit and then headed to a choma choma (goat) place that Mackey had never tried but has always wanted to. It was really good. It was served a little different than at the place we went to the first night in Nairobi, but it was great. After we stuffed ourselves, Mackey drove us to the airport. It took us a while to get through security, but we made it just in time. 

We had an awesome trip to Africa. We couldn't have done it without Mackey and all his help, suggestions and guidance. Thanks, Kevin, for everything! 

We'll do our photos this weekend and post the link to them here. 

Back home!

We're back! We arrived home about and hour ago from Dulles. It feels good to be home! Belle is happy to see us. Ok, really just me. Thanks to the petsitters for taking such great care of her. 

I will post this weekend on Zanzibar and also link to our photos. We have 4 CD's of photos that we need to go through and caption. Don't worry, we'll scale them back to a manageable amount; we don't want to bore everyone. :) 

We feel good, except for my feet. Of course, I ended up with about a half dozen blisters on the second to last day of our trip. Oh, well. It's better to have them at the end of the trip rather than the beginning. Oh and my ankles swelled up on this last leg from London to Dulles. So, my feet/ankles look really attractive right now. Sorry, Mark, that you have to look at them. 

So, 5 Guys burgers and fries for dinner and then sleepy time. We had awesome food the whole time we were gone, but we're craving a good 'ole burger. 

We missed everyone and we can't wait to see you and catch up soon! 

Havana and the Giraffe Center

Kevin met us at the airport and took us to a bar called the Rusty Nail. Sounds like a dive bar in Anytown USA, but it was a really nice place. Kevin ordered fried cammenbert for a snack- yum! After drinks we came back to Kevin's and Mark and I showered and changed for dinner. Kevin knocked on our door a little while later and when I opened it, there was a tray. On the tray: a bottle of white wine, 2 wine glasses, a bowl of mini Cadbury eggs (he knew they were my favorite based on an earlier converstation) and a white lilly. He said "Happy Easter!" 

We had our wine on the back patio before leaving for dinner. I forget the name of the restaurant, but it was in a mall called "The Mall." Simple enough, right? The menu was a mix of Asian and African foods. We ordered Kachos which are the African version of nachos: arrow root chips with cheese and guacamole on top. Very good! Kevin ordered us pre-dinner drinks called Dawa. It's Kenya's version of the mojito or caprihnia (sp?) but made with vodka and brown sugar. It was yummy. For dinner, I had a lamb dish called lamb tajine. It was in a sauce flavored with honey. On the side, cous cous with spinach. The spinach was cooked in garlic- my favorite way to have it! So, don't worry, Aunt Mary. I'm definitely eating well here! After dinner, they boys thought it'd be a good idea to order tequila shots. I declined but they enjoyed them. For the time being anyway. 

After dinner, Kevin took us to a bar called Havana. Yes, like Cuba. It was started by a guy from Cuba. Kevin said it's a place where ex pats and locals mix. It was an interesting place. It seemed the ex pats stayed outside on the patio while the locals (mostly ladies of the night, as Gram would call them) stayed inside. So, I'm not really sure how much mixing was going on. We had a good time there. Kevin ordered us 2 shots: 1 was a flaming shot that tasted like black licorice. The other was straight vodka. Sick. I took both of those and I'm glad I did. I'll tell you why in a minute. 

So we climbed in a cab around 12:30 a.m. or so to come home. I went straight to bed, but Kevin and Mark stayed up until God knows when. They hung out on the patio, drinking whisky. Not a good idea, on top of all the food, wine, dawa, shots and beers they'd drank. Kevin paid the price. Mark did, too, but Kevin's grass definitely got some fertilizer courtesy of Kevin. I'm glad I had the few cocktails and shots in me, since Mark and Kevin were being super loud on the patio, which is below our bedroom window. And there also was an incident with the freezer and trying to chop ice out of it with first a knife (which was damaged as a result) and a glass (also broken). The knife apparently hit a tube of some sort in the freezer, causing a loud, hissing noise. See? Glad I slept through all this. 

This morning, we tried our best to wake Kevin up at 10:45 a.m. His friends where here to pick up some camping gear he agreed to let them borrow. So with no help from Kevin, the  4 of us ransacked his place searching for the items he'd promised. 

Kevin finally got up and showered. First on the docket: bloody marys and food for the boys. I was starving, too. We ate at a place called The Talisman. The outdoor space was beautiful and the weather was perfect. After lunch, we went to the giraffe center, where they take in injured or orphaned giraffes. You pay an entrance fee and then they give you food to feed the giraffe. Of course, I loved it! Mark did it after me and the faces he made are classic. We caught them on camera. After the giraffes, we went to a place to buy some souvenirs. It was a large building with a bunch of different vendors inside. I could have spent hours in there. However, we had to leave to get Kevin home in time to attend a wedding with Bel. If he was late, Bel, it's our fault! 

Kevin had Donga, the taxi driver, come pick us up to take us to get groceries so we could cook dinner at home. We made steaks and corn on the cob on the mini Weber. We just finished eating and are moving onto dessert soon: German chocolate cake from the bakery at the super market. 

Tomorrow, we fly to Zanzibar for 3 nights! Can't wait! 

The Mara

We returned last night from the Mara. Our 2 nights there were fantastic. Mark and I agreed that if we'd left Africa after our time at the Mara, we wouldn't be sad, as we'd have felt we had an awesome trip. Luckily, we're not leaving until Tuesday and we still have yet to travel to Zanzibar. And a correction on our itinerary: we stay 3 nights in Zanzibar, not 2. We are 2 nights on the beach and 1 night in Stone Town. We leave tomorrow for "Zan" as Kevin calls it. 

Kevin's cab driver, Donga, took us to Wilson airport on Tuesday a.m. for our flight to the Mara. We were on SafariLink airline. The Wilson airport is the smaller, commuter type airport. All the planes are tiny, as was ours. We were about 30 minutes late taking off, but 30 minutes late here isn't too bad. As I said, the plane was tiny. So tiny, that I couldn't even stand up straight to get to my seat. I think it held 12 passengers. We had 1 stop over and then we landed at our destination: Kichwa Tembo. It was literally a dirt airstrip and a hut for passengers to wait for their planes. 

Our hosts from Camp Maratimbo, Kinanta and James, were there to greet us and take us to our camp. Kinanta is a Masai and wears the traditional red "dress". However, he also wears a white baseball cap and has his cell phone at all times. James was our driver. He was quieter and more shy than Kinanta, but I think it was because his English wasn't as good as Kinanta's. 

The camp is only about 12km from the air strip. However, with the roads being the way they were, it took us about 45 minutes to get there. On the way, we saw a lot of animals and passed 2 Masai villages. We saw elephants, warthogs, baboons, and zebra. I wish I could post pictures now, but with the Internet connection, it takes a loooooong time to even upload one photo. I will try to post 1 for this entry later today and I have one from Nakuru as well. 

When we arrived at the camp, our butler, Francisa, was waiting for us with hot washcloths to wash our hands and face. Kinanta went over some basic camp amenities and the schedule for the next few days. The plan for Tuesday was to eat lunch and then go on the 3 p.m. safari drive. Wednesday's plan was a 5 a.m. wake up call to meet Kinanta and James for a 5:30 a.m. game drive. We opted out of the Wednesday afternoon game drive. The plan for Thursday: breakfast at 7 a.m. and then an all day game drive before heading back to the air strip for our 4 p.m. flight back to Nairobi.  

Before lunch, we were shown to our tent (#2) and given a tour of where the restaurants and bar were. Our tent was amazing- as big as our condo in DC! The outdoor space was huge and it had a bathtub. You could see the river from the outdoor verandah and hear the hippos in the water. We freshened up and went to lunch. Lunch was served outdoors, overlooking the river. The hippos were in there, putting on a show for us. They all popped up at once to say "hello." Kinanta told us that they can stay under water for as long as 5 minutes without taking a breath. As we were finishing lunch, we were given the menu for dinner so we could choose what entree we each wanted. Uncle John would love it; before you're finished one meal, you already know what you're having for your next one. All meals were 3 courses: soup/salad, entree and dessert. The camp was all inclusive so we only had to pay for drinks. 

After lunch, we met up again with Kinanta and James for our game drive. On our way to the reserve, we saw lots of animals again, including our first giraffes! They are such beautiful creatures and they look at you with their big, friendly eyes. We even saw some baby giraffe- so cute! Our safari car started to overheat on our way to the reserve. James and Kinanta were on it though, along with some Masai children. They helped Kinanta and James to draw water from the puddles to put in the radiator. There was one little boy who was obviously the braver of the bunch. He kept coming up to the car and waving and ran away squealing with laughter when we waved back. He climbed up onto the sideboard of the car and looked at himself in the rear view mirror on the outside of the car. He was so perplexed by the face staring back at him and kept looking behind the mirror to find the other boy. It was so sweet to see; he's clearly never seen his own reflection other than maybe in a puddle. 

After a delay of about 30 minutes, we were on our way again. In the reserve, we saw so many beautiful animals: male and female lions and lion cubs, more elephants, including baby ones, monkeys, and tons of birds. As we were headed out of the park, it began to rain. We had to wait it out a little bit, as the safari car's windshield wipers were not working. It rained really hard but not for very long. However, it was long enough to almost completely wash out the road to our camp. We came to a point where the road seemed completely impassable, due to the fact that it had a river running down from the top of the ridge. James turned the car off and we sat for a few minutes, just watching this newly formed river. After some debate (in Swahili) between Kinanta and James, somehow a decision was reached: go for it.  And so we did. We made it through the river, with just a small amount of water coming under the doors and onto the floor. Thank god, because we weren't too keen on the idea of sleeping in the car overnight. 

We made it back safely to the camp and showered and changed for dinner. Waiting outside our tent to take us to dinner was a Masai. One was there every time we left our tent to protect us, should we need it. The camp isn't fenced, so it's possible the animals could wander close to your tent. One of the Masai carried a bow and arrow. Dinner was another fabulous meal of course. We went to bed early as our wake up call for Wednesday was 5 a.m. 

Our wake up call came, along with a pot of coffee and some snacks. They had turned the generators on early for us (normally they turn them on at 6 a.m. and then off and on during different times of the day) since they knew we'd be up early. The power lasted until about 5:20 a.m., when the generator abruptly shut off. Luckily we were almost dressed and were able to grab the flashlight before we were in total darkness. Five minutes later, one of the staff arrived to give us 2 lanterns for our room to use while we finished getting ready. He apologized about the generator. We found out later that the rain had damaged one of the power lines,  but it was replaced and the power was up when we returned from the game drive. 

The plan was to make it back in time for breakfast at the camp, which started at 9:30 a.m. We met Kinanta and James at 5:30 a.m. and we were on our way again! On the way, we saw many animals, including a mama giraffe and her baby. Mom was sleeping (I'd never seen a giraffe lying down) and seemed kind of irked at us for waking her up. We had another great day at the reserve and took tons of photos. I will upload when we return to DC.  We got back to the reserve just before our 9:30 a.m. breakfast. We watched the hippos again, as our table was outside again. Weather permitting, you eat all your meals outside, overlooking the river. 

Wednesday was our rest day, so we took a nap after breakfast and then it was time for lunch. We had lunch and just lounged the rest of the day in our tent until it was time for dinner. I took a bath in the outside tub. I didn't see any hippos, but I could see the river. We had to eat dinner that night inside one of the restaurants since it was raining. We met up with Kinanta that night at the bar and had a drink. We talked for a little while with him, Oscar the bartender and a German woman traveling on her own. Again, we didn't stay up too late since our wake up call was at 7 a.m.

Thursday morning we had our breakfast and then went on the all day game drive. The German woman, Astrid, joined us for part of it. We had to drop her after lunch at the air strip to catch her 1:40 p.m. flight. Lunch was awesome: a picnic inside the game reserve. We spread out a few blankets and ate the boxed lunches from the camp. I've never had a better picnic! We had an amazing game drive that day: we saw 7 cheetahs! We first saw 2 males, maybe brothers, on the hunt. They attempted to take down an impala, but Kinanta laughed and said no way could they catch that. And he was right. It was so cool to see the stalking and the chase though. A little while later we saw a mom cheetah and her 3 young cubs. She was teaching them how to hunt. We didn't see her catch anything either, though. Mark was very disappointed. :) The only 2 things we didn't see over our 3 days of game driving were the black rhino and the leopard. But, we were extremely lucky to have seen the cheetah, especially so many of them. They really are beautiful. 

We went on a small game drive around the air strip, while killing time before our flight. We got to the air strip at about 3:15 p.m. Our flight was at 4 p.m. We waited and waited and finally at 4:30 p.m., our plane arrived. However, there was also a storm forming in the direction we were headed. There's no air traffic control tower, so the pilot made a few phone calls asking what the weather was in different parts of the Mara. This heightened my fear of flying into a storm on a tiny plane. Oh and I heard him say that the plane we were on was not equipped with windshield wipers. Great. After a 30 minute wait, we took off into the storm. It was bumpy, but not as bumpy as I'd expected. Mark and I weren't seated together but we both admitted later that we were scared s***less. We flew for about 10 minutes to the first and only stop over. After that, we were seated together, as some people got off there. The 45 minute flight was fine since the storm had passed. We hit a little more rain, but nothing serious. 

Overall, our trip to the Mara was amazing! We had such great guides, Kinanta and James, who seemed to enjoy the game drives as much as we did. They'd often argue in Swahili about which direction to go, how to drive, etc. It was never heated, but you could tell that Kinanta was calling the shots. And James was great; so quiet and soft spoken. But you could tell he loved driving around in the mud by the huge grin he'd get on his face when we went through a particularly muddy trail.  I highly recommend going on safari in the Mara and staying at Camp Maratimbo. 

Nakuru National Park

Hi everyone! I just have to start off by saying that we have the best tour guides in Kenya: Kevin and Bel. They have been so great, driving us around and showing us amazing sights. I've hyperlinked to some places below, so just click on the green font to see the site. 

We just returned from spending the night in a lodge in Nakuru National Park. We arrived at about 6 p.m. Sunday evening to the park (see Mark's previous post about sleeping until 11:30 a.m.) We didn't have much time to go through the park, as it was closing at 6:30 p.m. But we managed to see a lot of animals in such a short time and to reach our ultimate destination within the park for the evening: flamingos at the lake at sunset. Of course Kevin was well prepared for the photo op and had a wine bucket and sparkling wine. The flamingos were amazing. They make a sort of humming/buzzing noise when they're all together. When they take flight it's even better, as you get to see the black parts of their wings- so pretty. Bel informed us that flamingos get their pink hue from their diet of shrimp. You all know how much I love seafood- man did it stink down there by the water. :) 

We left the flamingos and checked into our lodge, the Flamingo Hill tented camp. We were in a tent, but it had hard floors, a verandah, and running water for the toilet and shower. Definitely not roughing it at all. We changed for dinner and met Kevin and Bel at their tent for a pre-dinner cocktail. Dinner was delish- the boys had steak and Bel and I had the lasagna. All the food is fresh and delicious. And the staff were all wonderful. So friendly and accommodating. 

This morning, we awoke at 6 a.m. (ok really we'd been up since 3 a.m. due to our bodies still being on DC time) to meet Kevin and Bel for coffee at 6:30 a.m. We'd asked the hotel to pack our breakfasts for us the night before. So, we had our tea/coffee and hit the road to get back in the park. The best times to see the animals are the early morning and late evening. 

Our destination for our breakfast was an outlook point that overlooks the lake. On our way to it, we took lots of photos, as did Kevin, which I will upload shortly. 

We saw so many amazing birds and animals: white rhino, impala, baboon, some other kind of cute monkey that I forget the name of, guinea hen (Uncle Dave, they made it from MD!), hyena, buffalo, water buck, wart hog (we saw adult and baby wart hog- the babies are adorable!), gazelle, flamingo, pelican, eagle, and vulture. 

Tonight Kevin is cooking a chicken on the new mini weber grill we brought him. Mark isn't feeling so hot (stomach bug), but hopefully he will be ok for our flight tomorrow.

We have a 10 a.m. flight to the Masai Mara National Reserve. We will be staying for 2 nights at this place. See our hotel post for the link to the lodge where we are staying. 

Then it's back to Nairobi and then off to Zanzibar on Saturday. We stay there for 2 nights and then are back here with Kevin again. I'm sure he's sick of us by now, or will be soon. :) His house here is beautiful: 3 bedrooms (1 is his office), 2 full baths, a big backyard. He graciously gave up his bedroom to Mark and me, so we have our own full bath in our room. 

It's really quiet here, sleeping at night, except for the birds in the morning (loud Ibis that sounds like crows) and the cows next door. Thank God I knew that there were cows next door, or else I would have been a little more freaked out when I heard them Sunday morning. 

I will upload photos shortly. I just have to figure out how to link them to here. 

Day 1

We went out to eat with Kevin to a local restaurant here in Nairobi and stuffed ourselves full of goat that they carved up right at our table.  On the schedule for today:  we are headed out to a game park to take in some rhinos and flamingos.  Btw, I slept to 11:30 this morning. Clearly still jet lagged.  Side note - we can hear cows outside our window here at Kevin's house.