10/02/19 My flight was delayed by an hour due to
some technical issues but the flight was only 3h. I took an Uber to the
apartment I booked but the directions they gave me were to a hotel who didn’t
know anything about my booking. They accepted to give a call to the lady who
rents her place and she sent someone to pick me up, as her apartment was one
block away. I suppose she could not give me a more accurate address and uses
the hotel nearby as a reference point. For a bit I was uncomfortable as the guy
asked me to follow him without confirmation that the lady over the phone was
the one who had my booking, but she finally confirmed my name. Her friend took
me to the studio, not the cleanest place I have been but that will do for 1
night.
It is crazy to think that people living here in Nairobi don’t have much but
they all have phones and internet.
Thanks to the wifi in the room I was able to book a night in Amboseli national
park and 2 nights in the Maasai Mara. I hope I will easily find a way to reach
those places.
I didn’t feel safe to get out at night for dinner so I ate some cereals I still
had in my bag.
11/02/19 I requested an Uber to reach Amboseli national park, hoping that the
driver would accept the ride. It is about 210km away. The driver Elias accepted
for a bit more money if I was ok not to go using the Uber app, which I
accepted. Uber takes 25% of the ride and I understand he may not find another
customer to come back to Nairobi so we got a deal.
We drove for 3.5h then ended up on tracks, not roads. We got close to the
guesthouse up to 980m but the car could not go any further as it was bushy and
very narrow. So we drove back to find the main road. In one of the turns, as we
were driving way too fast (I think the driver got angry we were kind of lost),
he almost got us under the bridge. We made a 360 and he used all his power on
the brakes. Luckily we didn’t hit anything and kept going. I suggested we call
the guesthouse owner for directions and he sent us a guy on a motorbike to
guide us to the guesthouse. They told us not to follow Google Maps and because
there is no sign whatsoever there was no way we could have found it without
help. After 5.5h, we finally made it to the guesthouse.
Poor Elias had to replace a flat tyre and went around the car to check the
damage from the branches and spikes we had to go through. I felt bad for his
car.
Teresa, the manager, who is from the Kikuyu tribe, was super welcoming and gave
me the cottage instead of the tent I booked as there was almost no one on the
site. They served me a late lunch then I had a chance to chat with the staff
before Samanya, a Masaai from the youngest generation, took me on a culture
walk to the village nearby. I met his parents and saw typical houses made of
mud and cow poo. On the way back, kids who were waving at me and saying hello,
came close and held my hands. All of them took one finger so they could all do
it. It was very cute. Samanya told me about his traditions even though he does
not really follow them anymore. Most kids in his village go to school and as
they get educated, many of them choose to live in a more modern way.
I also met Tony the pig, as they sell some pigs on the camp site, and 3
friendly dogs.
Just on time for dinner, I met a young Dutch couple who also stays at the
guesthouse. I also met Wilson, the owner of the place, who will take me
tomorrow for a game drive. I said to Teresa earlier how much I love mangoes,
and she brought some from the market just for me for dessert. So sweet!
On my way to the cottage for the night, a little cat followed me and cried at
me door for a while.
12/02/19 Breakfast (with pancakes! ?) was ready at 5.30am and I left with Wilson at
6am for the game drive. The office at the Kimana gate was not ready yet when we
got there, they must be operating on Kenyan time ?.
The drive was way better than the ones I did in South Africa, for the amount of
animals I saw. Hundreds of wild beasts, elephants, zebras, buffalos, flamingos,
a few hippos, a family of lions with 3 really small cubs, a few giraffes, small
and tall gazelles and a rabbit. Wilson said that we were lucky because we don’t
always spot so many animals in one drive. And with the Kilimandjaro in the
clear background, it was just amazing. Before going back to camp, we drove close
to a big hotel complex and saw many baboons on the road. One of them even
climbed on the roof of the car! Wilson threw small pieces of chewing gum at
them as they seem to like it.
