One tricky part was the border crossing though. Akamba is basically obsessed with being on time, which is mostly a good thing. However, we pulled up to the customs office, and the driver said, "10 minutes." 10 minutes for a full busload of people to exit Uganda, run way down the road to the Kenyan border office, get visas, and reboard?! Brock and I were running behind, and literally just stepped back on the bus as it pulled away. I think they did actually leave someone behind!
Right over the border, we could immediately see a lot of differences between Kenya and Uganda, including that it is much drier, and there are much fewer trucks full of matooke going by! We arrived in Nairobi around 9pm after seeing some beautiful countryside. We were a bit lost at first, and nervous since even the guidebook calls the city, "Nairobbery." However, it didn't take long before things just all started to fall in place amazingly easily! We found a nice guesthouse, and Dorcas, who works there, was able to immediately arrange a three day safari for us at a good price.
Here’s a few pics from our trip to Kenya, ‘wild things’ safari segment, including the ‘big five’ of the game park! More to follow on the trip to the coast.
Leopard - One of the 'big five.' We were so lucky our driver got a hot tip on the first day of the safari, and we sped over in time to see him lounging in the tree. They are very rare to see!
Lion - Another of the big five. We got to see several of these guys, always looking very chill. It must be nice to be at the top f the food chain!
Elephants and Rhino (baby ones!)- On our last day in Kenya we visited an elephant orphanage where baby and adolescent elephants stay until they are old enough to fend for themselves in one of the parks. Their trainers do everything they can to mimic parent-child relations between elephants, including actually take turns sleeping where they sleep. Because elephants have good memories, they said that if they are a bit older when they are orphaned, they go through a long grieving process similar to what we go through! We also finally got to see a two-week old adorable baby rhino (the last of the 'big five'! He was found alone, and because he was born blind and would therefore be unable to defend himself in the wild, he will likely hang out at the orphanage for quite some time!
The Masai - us Muzungus dancing with some of the Masai villagers. They have found a very lucrative market for their very distinctive culture among safari goers!
Besides these guys we saw: ostriches, crested cranes, lots of hippos, lots of elephants and zebras, antelopey things, buffaloes, wildebeasts, and many varieties of birds.
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