Well.... 8 hours on the plane, but only a 2 hour time difference so the ride wasn't as tiring as from LA to Heathrow; still we arrive at 9pm and had to grab our luggage, go through customs and get our tourist visas. We were shuffled through to one line, and then realised we had to get the visas FIRST... which was opposite what the first customs official told us to do. We were standing at a desk filling out visa forms when this female Kenyan official came up to Mum and I and two Brits. She grabbed all our passports and said "follow me!" So we did... I'm like "ok and she is taking us WHERE?" But relax, she just took us to a shorter line where the customs men were ready and willing to take our 50 dollars American to give us a 3 month visa into Kenya. Ok... so now we get to wander out into the front arrivals area of the airport where tons of people are standing and holding placards with names on them. We finally spot the man from Albatros Travel who is to shuttle us to The Nairobi Safari Club for the night. I check my mobile phone ... yep.. have service in Afrika... safaricom. Not sure what they are gonna charge me to make a call.. and not ready to find out. Its dark, and "cold" to the locals.... (feels fine to me after 100 degree temps in Fresno.) Kinda funny to see the locals running about in their heavy wool jumpers in July (remember, Kenya is just below the equater... so its Winter there.)
We got to the hotel... and after 2 rooms got one with TWO beds. The rooms were nice, but decorated in 1950s Fancy Smancy... that kinda furniture that you know is regal but you wouldnt feel comfy propping your feet up on the sofa. The first order of business was showers. Then bed. Sleep was good.... except for the frequent clunking of Kenyan plumbing from the toilets above and below.
Morning comes at 630 am. Sunrise and sunset are at nearly the same time every day 365 days a yr (life at the equator.) Because of this... Swahili time is a 12 hour clock. 6am is 0 morning and 6pm is 0 night. go figure. breakie was a buffet..... mmmm fresh delicious fruit and once again, real proper tea :) We chowed down and went to the lobby to wait for our transit coach to Tanzania. While waiting.... i went into the gift shop and bought some post cards. The exchange rate is 1 US dollar gets you 70 Kenyan shillings (compare to 1 us dollar gets you 1255 Tanzanian shillings!) Our transit coach arrived... we piled on... and the coach moved on to collect tourists from other hotels... we got a close in view of Nairobi.. which is not the most poetic city. The drive from Nairobi to Arusha, Tanzania was interesting... just podunk towns here and there.. and as Jimmy Buffett sang "bamboo shacks and carts with bananas piled on top." Every other building was a bar. Nothing fancy.. just a shack and tables... pull up a rickity chair and have a beer.. but at least the beer is cheap and COLD. At the border.... the locals came out in traditional costume to hawk cheap souviners (i suspect Hecho in China.) If you don't to buy just ignore them. We waited in line to get our passports stamped to leave Kenya, back onto the coach... then we drove a lil way and got back in line at the Tanzanian Customs Shack (and I mean shack). There we had to cough up 50 US dollars each for a Tanzanian Visa. One of the lads, Andrew, from America had only Kenyan dollars cos he was travelling the world for the last 7 months, our driver informed him that it would be 4000 Kenyan shillings. He is like "no, 50 US is 350 KSH. " The driver says
"thats how it is." I looked at Andrew and said "well, looks like you are paying the commission to turn those KSH into dollars." He laughed.
We all finally got our visas... after an near eternity of waiting.... piled back on the bus and left the cheap goods hawkers behind. From there, it was down hill into Arusha where we were met once again by our Albartros contact who introduced us to our own private 4WD Landcruiser(LandBruiser) and our own private guide Charles.... a native Maasai who was raised by missionaries after age 9.) We were provided with a box lunch from Arusha Hotel... taken to get Tanzanian dollars and bottled water. (don't drink the tap water.) An hour's drive and we were at the Manyara National Park. Charles secured our enterance fee and opened up the Land Bruisers roof so we could get better pics. Into the park, we were lucky to view elephants, Impala, Gazelle, Blue faced monkey, Pelicans, Flamingos, Warthogs, Maasai Giraffe, half submerged hippos and LOTS of birdlife. (Charles is a birdman.)
We were then taken to our night's lodging.... E Unoto Maasai Village Lodge. There we were greeted by smiling staff offering cold juice and cold towels to clear away the worst of the dust.
The rooms were "Maasai huts"..... but the ceased being huts at the door. Once inside, it was sheer luxury... BIG huge beds covered in white, thick linen and down duvets, a huge verandah, huge bathroom and seperate shower and toilet rooms. The only thing to remind you that you were in the Bush was the fact that the generator turned off from 12 am til 6am (western time that is.) We showered, changed and went on down to dinner. The dining room and bar were in two seperate open huts surrounding the infinity pool (we arrived too late to take a dip) I imbided in my first Afrikan beer... Safari lager (they like their lager in Afrika as its soooo hot there.)
Dinner for me was Lemon Rosemary Chicken, lyonnaise potatoes, veggies and fresh bread. The salad was heaven... avocado salad.. which was a half a FRESH avocado filled with a marinated veggie... onion, cilantro mixture. (TO DIE FOR!)
After dinner the Maasai people came in and preformed their native dancing and chanting. VERY nice. We were stuffed and tired... so this long day dictated a early bedtime as Charles was coming to collect us at 7 AM. (ARGH!)
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