Part five (Tano) - Kenya - Mombassa

We landed in Mombassa and soon we were whisked off to the Travelers Beach Hotel. The hotel was beautiful! We finally had a couple days to relax. That evening we went on a dinner cruise on a traditional dhow boat in the Indian Ocean. The food was delicious and despite the brief rain shower (the band was playing Toto's "I felt the Rains Down in Africa") the evening was magical.

The next day we were off to Tsavo East for a day safari. This is the place of the famed man-eating lions of Tsavo (remember the 1996 movie, The Ghost and the Darkness?) and it's also known for "red" elephants, made that way because of the red soil. We left at 5am, since it's a three hour drive to the southern gate. Our driver, Kim, showed up in a converted safari mini-van (not quite the Landrover we had gotten used to). On the way we stopped at a craft shop near the Tsavo gate. We bought a couple of things, and then the shop owner showed interest in Gary's baseball cap. We ended up trading it away for a statue & a traditional mask, which may have been a scam, but we felt like we have so much, why not share?

We had a wonderful day at Tsavo, although we never did see any lions, man-eaters or not. Tsavo is huge and very arid since it sits on the edge of the Taru Desert. The dirt is very red and dusty. We actually didn’t see much of anything for the entire morning, it seems that all the animals were in hiding. After lunch we saw quite a bit more. The two animals we liked the best were the red elephants and these gazelles called gerenuks, which have very long legs and stand straight up on their back legs to eat. The highlight of the day was when we stumbled upon a secretary bird stomping on a snake and then eating it whole! It was quite a sight. The drive back to Mombassa was long and we passed through some places of unbelievable poverty. It really makes you think about all we have and how lucky we are. It’s a big reality check to see mothers scooping dirty rain water from the side of the road for the children they carry on their backs.

The next day we decided to take it easy at our hotel. We swam in the Indian Ocean, sailed in a traditional outrigger boat, relaxed by the beach, and laid out by the pool (yes, we BOTH did!) We flew back to Nairobi that evening, very relaxed and well rested. This time we stayed right downtown at the Hilton Nairobi (complete with metal detectors in the lobby). Somehow, they seemed to have misplaced our reservation! There were two huge conferences in town that week, so hotel rooms were scarce, but they scrambled and we actually ended up in an upgraded room… not too bad.

On our last full day in Africa we decided to take a day trip to Lake Nakuru National Park. They are famous for the millions of flamingoes that migrate through the park every year. The drive from Nairobi was also three hours, but this time we were traveling through the Great Rift Valley. It was a beautiful drive. We finally arrived and saw a lot of animals right away (unlike at Tsavo). The population of flamingoes was only about 25% of what it normally is (wrong time of year for them), but it still seemed like a lot to me! The lake and surrounding park was beautiful. We were lucky to see white rhinos and the endangered Rothschild giraffe (in the wild!) It was so neat.

We got back very late and we were exhausted. We had to get up early for our flight back to Amsterdam the next morning, so we stayed local for dinner and just took it easy. Our taxi driver from the first day was there to take us to the airport in the morning and soon it was time to say goodbye to Africa.

Even though we had some misadventures in Kenya, we absolutely loved the country and the people. We want to return, but next time for more than just 4 days!