Kenya

 

DAY ONE – 25th September 2010

Nairobi

We had arrived in Nairobi at 10.30pm and caught our shuttle to the hotel which we had booked.  This was much nicer than we were imagining!  We were up at 7am for breakfast and went down to the hotel reception to meet with our Acacia tour guide at 8am, 8.15am and still no tour guide, we hadn’t adjusted to African time.  African time is not a special time zone… It’s more of relaxed way of reading it, we weren’t the only ones waiting so it was ok.  At 8.30am Marike, our South African tour guide arrive in the Acacia truck.

We sorted out our local payment with her, and not known to us until we went through our US dollar notes some were older than 2000 therefore would not be accepted by Acacia or most of Eastern Africa .  Apparently they are easier to counterfeit.  It will now be our mission to spend these $50 US notes!!!

At about 9.30am we boarded a big Acacia Africa truck which is to be our home for the next 46 days!  Its a huge truck which can seat about 26 people, there are only 13 of us on the tour.  Mostly full of Aussies, we’re the token Kiwis and there are a couple of English people.

We stopped at the supermarket to pick up water and chocolate as this was our last stop in civilisation for the next few days.  About an hour into the journey we stopped at a look out point which was 2,666 metres, this is the height we’re used to snowboarding on back home on Mt Ruapehu!

The view from 2,666 metres!

This was our first taste of the toilet facilities in Africa, oh and what an experience!  It was just a hole is the ground, that’s it!  Not even a long drop… More of a short drop!  Trace was in shock and Mike had to leave the door open and pee a couple of steps further back than usual… Great to be a guy!  

We stopped for lunch just outside Lake Nakuru National Park, here we got to enjoy the company of some cheeky baboons.  At one stage we had to use a broom to scare them away as Mike was not intimidating enough without it.

 

Lunch here was our first taste of what was to come.  Plates and bowls came out of containers which looked like they hadn’t been washed in weeks.  We had meat and salad sandwiches which were good.

After lunch we headed into the National Park to do some animal spotting. . . .  first up were some antilots and then a Zebra. . .

 

   The McDonald’s M – the lion sees when hunting!

This lake use to be covered in Flamingos but due to pollution they are migrating elsewhere

     Our first view of a Rhino

 

On our way to the campsite in the National Park we stopped as we had spotted some Rhinos, turning off the truck was a mistake.  Patrick our driver then spent the next hour trying to get the truck to start.  We ended up getting a tow start by another truck which drove passed.

This incident destroyed our illusion of having the best truck as on the first day we had seen other tour company trucks parked up and thought that we had the pick of the bunch – how wrong we were!

We arrived at the campsite about 6.30pm after seeing a couple of lions (this was very exciting as it was our first spot of “real lions”.  Before we hopped off the bus Marake our guide told us that this camp was not fenced we were just in the National Park which was essentially a fence to keep the animals in, but no fence around us to keep the animals out!

She also informed us that if you needed to go to the toilet in the middle of the night, shine your torch outside first and make sure there are no eyes about.  If there are, hold on!!  If you do see one on your way back, stop, don’t run!  It’s like cat and mouse, they will always be able to catch you, you will never be able to run faster than them.  They like to play with you before they eat you.  We were all wondering what we had signed up to when we left the truck to set up our tents. . . . but its definitely camp Africa!

Our campsite by night, using our new tri-pod

It was dark by the time we arrived at camp, mostly because the truck had broken down, so pitching our tents for the first time was interesting.  We all pitched our tents very close together!  The head torches were priceless! 

Dinner was pasta and salad – yummy!  We had a warmish beer which went down a treat.  That night we needed to go to the toilet but there was no way that anyone was going to visit the toilet as we had spotted  “eyes” over there.  Squatting behind a nearby bush it was!  These eyes were eventually confirmed as a female lion… A little intimidating!

We slept well that night in our funky 70s floral cotton sheet sleeping bag liners – thanks Mum!

 

Mike and Trace were now Pomba and Tamoon (off the lion king) - “Good night Africa!”

We noticed the next morning there was a sign in the campsite which said “Never leave tent alone, Wild Animals”  

 

DAY TWO – 26th September 2010

Kenya - Lake Nakuru National Park

Good Morning Africa at 5.30am!  We packed up our tents, made sandwiches and had some breakfast.  Before hitting the road we went to the toilet.  This was a terrifying experience – it was dark (with the door closed) and it smelt so bad. . . . only 45 more days to go and how many more toilet stops. . . . . .

  This is our Acacia Truck and the site we camped at last night

The Toilet – if you could call it that!!!

This waterfall was just down from our campsite

When we parked in the campsite last night we made sure that we parked up a hill so that we could push the truck down and hopefully get enough momentum to start the truck.  Unfortunately this strategy didn’t work and we spent the next hour disengaging the brakes so that we could get another vehicle (the only other one) from the campsite to tow start us.  Now we can’t stop the truck or it wont start again!

One, Two, Three push!!!

Unfortunately we missed out on a bit of time at the game park due to the late start.  We still managed to spot giraffe, Rhinos and lots of monkeys!

    

It was then back on the road for another 4 hours travel on bumpy road (these roads were worse than the farm tracks in Otane!! and believe you me that’s bad!!) .  The African roads have speed bumps outside every school or almost every building by the feel of it and the speed bumps are never just one hump they are five or six in a row with lots of pot holes.

We arrived at the campsite at about 4ish, this campsite was so nice!  We had flushing toilets, hot showers and a bar – paradise!!  We sat and had a beer or two with the group.  They also had a pool at the campsite which was clean but we decided to give it a miss as it was surprisingly a little cold.

Enjoying our “Nile Specials” in style

After dinner we went back to the bar, this place was  decked out with lots of wooden lions, elephants and zebra it was just like being out in the wild.  It also had the most amasing fire!  We know a fire in Africa you wouldn’t read about it but you are.  It was so cold, about 12 degrees outside.  We all sat with our beer and Trace had a Baileys – She was in heaven!

DAY THREE – 27th September 2010

Kenya - Eldoret

We got to have a bit of a sleep in this morning as the truck needed to stop in town to get a part to fix it once the shops had opened (8.30am).  We left the camp at 8am after French toast (so much for loosing some weight in Africa!).

We stopped at Kent-Knit which is a jersey and blanket manufacturer.  This was so interesting.  It opened in the 1960s and employs about 1600 people.  The factory was a lot more automated that we thought it would be.  But NZ Health and Safety would have had a ball in there!

We found this sign amusing on the company notice board.

 

Then it was back on the road to our fist boarding crossing into Uganda (a little nervous).  The boarder crossing went very smoothly.  A couple of stamps for $50 USD each!  Once we crossed the boarder we brought lunch, freshly baked chapattis (these were good but glad we didn’t see them being cooked).

Below are a few photos some of the villages we passed on our travels.

 

After another two hours of driving we eventually made it to Nile River Camp just outside (10km) of Jinga.  It had started raining at the boarder, explosive thunder and huge lightening which stayed with us until we arrived at camp.  We had a “Nile Special” while we waited for the rain to stop and then rushed out and pitched the tent.  We have this down to an art now!

We ordered dinner at the campsite (burger and chips) and had another “Nile Special” while we waited.  We slept well that night although a couple of dogs woke us up with their barking!  It was a lot warmer here, we didn’t need our track pants and jackets and slept in just our funky sleeping bag liners, no sleeping bags required.

London

 

DAY ONE

We arrived back in London at midday, after an extremely early morning (or you could have said late night) 2.45am!!

We made our way to Andrew and Claire’s on the subway which was nice and easy, we’re pretty well practiced on the underground systems now!

That afternoon we caught up on emails and blog updates.  It was great to spend some time with Andrew and Claire and enjoy a lovely home cooked meal (something we are really missing!).

 

DAY TWO

Our body clocks were still in Egypt time which was two hours ahead of London so we were up at a reasonable hour.  Harry, Andrew and Claire’s four year old son, decided we should go to the park with him.  We spent the morning at the park playing on the slides and swings.  It was a lovely sunny day in London.

 

 

Harry enjoying the playground

Trace and Charlotte – she is such a happy baby, always smiling!

Harry on the swing, with Trace in the background pushing Mike giving Harry a helping hand to balance on the beam

That afternoon we caught the train into Oxford street and did a bit of shopping, our main mission was to purchase a tri-pod which we succeeded in for our travels to Africa.

We meet up with Rory, Shelley and Kate Jamo at the Wooden shades bar in Liverpool.  We took a walk down brick lane which for us was taking a trip back in time to Egypt.  All the restaurant staff were out on the streets, “25% discount, Ill give you two bottles of wine, two free beers also”.  We weighed up the options and settled on a nice Indian restaurant.  It was delicious.

Thanks Rory, Shelley and Jamo for coming to catch up with us, it was great!

 

The London locals sussing out the best way to get the Kiwi’s back home… Notice the world moving fast behind them as they stare at our subway map! Mike, Trace, Rory, Shelly and Kate.  We realised just how brown we were after having dinner with these guys!

DAY THREE

We rose early as we knew we had a lot to organise before we departed for Africa.  Get US dollars, organise shipping home and repack our packs for Africa.

We started by seeing if we could get American dollars off our Bank of New Zealand American dollars card.  This was not an easy task, Mike went to all the ATMs in Harpenden and not one of them would withdrawal in US dollars.  He then went to all banks in the area and none of them would allow him to take US dollars out.  They all wanted us to withdrawal in Pounds and then convert to US dollars. 

We spent the rest of the morning on the internet and phone trying to  find if there was a bank or an ATM who would accept our US dollar card.  We thought that we had found one so took a trip into London central to see if we could withdrawal the funds.  To our disappointment this ATM did not accept our card.  We ended up having to withdraw in Pound from our USD card and then convert to US dollars again… Costly, and a pain!! Luckily we had a fair amount of pounds left over too so we saved a bit on conversion fees there.

After sorting our our money situation we took the train out to Mike’s cousins home, Katy, Sam and their two children.  This was a great night and it was lovely to catch up with the family.

Trace and Myla

Mike and Myla

Ava, Sam, Myla and Mike Sam (who is a chef) showing us how to caramelised sugar on our banana for desert – so yummy!!!

Ras Sudr – Kitesurfing!!

Thanks to Leanne and Gavin, who’d been through a couple of weeks before us we knew it would be cheaper to arrive with some food and water supplies… We went all out and stocked up with quite a large supply of chocolate, muesli bars, chocolate and water (24x1.5L bottles!). 

Day One

We arrived around lunch time, dropped our bags, asked reception to sort out why we didn’t have water in our room. Then went to hit the water as it was 40 degrees and blowing 22 knots! Perfect!!

Trace passed the kite rental tests so she was all sorted to rent without lessons which was nice as we were a little worried.  By the end of the day she was blasting back and fourth and riding up wind easily.

There’s about 25 kiters here at the moment but the majority are all part of one German group that stick in one area… Luckily! As kiting through their group is like navigating a mine field!

We got back to the hotel tired and ready for a shower… Still no water, it seems water is somewhat difficult out here in the desert.  The maintenance guy showed up to take a look. He didn’t speak a word of English but somehow we got by by pointing at various bathroom items and then giving them a thumbs up or in this case it was generally a thumbs down.  He returned 5 minutes later with a miniature angle grinder and welder, he then preceded to replace a leaking section of pipe within 30 minutes, Impressive!

That evening we went into the dinning room with an open mind as we have fairly low expectations of food in Egypt now. It was possibly the largest buffet we’ve ever seen, and great food! Trace somehow managed to try one of every desert… There’s about 12!!

End of day one. Bring on 8 more!

Day Two

Trace is getting more confident and managing the occasional turn.  Not quite as windy, only about 17 knots so standard sized kites today.  Mike’s loving the chance to try different kites and he’s already ridden 3 different types and various sizes… Favourite is confirmed as the North Vegas! 

Late that afternoon, disaster strikes… Trace charges straight onto a shallow point with lots of little rocks.  After falling forward she quite badly takes the top layer of skin off her right hand and elbow and gets a couple of small cuts on her leg.  She managed to stay quite calm considering!

We walked back with the kites to the kite centre and patched up trace with various disinfectants.  We also negotiated a two day break on kite rental in exchange for a couple of hours of lessons (they won’t do cash refunds) later in the week.

Once we got back to the hotel Trace rummaged through the medicine bag and came out with a smile… Apparently Nikki P gifted the following “medicine” which apparently fixes everything? It’s good to finally use it after carting it around the world for the last 2.5 months!

It worked a treat, thanks Nikki P

We managed to move from our hotel room to a seaside room, great! First thing we did was check the water everywhere, check the air-con, check the fridge.  No problems here!… seems great! …

Day Three & Four

We woke up to find we have no water!  … We move again… All tests pass again, fingers crossed they stay that way!

Trace turns from a kitesurfer to a photographer… And she really got into it! By the end she was knee deep in water and Mike was practically jumping over her head! Mike rode for at least 4 hours each day… No more changing kites now though, Vegas is a definite favourite!

There’s literally hundreds of great photos and videos but it gets a little repetitive so here's a couple of the best.

Later on day four evening, the wind picked up a bit and we were lucky enough to watch the two instructors from the large German group have a 30minute play… They both rode on 7m kites and did the kind of tricks you only expect to see on movies.  Mike’s probably going to spend the remainder of the holiday attempting to imitate them now!

Day Five

After buying a new pair of sailing gloves Trace is back into action and we both spent about 3 hours out on the water… Unfortunately the wind wasn’t as settled as previously and extremely strong… Trace was flying their smallest kite at 6m (it was depowered too!) Mike was only slightly bigger on a 7m.

Trace has booked in her lesson for tomorrow so fingers crossed the wind is good and she gets her turns sorted!

Day Six

Trace’s lesson lasted almost 2 hours and she’s beginning to get the hang of her turns.

Mike was given the photographer's roll for a bit in the afternoon once Trace had built up some confidence.

Day 7

For the first time we had to wait for wind!! We were ready to go at 9:30am with not enough wind… Had to wait until 10:30am . . . and then it end up blowing almost 25 knots. . . It’s tuff!

Later that evening we went for a walk to the pier as the sun was setting, it was so beautiful.

There are a lot of unfinished buildings in Egypt, below is a picture of just one unfinished hotel.  The ones they have finished, don’t really seem to be maintained… It’s all a bit odd really.

We were told that the Egyptian citizens don’t finish their homes completely, just enough so they can live in them, this is so they can get a lower tax rate for a dwelling still under construction.

Day 8

Had to wait until 10:30 again… Trace is starting to get the bug and enforcing an early rise to “get our money’s worth”.

During the morning Mike was on camera duty for a bit, in the afternoon, it switched.

Breaking through some chop

Turning action sequence

Enjoying it!!

   

jump sequence

 

Oops…

Day 9

Where’s the wind gone? We tried to kitesurf for a couple of hours but the wind was quite weak so we gave up at lunch time and went back to pack. 8.5 days of wind… Not bad!!