7/5/11 (Just got connected to the Internet, so I am posting from a few days ago.)
Jambo, from Kenya! I have arrived! Last night, we landed in Nairobi at around midnight, and much to my surprise, there was a man waiting for me when I picked up my luggage, a taxi driver named Anthony, arranged by Malewa Trust. After a trip to the ATM to take out Kenyan shillings, we were on our way. It takes approximately two hours to travel from Nairobi to Malewa Bush Ventures (towards Naivasha), and fortunately, the city was asleep at midnight, so we were able to travel through it quite quickly. Good thing, because I wasn’t able to sleep on the flights as well as I thought I would and I was exhausted! As my tired eyes started to close about an hour outside of the city, we came to a stop at a police checkpoint and a blue light shined into the taxi. Being a white person in Kenya with a black driver, the police immediately asked if I was on safari and then checked my bags. Seeing the six water pumps, we explained that I was here for meetings and after some questions, we were free to be on our way.
My eyes started to close again, and as I fought the temptation to fall asleep, I saw an unusual sight on the side of the expressway- three camels carrying people and bags. I closed my eyes and opened them again, thinking they must have been horses or something else, but sure enough, the camels were there! Asking my taxi driver if those were indeed camels, he laughed and replied that it was not unusual to have camels there. I have to remember that things in Kenya will likely surprise me often. Shortly after, I thought I saw the backside of something with white and black stripes grazing on the side of the expressway. Not wanting to sound like the bumbling tourist, I didn’t say anything, thinking that this time, it might have been my imagination and lack of sleep. But another twenty minutes into the drive and there on the side of the road, I couldn’t miss a large zebra grazing. The taxi driver pointed it out this time, and even slowed down a bit to let me look. Amazing!
We met the assistant director of Malewa Bush Ventures, Jude (Judy), at a small establishment outside of Gilgil, as she wanted to feed me before I went to bed. Fried chicken (which I struggled to eat because it was on the bone), french fries, and some type of hot vegetables were served. I don’t think my doctor at the travel clinic would be happy with me, as she directed me not to eat any vegetables at all. Since I’m not a big meat-eater, and supposedly Kenyans love their meat, this could be quite a challenge. I think I’ll stick to the rules of washing the vegetables that we learned in Ecuador and Peru instead!
I arrived at Malewa Bush Ventures well after 1:00 am, was shown to my room with two double beds, down comforters, a dresser, desk, etc. It was too good to be true! (And it was… they have since moved me to a cottage at the top of the hill, which is still much nicer than the places I have slept in the past two summer adventures!) Sleep was nice and easy!
