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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