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thatcrazycajunKaribu tena, folks! (Ki-Swahili for "welcome back.") I post to you today from the shores of the Indian Ocean, where the Songbird and I are spending this second three-day holiday weekend of October for Kenyans and expats.
We are at Turtle Bay Beach Club, an "all-inclusive" resort in the Kenyan village of Watumu, near the larger town of Malindi on the northern coast. Two days ago we visited Lake Nakuru National Park, a four-hour drive north of Nairobi, where you can see lots of the same kinds of animals we saw in the Maasai Mara plus the one we didn't: rhinoceros, of whom we found several and took pictures which will be uploaded when I am back in Nairobi and SB is back at the office again.
Tuesday 14 October
We had planned originally to visit Nakuru on Tuesday, but my failure to sleep much of the night (owing to the continuing efforts of my body to drown me in mucus and make every breath or word a flaming piece of hell in my throat) caused me to sleep too late in the morning to make the drive worthwhile, so we did errands and found me medications at a local chemist's (that's what they call drugstores here, a legacy of the British colonial period as is much else in Kenyan culture), then took in a screening of Hellboy II: The Golden Army, which SB unlike me had not seen.
Wednesday 15 October
This time we managed to get up earlier, had SB's Kenyan driver Francis in to pick us up and drove north on the A104 road, which is as close as Kenya gets to having a superhighway. We stopped along the way to take in a scenic overlook (well personned by locals very eager to sell sculptures of wood, tribal blankets and other bric-a-brac to muzungu [white] tourists) along the Uganda Railway, called the "Lunatic Line" by critics when it was being built for the dangers and difficulty of its construction. From some 3000 meters up, we could view the whole landscape westward from the rail line below us to the mountains of the Rift Valley. We also stopped for gas ("petrol" here, which is only available in one variety unlike the three US drivers can buy), drinks and cough drops for me. Finally arriving at the park around 1:30 or so, we bought our tickets in and drove SB's Mitsubishi SUV through roads and paths around the lake itself for the next several hours. We spotted elephants, zebras, waterbucks, giraffes and more as we wended our way to a point where we finally could reach the lake shore. And then we saw flamingos: hundreds of them, thousands of them, more than anyone outside of Florida has ever seen in one place at one time. They line the shore to feed on the algae that grow in Nakuru's super-alkaline waters, and some danced past us in a line as if choreographed by Marlin Perkins channeling Twyla Tharp. It was along here also that we finally came upon our first rhino, lying calmly near the water and looking quite bored with all the vans and SUVs driving around him. We also saw a few others nearby, and pictures of them will also be forthcoming. We finished the day at Baboon Point, the park's highest structured overlook, where the hairy apes who give the place its name congregate and hang off the frighteningly high cliffside. Sunset and the park's closing about 6:30 PM obliged us to begin the long drive back to Nairobi, where we arrived a smidge after 10.
Thursday 16 October
Again, we got up early and had Francis drive us to Kenyatta Airport for the next subtrip of my sojourn here, to the coast. Be warned: the domestic-flights side of the main airport is distinctly less well appointed than the international-flights side, not having any more than a small coffee shop and no newsstand, so stock up on what you need before you get there if traveling within Kenya. We got on a low-cost interior carrier with the curious name of Fly540 and flew to Watumu, at whose dinky little airport a shuttle bus from Turtle Bay awaited us. They drove us to the resort and offered us free mango juice and cool moist cloths for our faces as we waited through the check-in process (the lobby is not air-conditioned, though the rooms and gift shop are). We were shown to a room more luxurious than the type SB had booked, and after checking to make sure we wouldn't get billed for additional moola for staying in it, we unpacked and settled in. We had lunch at the ginormous buffet near the swimming pool (meals are included and served thrice daily, buffet style), then had a nap for a couple hours before dinner at the same buffet area. A night walk on the beach, reading and early sleep ended our first half-day.
Friday 17 October
Today we ended up staying in the room aside from checking out the beach in daylight, only to find that storms at sea had sent all the seaweed onto our beach, rendering it and the water close in mostly unswimmable. We did enjoy more delicious, variegated food at the buffet and each other's company, while planning for Saturday when one of SB's coworkers and our driver arrive. (As SB needs to be back in town for Tuesday morning and could not get a return flight Monday, Francis is meeting us with the SUV and will drive us back to Nairobi by way of the port city of Mombasa.) We will likely drive into Malindi and view some local ancient ruins SB knows of, and check out the shops at least; more on that when next I post.
We are at Turtle Bay Beach Club, an "all-inclusive" resort in the Kenyan village of Watumu, near the larger town of Malindi on the northern coast. Two days ago we visited Lake Nakuru National Park, a four-hour drive north of Nairobi, where you can see lots of the same kinds of animals we saw in the Maasai Mara plus the one we didn't: rhinoceros, of whom we found several and took pictures which will be uploaded when I am back in Nairobi and SB is back at the office again.
Tuesday 14 October
We had planned originally to visit Nakuru on Tuesday, but my failure to sleep much of the night (owing to the continuing efforts of my body to drown me in mucus and make every breath or word a flaming piece of hell in my throat) caused me to sleep too late in the morning to make the drive worthwhile, so we did errands and found me medications at a local chemist's (that's what they call drugstores here, a legacy of the British colonial period as is much else in Kenyan culture), then took in a screening of Hellboy II: The Golden Army, which SB unlike me had not seen.
Wednesday 15 October
This time we managed to get up earlier, had SB's Kenyan driver Francis in to pick us up and drove north on the A104 road, which is as close as Kenya gets to having a superhighway. We stopped along the way to take in a scenic overlook (well personned by locals very eager to sell sculptures of wood, tribal blankets and other bric-a-brac to muzungu [white] tourists) along the Uganda Railway, called the "Lunatic Line" by critics when it was being built for the dangers and difficulty of its construction. From some 3000 meters up, we could view the whole landscape westward from the rail line below us to the mountains of the Rift Valley. We also stopped for gas ("petrol" here, which is only available in one variety unlike the three US drivers can buy), drinks and cough drops for me. Finally arriving at the park around 1:30 or so, we bought our tickets in and drove SB's Mitsubishi SUV through roads and paths around the lake itself for the next several hours. We spotted elephants, zebras, waterbucks, giraffes and more as we wended our way to a point where we finally could reach the lake shore. And then we saw flamingos: hundreds of them, thousands of them, more than anyone outside of Florida has ever seen in one place at one time. They line the shore to feed on the algae that grow in Nakuru's super-alkaline waters, and some danced past us in a line as if choreographed by Marlin Perkins channeling Twyla Tharp. It was along here also that we finally came upon our first rhino, lying calmly near the water and looking quite bored with all the vans and SUVs driving around him. We also saw a few others nearby, and pictures of them will also be forthcoming. We finished the day at Baboon Point, the park's highest structured overlook, where the hairy apes who give the place its name congregate and hang off the frighteningly high cliffside. Sunset and the park's closing about 6:30 PM obliged us to begin the long drive back to Nairobi, where we arrived a smidge after 10.
Thursday 16 October
Again, we got up early and had Francis drive us to Kenyatta Airport for the next subtrip of my sojourn here, to the coast. Be warned: the domestic-flights side of the main airport is distinctly less well appointed than the international-flights side, not having any more than a small coffee shop and no newsstand, so stock up on what you need before you get there if traveling within Kenya. We got on a low-cost interior carrier with the curious name of Fly540 and flew to Watumu, at whose dinky little airport a shuttle bus from Turtle Bay awaited us. They drove us to the resort and offered us free mango juice and cool moist cloths for our faces as we waited through the check-in process (the lobby is not air-conditioned, though the rooms and gift shop are). We were shown to a room more luxurious than the type SB had booked, and after checking to make sure we wouldn't get billed for additional moola for staying in it, we unpacked and settled in. We had lunch at the ginormous buffet near the swimming pool (meals are included and served thrice daily, buffet style), then had a nap for a couple hours before dinner at the same buffet area. A night walk on the beach, reading and early sleep ended our first half-day.
Friday 17 October
Today we ended up staying in the room aside from checking out the beach in daylight, only to find that storms at sea had sent all the seaweed onto our beach, rendering it and the water close in mostly unswimmable. We did enjoy more delicious, variegated food at the buffet and each other's company, while planning for Saturday when one of SB's coworkers and our driver arrive. (As SB needs to be back in town for Tuesday morning and could not get a return flight Monday, Francis is meeting us with the SUV and will drive us back to Nairobi by way of the port city of Mombasa.) We will likely drive into Malindi and view some local ancient ruins SB knows of, and check out the shops at least; more on that when next I post.
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no subject
Date: 2008-10-17 08:22 pm (UTC)Your trip
Date: 2008-10-17 08:49 pm (UTC)Nate
Re: Your trip
Date: 2008-10-18 07:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-17 10:14 pm (UTC)Sounds really amazing! Good to hear you and SB enjoying your time to reconnect in the physical realm. I can only try to imagine all of the wonderful sights, smells, sounds you must be experiencing.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-18 02:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-18 07:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-18 10:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-21 09:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-19 12:35 pm (UTC)