KENYAN MEMORIES

                                                      Nairobi

      Kenya is about the size of Texas with a population of 25 million, with two million living in Nairobi. English is the official language but everyone also speaks Swahili as that is how the tribes communicate with each other. Nairobi is a large metropolitan city. Forty-five ethnic tribes live in Kenya. The smallest numbers 250 people. The largest tribe is Kukuyu

      In 1899 the Uganda--Mobassa Railroad was being built by coolies from India. The English spent a lot of money to have the railroad built so in the early 1900s they encouraged white people to migrate to Kenya. In 1909 Nairobi was the capitol of British South Africa which consisted of Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya. Now Nairobi is the largest city between Johannesburg and Cairo The automobile arrived here in 1913.

        The city is large. The tourist part of the city is safe to walk as there are askari (police) everywhere keeping the pesky hawkers at bay. The hotels have askari on each floor patrolling the corridors. We were accompanied as we walked to a nearby restaurant one evening. Yet, I never felt threatened nor afraid.

      The place I felt most uncomfortable was the native market that everyone told us we absolutely needed to visit. It was crowded, hot, smelly and stuffy. Hundreds of small vendor niches were separated by narrow pathways. Smoking was a popular pastime, which I saw as a real fire hazard in the crowded areas. The entire complex which covered a large city block was fenced and with only one or two entrances/exits I could foresee a terrible scene in the case of fire and a stampede. Neither of us bought anything nor saw anything that really intrigued us. Although my son kept constantly moving someone did manage to slice his backpack, but fortunately did not get a hold of any of his camera equipment.

      The merchandise seemed to be all the same, so our visit was very short. We came, we saw, we left.

SOME GREAT KENYAN MEMORIES

The Carnivore Restaurant is a popular and famous tourist restaurant. In the center of the restaurant a large cooking is pit is in where all kinds of meats are cooked. Waiters came to the table and told us what meat he carried and served us anything we wanted to try. The food was good.

Although not much for exotic dining, it was a fun experience.

While in Kenya we traveled nearly 1600 miles in Nissan vans equipped with special pop top roofs. These vans also had special guards to protect their undersides on the sometimes rough terrain.

After riding over the arid areas it was a surprise to find our hotels in an oasis in the middle of the desert. We always had a quaint cottage with comfortable accommodations.

Part of the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro are in Kenya but all of the mountain is in Tanzania

The first day we saw the wildebeest migration was simply awesome, especially since we thought we would miss the annual event. It was spellbinding every time we saw the thousands of animals followed by thousands of zebras.

Waking to barking zebras in the marsh at Amboseli.

Falling to sleep to the sound of rippling water and a crackling fire in out fireplace!

On safari game runs are done early in the morning (6:30 AM) before breakfast and late afternoon/early evening---the times of day animals are most active as they rest in the heat of the day

The day a beautiful spotted leopard crossed right in front of our van.

Watching the sleeping cheetahs awaken and take off with the lion in pursuit—it ended in a draw as the lion is a sprinter.

The mating leopards in the hillsides—what a lucky find!

The tented facilities in the Masai Mara in the northern Serengeti and all its animals. The big five of Africa are the buffalo, elephant, rhino, leopard, and lion. We were lucky to see them all!

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