Amsterdam

Breakfast in the Hotel Garden
Amsterdam Flower Market
Museum Geelvinck Garden
Biking through Vondelpark

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Amsterdam

Finding fresh clothing is an issue. Everything smells like kerosene from Sally's place. We should have closed the suitcase.

Today was our one day stopover in Amsterdam. Elizabeth set up a lovely breakfast table for us in her garden. After taking care of some booking we needed to do, we took our rented bikes and away we went. The bikes were bright yellow and had two speeds: go and stop. We took the long route to the Anne Frank Museum, along some canals, it was quite nice. Peaceful and quiet. The Anne Frank Museum had a 2 hour long line so we moved on. We found Nieuwe Kerk Church, one of those large old European churches where they have memorials to dead people and crypts under your feet. We love those big old churches, cathedrals really. Then we found our way to the Flower Market, which was a long row of flower stalls selling mostly tulips. Canada Customs requires Canadians to have a special seal on any tulips we bring back. We bought 3 bags for 10 euros (30 bulbs) and stopped there because of weight concerns. Tulips are so cheap here. If we didn't need the seal, we could have bought a bag of 100 tulips for 10 euros!

We left our bikes parked there (there are hundreds of bikes parked everywhere) and walked to the Katten Kabinet. This is a huge collection of all things cat, in an old canal house. It even smelled like cats. Our favourite part was the live cats that were wandering about. Then to the Museum Geelvinck, which was a tour of an 18th century grand canal house that some old guy built for his much younger wife. At first we weren't too impressed but we discovered that we were only in the coach house. The home was lovely. Frankie was so jealous of the large library with all the comfortable chairs and especially the window seats overlooking the canal.

Downtown Amsterdam was extremely busy today, lots of "couples" walking around and lots of pot smokers. We went into a shop that sold big balls of cheese, a hundred different flavours. We also went into a shop that was called the The Magic Mushroom Gallery, which was all about what the name implies. This city is far too progressive for our tastes. In the afternoon it got much busier and it was much harder to navigate the bikes around all the people and other bikes and the scooters and also watch out for cars and trams. A few times we gave up and just walked the bikes. The locals on bikes were amazing to watch. In Amsterdam bikes have the right of way. There are many bike lanes on the main roads. We learned the hard way that some bike lanes are 2 way and some are one way, oops. The bike lanes have special stop lights just for them. Some of the roads beside the canals are just wide enough for a car, but bikes have right of way on them. Pedestrians generally stayed off to the side on very narrow sidewalks, so bikes had the most space. When a car passed, it felt scary because it was so narrow. The city is built in concentric circles around a number of canals. The street names are difficult to recognize and pronounce, and lots of them are not labelled. We had a real job knowing where we were going. It was very hard work and became frustrating in the afternoon when it was so busy. We suspect the Pride weekend did not help.

We eventually found Vondelpark, a huge park, where we could bike a big loop without worrying about cars and trams, just pedestrians and joggers and rollerbladers. After that we decided we had had enough and made our way back to our hotel for a little peace and relaxation. We may not have seen the Anne Frank Museum or Rijksmuseum, which are the 2 most famous tourist places, but we sure did experience the city!

In the evening we decided to take a tram instead of the bikes, down to Central Station to catch our evening dinner canal cruise, which started at 8:00 pm to 10:30 pm. This was our treat to ourselves for our anniversary, which is on Tuesday.

Nairobi to Amsterdam

The parade on the canal
Old Amsterdam

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Nairobi to Amsterdam

 
Sally did very nicely for us, especially because she had never met us before. She had been willing to put us up the entire 2 weeks if we weren't travelling so much.

This morning we woke up at 3:30 for a 4:00 am departure from the house. Sally came with Melicah, but Blacklaw did not come because Poly refused to go pick him up on that road. We had been really afraid of how long it would take to get to the airport after last night's jam. It took 15 minutes just to navigate one km of her road, but after that we just zoomed through town because there was no traffic. They dropped us off, and check-in did not take long at all, so we had 3 hours to kill. We did have to scan our four fingers and thumbs, on both hands.

Our flight was supposed to leave at 8:10 am but in true Kenyan fashion, it didn't leave until 9:30.  We sat at the gate and watched each individual piece of luggage go pole pole (slowly slowly) up the conveyor into the plane.  Then a guy came with a small beagle and walked in and out of the plane and then into the luggage compartment.  Then 2 pieces of luggage were taken out of the plane, thankfully they weren't ours.  After takeoff the captain said the delay was because 4 crew members called in sick today.  Hmmm, wonder if that is true?  We had ALOT of trouble with our seatback systems today.  But at this point we've been on several long flights and seen all the good movies anyways.  We both had aisle seats today, beside each other.  No perfume issues.
 
Immediately after we exited the airport we could tell a difference from Kenya.  Everything was new and modern, but also alot of people were smoking cigarettes or joints, yuck (very few people smoked in Kenya at all).  We caught a shuttle to our hotel very easily, it only took 15 mins.  We are on the bottom of an old canal house, our room is great, so quiet, and we have a personal computer to use in our room, yippee!  Elizabeth our hostess took alot of time to tell us anything we needed to know about Amsterdam and which places to avoid.  We decided to walk to find a restaurant.  Lucky us, today was Pride Day, the canals were FULL of boats of people celebrating, and the rain did not seem to put any damper on their party.  The streets were full of litter and bottles.  We walked along the canals and watched the mayhem for awhile, then found a quiet beautiful French restaurant for dinner.  Back to our rooms for a much needed shower, felt so good!  And imagine - we can drink the tapwater!

Nairobi

Feeding Time for the Cheetahs
Anton's new friends
Ostrich at the Animal Orphanage
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Nairobi

 
Last night we did not sleep well because there was a large group of young people staying there and they were very loud. We had breakfast with Poly at a java hut and headed over to the Nairobi National Museum. Since Blacklaw had business in the morning, he was going to meet us in the afternoon. He arranged to send his sister Sally instead on his behalf. She was a bit late so the 3 of us went through the museum. There were a lot of stuffed African animals, and early skulls, and display case after display case of stuffed birds. We looked especially for Polykens' onjure bird. It turned out to be a superb starling.

Sally arrived just as we finished the museum, and she had her 4 year old daughter Melusine (nicknamed Melicah which means angel) and her 6 year old nephew Mark along. We went through the snake park with a guide, there were crocodiles and fish as well. The kids were remarkably well behaved the whole day long, and Melicah was wearing the outfit I had brought for her.

After lunch the 6 of us piled into Poly's car and we headed across town to the Nairobi Game Park to the Animal Orphanage. It is a place of refuge for orphaned or injured or confiscated animals. There were lions, cheetahs, leapards, an ostrich, monkeys, etc. They had the CUTEST little lion cubs. Blacklaw was supposed to meet us there. We went through with a guide and then watched some of the animals being fed. Watching the ostrich eat was the most fascinating. Every once in a while he would have to stretch his neck real high to let the food slide down.

Blacklaw met us just as we finished, and the 7 of us piled into Poly's car (don't ask!) and went to Diguna. After much discussion, it was finally decided that we would sleep at Sally's house tonight, and Poly could sleep on the couch. So we grabbed our luggage and off the 7 of us went to Sally's house. It was a very long squished two and a half hour drive to the other side of Nairobi. There are no bypasses around town, and inadequately sized roads for all the traffic. There are very few stoplights, but lots of roundabouts and lots of merging traffic. It is very harrowing, even to Polykens who was driving. They stopped along a market road (stalls) to buy meat and potatoes for dinner. People and cars everywhere.

When we finally reached Sally's house, Blacklaw and Mark left to go to their own homes, and we helped Sally prepare dinner. Anton peeled potatoes with a knife while Frankie sliced tomatoes and cleaned the rice. You have to go through the rice manually and make sure there are no bugs or stones. We didn't eat until 10:00 pm.  We now know why it takes 2 hours to prepare a meal. She has no stove and no fridge. She cooks on a single kerosene lamp, so she has to cook one food at a time. First the rice, then the potatoes, then the meat. She also has no water because the road construction crew cut through the pipes and people stole them. She will have to wait until September for them to be repaired. For now she keeps a huge water barrel in her kitchen.

Masai Mara to Nairobi

Following the Wildebeest
Our Safari setup
Karen Blixen's house (from Out of Africa)

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Masai Mara to Nairobi

Another good night's sleep, warmer this time because we put our sleeping bag on top. We woke up at 6:00 am for a 6:30 safari. All the drivers were looking for cheetahs today but we didn't see any. We saw about 8 hot-air balloons. Chris says that even if they see an elephant, it will look like a dik-dik to them. A dik-dik is the smallest gazelle. We did see 3 male elephants walking in single file, and 2 behind them. Besides the usual animals, we saw 2 male buffalo. Something that was very cool was that we became part of a wildebeest herd. They were running away from us but they ran down the track so we followed them until we parted the herd.

Whenever the safari drivers pass each other, they stop to report on animal sightings. One driver stopped and asked Chris for directions. He asked in swahili because he didn't want his clients to know that he was lost. Chris says April and May are the worst months for getting lost because of the rains. If you get stuck and it gets dark, you will never find your way out. The high seasons for safari are July to September and January to March. But I would recommend coming from July to September because the wildebeest are here and they are very interesting. They leave in October.

Back to the camp for breakfast, and we left at 9:30. The first 2 hours were very bumpy and dusty. The bumping kept shaking our seatbelts loose. We stopped at a "curio" shop, which was a large indoor market filled with African wood carvings etc.

Today was a high security day because of the referandom results coming in. So far the yes side has 5 million votes and the no side has 2 million. There were 12 million who registered to vote. Not everyone was able to vote because they were away from their homes working (our driver, for instance). Chris stopped at one point to report our location and our destination, so there could be plainclothes police along the way looking out for our safety. They are serious about protecting their tourists here!

We had arranged to meet Polykens at a petrol station, and amazingly we pulled in at exactly the same time as him. We transferred our things and said goodbye to Chris. We tried going to Bomas of Kenya (a Kenyan cultural experience with dances, etc) but they were closed because that is where they are counting referandom votes. So we went to Diguna to drop off our things and we went for a walk around the compound. They have beautiful grounds which border the Nairobi Game Park.

We went to the Karen Blixen Museum, of "Out of Africa" fame. We were given a guided tour of her home by a very knowledgable guide. The kitchen was a separate building. There is a huge palm tree which she planted when she arrived. The guide told us what was original and what was used as props for the movie, including the boots and jacket Meryl Streep wore. We were not allowed to take pictures indoors because the movie people own the rights to the home. Karen Blixen lived there from 1913 to 1931. She led a very sad life, and died of malnutrition in Denmark. One thing I did not know was what a good painter she was.

Dinner at Talisman Restaurant, lots of atmosphere and good food. Chatted with Blacklaw and Elisha and Elisha's mama. Accidentally erased the blog and had to start all over again. Grrr.
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Safari

Family of Elephants
Stopping for lunch at the border with Tanzania.
Dancing with Masai warriors.

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Safari

We slept surprisingly well, although it was cold. Once the generator went off, the whole camp went to sleep. They should do that at every hotel!

We left at 8:00 am for a full day safari. Our first sighting was a hyena slinking around. We saw hartebeest for the first time. An elephant in the brush. Vultures feasting away. Several dead wildebeest, with or without vultures. One of the highlights of the day was the 3 separate herds of elephants. The first herd had 7 adults, 1 baby, and one male. We were the only safari vehicle at this herd, which was rare. We could hear them eating and breaking through the brush. The second herd had 12 elephants, 2 males, and 4 babies (SOOO cute!). The rather large matriarch was demonstrating some rather frightening stances as she was annoyed with all the vehicles. Lots of them.

A lot of vehicles around the male lion as well. He just sat there and looked at all of us and yawned. One of the more interesting things was seeing the wildebeest migration. A single file line as far as the eye could see in both directions. It's also interesting to drive through a wildebeest herd (they live in and amongst the zebra). They will all be laying resting, then we come and we feel like we're parting the waters. They all get up and move to both sides, then stand there craning their necks staring at us as we crane our necks to stare at them. They're easily spooked to run, and once one of them runs the rest follows. But they don't go very far.

We stopped at the Mara River where we could get out of the vehicle, and we were handed over to wildlife ranger Daniel. He took us on a walk along the bank to get a really good view of a large group of hippos, in and out of the water. They are so huge, they weigh more than 5 metric tons. Yikes. Then Daniel took us on a walk along the other side of the river to see some crocodiles. And a potty break. We were afraid we would have to use the "natural" washroom as Chris calls it. Then all the other safari vehicles would rush over to see what interesting sight had stopped our vehicle.

We stopped for a box lunch under the shade of a tree, with little lizards and weaver birds hopping around us. All the other safari vehicles were stopped here as well, but Chris found us a nice private spot. Then on to the signpost that indicated the end of Kenyan land and the beginning of no-man's land. The Tanzanian signpost is 1 km away. Don't know why they need a no-man's land.

Some ostrich, some eland, zebras, gazelles, etc, and our safari was over. Chris found a local masai and picked him up, and he took us to his village. A whole bunch of masai warriors put on quite the show for us. They did 3 dances for us. The jumping dance is a competition. Whoever can jump the highest gets to go to the next village where maybe he can find a wife. There was a welcome dance where they danced around us and put a lion skin on Frankie (head and neck of a lion). And there was a lion celebration dance. Chris says that they are not supposed to kill lions, but they do it anyways, especially if the lion has eaten one of their cows or goats. During some of the dances, they surrounded us and grabbed our cameras and took pictures of us.

After the dances, we were taken inside the village. The whole village is surrounded by brush so that you wouldn't even know it was there. We were taken around mostly by a young man of 21 named Depe. He took us into his mother's house and sat us down on the cowskin bed and told us about the Masai culture. They eat meat, milk, and blood. There was a separate small room for the sheep and goats. And a fire in the middle which he called the kitchen. It was completely dark in there. We sat in the dark and asked questions.

Then back outside where they showed us how they can start a fire in 2 minutes with 2 sticks of wood. The village was circular, had 46 residents, and you had to watch where you walked because they keep the cows in the center at nightime. Then through a gate where they had a circular market set up. We bought a dancing stick, a carved giraffe, and a Masai necklace. One Masai wanted to buy Anton's bracelet that Elisha had made for him. The souvenirs cost $30 and the entry fee was $20 each. At this price you were allowed to take as many pictures as you wanted. A little expensive, but an interesting experience, and we hope the money helps them. Maybe they won't need to kill so many lions?!?! Depe and the others walked us back to the van, where he wrote down his name, the name of his village, and his mobile #, just in case we ever want to message him, he said.
Sat on our own private balcony to our tent, in a nice breeze as the sun went down.

We chatted with Masai Sammy from the gift shop and exchanged contact information. After dinner we sat in the reception area (Sammy put us in the best seats) and there was a demonstration of some more Masai dances by the staff.

Today was referandom day. Poly on the phone told us that everything has been peaceful so far. Sammy showed us how they painted his fingernail with a marker to show that he had voted and to make sure people don't vote more than once.
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Nakuru to Masai Mara

Our first Elephant sighting
Vultures feeding on a carcass
Wildebeest herd
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Nakuru to Masai Mara

Our driver from Eastern and Southern Safari picked us up at the hotel right at 7:00 am. Polykens and the entire family came to see us off. They have been wonderful to us. Our driver is named Chris, he is a Christian man, and a very careful driver.

Our drive was over 5 hours long. We started on nice highway, then a road with speedhills, then potholed road, then trackbear road, then no road at all. It was a jittery bumpy road in an old van. Chris says it is rear drive. It has one of those pop-up roofs you always see tourists hanging their heads out of. It seats 9, but there are just the 2 of us and Chris.

Along the way we progressed into dry savanna land, and saw lots of Masai people along the road. Some of them waved, some begged for money, and most were just sitting watching their herds of cows and goats. Two boys were sitting throwing stones at passing cars. One Masai was walking along in his blanket and carrying his masai stick, and talking on his mobile phone. Network is quite good here even though we are literally in the middle of nowhere. We were able to phone Polykens no problem (he lent us a phone for the safari).

When we got to Masai Leisure Camp, we were greeted with wet washcloths to wash off our dust (dust is an understatement). The workers are masai, all dressed in their masai blankets and jewellry. It looks like a 5 star resort here. There are flagstone paths and little monkeys running arouind. Our "room" is a huge tent, with a wooden floor and a nicer bathroom than anywhere we've stayed in Kenya so far. The tents are powered by generators, and the electricity comes on for 2 hours every morning and 3 hours every evening. The only downside is that you can hear your neighbours very clearly through the tents, and there is a very loud Korean family occupying the 2 tents next to ours.

Lunch was really good, we got 5 star treatment from the staff and the food was excellent. Our waiter Steve chatted with us until the Koreans came and demanded his attention. Steve says there are over 50 guests currently staying here, but the majority are gone on full day safaris and will all be back for supper.

We visited the gift shop and Frankie made friends with Sammy, the Masai who works there. He is very familiar with Diguna.

Our driver Chris took us on a 3 hour safari at 3:30. We saw the usual zebras, thompsons and grants gazelles (we now know the difference), topi, giraffe, 2 lone bull elephants (after the age of 50, the male elephants are kicked out of the herds by the younger bulls), warthogs, male (black) and female (brown) ostriches, large maribou storks, and thousands of wildebeest. It's amazing to watch the chain reaction when they run. One of the most fascinating things to watch was a bunch of buzzards fighting over a dead wildebeest. Then we saw a whole bunch of safari vehicles all stopped looking at something. It was 2 lionesses who had just finished eating a zebra they had killed, and were now resting.

After a very good buffet dinner, we went out to find a dark spot to gaze at the stars and take pictures. The night watchman kept insisting on going with us. We could see the Milky Way as clear as day, and a lot more stars than back home. There were lots of bats flying around after dark.

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Nakuru Game Park

Baboon that stole Mercy's chips
Tourists in their natural habitat
Water Buffalo. Of course.
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Nakuru Game Park

This morning the family picked us up in the car and we drove to a place to switch vehicles. We were loaned a van for the day so we wouldn't be so squished for the safari. First we had to wait while some tires were changed, so we took the kids next door to the supermarket and bought some food for a picnic lunch.

When we got to the Nakuru Game Park, we drove and viewed lots of animals. Right off we were all captivated by the baboons, especially the babies. One newborn kept getting swatted around by a big male. The newborn would run for sanctuary to his mother, then a minute later would forget and go out to romp and get swatted around again.

After the baboons we drove down to the lake and got out of the car to see the thousands of flamingos. Back in the car driving around the lake, and we saw tons of thompson's gazelles, impala, zebras, buffalo, something called a topi, giraffe, white rhinos, and even hyenas. We watched one hyena casually stalking some gazelle, and the gazelle scampering away. More troops of baboons. And some ostriches!

We stopped for lunch at a picnic area called Baboon Cliff Overlook which had a gorgious view of the lake from above. There were lizards and rock hyrax hanging around. This picnic area was aptly named. I had bought a large bag of chips (crisps) for the family, but Mercy wanted salt and vinegar, so I bought her a separate bag. I handed her the bag and she set it down beside it, and before we knew it a huge baboon had stolen it and brazenly sat there beside us eating it. Then he wanted to come inside the pavilion to take the rest of our food, but Polykens started jumping around and we all yelled at it and it ran away. But not very far, and he brought another one with him. A ranger threw some clods of dirt near them to make them run away.
After the game park, they took us to a strip of vendors along one street where we could buy souvenirs. Agnes and the kids came with us while Poly guarded the car. We were literally swarmed with people who wanted to sell something to us. Agnes was quite the haggler. She stuck firm and got us good deals on lots of stuff. It was really helpful to have her along. Plus she knew the value of things, and we didn't have a clue!

We took the family plus John (an elder in the church) to a chinese restaurant for dinner, and presented them with gifts for the church.

Tomorrow morning early we are being picked up by someone named Chris Mwangi from Eastern and Southern Safari, to take us on our 3 day safari to the Masai Mara. We probably won't be able to send the blog for a few days until we get back to Nairobi on Thursday.
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Special Report

This is a special entry asking for your prayers for this country. We did not know when we planned the dates for this trip that on August 4th there is going to be a special referendom in the country. The current constitution is old and allows for land to remain in a non-citizen's possession for 999 years. This dates back to British colonization. There is a new proposed constitution that would only allow the land to be held for 99 years. The new constitution would also restrict the amount of land allowed to be owned by one person. Currently there are huge amounts of land that are owned by a few people, much of it gained by corruption. Of course, these people will be voting "no" to the new constitution. Polykens is in the "yes" camp, meaning he will vote yes for the new constitution. He desires more equitable land ownership among the people. This is important for a nation that has a population larger than that of Canada, and only a small fraction of the land area (Kenya is maybe the size of New Brunswick).

There have been demonstrations by the yes camps and the no camps, and bad feelings between them. Polykens is afraid that violence will erupt once more in Kenya. He feels that no matter which side wins, some people will use it as an excuse for looting and violence.

We will be in the Masai Mara on the day of the election, but will return to Nairobi on the day after the referendom. If the results are released, we may be in the midst of some trouble. Please pray for our safety, and for calmness among the nation.
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Church and Sunday

Church Choir
Onjure Family Home
Collecting rainwater for cooking and drinking

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Church and Sunday

This morning we attended the church where Polykens is pastor. They start at 6:00 am for prayer, then English service, then Sunday School for all ages, then Swahili service. We only attended the Swahili service. It lasted for almost 3 hours, but it was absolutely fantastic. The children's choir had matching yellow shirts and did quite a few numbers, with dancing. James and Zebedee were part of the choir but Mercy had not been to the practice. Zebedee said they practiced for 3 hours yesterday. There was also a ladies choir, along with a worship team. African singing is great, very lively. Then Polykens introduced us, and we sang a song with his whole family, in the Langala language. We had practiced as a family last night, they have great rhythm.

After church we had a late lunch that Agnes prepared, she has done a lot of cooking for our meals. At one meal she usually has rice, meat, beans, noodles, potatoes, and fruit, such as papaya, bananas, and fresh pineapple that we bought along the road on the way back from Homa Bay. The meals have lots of choice and Anton eats quite well there. He is getting a reputation as the pineapple hog. The fruit is so much better than back home.

After lunch the whole family piled into the car (James and Zebedee in the hatch) and we went to the Kabarak Dispensary to donate the medicines we brought from home, 2 grocery bags full.

Agnes and Polykens told us about a time they were on this road and were forced into the back seat of their car by 4 armed men, who proceeded to kidnap them. However, the armed men could not operate the car and eventually left them stranded. This is one reason that we are advised not to go anywhere after dark.

We continued on to their family home in a community called Rafiki Farm. Polykens and Agnes had bought this home in 2002 as a place for them to retire. The place they are living now in Nakuru belongs to the church and they will not be allowed to live there once Polykens retires. They have been slowly working on the home. It has no water, no electricity, and no washroom. The front hall serves as the kitchen. During the post-election violence in 2007 and 2008, they were forced out of the home where they were living by the opposing tribe. They fled to their unfinished home and lived there for a year before it was safe for them to return. The home still belongs to them and they intend to retire there. Polykens discovered that some of their fence posts have gone missing, stolen by the neighbours for firewood. There is a huge water barrel outside the home to collect rainwater, about 500 gallons, and it was full. Agnes was afraid the neighbours would steal the water, so all the kids and Anton helped take some water, bucket by bucket, for about half an hour, and fill some containers which they left in the house.
In the evening Agnes cooked for us again, and we spent another good evening with the family. Last night we were finally able to open the taped up suitcase and give them everything we had brought for them. We will also leave behind most of our clothing once we are done at the end of the week.
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Homa Bay back to Nakuru

Tea Plantation
Tire Rolling Expert
Leaky Boat Ride on Lake Victoria

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Homa Bay back to Nakuru

After breakfast at Hippo Buck Hotel, we went back to the pier and discovered that the weed (Anton calls it duckweed?) had floated out of the bay overnight but was still visible off in the distance. This left the bay clear for fishing boats. As we stood on the pier watching, some locals in a boat asked if we wanted a ride, and we said sure! We put our rubber boots on and they took us on a short ride around the bay. It was very exciting, Anton was quite terrified. There was a large hole at the front of the boat, and one of the guys behind us was regularly bailing as they were paddling away.

We survived, and then we explored the open market while we waited for Polykens' brother to arrive. One of the locals started yelling at Frances after she took a picture. He was trying to incite everyone around him but they stayed calm. Polykens told them that they wouldn't like to be yelled at if they went to a strange country. He wanted money for their picture being taken. The funny part was that she hadn't taken a picture of them, just a french fry cooker.

We met Polyken's brother Isaac and had chai at Hippo Buck. Then for the long drive back to Nakuru. Poly let Anton drive through the gorgious Rift Valley. We stopped in to buy some tea leaves, and Poly found Gillian, his wife's sister. She of course invited us to her home for chai. Unfortunately for Frances, after a 45 minute wait it turned out to be chai masala (made with cinnamon).

Back to Nakuru and the evening with Polykens and his family. His daughter Mercy was just arrived home from school.
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Homa Bay

Sunset over Lake Victoria
Children playing on the shore
Rescuing scraps from the fish processing plant

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Homa Bay

Today we left Nakuru early for another driving day. Polykens took us to his home town, Homa Bay, which is on Lake Victoria. It took 6 hours to get there. We drove through a lot of fertile valleys, part of the Rift Valley. We drove through mile after mile of tea plantations. Mature plants are picked every 17 days, with the same worker always picking the same patch. After the tea plantations were the banana plantations. Sometimes you can see small tent villages. These were the people who were misplaced out of their homes during the post-election violence 2 and a half years ago. Their homes are gone, a lot of them burnt, and they have nowhere to go.

There does seem to be some order to the traffic once you get used to it. There are so many slow slow trucks that you need to overtake. If it is safe to pass, the truck driver will signal left. If it is not safe, he will signal right. Passing is done with little room to spare, or sometimes drivers just make opposite drivers wait, and sometimes you can overtake someone at the same time that they are overtaking. Or 3 or 4 drivers will overtake at once, so you just juggle your way into line. Often the one at the back of the pack will overtake first, so you have to watch behind you as well.

Roundabouts are labelled with town names but no street names are labelled. If you want to know where you are going, you just pull over and ask someone and have a nice conversation while you are at it. People are really polite and friendly with each other for the most part.

We stopped at Kisii and there were other wazungu there. White people are so rare, we really feel like we stick out, so you have to talk when you see another one, no matter where they are from. Today Anton was wearing his "mzungu" t-shirt which shows a white man wearing safari clothing and a pack and looking at a map. When people see a mzungu, they stare or greet us. Anton was driving today and other drivers kept honking at him, just because he was white. Today some girls were taking pictures of us wazungu. We are a tourist attraction.

When we got to Homa Bay, Poly wanted to take us to Ruma Conservation area, but it took 20 minutes to go 3 km because the road was so bad. When we found out there were 6 more km to go, we turned around. Foiled by the roads, again.

We instead went right down to what used to be a pier on the lake, and Poly was amazed to see the whole bay covered in some sort of plant. The locals call it papyrus and blame it on the Nile. But it isn't papyrus, it's more like a lily that has gone mad. The locals said the wind had blown it in this morning and would blow it out again tonight. It was preventing any boats from coming or going.

After awhile on the pier, we attracted a little group of watoto (children) who followed us about ("How are you? How are you?") and we walked through a group of stalls where people had hung leftovers from the fish factory to dry. The factory takes what they want and dumps the rest of the fish out back in a huge pile. Then the people race to load up their wagons with fish and then run to their stall to dump it, where someone else is waiting to hang it. Then they race their wagons back for another load. Once the remnants are dry, they can either be cooked for eating or selling, or be used to feed livestock.

Poly thought it would be a good idea if we could tour the fish plant, so we headed that way. Security was extremely tight, it took 10 minutes before they allowed us past the door. Then we were made to sit in a pavilion to wait until the manager was ready. After 20 minutes of waiting, we were shown into the manager's office. He turned out to be from Israel and we learned that most of the fish there is shipped to Israel. He was very busy so we left. We went back to the pier, sat and watched some naked boys playing in the reedy lake, and then watched a beautiful sunset over Lake Victoria. The reeds were really moving at this point.

Dinner was excellent at our hotel, called Hippo Buck Hotel. This is probably the nicest hotel we've stayed at, it is new and clean. When we returned to our room they had put fancy covers on the bed for us, left us some tea, and there were a few geckos running around to keep us company.
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Lake Naivasha

Agnes, Polykens, Frankie and Anton.
Anton hunting Zebra.
Anton hunting Waterbuck.

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Nanyuki to Nakuru.

Hand washing before a meal at a restaurant.
Road Construction.
Great Rift Valley.

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Lake Naivasha

Today we ate at the hotel and Poly picked us up at 9:00. We meant for an early start but by the time he showed us his church and his office and he brought us somewhere to use the internet (but not wifi) and picked up Agnes, it was 11:00 before we left. It was a quick one hour drive on a very good road. Part of this land used to belong to Joy Adamson of Born Free fame. A lot of it belonged to the famous Lord Delamere.

We stopped to eat at a place called Holiday Inn. We don't know if it was really a Holiday Inn or just using the name (which is common), but it was quite nice. The waiter was able to arrange a boat to take us a short ways across the Lake Naivasha to Crescent Island. Right near us in the water we kept seeing hippos popping their heads in and out of the water. While we were nearing the island, there were 2 fish eagles in a tree. Our boat driver whistled and they flew over. He has trained them to come for fish. Crescent Island is the protruding rim of a collapsed volcanic crater, and is filled with wild animals just roaming around. After our boat driver dropped us off, another guide took us on a foot safari through all the herds of zebra, waterbuck, wildebeest, and impala, and we also saw giraffes for the first time today. Part of the movie Out of Africa was filmed on Crescent Island, and all the lions and tigers were removed for the filming and never brought back. Our guide told us that this is the only place in Kenya where you don't have to be in a car to see the animals. We got quite close to them and then they would see us getting too close and wander away. It was quite an experience for Agnes, she had never been in a boat before, and at first she was very afraid of the animals. At one point we were turned back by someone warning us that there was a buffalo bull nearby. The worst part was leaving the rubber boots in the car and REALLY wishing we had them when we were walking through all the gnu poo and impala ickies.

Afterwards we tried driving around Lake Naivasha but this turned out to be a really bad idea. The road got progressively worse until it turned into an unpassable ditch. We had to turn back after 45 minutes. We intend to write the authors of Lonely Planet and suggest that this is something they should probably mention.

Agnes again prepared supper for us, and we were able to meet their sons Zebedee and James, their daughter Mercy is not home from school yet. All 3 attend different secondary schools. We spent the evening with the family. Since the children are away at school on their birthdays, they celebrate when they come home for school break. Agnes had made 3 separate cakes. Tonight James got to have his cake. He cut one piece out, then cut that one into bite sized pieces and fed each person around the table a bite.

Ol Pajeta Conservancy

Baraka the blind Rhino
Cheetah!
Rescued chimps

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Nanyuki to Nakuru

Today we slept in but were woken up by the geese and the roosters. The dogs stayed quiet this time. After breakfast we walked along the waterfall and the river. We saw colobus monkeys jumping around, at which point Frances covered her head for the rest of the walk.

Our aim was to get to Nakuru in 2 and a half hours. It took 6. We are getting tired of all the driving. But there were still many interesting sites along the way. Like the guy who was filling in potholes in the road and holding his hand out for money. Or the guy on the bike with a phone in his mouth and earphones in his ears, with a sheep strapped into a basket being led off to slaughter. Or the construction along the road, where they put bags of dirt and big rocks on the section you are not supposed to drive on. Some of the shops have the funniest names: Plan B Highway Stop; Good Time Furniture Store; or my personal favourite, Double Vision Bookstore. At the petrol station, there was a lady asking money from from Anton, claiming she was "mentally disabled", even producing a doctor's certificate to prove it.

We stopped for lunch in Nyeri and waited oh so long for our lunch to come. Polykens had ordered chicken so we figured they must have had to slaughter it for him. While we were eating we got Poly's car washed, which was a guy with a bucket. We had to pay for that and for the parking fee to park it there as he washed it.

We drove through the Rift Valley and it was beautiful. Lush and green and fertile. We crossed about a dozen Equator signs, only 3 of which were real. The rest were made to nab tourists. Anton checked his GPS and made sure the one where we got our picture taken was actually on the Equator.

We arrived at 7:00 in Nakuru, and Poly took us to our hotel, Hotel Kunste. We were very disappointed to find that they don't have internet. We'll have to find an internet place in town tomorrow. Then Poly took us to his home where we finally met his wife Agnes. She is lovely, so welcoming and friendly. We liked her immediately. She had had dinner prepared for hours, and we all shared a nice meal together. They have a nice large clean home, well furnished, which is a rental provided for them by the church.
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Nairobi to Nanyuki

Frankie and old friend Blacklaw.
Monkey about to jump on Frankie's head (seriously!).
At the equator.

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Ol Pajeta Conservancy

We haven't had internet here so we are late sending all our blogs for the last few days. Hopefully it will be better tomorrow in Nakuru.

Last night Anton was quite sick (today was not a good day for him), so he did not join Poly and Frances for breakfast. Even though this lodge is very cold and damp and what can only be described as "rustic", they have great food, and really cater well to individual requests.
After breakfast we had to drive through Nanyuki to get to Ol Pajeta. Even though it was only about 30 km total, it took over an hour because the roads were so rough. Even the paved roads were awful, more holes than pavement. Ol Pajeta is a relatively new conservation ranch, 90000 acres large. The name Ol Pajeta comes from a Masai word meaning "large burned out area" but this was savanna and bushland. We were only able to cover about a fifth of the ranch today.

We went straight away to Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary. This is a place for rescued or orphaned chimps, there are currently 42. It takes 250 acres of Ol Pajeta. They are given a natural area in which to live out their days. Chimps are not native to Kenya, but there was political unrest in the country that it was supposed to be in. Sweetwaters works closely with the Jane Goodall Institute. Probably the saddest story was that of the chimp named Coco, who was hung in a cage in a petrol station for 8 years, with hardly enough room to move. The sparks from the welding have damaged his eyes, which he kept shaded the whole time we saw him. Five of the chimps were confiscated at the Nairobi airport by people trying to smuggle them out. Our guide took us on a walk through some bush and along a river until we saw a whole pack of chimps, at least a dozen. Our guide knows each chimp by sight and by sound. The babies were adorable, hanging from their mothers or riding their backs. Sometimes the chimps got very excited and put on great shows of bravado, calling out in loud shreaks and scampering. Then came the best moment of the day for Frances. Several of the chimps were going straight up to the fence in order to check out the humans. One chimp named Alley squatted right in front of Frances, picked up a long stick, and reached under the fence to poke Frances' boot with the stick. They played back and forth like this for several minutes. Our guide told us that Frances does not belong in the human world, she belongs in the monkey world. Alley was raised as a pet and is gentle tempered, but picked up a few bad habits from her owners. She claps when she wants something and spits when she doesn't get it.

After the chimps, Poly just drove through the game park looking for animals. At points he was just following tracks in mud. Our first animal sighting was 4 warthogs that ran in front of our car. By the end of the day we had seen so many warthogs that they didn't excite us anymore. One interesting fact we learned was that warthogs are the only mammal who kneel to eat. If you ever look at a warthog, you know that God has a sense of humour.

We had brought lunch and we stopped to eat in the midst of 3 grevy's zebra, some warthogs, thompson's gazelle, impala, and oryx. They just went about their business and ignored us. The one who was put out, however, was the cheetah who had been sitting there eyeing all these animals. After awhile of us being there, he shot us a look and skulked off through the grass.

After lunch we continued driving and saw more animals, including a family of white rhinos. At first they were sleeping, but the parents eventually got up when they saw us. It was very exciting and not a little frightening to be less than 100 feet away from completely wild rhinos! We watched them for a long time, a little nervously!
More safely, we made our way to the Morani Rhino Centre. Here they have an enclosure for one lone black rhino, Baraka (which means blessing), who is completely blind. He lost one eye in a fight and the other from a cataract. The guide called him by name, and Baraka followed him to the stand where we were. The guide gave us a piece of sugar cane, we called his name and banged the sugar cane against the stand, and each got a turn to feed him. At the Morani Centre they also had an information centre where our guide taught us a lot about different animals. It's really worthwhile to get a guide. He taught us several differences between white rhinos and black rhinos. It has nothing to do with the colour of their skin! Black rhinos have a concave back and a narrower mouth.

More driving through the ranch, and some of the other animals we saw included a herd of buffalo, waterbuck, and zebra. Grevy's zebra are different than regular zebra because they have white noses and regular zebras have black noses.

After a really good day of safari, we made our way back to Timau to our lodge. It had been bright and sunny and beautiful all day, and honest to goodness it started raining the second we got to the Timau signpost! So this place is still cold and damp. Poly and Anton went for a nap before supper, while Frances decided to explore by taking a walk. She found a very promising well-used path leading away from camp, that led right to.... the garbage pile. Then she ran into the owner sitting at his cabin who told her to go the other way. She found a beautiful bar and sitting area overlooking a waterfall. Right now it was closed and the river and waterfall were brown. She walked a ways beside the river, the whole time accompanied by one of the lodge dogs who seems to have adoped her. She called him Chico but the owner calls him a swahili word that means "pig". This would be a nice place if it was the right time of the year.
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Mombasa to Nairobi

Wild Zebra (not in a zoo) and a Mosque. Both out in the middle of nowhere.

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Nairobi to Nanyuki

This morning after our Diguna breakfast of bread and chai, we went into downtown Nairobi to meet Blacklaw. Blacklaw was a friend Frances made the first time she was in Kenya. They lost track of each other for 20 years, but she found him again by googling his name on the internet. There was only one mention of him on the internet, because he was involved in a court case and the Kenya Nation newspaper did an article on him with his picture. Since the paper did not list his contact information, Frances emailed the paper and they contacted Blacklaw for her. And that is how they were reunited after all these years. He is named Blacklaw because he was born on the day Kenya got its independence from the British, on June 1, 1963.
We took awhile to find parking, and finally put it in a lot for $2.00. We met Blacklaw (he looks just the same!) and his brother-in-law Simon, and went for chai. We brought many gifts for Blacklaw and his sister Helen, so now our luggage is lighter.

Simon took us to the outskirts of Nairobi because Polykens did not know the way, and we drove towards Nanyuki. Again lots of speedbumps (hills) and some "jams" as Poly calls them. At the bumps or in the jams, there are lots of people at the side of the road selling things, or even walking between lanes. Some guys were walking with big pots and we wondered what was inside, then they showed us that they were selling sausages. There are lots of signs for car washes, which usually mean someone will appear out of nowhere with a bucket of water. If it says "high pressure car wash", it means they will do it in a hurry. As we got closer to Nanyuki, we drove into the foothills of Mt. Kenya, and the scenery changed from savanna to highland lush and green.

Just before Nanyuki, we stopped at the Trout Tree Restaurant. It's very famous, they have built a tree house in the trees and serve trout right from their own farm. It seats 60 people, there weren't 20 there today, and as you eat you can gaze at the beautiful scenery and watch the colobus monkeys play around you. Frances was standing watching one 50 pound guy, when he decided to literally jump onto her head. He had a hard time getting off because he got caught in her hair (it wasn't much fun for her either!). Anton missed the whole thing because he had gone to get his camera. But she wasn't hurt, only startled, and not too many people can say they've had that experience!!!

Just before Nanyuki was the sign indicating that we were crossing the Equator, so we stopped for the obligatory pictures. Then we found a Nukamatt, which is a chain of grocery stores, and got cash and food for our day tomorrow.

We drove past Nanyuki for miles and miles on very rough paved roads, looking for Timau. We finally found Timau River lodge, where we were booked to stay for 2 nights. I think the "River" in their name refers to the very muddy almost impassable dirt road that leads to the cottages. Polykens had to do some fancy driving to not get stuck. At Timau River Lodge there are cute thatched cottages with lots of character, and lots of geese and ducks and peacocks roaming around. The cottage has a large bed on the main floor and a loft with 2 small beds. We thought we would share one cottage with Poly, but they charge by the person not by the room, so they gave us 2 adjoining cottages. It is much colder here than Nairobi, and it is pouring rain. We are wearing layers and layers of clothing. This would be a great place if it wasn't raining, but right now it is cold and kabisa muddy everywhere. Anton has disappeared in search of some rubber boots.
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Mombasa to Nairobi

Today Polykens and Frances cooked their own breakfast using leftovers from last night's dinner. Polykens had enough still left over for a snack along the way. Polykens drove out of Mombasa and into Nairobi, but Anton drove the whole rest of the way (distance between Mombasa and Nairobi 500 km). Anton did quite well, he only missed hitting someone once. It took 9 hours. The roads were slightly less busy because it was Sunday, but the speedbumps were all still there. We got better at predicting their locations today. Along the way we saw baboons and a larger group of zebra today, plus lots of shepherds with goats and cows, and still lots of people selling things in stalls along the road. We stopped at the same place for lunch, Anton tried chapaties. There were fewer police checks. On Thursday Anton got pulled over just because the policeman felt like it, today the police concentrated on trucks and matatus. Occasionally the police will put a roadblock in the road, which is a strip of metal spikes you carefully drive through.

When we got into Nairobi, we drove and drove until we found the Karen Blixon Restaurant, which was recommended to Frances by her seatmate on the airplane. It was much cooler in Nairobi, so they sat us at a table beside an open wood fireplace, and it sparked and sparked so much that Polykens finally moved. The food was good, western. Frances had a salad and the dressing was served in a shell. Then back to Diguna where we waited for an hour for someone to come and get our luggage out of storage for us. The mosquitos are bad here, but tonight we set up our mosquito nets in the same cabin as before. The 2 nights for the 2 rooms cost $50, including breakfast (bread and chai).
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Mombasa

Old Mombasa.
Tortoise at Haller Park.
Croc feeding.

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Mombasa

Polykens gave us quite a scare. He went to see some family members for the evening last night, and never came back to the resort. We felt a little helpless without him, but he came back in the morning. He has been so valuable on this trip!

Once we were all together, we went downtown Mombasa for a tour of Fort Jesus. A very tall man named Fauz (people he met called him "doctor" or "professor") gave us the tour and also walked us around the Old City afterwards. He was quite informative. Fort Jesus was built in 1593 by the portugese. It was built out of the natural rock that was already there, in the shape of a man to represent Jesus. It changed hands several times, and in the 1960's was used as a prison.

The Old City was busy and dirty, and the buildings were crowded with very narrow alleyways. Fauz gave us the history of some of the buildings, and we saw a graveyard which was used by the portugese. That's where Fauz pulled us aside and asked for his fee. But we were happy to oblige, he did an excellent job.

After the Old City, Polykens drove down Digo Road, famous for its huge replica elephant tusks over the road. We only got to go under the tusks because Polykens accidentally drove the wrong way. We made our way to Nyali Beach Hotel Resort. Even though it was a private resort, they let us in for the day. Frances remembered Nyali Beach from her first visit to Kenya, mostly because there was an old ship from Singapore shipwrecked on the reef a mile out, and the ship was broken into 2 pieces. The first time she was there, she went with Polykens in a little fishing boat and they were taken out to the reef and they could walk around the shipwreck. This time, only the small front half of the shipwreck was left. The rest apparently has been taken away for scrap metal, piece by piece.
We waited kabisa long for lunch, we almost gave up. Then it turned out not to be very good, oh well. But afterwards, we went swimming in the Indian Ocean and it was so fun! The waves were bouncing them to and fro, and the water was warm and the view was endless. Polykens stood on a patio overlooking the shore and took hundreds of pictures of them playing in the water.

When we were done frolicking, we drove over to Haller Park. It is a huge cement plant turned back into conservationist land, with lots of different animals. It is most famous for Owen and Mzee, the baby hippo who was adopted by a giant tortoise. There are 12 giant tortoises roaming about, we couldn't tell which one was Mzee. They were very tame, Anton had fun stroking them like pet dogs. There were monkeys everywhere, and some eland. We watched 2 hippos being fed, which brought them out of the water right to a prime spot where all the tourists could see them. Then through the fish farm to the crocodile feeding. The crocs all seemed to know the feeding was at 4:30, they started congregating just before that. But they weren't really being fed, they were being teased. A piece of meat was hooked onto a line and dangled just above the bevy of crocs, just out of their reach. But it made for some amazing climbing and jumping shots for the tourists. We were all happy when one of the crocs finally nabbed the bait.
Then we walked through the Reptile Park and saw a python constricting a chicken, and a bunch of other snakes which Polykens did not like.

We went back to the hotel (almost across the road) and changed for our fancy dinner at the famous Tamarind Restaurant. Excellent food, good service. They made us feel like royalty, including bringing warm wet cloths for us to wash our hands with before the meal. And a table on an open patio directly looking over the bay.

If we thought the driving was bad during the day, it is 10 times worse at night. Everyone goes where they want, when they want. The way they communicate to other cars is by honking or shining their brights directly at you when they get close. The matatus are the worse. They are little public vans designed to fit 12, but more often carry 30 plus some chickens and goats. The drivers are very pushy and aggressive. The matatus and trucks are often painted with their own sayings, such as "God is good" or "I don't want any excitement brother".

A lot of places are gated, and a guard opens and closes the gate for you. Nyali Beach was gated, Tamarind Restaurant, our resort. Our resort is actually double gated, and before we can go in, a guard walks around the car with a mirror on a handle and checks under the car.

The mosquitos are so small here you don't see them or feel them until it is too late. We've been sleeping under the hotel net while we've been here.
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Elisha

Children at the Compassion Project Compound.
Elisha(white shirt) and his family in his home.

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Elisha

Today was the day we had arranged a visit with our child that we sponsor through Compassion, Elisha Kitsao. We started sponsoring him when he was 2, and he is now 17. He has 5 years left in the program. We discovered that we had been pronouncing his name wrong to ourselves all these years. It is pronounced E-lee-shah.
First we were met at our hotel by the visit host James. He gave us an orientation as to what to expect. He had hired a driver for the day, but we sent the driver away (with a little tip) because we had Polykens. James took us to a supermarket and we bought a gift "basket" for Elisha's mother, which included staples like soap, rice, flour, salt, and sugar, etc. I also threw in some Canadian maple syrup.
Then James took us to the Compassion compound to meet Elisha. The compound was completely NOT what we expected! It was in the midst of poverty, with mud filled "streets" that were almost unpassable. The compound was very basic, and run by the nicest most welcoming people. It was very evident that they were so happy to have us visit, and also evident that they loved the children and loved God.
Elisha was such a quiet young man. Very shy. James says that is his nature. James also said that Elisha is always clean, he is never dirty. He had dressed very specially for us today. He took quite well to Polykens. I think Polykens took special interest in him because that is the age of his children.

We started in the Compassion office, a very basic room very small, and waited out the downpour. They showed us all of Elisha's records in a big fat book, which included copies of his letters to us, his yearly evaluations, his goals, and his mother's commitment to the sponsorship. We were quite impressed with the organized and complete detailed records. When we get home we will encourage people to sponsor a child. It is so worthwhile. Several of the children there do not have sponsors yet.

Parents must request that their child be placed on a list for sponsorship. They must prove need. Visits are regularly made to homes. So many apply and only a few are chosen, because each compound is told their number by head office. The compound works closely with the church and with the local schools.

Then the workers and the pastor all gave us a tour of different buildings and different rooms, each with its own grade level. They started off at the cute little youngest ones and worked up to the oldest ones. In each room we put Canadian pins on each child, until we ran out. We had brought about 50 of them, but there were 283 kids in this compound. Each grade greeted the pastor politely "Good morning our pastor" and were excited to see us. We took a picture of each class which the kids loved. They were such sweet kids. We are only the 2nd sponsors to visit this compound since it opened in 2006. James told us that tomorrow Elisha will be the talk of the whole compound, and they will all be wearing their pins and waving their flags and surrounding him with questions. So our visit was very special, very few children ever have the opportunity to meet their sponsors.

After the compound tour, James took us to meet Elisha's mother and see his home. He lives at home and attends school or the Compassion programs during the day, usually once a week. On his reports, the biggest problem is "absenteeism". When we asked James why Elisha had so many absenteeisms, he said it is usually caused by a problem at home. Elisha's father died of cholera when Elisha was 9, and there are 8 children. We only met Grace and Timothy. Elisha's mother was the nicest lady. She was so grateful for our sponsorship of her son. Our pictures were up on their walls. She said she had been praying for a long time that they could meet us. We gave her the gifts, there were many small speeches, and she brought chai and sandwiches for us. Elisha went around with a pitcher of water and a basin and held both while he poured water for us to wash our hands. We gave Elisha a bag of clothing, and they gave Anton a shirt that says "Kenya" and gave Frances 2 kangas, one for the waist and one for the head. The mama put them on for her. Also, Elisha gave us 2 bracelets that he had beaded himself, one that said "Anton" and one that said "Frances" (spelled correctly!) Elisha showed us the room where he slept with his brother, which only had one or two posters and a thin mattress on the floor. This visit to his home was by far the highlight for us.

Then back to the compound. It was only a km away but we had driven because it was so muddy. There we waited in the office and they served us drinks and lunch. There was a big pot of rice, a pot of fried chicken, and a pot of soup with chunks of potatoes. Frankie went back for seconds. Anton is having difficulty adjusting to the food.

After lunch we took Elisha to Mamba Crocodile Farm. Farm is right, because they just keep the older ones around for breeding, and they collect the young ones as eggs or as meat to eat (they take orders.) All the signs led to "Big Daddy", a hundred year croc who ate 5 people in the Tana River before he was caught and brought here. He weighs 800 kilos (1760 pounds). He's fed once a week, which is a big show. We missed that by half an hour, but it was getting late and we didn't want to stay. Elisha asked if he could have a horseback ride, he had never been on one before. Polykens said he has never even touched a horse, so it was new for him as well.
Patrick showed us around the crocodile farm, then a different guide took us through the botanical gardens (we were all quite fascinated with the plant whose leaves close up when you touch them) and he took us through an aquarium (a tunnel with glass cases on each side, the sea cucumbers were cool) and also through an area with snakes in glass cages. They were amazed to hear that we have a snake for a pet, in Kenya that would be associated with witchcraft. We explained to Elisha that we are not witches! The guide took out a fat python and Elisha did not hesitate to hold it, and we did as well, but Polykens and James were kabisa (very) afraid. We finally managed to convince them to touch it, but they needed hand wipes afterwards. It was interesting that we got guides, other visitors didn't. Maybe it was because we are "mzungus" (white). We also paid quite a bit more for our entry than that for the nationals.

After the Crocodile Farm, James dropped Elisha at the side of the road and told him to take a matatu home (!) and went back to the hotel with us to finish the paperwork and collect payment for lunch and expenses.

After James left, Poly took us back to the market and I found an optometrist to fix my glasses for only a few dollars, and we found a bank machine. Back to the resort apartment for the evening. Polykens went to town to visit some relatives. We walked to the beach, just past the restaurant. We walked along the beach and waded in the Indian Ocean, it was only a bit reedy and a bit rocky in spots. We scared up lots of little crabs. Full moon over the ocean. Great day.
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Driving to Mombasa

Our room at Diguna in Nairobi.
Tight squeeze on the highway.
Lunch at a roadside "resort".
The highway to Mombasa.
Mombasa Market.
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