give or take 2 weeks ago i headed for Detroit fro my flight to Africa, this was 5 days after returning from Europe, hearing about my company going bankrupt and very unclear future. in short, perfect time for vacation.
nothing unusual at the flight , just watched several movies which i cannot recall a single one, most memorable, and purchasing a camera in Holand on the lay over. why another camera?
well i never wrote on the last days of the previous trip or sent any photos. on the last night of the trip in helsinki, we went to the movies, not deciding which one to go. o wanter harry potter and Alla preferred anything but harry potter, so after long debates that included walking to another cinema to see what they have and walking back, i went to harry potter and Alla went to unknown. Harry potter part 2 is much better that the prequel. I loved it so much that i left my fancy new camera behind at the cinema. we returned later that night but they closed. we flew out the following morning and called and emailed the cinema, but somehow, the camera was not found, very surprising not to find a new camera. luckily we uploaded most of the photos we lack photos of Tallinn and Helsinki. when we landed, one bag decide to remain in Europe and managed to finally arrive the day after I left, that bag had my cell and my spear simple camera. so had no choice but to get a new camera. I got a simple one which i feel is a mistake since the quality of the SLR is amazing, but i hastily chose the regular.
i filled my water bottle after the security check point at the airport knowing that kenia water were not recommended even for kenians and boarded. the flight was remarkable, it was a day flight with clear skies and i got to see splendid alps views followed by the Adriatic, Greece, the med sea and the Egyptian dessert, very nice changing views but it became dark soon so i went to sleep a bit.
I landed in Nairobi and i had to wait for my friends to land 5 hours later. the Visa line took me 2 hours, i chose the wrong line, since some of the other 'for kenians only' and similar only doubled for regular tourists, but i had to wait either way. I passed customs and immateriality felt uncomfortable with the many requests for my destination, cab suggestions etc. i prefer going to them. so i crashed for an hour at a book store, reading, then when they closed at midnight, i went to the cafeteria and sat next to a big Spanish group so I would appear not alone. 2 am came and went and my friends didn't make it and a tourist trapper\ local guide persuaded me to take them as drivers once my friends land. after 3 Am, the last passengers left the terminal, and it was clear something was wrong, so i went to Turkish airways office and learned that my friends missed the flight. i had no reply for my emergency contacts for the tour group and no idea where we booked the night. so they took me to our starting point which is also an emergency contact point, but the night clerk look like she doesn't know who to call. i left a voice mail with the tour group and went to the hostel, which is also my guides home. i crashed at 4.30 asking for a 6 am wake up.
I woke at 7:30 (the tour group leaves at 8) and was much annoyed, but we finally managed to contact the group and told we were late and i rushed them to drive me fast in the impossibly slow Nairobi traffic. i was quite nervous on the way. but suddenly the driver's cell rang and it was Jerusalem of gold song. not what I expected to hear so i asked and turns out the driver is Kenyan Jew. i didn't know such exists. so during the 1 hour drive he explained about his congregation and we also drove by important tourist sites such as the Nairobi synagogue and the site of the US embassy bombing 20 years ago.
we finely reached the group which left a few minutes after i came and at that point i had no clue when my friends will make it. we stopped soon after for provisions such as water and snacks and i met some of the fellow travelers in the back sit (you know, the cool people area, not sure what i was doing there..:))
one of them, which later will be known as blondi Justin immediately guessed my accent, which never happens! so i tried to guess the others and basically failed. i was super tired from lack of sleep and tension, but that is no excuse. we hit the road and reached our 1st view point over the too cloudy rift valley. this stop was for nature break + souvenir shops and i disliked the locals hovering too closed to get me to see their wares and especially one for pulling me to his store, i was in a total resist mode, i wouldn't likely by a camera at this mood. we soon returned to the road, passing small villages in certain levels of decay till we hit the lake Nakuro game preserve.
very soon we so big deer like beast and flamingos at the lake and lots of monkeys which was awesome and also a very pretty blue bird (bob sterling) which i liked, we stopped for lunch while taking shots of monkeys and seeing them steal bananas. one big monkey got in through an open window and found my extra dry lemon cake i purchased earlier and stole it. he tried to bring it to the three but this crummy crumbly cake did not withstand such forces and broke apart. so this Alpha velvet monkey (or vervet) started to devour my cake while the rest of the smaller monkeys sneak in grab crumbs and run away, back and forth right in front of our camera happy fingers. after lunch we reached the lake and discovered water bucks and too many to count flamingos, both pink lesser and white greater species and also Courmurants, Storks, seagulls and pelicans in large numbers. a very impressive sight to see especially when some took flight.
we went on and began to see lots of wild life from Zebras and baboons, to Thompson and Grant gazelles. we found some Elands which is the largest Impala in (Kenia or Africa, not sure), a rare Rothschild girrafe (on the extinction list) white and black rhinos + babies (also on the extinct list), buffalos, rock hyrex sitting on a rock, a super cute running pumba (wart hog) and 2 lions, one sitting the other laying on its back in a regular cat style nap, so cute. since i was half a sleep that day, with my extra enthusiasim for wild life- it was funny for the fellow traveler since i would perk up with every animal but as soon as we left the park, i crashed.
in the evening we built our tents on a grass filled camp trying to hurry since the rain began (rain, in the dry season, everyone were surprised), then helped with cutting onions which were completely un felt (which is very good) in the curry rice dish. we sat getting to know the group, but i didn't stay for long and went to sleep in my just a bit leaky tent.
next morning we broke camp had decent breakfast and drove to Nakuro town where i finally seen my friends , but more on that in the next blog
