from Kenya March 18

It's Sunday morning about 9 am in Nairobi. It's a leisurely morning with checkout at 1 pm before we start home. Time for an extra cup of tea and a dip in the outdoor pool. Arrived yesterday afternoon and drove in what I thought was rush hour traffic....it was just Saturday traffic. Eunice, our guide for this part of the trip, said in our briefing to go out only in reputable taxis known to the hotel, stay on main roads, don't walk around the street by the hotel and never go out by yourself. I'v read that Nairobi has the largest slum in the world - 3,000,000 people. What a visitor welcome! Can't get into my blog to make an entry or check my email. Oh well. So goes technology.

This trip is been amazing, almost surreal at times. The safari was breath taking. Rode on dirt roads for 9 days with the top of the truck open so there was plenty of air and sun and jokes and fabulous food. The driver guides were the best. They are highly educated about wildlife and flora. They are also patient and answer the same question many times because we're all talking and no one hears the answer at the same time.

The morning we were in Norongoro Crater (seems like a long time ago now) someone spotted an object so far way it looked like a dot even with binoculars. It moved and the driver Embize saw the horn and announced it was a rhino. It continued to move as we sat and watched. This animal mozies along munching on grass. Now more trucks are parking by us. Talk about drawing a crowd. The guys in the truck wanted to go...after 30 minutes the rhino was no closer. Embize said just wait. Lo and behold, with 15 trucks filled with spectators by us, that ole rhino cruised in front of our truck! The guides couldn't believe it and neither could we!!!!!!!!

And that's how this adventure started!

Driving around the crater was when we learned a few swahilli words. It's basically a phonetic language with really cool words. The drivers were very patient with me and worked with me to say them properly. My fav is hakuna matata with emphasis on the 2nd syllable. Means no problem.

I've never seen such poverty in my life. The hotels we're in are a good relief from it. People walk everywhere carrying all sorts of things in their hands, on their heads or on any wheeled vehicle they have. The major cities have a few paved roads. The other roads are dirt and very bumpy with ruts, holes, rocks on them that jiggle and jostle you. They call it the African massage.

Each day someone is responsible for keeping a journal of the days happenings. It's compiled so each of us has a diary of the trip to keep. My day was the day we were setting out for our first long drive from a hotel to the bush for 3 days of camping in the Serenghetti at Ndutu. My plan was to write as we drove to put in culture, new words, describe the landscape, etc. We're bumping along for miles. I asked Kent, the outfitter we worked through, when we got to the main road, thinking it was paved. Ha ha! The dirt road we were on was as good as it got!!!!!!!!!

Since a zoo has been my reference for seeing African animals, to see the animals roaming and intermingling with each other was wonderful. Looking right I'd see wildebeasts with zebras (they hang together because the wildebeasts don't see well but hear well and the zebra see well and don't hear so well) and on the left a giraffe or 2 are munching on leaves in a tree. A lake was loaded with flamingos and hippos snoozed and froliced there. The birds are very colorful. European storks are everywhere. The drivers said the Europeans come here to see the storks.

Watched a lionness stalk and catch her lunch which many tourists don't get to see. Some were upset and the rest of us were cheering and so excited we almost wet our pants. And we got up and were out by 6 am to see this! Too great to describe.

On the gorilla hikes I saw huge silverbacks. The young were close enough to touch and very funny as they froliced and played. Even saw 1 silverback catch a quickie!

The camera has had a workout. My suitcase is yellow and it's the only yellow suitcase I've seen in 6 airports and everyone knows my bag. It's taking on a safari look like me. We're heading home today on a 9 pm flight to Amsterdam.

As I write this I'm in the business center in the Nairobi Safari Club - a tourist hotel - and the cost is 10 Kenyan shillings per 10 minutes which is about $1.66. Am listening to a radio station play music from the 80's and taking requests in English. Sounds like I'm listening to lite 98 at home. In the airport US gospel and John Denver music was playing! A nice piece of home.

Language hasn't been a problem as English is a second language taught in schools in these countries. The few Swahilli words I know come in handy to get me through the rough spots.

I could go on forever. So much to tell.