GoToKenya

The Giraffe Sanctuary

2007-07-31T22:29:00.000+01:00

A great fun trip to do in Nairobi, when you don't want to go very far, is the Giraffe Sanctuary in Langata, near the Hardy Dukas.

This sanctuary was created to protect the Rothschild giraffe. These giraffes were extremely endangered before Jock Leslie Melvie (guess where he originates from) decided to save them. He and his wife lived in what can only be described as a massive Scotish-style country house. (Perhaps mahoosive, better describes this house which is now one of the most luxurious hotels in Kenya). There were at the time only 130 of these giraffes left, now there are 400 and they have been reintroduced to the wild again.

Rothschild giraffes are different from the Masai and Reticulated (Ridiculous) giraffes and are easy to spot.

Ridiculous giraffes have regulated spots, pretty much square, in a formal pattern (reticulated you might say). Masai giraffes' spots are squiggly, and not regular at all. Rothschild giraffes are like Ridiculous giraffes, but they have pretty socks. Like the good old colonial gentlemen, they have knee socks in a fetching shade of yellow.

If you are loaded you can stay in Giraffe Manor and have a giraffe sticking its head through the window to say hi at breakfast time.

If you're not loaded you can go to the sanctuary and feed the giraffes and learn all about them. There is also an info centre here which gives a Kenyan view to the various wildlife issues. There was a film I watched with my parents about the elephant culling in South Africa which I wouldn't recommend to the faint-hearted. but every other time I went there it was brilliant. (Even the culling film was very informative and interesting explaining the different views there are on this, and why Kenya has decided never to cull, even in times of severe drought, but I couldn't take that much of it).

You can feed the giraffes from the viewing platform with dog nuts. Did you know that giraffe's have blue tongues? They also have saliva that is really antibiotic as they are always cutting their tongues on thorn trees. Well I'll leave you to find out about the other cool things, including the warthogs, so that you have a reason to go there.

It's also a great place to go for a walk, if you, like me, struggle to find places to walk due to lack of secure parking and places off the road that are safe enough. It's certainly not a long walk, but you can wander about freely away from a road, and that's rare enough. There is also a rather odd cafe here if you want a bit of a cultural experience.

Elephant Diaries

2007-07-31T10:33:00.000+01:00

I’m just watching an update about the elephants at Daphne’s elephant orphanage. It’s a brilliant programme which you should try and see at all costs. It’s a BBC programme, called ‘Elephant Diaries’, it was shown during the whole Make Poverty History campaign last year. It really does justice to the amazing work that the orphanage does.

I obviously can't put BBC material here, but I found another video to give you a taster, though I'd really recommend the Elephant Diaries programme.

The only problem with this programme, and actually what has spurred me on to write this, even though I’ve been working at a computer all day, is Jonathan Scott. He’s that guy from the Big Cat Diaries who you are really pleased get pissed on by the leopard. I had to leave the room while he tried to convince viewers that his meeting with the matriarch of the Tsavo herd was vitally significant. He tries to say that he was being really brave being out of the car while Emily came to see who he was. He really is a brave man- Emily was brought up by humans, she spent two years of her life being petted every day by fifty Kenyan school children, who don’t show any of the trepidation that he said he felt.

Michaela does half of the presenting which is a relief as she presents really well. Edwin, the head keeper, comes over very well, as do the other keepers. The whole organisation is incredible and it’s fantastic that the BBC are promoting it. Please though, if anyone who reads this has any clout, please please please no more Jonathan Scott. If we could do away with some of the dramatic music too then it would be really beneficial.

Please click on the link at the top of this page, I'm not going to try to outdo the Orphanage's own website which is brilliant. (Click on the title ' Elephant Diaries' . I'd advise getting a cup of tea and allowing yourself the luxury of reading some of the stories on the website. They are stories of struggle and (hopefully) survival and are extremely moving. I really think it would be great if you could be moved to donate to this fabulous cause too.

If you're in Kenya, this orphanage is a must-see. It's open between 11-12 every day and it's in Nairobi National Park, on the way to Ongata Rongai. Don't be late as you need to see every minute of it.

Lake Naivasha

2006-01-17T18:41:00.001Z

Lake Naivasha from the sailing club

Lake Naivasha, about a two hour drive from Nairobi, is beautiful. There are differing attitudes to it though. The lake has a sailing club which is mostly full of people who come down from Nairobi at weekends. Some of the people who live around the lake (I'm talking wazungu (whites)) don't really like the sailing club though. The sailing club is up on a hill and they sailing in the cresent of the lake (Crater Lake, I think it's called). It is safe (ish) to swim where the club is and the setting is just great. We stayed at the club as we were with a friend who is a member and if you've got one of those it is definately worth it. We camped, but there are bandas there, although they are a little unloved.

I also went with my parents to stay in one of the bandas at fisherman's. This is not that far from Naivasha town and it has a restaurant. When we were sitting having a beer at lunchtime we spotted Colubus monkeys playing in the trees. I obviously didn't do my best as a tourguide at this point, but I didn't realise it till only a few weeks ago. I was watching some wildlife program on tele with my parents and my Mum came out with 'But why are they so worked up about Colubus monkeys? They are really common aren't they?' Hah, no Colubus monkeys are really rare and they look like superheroes as they have white capes.

Things to do in Naivasha don't really involve exploring the town. You've about 5 seconds outside your car before a whole hoard of hustlers come up trying to sell fake DVDs. I never bought one, by the way, as we didn't have a tv. But people who have bought them only seem to report extreme dissatisfaction with them.

Much more betterer things to do involve going on a hippo trip and drinking cool beers in the shade of the trees by the lake. We also took a walk out along cresent island, which has fabulous birds and loads of antelopes etc. It's pretty hot walking but you can pretty much stick to the shade under the trees if you try quite hard.

Lake Magadi and Shompole

2005-12-19T17:59:00.000Z

Lake Magadi is a soda lake which is utilised by the Lake Magadi Soda Company which extracts the soda and makes detergent. It is about a two hour drive from Nairobi down an extremely good and empty road.

The soda lake is very beautiful especially as it is a haven for flamingos. The town in Magadi is not really worth the trip as it is just an industrial village with everything focused on the workers of the company. You can get the very basics in the shop there including fizzy drinks, but not beer.

It is when you head away from the village that everything becomes amazing. There is a causeway across the lake and to either side of you everything is dazzling white with tinges of pink. I've seen websites and booklets that suggest hiking around magadi. Don't even consider it! It may be safe, I don't know, but there is no way that you could carry sufficient water supplies. Magadi is the hottest place I have ever been.

However, I would definately reccomend a trip to Magadi, just go in a car and plan to get very hot and very dusty.

There are two magical spots near Magadi to camp. For both of these places head out over the causeway first, then decide where you want to go.

There is a spot of the top of a hill overlooking Magadi which is brilliant for an evening's camping. You don't need a tent as it is too hot to even think about putting one up. The last time I was there it was boiling hot until about 11 o'clock in the evening. From here you can look out over the lake and it really is beautiful.

To get there, go over the causeway and head left whenever you can. You will need a 4x4 for definate, as you begin to climb a steep rocky hill and then drop down the other side.

Pack up really early in the morning as it will very soon get too hot to do anything.

The other spot, which is better if you are going to spend more than just an evening here is actually really in Shompole. This is another ranch near the lake. Go across the causeway and go straight on. The roads are really tricky to spot here but there is a road near the river and another one further to your right after crossing the river. You want the river road. Now we found this campsite just by luck, but have since found it again. You want to go along the river and try to stick to it as much as possible. Keep trying every track that might lead to the river (even if it's not much of a track). Eventually you may stumble on the campsite. It is under an archway of trees and the other side there is a big flat place beside the river where you can easily camp. Don't come here in a draught as you will be continually surrounded by Masai and their cows and goats.

We spent our entire day sitting in the river when I was last there and it was much the best thing to be doing.

Make sure that you pay to go into any ranch that they ask you to as otherwise there is a possiblity that they might come and find you and demand more payment. So get receipts at the gate. There is Shompole and another ranch but I've forgotten the name. You go through the other one to get to Shompole. You should make it clear that you are only passing through and pay to camp in Shompole.

If sitting in rivers isn't your thing, but air-conditioned luxury is, then there is Shompole lodge. This is luxury of the highest order and well worth a trip if you can afford it. Shompole is run for the benefit of the local Masai who get a share of the profits.

Muthaiga Country Club

2005-12-06T18:36:00.000Z

Muthaiga Country Club really is the lap of luxury and comfort. Not in a fluffy towels and spa kind of way, but in a comfortable, friendly, jovial way. MCC is a little bit of Britain as it was 50 plus years ago.

Yes you have to be a member, or be the guest of a member to go there. So find yourself some proper friends. Or, if you happen to be an officer in the Queen's army and you find yourself in Kenya, then you get temporary membership. Use it.

Muthaiga Country Club, is, funnily enough, in Muthaiga. It features in the film 'out of Africa' as Karen Blixen was the only woman ever allowed into the men's bar. The men's bar is still there, though I'm sure it's very dull.

My very favouritest thing to do on a friday evening was to bully my friend into playing tennis with me at the club, then going swimming, having a cocktail at the pool bar, changing for dinner, then drinks with friends, then a huge meal with plenty wine, then off to the Black Cotton night club. At this point I feel I should let you into the secret of why I loved Muthaiga, you see, I'm a Scot, and it shows. You cannot pay at the club with cash, everything goes on your bill. Or, if you are a guest, it goes on someone else's bill! Bring on the wine!

The bar stays open really very late, which is great. You do have to change to have dinner, no jeans, jackets for the boys, that sort of thing but really it just makes it more fun.

The restaurant is even better than everything else. The steak is brilliant. The only problem is that there is no chocolate pudding except black forest gateau which doesn't count.

So that's about all about Muthaiga.

Haandi

2005-12-01T12:38:00.000Z

Haandi and Haveli are restaurants run by the same people. They are Indian restaurants and my are they good. Haveli is probably the main restaurant, it's in Westlands in the Mall on the Mezzanine floor. There is secure parking there, though it's a very tight squeeze in a multi-story. I've never been to India but as far as I'm concerned this is the best Indian food ever. Haveli is very hany if you are picking people up, or dropping them off at the airport. It's on the Mombasa road next to the big Nakumat (could be Uchumi I can't remember) in the 'Capital Centre'. Haveli has a strange atmosphere as it is an enormous place but again the food is amazing. Really really really go there.

The Talisman

2005-11-27T21:32:00.000Z

The Talisman is a rather strange restaurant, it is loved by some and hated by others. I'm not too sure why. Firstly where: It's in Karen, on the Ngong road, by the Karen Dukas, up towards Windy Ridge, on the right. They often seem to want you to park your car outside the gate, there is usually room inside.

If you want to eat in the restaurant, you will need to put up with the fact that the waitors will try to ignore you until you jump into their faces. It's probably a good idea to just go and look for a table that's free, it'll at least get their attention. Otherwise you could stand by the door for a long time.

The bar area is quite small but it's friendly enough. There are people that think there may be an odd clientele who have rather expensive habits in white powders. I've no idea if that's true. It could be said though that there are more glitzy handbags in the Talisman than in most places.

The food is, in general, good. Don't have falafel unless you like your food dry, as it only comes with tahini and no humus or anything soggy. As far as I can remember everything else was good. It does take a long time to come. They have new things on the menu regularly. Occasionally they have live music which is really good.

Why not try it if you have the time. This claims to be the phone number 88 32 13. It would probably be a good idea to book in advance, maybe that would get the waiters' attention when you get there.

The Veranda

2005-11-22T22:58:00.000Z

Just down the road from the Langata link is a really nice day time restaurant called The Veranda/Utamaduni. Actually having seen their webpage perhaps they are open at night at the weekends, this might be worth checking out. I'm not sure why it has two names, it just seems to.

It's down a really bad road so don't go in a low slung car.
It is a restaurant that makes eating out seem very like eating in your own garden without the hassle of having to spill all the drink all over yourself.

The tables are scattered about the garden so you are not very close to other people. There are bird tables so the bird song is fairly deafening. There are even extremely expensive curios should you like that kind of thing (plus the funny American and Japanese tourists with 6 foot girafe carvings that come with this sort of place).

The food is really very good, it's not wildly inventive but is does taste extremely good and there are sea food dishes and stuff if you want to treat yourself. There is also a chocolate brownie, with chocolate icecream covered in chocolate sauce for pudding so my advice is start with pudding and then see what else you can fit in.

There are swings and garden toys for small children. All in all, this is not a place to go for a wild time, but for a sunday lunch it's ideal.

Going out in Nairobi intro and The Carnivore

2005-11-14T22:48:00.000Z

If you make the decision that it is too dangerous to go out at night in Nairobi then I can't help you with this. I was told by my boss when I first arrived that I should never leave my house after dark, with the next breath she gave me evening classes to teach twice a week. She wasn't very helpful in some ways.

However if you've a bit of pluck (and I would still advise some degree of caution) then there are a whole load of places to go out at night. I was going to split everything up into bars, clubs and restaurants but they don't split very well. Everywhere covers all of these functions. I guess some places are better than others so I'll try to make that clear.

I lived in Langata so this is very Karen/Langata biased but tough.

Because I'm having a bit of difficulty working out links on this blog, you can find the various places that I'll talk about here:

Talisman in Karen
The Veranda in Langata
Handi and Haveli Restaurants, Westlands and on the airport road
Muthaiga Country Club

Having just been back to Kenya, I've found out that the Outside Inn, and the Black Cotton Club have both closed down now. This means that there are very few options for going out late in Karen/Langata. You can go to the carnivore, or there are tamer options in the Rusty Nail or Karen Blixen Coffee garden, but if you want to dance it's Carnivore or Westlands. If anyone wants to set up a nightclub in Nairobi, there'd be quite a demand for it in Karen I'd suggest

The Carnivore

This is an obvious place to start. Probably not worth a trip for the food if you are a vegetarian. They have a famous all you can eat meat feast which includes as much game meat as is legal at the time. I don't know if the rules have changed recently but there was a law that put much of the variety off the menu. This is a bit of a shame but actually you get an amazing meal whatever the law happens to stipulate at the time.

The start you off with some bread, then you get a baked potato, salad and the rules. While your flag is flying you want more meat, you can knock your flag over if you want a breather and eventually you will have to surrender.

Then comes the meat. Waiters are busy at all times with huge spikes with joints of meat on them. It is definately worth trying everything they have on offer (don't fill up on sausages). My favourites are warthog (I know they are sweet but they taste so good) and ostridge meat balls, actually, ostridge is superbly tasty in any form.

While all this is going on there is a good amount of hustle and bustle. Then suddenly all the waiters will charge for one table and start singing and dancing and banging drums for someone's birthday. You get Jambo Bwana and happy birthday and I have never heard Happy Birthday sung so tunefully and with so much enthusiasm, yet they must do it at least 10 times a night, every night.

Also of note is Dr Dawa (Dawa means medicine). He comes around with a huge bottle of vodka, honey, and a million limes which he makes into a cocktail called Dawa. It's really good but squash your limes about as much as possible as this makes it a truly fabulous drink. My friend's Dad used to run the carnivore and he tells that Dr Dawa was sacked quite a number of times but always had to be re-employed as he was so good at his job.

It is also possible to have other meals at the Carnivore. There is a really good bar type menu (have a cheesy dribbler burger).

The Carnivore turns into a night club which is very popular especially on Wednesdays and at the weekend. It had an over 25 night one time I was there but no-one asked me how old I was and I was about 8 years older than the majority of people there. No I'm not 25 yet. Let's just say it is essentially a young place. In reality though, that can be said of most of the places in and around Karen and Langata, with a few exceptions which I will tell you about. Lots of guys much older than me, and lots of girls much much younger than me.

On the whole the Carnivore has a brilliant atmosphere, amazing food and is ranked as one of the top fifty in the world, I think. It is probably the only restaurant on that list to have free condoms in the loos. I can't think why the others wouldn't.

How to build a pergola

2005-11-10T08:52:00.000Z

This is a little off the subject of what to do in Kenya. But if you find yourself unemployed and have a lot of time to spare then this is suggestiion of what you can do.

First you have to decide where to put a pergola (and that you want one in the first place). Somewhere flat is a good idea. Then you have to make a design. I didn't bother drawing anything, I just had an idea of what I wanted to do.

Now once you have worked out the scheme of things, you need to go and suss out the local shops. I reckoned that I needed 6 long poles, 6 slightly smaller and lots smaller than that. I think that doing it as a hexagon was a good idea as it is fairly stable without having to be too well put together. As a basic principle triangles are good squares are difficult.

Chosing your shop is a tricky situation. People think a small white girl must only be buying stuff for someone else to do the work. So you are slightly treated as a mad woman the minute you ask for advice or tell them what you are up to. Perhaps boys would fare better. It's worth looking around for shops that are friendly and cheap. People will tell you that you can't buy what you want in Kenya but really it is only a matter of finding out what the Kenyans call whatever it is that you want. Roofing felt was tricky and I can't remember what it was called but in the end I found it.

So I started with the roof. It was the trickiest bit so I did it first. I started with a frame, I made a hexagon with some of my bits of wood, using angles drawn on a piece of cardboard to check that it was a proper hexagon. I then had to start making it 3 dimential which was more difficult. Getting the angles right to make a pitch just took time and energy since I had to cut angles in the wood and I only had a hand saw but hey I got there.

I then started on the boarding to cover my frame. I couldn't find boards big enough to cover the whole lot so I had to cut mad angles and try to fit them all together. Then came the really exciting bit. Gunging it all up with roofing felt gunge was very difficult and hot and not much fun.

Eventually it all stuck though once I had completely covered myself and most of my clothes in it. I had one nasty moment when I had to go for a job interview in the Chilean embassy and had left it too late to get properly clean so I just had to put on long clothes and scrub my hands and face.

The roofing felt was a complete pain but I do think it was the best option since wriggley tin would have been a nightmare. Some helpfull people suggested that I should do the roof with wooden slats which would have been very pretty but well I was unemployed, not unemployable so I did want to finish at some point.

So eventually I had a roof. Which was great, but I didn't have a pergola as it would have been a sad tea party crouching under the roof with no walls. This was when I started needing help. Luckily I had some. Our brilliant gardener Moses took some time away from his roses to help and the two gardeners from next door came too. They'd all been laughing at me for working too hard so they were pleased to help I think. Moses found me digging holes for the posts and thankfully realised that I am not good at digging holes. He was a real star and not only dug the holes but he also put the posts in and filled in the concrete too. This would have taken me forever so I am very grateful.

Then it was a case of all hands on to lift the roof on to the poles and bash in some huge nails to keep it there. Again hexagons are good as it stood up to being pulled about without falling apart. Then with a few finishing touches (I'll admit to some more help from Moses here) it was done. We creosoted it and stuck on some fascias and painted them too. Moses then planted some creepers and I stuck the furniture in. And then it was all very pretty.

What to pack in your safari trunk

2005-11-09T22:10:00.000Z

Now it is very important to have a safari trunk. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. It is also important not to be the one to blame when things are left behind. You can be responsible for packing the trunk, but I'd advise making sure that people are aware that anything not in the trunk is what they were in charge of. This saves hassle. You can actually get really good safari trunks in Nakumat. If you are really clever you can get one that fits hurricane lanterns in it, standing upright.

Here you can see a great specimin of a trunk on its holidays in Amboseli

Now what you need. This is left vague on purpose.
Things to light fires
Sleeping stuff (sheets and pillows are a very good thing)
Beer
Gin
Food (steak, bacon, eggs, stuff to make pancakes)
Corn on the Cob
Cooking equipment (including tin foil)
Tents
Water
Cool boxes
Frozen Juice (works really well to keep things cool and goes well in Gin)
Table and chairs

Save the starfish of Kenya's coast

2005-11-08T21:39:00.000Z

This is a plea for help, a very serious call for aid. The coast of Kenya has an enemy which if left unchecked will destroy the tourist trade and thus the entire economy. The enemy has an accomplice, a wide-eyed, innocent-looking fiend. What the hell am I talking about? The sea urchin, and the beach boy.

The coast of Kenya is perfect in every way. The sun shines brightly, it's hot, the sea is warm, the people friendly, and there is a coral reef, perfect for diving, which protects the beaches from any nasty currents or large waves. Unfortunately it is this last which is the subject of this plea.

Tourists come, they think everything is amazing, the beaches are beautiful and so is the wildlife. Tourists pick up shells- well where's the harm in that? They will only become sand and what a waste that is. A beach boy sees tourists picking up pretty shells and realises that there is a living to be made from this- a living which will eliminate forever the temptation to prostitute himself out to tourists to feed his family, and which will provide a good income. All he needs to do is pick up really pretty shells, clean them up a bit and sell them to rich tourists.

But then someone else gets the idea, and another, and another and soon there are no shells left on the beach. Well everyone knows that the reef is packed full of pretty shells, so they go and pick up these shells. Well, what difference does it make if the slimy, nasty things that live inside them are dead or alive!

One of the shells most prized by tourists is the star fish, and they are really easy to kill, you just dry them out! Here, now, is the crux of the problem. The only animal that eats the sea urchin is the star fish. Without the star fish these black or red spiny creatures have no check and the result of the removal of the star fish is only too plain. There are huge black, spiky carpets which make swimming or walking pretty much impossible. You can pick your way slowly through them with the aid of a mask, snorkel and stout shoes but really it is asking for trouble.

The consequences of having picked our way really carefully through the urchins!

Here comes my plea, watch out! If anyone knows of a marine biologist or zoologist who is in need of a project in a nice warm, safe but tropical environment, then please point them this way. In fact please leave a comment on this post then I can help, I've friends who run a hotel down there so I'm sure I could wangle something. This project would be so easy, I'm sure there'd be funding for it if you could prove the damage to the tourism industry that they are causing and the benefits to the community if you could solve it.

All you need to do is get the locals to start selling the sea urchin shells instead of the starfish. Or if your morals don't allow the selling of any shells, then get the hotels to serve up sea urchin soup as a local and ecologically correct dish.

Here is a recipe. I'm sure it rocks?!

SEA URCHINS WITH LINGUINE

20 very fresh sea urchins 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (taste the oil, must have very delicate flavor) 1 - 2 cloves of garlic chili pepper - a tiny bit 2 Tablespoons of parsley, minced salt to taste 3/4 pound pasta

Using a heavy glove in the left hand take a sea urchin and with the point of a pair of scissors cut a circle large enough to spoon out the meat inside. Make sure that none of the shell or the spines is included.

Set the pasta water to boil, and when boiling cook the pasta.

Peel the garlic, crush it slighsautend sautee it gently on low heat with a hint of the hot pepper until a light gold color.

A few minutes before the pasta (about 7 - 8 minutes) is ready, add the sea urchin to the oil and gasautend sautee gently until the pasta is ready. Taste and add salt if necessary.

Drain the pasta, place in a large, heated serving bowl, add the sea urchin sauce, and mix well. Add a sprinkle of parsley and serve.

Please, if you do know someone who can sort this, I'd love to help. If I'd got all the money in the world, I'd go do an engineering degree and then a zoology degree and then solve the world's problems but hell, people are going to have to do it for me!

From Mt Kenya to Samburu by Lucy

2005-11-08T14:16:00.000Z

Samburu had become our goal while climbing Mt Kenya, thus we spent quite a lot of time building up our trip there – luscious swims in the river (not recommended by the doctors at home), leisurely game drives, fabulous wildlife etc. Happily, the game park was actually all that and more.

The drive there was pretty exciting – we had spent a night at a friend’s house at the bottom of Mt Kenya – we felt very pleased with ourselves sitting on his veranda eating breakfast, with Mt Kenya in the background, reminiscing that ‘this time yesterday we were on the top of that’, and taking photographs of the mountain in all its moods. This idyll was shattered when the rest of the party who hadn’t climbed the mountain (this time) arrived raucously and bundled us and the safari gear (some people have it ready packed in a safari box, much like an old school trunk!) into various automobiles, in order to set off for our Easter break.

The road to Samburu quickly became the track to Samburu, along which it’s necessary to drive at a certain speed, usually at least 50 mph, in order to start skipping over the corrugations and not be jolted quite as much. Even at this speed, I would recommend sports bras for the girls, definitely not bikinis.

Our big difficulty with driving as a convoy was the fact that every vehicle generates its own dust dervish, which surrounds the car and fills it with dust, which quickly melts into your inevitable sweat/suncream mixture, and does a much better job than fake tan. It meant stopping frequently and literally letting the dust settle in order to spot the rest of the convoy. You’d think that it would be fairly obvious that they’d be somewhere on the same road, but the problem is that roads in Kenya usually have 3 or 4 lanes at any one time – sometimes several hundreds yard apart – where some intrepid driver has decided they can map their own route much more effectively, and the rest follow. One of our highlights was a camel who decided to give us a race and galloped along beside us for quite a long time…I think we should have introduced it to Saudi Arabian camel racing, it’d give them a run for their money.

Anyhow, somehow we managed to arrive at the gate of the Northern Samburu game park and get in. The river was all but dried up, which although not great for us, was fantastic for finding wildlife as there was lots around the river. As we arrived at the rest time for the tourist game drives, we had the park pretty much to ourselves which was lovely. There were literally hundreds of Ele’s around, some really very little ones, and we watched their mothers dig holes in the dry river bed to get to the water below, and then show the babies how to get at it.

Seb, a complete safari guru, introduced us to the Grevy Zebra too – much less common than their cousins the Burchill’s Zebra, which are the sort that you normally see. Grevy’s have much narrower stripes (ever so much more slimming) and longer ears if I remember correctly. They are also much rarer and are mainly in the north of Kenya. Seb also introduced us to the famous ‘Ndege’ and ‘Sijui’ birds that he was very quick to name when asked. Guides usually know these well and will answer your eager ‘oh, quick, do you see that small bird with the colours on it, can you tell me what that is?’ with a solemn, ‘Ahhh, I believe that is one of the more rare varieties of Ndege bird.’ ‘Oh great’ you say, ‘I must look it up when I get back’, but you’ll never find them in any bird book.

It was only when we were listing off our sitings to some Swahili speaking Kenyans and saw their smirks as we told them about the ‘Ndege Bird’ and the ‘Sijui Bird’ that we found out that ‘Ndege’ means ‘bird’ in Swahili, and ‘Sijui’ means ‘I don’t know’!

To be fair, Seb is actually extremely knowledgeable about birds, and was able to spot birds from miles away and tell us what they were. I think that for more experienced Safari goers, they are much more challenging, as you pretty quickly learn to spot and identify an elephant.

We continued driving around a bit, and then realised the sun was setting. This happens very quickly in Kenya and so we tried to find a campsite. This took much longer than we’d thought, especially as random French people kept driving through our campsites.

The maddest thing about camping in game parks in Kenya is the fact that, when you are driving around, it is absolutely forbidden to get out of the car. However, when it comes to night time, you can get out and put up your tent, and sleep there! Mark and I, as you probably do, had thought that this would happen in carefully fenced and guarded enclosures. How wrong we were. Seb and Jo just leaned out the window looking at one spot, and said ‘ooh that looks like a good spot’. They did take a few things into consideration, like that it wasn’t on a shallow bank of the river (bad for being trampled by hippos) but otherwise it was just a nice open flatish space, conveniently located before the sun went down.

We unpacked and put up our tents, and were introduced to some of the locals, who came and showed us their pretty plastic jewellery and flowers. They seemed to live somewhere on the other side of the river and were quite interested in their neighbours, although when it was clear we weren’t going to be handing out cash, they didn’t linger.

One of the key things to consider when going on a safari I would recommend is ensuring that you have a keen and half decent cook with you. It makes the whole experience very much pleasanter. It means that having gathered some wood, one is then left alone to drink Gin or Tusker beer until dinner is ready, and only after this has taken place are you are expected to join in washing up. The happy thing about the washing up is that it is dark by then, and by the morning no one can identify the crockery that you have washed.

Some are cooks

Others are admirers

This made for a jolly evening as we sat around under the stars putting the world to rights over quite a number of bottles of Tusker beer (highly recommended). We retired to bed quite cheerfully as by then we were seasoned safari campers, with two nights in the Masai Mara under our belts already and Mark had his ear plugs to keep him happy.

The baboon clans of the locality had other things in store for us than sweet dreams sadly, though. The first thing we heard was a sound like a pack of dogs hot on the scent of some especially slow cats. Baboons bark like dogs, and they started this about midnight. The rival clan unfortunately seemed to be based just on the other side of the original group, and so they commenced barking at each other for the rest of the night. It seemed as though any minute they might think to themselves ‘Right, that’s enough of our bark, how about some bite!’ and charge into a pitched battle on top of our (rather small) tents.

Happily this didn’t happen, but in the morning Mark and I were flabbergasted to find that all we got from the seasoned safariers in reply to our sleepy complaints about the midnight barking was ‘What Baboons?’. Having photographed these creatures assiduously the previous day, our only reply to someone pointing out another specimen henceforth was ‘F*&%£$”$%ing Baboons’.

Diani Rules

2005-11-02T16:34:00.000Z

Weekends away.
Well if you live in Kenya and you don't know about Diani Rules then I'm not entirely sure what you have been doing with your time. If, though, you are new to Kenya or just passing through then put these dates in your diary

3rd to the 5th of June

Surprise Surprise the place is Diani Beach

It's a sports weekend although that doesn't mean that you have to be sporty, there is plenty more Tusker drunk than sweat produced.

Playing Hockey in Kenya

2005-11-02T08:54:00.000Z

Now this may be a post targeted at very few, I know. Bet there may be people out there who are dying to play hockey and who live in Kenya. so this is for them. This may be a bit controversial as pretty much all the hockey I know of takes place at private members' clubs so if you are not a member you will have to blag your way in.
Every Tuesday night there is hockey at the Karen club at 5.30ish. It's very informal, it's played on 2 tennis courts (now happily with the posts removed, it was quite worrying before). Bring a white and a blue shirt so that you can play on both teams as games are only about 7 minutes long and teams keep changing. People generally stay afterwards for a drink in the bar. The best bet if you are not a member at Karen is to try to find someone who is. If you know anyone I've mentioned on this blog try them, if not you could always go to the Chequered Flag in Westlands and ask Seb to become your friend.
There is also hockey on a wednesday night at the Nairobi club. I think this is a bit more structured and they possibly even have matches. I never went there.

Yeah yeah, on up Mount Kenya

2005-10-29T20:45:00.000+01:00

So we did finally go up Mount Kenya. We left fairly early as you do. The walk is actually quite easy going up to the next hut although that is looking back on it with plenty of perspective. Be prepared to be left breathless by everything, pretty literally.
There are buffalo quite a long way up the mountain so you might see them. What you will also definately get to see are Hiluxes, no not cars, that's the Kenyan way of saying Hiraxes, the whole "r" vs "l" problem. On the same on note Giant Robiria are actually Lobelias

Here are some Lobelias

Here is a Hyrax's bum

And here is its front, a pretty picture from Google images.

We pondered on up to the 2nd hut, arriving at about 3 in the afternoon. There were some other people there and some more arrived, both people on the way up and on the way down. The second hut is just under the mountain although you can't actually see Lenana point. This is probably a good thing as what you can see is a very steep hill which you have to climb.

Having arrived quite early at the hut we were again pleased that we were cooking our own food, except not quite so pleased that we forgot to bring any oil. You see my sister had climbed Kilimanjaro when she was at school (which we didn't get to forget all the way up Mt Kenya) and apparently the secret ingrediant to climbing mountains is popcorn. So we'd carried popcorn all the way so far but without any way of cooking it. We settled down outside in the sun to try to cook it (too cold inside) and promptly burnt it onto the pan. Luckily someone nice found us before we completely distroyed the pan so we had popcorn. It was at this point, yeah I know pretty dumb, that we realised that we didn't have any waterproofs. Well Mark did, but he's a planner so what do you expect. So luckily we had been organised enough to bring bin bags to waterproof our stuff! Having pondered this problem and then having nothing else to do we had supper, a short chat, a wonder about and went to bed.

Making popcorn

If it had rained, I'm pretty sure we'd never have made it. But our luck was in and it was the most fabulous night. It was a full moon, clear sky, it was so light that we didn't need torches (which was lucky since that's something else I'd forgotten). We could see for miles. It really was absolutely freezing, I've spent the winter in Russia but this was the coldest place I'd ever been. I had every piece of clothing on, I was climbing a seriously steep scree face and I was cold! We got to the top first and got to hold the cross thingy that's there. It just is amazing up there.

At the top

It has to be said that the way down is great to start with but gets tiring. It takes a whole lot longer than you expect and we had a car at the hut to drive the last bit done. Ah but the shower... wow! I couldn't really move much for a while after this trip but wow was it worth it.

Wow, and that was a tan that washed off completely.

Mt Kenya. Returned

2005-10-23T10:32:00.000+01:00

I think it is time to continue with my Mt Kenya story. But I am going to take a detour and talk about the last time I was there. You see this wasn't my first attempt at Mt Kenya, I'd tried about a year and a half before when I was in Kenya on holiday. Beware, this story contains bitter and unresolved feelings towards a certain Old Bat.

I'd come on holiday to Kenya for 3 weeks and I wanted to do everything including climbing the mountain. This meant we had little time. So we set off in the Range Rover, we were heading for our friend's house who works on a farm at the bottom of the mountain. We were in plenty of time to be there by dark and things were going swimmingly. I was feeling pretty pleased with everything, I'd spent the day before mending the fuel tank of the Range Rover with fiber glass and so I was feeling pretty clever that it was working. (never try to weld a fuel tank-fiber glass is so much better). Well we were nearly there when, quelle surprise, the bitch just stopped. We got under the bonnet, played with what I know know to be the fuel filter and we were off again... till the next hill. Surfice to say that this continued for the next 2 days. We'd go along happily for a little bit, come to a hill and nearly get to the top, I'd jump out and try to push it to the top so we could continue but generally we just stopped.

We had a lovely time in Nanuki eventually buying a hose pipe and fitting that between the fuel tank and the engine and then the damn thing went without problem. 2 days late. We had 1 day left before we had to be back in Nairobi so we decided to have a wee stroll up the mountain. We thought we'd drive to the first hut, have a bit of a climb the next day then go back to Nairobi for tea and medals (or baths). We were at the gate at about 5 in the evening and raring to go. The gate man decided that the Range Rover could get up to the hut despite the fact that the road was so bad. So we set off. We saw an elephant on our way up which was my first ever. We saw where eles had dug away at the banks on either side of the road to eat the salt in the earth. In general it was a fabulous evening, the views were stunning and it was so exciting.

We were going well but slowly the going was getting more difficult. Then we got stuck. This was were I first learned about digging a car out of mud. I've done it so many times in the snow, but that is simple, remove the snow from under and around the car and off you go. Mud doesn't shift like snow and it is far more of a menace. We didn't get the car out that night, it was bloody cold and dark. We cooked our curry in the back of the car, threw everything into the front, put the seats down and slept there.

In the morning it was all a bit simpler. With the aid of the light we were able to find the right branches, stones etc and get out. We left the car slightly further down the hill on a more solid bit and went for our walk taking our sandwiches. It really is a nice stroll, the first bit of the mountain, it's not too steep, the path is good, the air clear, fresh and cool. There are exotic birds and plants, and going up to the first hut you go through jungle type stuff and then on to more rocky terrain so there is plenty to look at
.

We dandered slowly up past the hut on to the weather station where we thought we'd have our picnic then ponder down again. The weather hut had a nice bit where we could sit and admire the view and so we took it easy for a while.

Now, we'd come for a nice day stroll, bringing only what we needed so we were a little unprepared for the hail storm that greeted us as we started down. We'd gone down a little way, the weather station was above us and the hut beneath and after trying unsucessfully to shelter under a knee-high bush, we legged it down. We'd of course come in shorts and tee shirts with no other clothes. It was a fairly long sprint down but we made it to the hut, drenched, shivering and laughing. There were some angels in the hut who were very surprised to see us but who handed out chocolate.

The problem was that the weather seemed to be settling in and we were in a good state to get hyperthermia really very quickly. So we set off again. I don't know but I seem to have sprinted down nearly as many mountains as I have climbed. It was again a long, slippery chilly sprint, I don't think my trainers were ever the same again. We did make it to the car though and the Old Bat took us down the mountain and back to Nairobi without mishap. I do have one word of praise for the Old Bissom, the gear box has no covering and so you've got your own little aga, not great on a hot day but occasionally perfect.

Shambani Cottages & Safari - Kenya Africa safaris cottage

2005-10-18T15:54:00.000+01:00

Hey now this is a useful site. It seems to have cottages on Diani beach. Perhaps this will spark me into finding other sites and cottages where you can stay. If you are going to diani it is probably best to stay in cottages as the hotels are either quite package tour or quite backpacker. They are also slightly prone to beach boys and prostitutes. The beach is fabulous though and as I've siad before Ali Barbars is just stunning. (the Forty Thieves is also a fun bar)

Climbing Mt Kenya (what not to forget)

2005-10-18T08:52:00.000+01:00

Now, if you've bothered to read the first installment of "Climbing Mt Kenya" you'll already have some handy hints about what to bring. I think so far we've got
1 really really really warm sleeping bag
1 skiing jacket
1 hat
1 pair boots (people do say that you can do this in trainers but I wouldn't chance my ancles on the skee faces thank you very much)
1 camera (I know I didn't mention it but you've seen the photos)

Now we move into the territory of what one should have brought, but didn't as am very disorganised.
1 pair gloves (hmm, should have thought of that)
1 pair waterproofs (again fairly obvious)
Big water bottles that don't leak (don't use kids' ones from Nakumat)

Well there we go. Just some ideas, guide books can go on and on about it so why are you reading this.

Climbing Mt Kenya ultra vast (not for the altitude sick)

2005-10-11T20:32:00.000+01:00

Some time around Paddy's day my sister and her boyfriend came out to Kenya and so we all decided to go up Mt Kenya. We got back from the Masai Mara on the sunday evening and set off again for the mountain on the monday. Not obviously ideal planning but we were meeting up with friends that Thursday to go to Samburu and then to Laikipia so it was all a bit of a rush.

I realised on the sunday night that I had no warm clothes with me in Kenya, except my skiing jacket and my walking boots, so I had to start fishing around for things. I dug out my friend's tracksuit bottoms (he's over 6 ft and I'm very short) and a load of jerseys and borrowed a hat. Having done some lightning shopping for quiches, ready-made curries and stews etc (try Gail's kitchen on the Ngong road) we set off on Monday at about lunchtime. Unfortunately we had to take my friend's 30 year old Range Rover which is a goer, but only when it goes!
We realised at this point that we were really very late and so it was a hair raising drive up the dual-carriageway. I'd only ever been driven up there but this time I had to do it myself. We decided the best way was to drive by commitee, if everyone agreed that we'd be in the left lane then that would be where we went. Only the discussions happened at a much more frenetic pace than in most democracies. We swooped in to the Mountain Rock Lodge and collared a guide, the trusty Joseph, then set off for the mountain. We realised at this point that we were going to have to drice up to the first hut as it was too late in the day to walk. It hadn't been in the program before but, well we had very little choice. So we thought that we'd better sort out at this point the awful clonking noise that was going on with the car.
I am not a mechanic, I knew nothing about cars until I met this one and we've been firm enemies ever since. At this point it was just a case of putting the shock absorber back on properly but here is a picture of us putting the drive shaft back on on our way back from Amboseli

Now the car did actually get us up to the hut, which was no mean feat. It did conk out on a particularly steep slope but once I'd fiddled with the distributer cap it seemed to work again. So for once... 3 cheers for that damn car! So in the end we made it to the first hut.

Now to interupt the story slightly to give you more factual info.

We went up by the Sirimon Route. To get there, go up the road to Nanyuki, go straight through it and carry on towards Isiolo. Take a Right turn about 17k up a dirt track past a whole load of little houses, vegetable patches and chickens. Go for ages over rough ground, until you find the gate. You can buy all the tickets you need there. You'll need park fees for as long as you are there (don't get extra ones just in case, you can always buy more when you get back down, you can't get a refund) .You'll also need to pay for staying in the huts and for your guides/porters too if you have any. There are huts at the gate where you can stay. It's a good long way up to Old Moses camp. If you are going to walk up from the gate, make sure you are at the gate good and early.

We arrived at Old Moses at about 6.30. Just in time really as it gets dark at about that time. There is a magnificent view from there. The huts are basic. I'm afraid that if you can't do rodents then this is not the place for you. There is a good deal of scuffling as you sleep. The altitude tends to keep you awake and it is essential to have a seriously warm sleeping bag. A seriously warm one. If you couldn't sleep in a freezer in it then I don't fancy your chances up the mountain. If you have porters then they will cook for you. We didn't so here's us cooking. We actually found that cooking for ourselves was best as there is nothing at all else to do up there. We met a few other mad people tackling the mountain too. There was an old chap from near where we lived even. You have to chat to the other people there as it's the only entertainment. There is a fireplace but no wood so it's definately not cosy.

Well that's the end of the first installment. More another day

More: Mt Kenya Returned

What Not To Forget

On Up Mt Kenya

From Mt Kenya to Samburu

How not to drive off-road

2005-10-03T22:51:00.000+01:00

Now, this is an area where I am an expert. I've never owned a car, though I can and do drive (when someone is daft enough to lend me one). So although I can give you great tips on how not to drive off-road, unfortunately I'd be rather poor at handing out more useful advice.

Now my first rule would be to test out obstacles before attempting them

Then, if it gets too deep/fast/cold/ squidgey... Send a boy to do it

Actually, that seems to have been my only tip, ah well, perhaps I'll find another one, but I did think it was good. I do have some more photos which show pretty clearly how not to drive off-road so maybe I'll put them up some day

Loisaba, Heaven in the north of Kenya

2005-10-02T22:52:00.000+01:00

Life is hard now, isn't it.

Now then, I know that I start every post by saying how amazing places are. Well, I mean it. But here is a post about the bestest place of all. I’m afraid that it doesn’t come cheap, but for a holiday of a lifetime (or if happily you are stinking rich) then Loisaba is the most fantastic place I have ever been. Unhappily, I am not stinking rich, friends of mine manage this lodge and I went to stay with them a couple of times.
Loisaba is up in the North of Kenya, in Laikipia, on the Ewaso Nyiro on the Colcheccio Plain. Laikipia is a vast area of Kenya where there is, pretty much, nothing. Or perhaps I should say that there is everything, because everything that you imagine as being “African” happens in incredible, uninterrupted horizons.
Loisaba boasts some of the more exciting wildlife. So if Rhinos and lions aren’t exciting enough then Loisaba has what you are looking for. They have some really very rare animals. Wild Dogs (no, not strays, a proper rare wild animal), are seen in Loisaba (much to the chagrin of the wild dog research facility on the next ranch where there are none). Greater Kudu, a really rare species which are normally extremely shy, graze the lawn of the lodge. Gerenuks are also common and dick dicks fight with the Kudu for grazing space around the lodge. Elephants have been a bit of a pain recently, digging up the prettiest plants in the borders. On an early morning stroll about the lodge, with a careful eye, you can tell the leopard tracks from the cheetah tracks.
The lodge has several different aspects to it. There is the lodge itself, with rooms for about 12 people, I think. Then there are various houses nearby where a party can stay, fully catered by the lodge. Then there are the star beds! The star beds are simply amazing. But I’ll have to explain fully. Loisaba, like many lodges and ranches in Kenya is run for the benefit of tourists, but more importantly, also for the benefit of the local tribes, and, of course, the animals. The local tribe we are talking about at Loisaba is the Samburu tribe. The Samburu are close cousins of the Masai (if you don’t know what a Masai looks like then think of the BBC’s interludes where there are tribesmen jumping up and down, that’s them).Alternatively, thanks to Google images, I can show you a picture

They are cattle people, they live for and from their cattle. Cattle are wealth. Unfortunately their life styles and the lifestyles of other Kenyans is causing conflict as cattle need space and the Masai and Samburu are migratory tribes, they recognise no claims to land. The population of Kenya has boomed in the recent years and space and good land is now under demand. I’m sure you can imagine what happens. So anyway, schemes have been set up to try to bring some of the wealth from the tourists straight to the local tribesman, this means that wild animals will become important (as they bring tourists) the tribesmen will be able to continue their lifestyle without coming into conflict with other people, the land can be better looked after and everybody sees the benefits. Loisaba is one of these schemes. The star beds are part of this. The star beds are outposts of the lodge, where tree-houses have been made with a bed in each. Each tree-house has part of it covered by a thatch roof and part of it is a balcony. Now here is the clever bit. Each bed is on wheels so in the day time you can be in the cool shade of the hut but in the evening your bed is wheeled out under the stars (and your mosquito net) onto the balcony. So what about the Samburu… well hang on a tick, I’m getting there.

My friends, although they manage the whole of Loisaba, have very little to do with the Star beds. They are run by the Samburu. The food comes from the lodge but is cooked on the fire by the Samburu, they are the hosts and the guides. The local village gets, I think, 50% of each booking made. It is a very happy arrangement.
All of this is made so great by the fact that it is run by my friends. Well, of course I like them, but the fact is that they are the greatest hosts you could possibly ask for. Loisaba has everything, you can go for helicopter rides, balloon rides, quadbiking, camel safaris, walking safaris, horse-riding, they have picnic breakfasts behind waterfalls, sundowners…everything!

Here's how you get to the star beds, and look... beds on wheels. See I told you it rocks!

The view you wake up to in the star beds

Amboseli- The National Park under the shadow of Kilimanjaro

2005-09-29T18:21:00.000+01:00

Amboseli is a wonderful place. It is quite a small game park very very close to the Tanzanian border, this is the game park for you if you aren't a fan of spending hours driving round and round a game park but just kicking back and seeing things at a leisurely pace.

The road from Nairobi to the Tanzanian border is amazing. It's empty and well maintained (well... don't expect the M4, this is still Kenya). Unfortuately, when I was there in March, the road from the border to Amboseli was appalling. Deep Corrugations all the way, so bad that it was only vaguely comfortable at 80Kph! But the surface is very slippery so that wasn't really an option. Allow a lot of extra time unless you are very good at driving on that type of surface (and possibly in someone else's car)

Amboseli has, as far as I can remember, no lions and no rhinos. But it does have loads of other animals, especially elephants. If elephants are your thing, then it's a toss-up between Amboseli and Samburu (although other people have said that they've spent weeks in Samburu without seeing one, there were hundreds when I was there in the dry seasons, just playing in the river all day)

There is a campsite there with bandas too. I think it's a take everything with you type of place, but they did manage to give us firewood. The campsite is run by the Masai (apologies if I actually mean Samburu). They are friendly but sometimes overly so. They are a little difficult to avoid and keen to stare. Be prepared to pay slightly more than advertised or be very fierce. They decided we were an easy touch and told us of monkeys who would come and knock our tents down if we didn't pay the boy something. There were no baboons as far as I could see, so I thought the monkeys were probably of the rather bigger kind.

There are also some more upmarket lodges which you'll find in any guide book. Not really my thing but much easier really.

Here are a few pictures to wet your appetite, see if you can spot the hyena, we thought it was sick but then it ran off very happily at the end of the day, having sat there all day.
I took my parents to Amboseli and they loved it. My mum hadn't camped in a tent since pony club camp when she was 14! but camping in Kenya is just a tad easier than in Scotland! Here's our camp. I scored a lot of brownie points when my father woke in the middle of the night to see Kilimanjaro lit up by a full moon.

Lets Go Travel-the local travel agent for Kenya

2005-09-27T17:15:00.000+01:00

Calling all those in Kenya for some time who want to go somewhere out of the ordinary... or just who need a flight back to Europe.

Now, this isn't advertising. I really owe nothing to Lets Go Travel, I have no connection with them whatsoever. I have just used them a lot.

Lets go are pretty much the only travel agent to go to if you are already in Kenya and you want to go somewhere or book something. Their rates are pretty standard and you can get everything you want done through them.

The beauty of Lets Go Travel is that they can book all the little magical places around Kenya. There are loads of little self-catering and catered huts all over Kenya, some of them have to be booked through KWS (go to the main office in Nairobi National Park), but Lets Go will tell you about them if you push them into it. They can also tell you of many more places. So if you want a weekend away, having a party, or just fancy something different then this is the way forward.
Lets Go can get flights for you, they can book the train to Mombassa (saving going in to the station in the middle of Nairobi). They really are worth a visit whatever you want to do.
Lets Go is managed by Alan Dixon, though it is a pretty big organisation and there are offices in these locations- ABC centre Tel: (254) 20 4447151/ 4441030, Westlands; Karen (above Karen Provision Store) Tel: (254) 20 882505/882168. They also seem to have an office in Kampala, but I have never been there, so what would I know!

A quick aside though, some of the staff seem to be competent than others. Some of them are brilliant, but if you are in any doubt, ask to speak to the person with whom the booking has been done just to confirm that it has been made properly. Phone lines are bad in Kenya and not everyone's English is amazing, confusion does sometimes happen. Ask to speak to the person at the hotel or in the booking office just to check. I did once arrive at the coast with a booking to a hotel that had never heard of us, and which was full. In the typical Kenyan way, this was sorted out quickly and calmly and we had a great stay... But just check.

Escorted tours around the wilds of Kenya, Amboseli, Masai Mara and Tsavo among many other destinations

2005-09-13T13:24:00.000+01:00

http://www.visions-of-africa.co.uk/destination.asp?DestinationID=12
This seems to be a very swish and exciting tour operator. They do baloon flights among other stuff

Steps Travel, Travel beyond the ordinary, Gorilla treks in Uganda

2005-09-09T12:33:00.000+01:00

Wow, this lot do gorilla treks! How cool is that?! Start saving now.
This is a company that has trips to Uganda, Kenya Ethiopia and Botswana, and I'd imagine, everywhere else too. They seem to do all sorts of exciting stuff. So see if you can't be tempted.
http://www.steppestravel.co.uk/page736f.aspx
ps, Gorilla trekking, like hot air balloon rides, just is expensive, don't try to get this on the cheap, save up instead.

Comprehensive guide to Car Hire in Kenya

2005-09-04T18:58:00.000+01:00

I thought I'd try for something quite useful. I don't know if I can make it work. I'd like to be able to give you a comprehensive list of car hire companies and there up to date prices. If this works, I'll move on to other fields. The idea is that you can look here to learn which car hire companies operate in Kenya, what they offer, and at what price. These are all for 1 day. They may get cheaper over longer periods.
Here is one company

Africa Point. http://www.africapoint.com/cars/kenya.htm
Toyota Hiace Mini Bus Vehicle US$ 90
Toyota Corolla Standard Saloon Car US$ 54
Toyota Land Cruiser Standard 4WD Car US$ 155
Toyota RAV4 Small 4WD Car US$ 93
Suzuki Vitara Small 4WD Car US$ 85
Mitsubishi Lancer Standard Saloon Car US$ 54
Mitsubishi Pajero Standard 4WD Car US$ 147
Mercedes Benz C 200Luxury Saloon Car On Request
25 Seater Rosa Bus Medium Sized Bus On Request
Which seems pretty expensive to me...Welll lets try another

Argus Car Hire http://www.argusrentals.com/reserve/quote.asp?Ref=@0904191021142360805

IDMR - Toyota Corolla(or similar) Â£168.53
SDMR - Mitsubishi Lancer(or similar) Â£168.53
IFMR - Toyota RAV 4 4x4(or similar) Â£280.14
SVMN - Minibus 9 seater Chauffeur Drive Only(or similar) Â£335.57
FFMR - Mitsubishi Pajero 4x4(or similar) Â£440.44

Wow now we are talking rich Americans only!

How about another, I think this is cheaper
East Africa Shuttles http://www.eastafricashuttles.com/cars/index.htm

Nissan Sunny B12 60 USD per day unlimileagelleage
Toyota A E90 60 USD per day unlimileagelleage
Toyota A E100 60 USD per day unlimileagelleage
Nissan Sunny B14 4WD 60 USD per day unlimileagelleage
Suzuki Vitara 4WD 75 USD per day unlimileagelleage
Toyota Hiace Mini bus (9 Seater) On request
Mitsubishi Pajero 200 USD
Range Rover 240 USD
Land Rover (9 Seater) 200USD- unlimileagelleage
Toyota Landcruiser 20unlimitedlmileagelleage
KIA Sportage 80 USD
Minibus (25 or 29 Seater) 200 USD

South Travels http://www.southtravels.com/africa/kenya/carrental.html
Not very useful this one, they have a list of all the pretty cars they have (which is extensive), but no rates " available on request" only. HA!

I'lll i'll finish this another day

Right back on the case

First Car Hire
http://www.firstcarhire.com/reservar1.php
They are rediculously expensive for 1 day but a week works out at 63 euro a day
Mitsubishi Lancer 1.3 No A/C. 63 Euro.
They have other bigger cars too which get more expensive

Car Hire Centre
http://www.car-hire-centre.co.uk/book-cars.php
Again, rates over a week work out at 91 Euro a day
Mitsubishi Lancer 1.3 91 Euro

Hertz Budget and Avis
http://www.kasbah.com/car_rental/kenya.htm
This site does not appear to offer bigger cars
Hertz
Economy 23.25 Euro daily

Budget
Economy 31 Euro Daily

Avis
Economy 46 Euro Daily

CarHire.co.uk
http://quote.carhire.co.uk/

Economy 2dr a/c 57 Euro
Compact 2dr a/c 70 Euro
Compact 4dr a/c 75 Euro
Intermediate four wheel drive 4dr a/c 97 Euro
Standard four wheel drive 2dr a/c 105 Euro
Full size four wheel drive 4dr a/c 135 Euro

www.carhirekenya.com
This seems to be a good site.
They claim to be the best anyway (I know the ad speaks very well of it)
They don't give rates, you can email them on cars@carhirekenya.com. They have lots of saloon and 4X4s so plenty to choose from

Daphne Sheldrick's elephant orphanage in Nairobi- the latest addition to the family

2005-09-01T09:58:00.000+01:00

Now I'd like to tell you about something that is really special. Daphne Sheldrick's Elephant orphanage. Forget about these awful places called orphanages around the world where baby animals are captured and then kept in captivity all their lives. This is not the same. Baby eles are found deserted by their parents for one reason or another: poaching; washed down a river; stuck in the mud; etc. Then a team of experts fly the elephant to Nairobi national park where it is nursed back to health and with a lot of help from there keepers they are then released into the wild again at the age of 2. Baby eles are extremely similar to baby humans and this should be borne in mind while reading their stories. They grieve like us, they get sunburns like us, they need play like us, at the age of 2 an ele is still very much a toddler. They need the same love and attention that a baby does, they even get fed SMA milk!
Here is the story of the latest member of the family.

Narripi
There is a place, near the Tanzanian border, where the Maasai tribesmen have dug a shallow well to water their herds. It is known as "Narripi" which in the Maa dialect means "Male Guide" In the early morning of 29th August 2005,when a Maasai Warrior who is, indeed, a male guide, happened to be passing, and spotted a tiny elephant calf trapped deep inside the hole. The ground around the hole was well and truly churned up, indicative of the herds' desperate attempts to haul the baby out, but in the end, fearful of humans, they had to leave, abandoning all hope of being able to save this very precious new member of the family, who was just 3 weeks old. It was evident too that the hyenas had also found the trapped baby, and bit off the end of his trunk, as it waved helplessly in the air searching for help and his mother. The Warrior then walked to the Amboseli Park Headquarters, where he reported the fact to both the Amboseli research unit and also to the Kenya Wildlife Trust Amboseli Park authorities. The calf was extracted from the hole and The calf was extracted from the hole and left in the area in the hope that his family would return. By nightfall he was taken back to the safety of the National Park headquarters, but it was too dark for the rescue aircraft to leave Nairobi's Wilson Airport, so the Warden, who had phoned us, was advised how to proceed for the night and to let us know first thing in the morning if the calf was still alive. He said that the baby was very weak and exhausted so we told him to put a blanket over it to keep it warm, to have someone in physical contact with it throughout the night and to feed it water, but no milk, and as much water or rehydration fluid that it would take. On his own initiative, he also had a small charcoal brazier burning nearby to heat the room, which was very thoughtful, for the cold season is still upon us and he snows of Mt. Kilimanjaro are not far off. Sure enough, at first light the phone call came telling us that the calf had survived the night, that it had taken water and was a good deal stronger. He asked that it be named "Narripi" so that it would grow up to indeed become, a "Male Guide" amongst its peers. The rescue plane set off immediately, and by 9.30 a.m. on the 30th August, little "Narripi" arrived at the elephant Nursery, having been fed a bottle of weak milk mixture by our Keepers before leaving Amboseli. Upon arrival, he was given all the homeopathic pills for his injuries and his trauma, and soon afterwards, the Vet arrived to administer the injectible antibiotic which hopefully will stave off both pneumonia and septicaemia. Although in good body shape, this poor little baby's trunk is in a mess, the entire tip missing with deep bites further up as well so the pain of this wound will be intense and inhibit feeding, since a newborn elephant's trunk has to feel comfortable against the body of the mother before it will suckle - in our case, a hung blanket, or the Keepers cheek or elbow. It will be at risk from the dreaded pneumonia and, of course, having eaten copious quantities of mud and dirty water, we can expect a battle with his tummy as well. However, he is too young to feel fear, or to grieve deeply for his lost elephant family, since the hind side of his ears is still as soft as a petal, and the delicate pink of a newborn. His eyes have needed attention as well, being caked in mud, and possibly later dead tissue will have to be cut away under local anesthesia. All this presents us with the usual tough emotional challenge, but we will do our utmost to save the life of this little bull "guide" named "Narripi", who owes his life to the compassion of a Maasai Warrior, who, instead of walking away, walked 10 miles on foot to alert the Amboseli authorities of his presence.
To view the photographs from Narripi\'s rescue please click on this link:http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/asp/orphan_profile.asp?N=141

Well I've put these photos in too just in case you are too lazy.

To foster Narripi please click on this link:http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/asp/fosteringnew.asp?G=&N=141&LP=8302005458-pic7a.jpg&FN=NARRIPI
Most Sincerely,Dr. Daphne Sheldrick M.B.E. http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org

Here is a picture of Lalitu, rescued by some friends of mine, sadly didn't make it due to the amount of water swallowed when washed down a river. Not all the elephants can be saved, but even these end their lives surrounded by the love of the keepers and the other babies, instead of in traumatic circumstances
It really is the most special place. It relies totally on donations to support the work it does. You can sponsor a baby elephant and have regular updates sent to you. The orphanage is open from 11-12 every day, so if you are in Nairobi -GO THERE. It is free to go, so donate generously if you do. This orphanage not only supports the elephants, there is always a group of school children there learning about the animals which are their heritage, this is such a necessary step for Kenya to take and will ensure that conservation efforts in Kenya will eventually succeed.

Safari Escapes. Flying safaris, trips to Zanzibar and Tanzania as well as al over Kenya

2005-08-24T11:35:00.000+01:00

Safari Escapes - Welcome
The great sites are just rolling in now, again lots of ideas for holidays and pretty pictures. This site covers Tanzania nd Zanzibar too

Weather in Kenya, this link tells you what to expect and when

2005-08-24T08:44:00.000+01:00

This leads to the BBC's page on Kenyan Weather. I thought I'd find you something that you can trust. In general. If you like it really hot, go to the coast at Christmas. If you don't like the heat very much, stay in the highlands (with the added bonus that there is no malaria in the highest parts of Kenya). If you want to roast yourself alive, I'd recommend the area around Magadi. Very beautiful, very out of the way. VERY HOT.

If you want to know the exact weather in any one place this is the site for you http://www.wunderground.com/global/KN.html

It gives wonderfully detailed weather in loads of different places. By the way although it may be great weather in Dagoretti, you never want to go there. It does desevere the name Dagasmelly. You have to go through it on your way up the rift and it's much better done rapidly.

The BBC does a five day forecast which is all very nice. Though I wouldn't put too much trust in it to be honest. As I am writing it is the rainy season, I've heard that the rains haven't failed and the readings for the moment at the airport show that it has been raining and that it is cloudy. So the BBCs prediction of bright sunshine might need to be taken with a pinch of salt.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/5day.shtml?world=0129

Slightly more accurate perhaps might be the Yahoo weather site
http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/KEXX0009.html

This seems to tally better with what the weather is actually like.

Strange that the BBC could get it so wrong, really the weather in Kenya is pretty easy to predict.

An eventful stroll up Mt Longonot- the full guide- how not to climb it

2005-08-23T19:07:00.000+01:00

Now for some hefty writing to tell you about Kenya. This is all about a trip we did, just for a day, up mount Longonot. Mt L is a volcano on the floor of the rift valley, about an hour's drive from Nairobi. It's very close to Lake Naivasha and to Hell's Gate. Lake Naivasha is where all the flower farms are that grow flowers for Europe. This is slightly controversial as there are people who say that they have been polluting Lake Naivasha and draining off the water. There are also people who say that this is not true. I would say that it probably was true but they have been trying hard to sort it out for a while now.
Hell's Gate is an amazing place, crammed with landscape (most of Kenya is vast open plains, the rest is all at Hell's Gate, jammed into a tiny National park) In Hell's Gate you can walk which is pretty unusual for a National Park, this means that you can go climbing in the ravine, and take cooling baths in the water surging down.
. This also means that you can be chased by angry looking Buffalo (not recommended).
Anyway, back to the day in question.
Well to the night before...
There is a nightclub in Nairobi which opens once a month, with of course the resultant carnage! It's on the first Friday of every month in Langata. There is a fire burning at the end of the drive on the main Langata-town road on the night when it's on. It starts at about 11. It ends at about 7 and the funniest site is the convoy of cars crawling out at about that time. Don't ever drink and drive but in low ratio, when you can't go any faster than a slow walking pace, it all seems quite funny.
So there we were the next day, feeling brilliant and we decided to go up Mt Longonot, the volcano that I mentioned quite some time back. We set off in bright sunshine (We is Seb, me, Lexi and her sister Sam). Shorts and tee-shirts for a hot climb up a hot hill in a hot country in the hot season.

But as you can see, we made it! This is us at the top, we had had our picnic, passed the mandatory American missionaries with their mandatory 4 children (all regimental blond and skinny) but as you can see, the sky was not the usual blue!

Cue rolling of drums and flashing of lighting! This is where it all got more exciting.

In the distance the rain clouds had been forming and on the last climb to the top we began to see flashes of lightning... Ah well they were miles away. Slowly rounding the corner, pausing to take artistic pictures of pretty flowers...Which I'm having difficulty uploading, ah well they can wait, we began to feel some rain. Oh well, not a problem, it was only light rain.

So then we found our next excitement, buffalo poo and hoof prints. Slight problem, only 1 set of prints so it was probably a loan male buffalo, which are far more scary than lions, rhinos cheetah, leopard etc. Oh well, we made lots of noise and hoped it would go the other way. Although we did seem to be following closely behind it (plenty fresh poo to stand in)...!

So our next excitement was that the rain stopped. Sounds great until you remember the lightning. I distinctly remember that in Physics we were told that it doesn't rain under the lightning. Ho Hum. So we were on the lip of a volcano, on the, suddenly, very flat floor of the rift valley and the lightning was above us, Great!

Cue running very fast (only slowed by the thought of the Buffalo in front of us somewhere) Gulp! Continue running. Seb feels his hair standing up on end. Gulp Gulp, throw ourselves off the lip of the volcano and crouch, trying to be smaller than the extremely sparse vegetation, giggling hysterically (except of course for Seb who was being very manly). At this point I'm afraid, no photos for some reason.

The rain then decided to come down, suddenly, at first to our relief, wahoo not going to be struck down by lightning! Then we realised quite how soggy everything was getting, and once again we were on top of a volcano and had to get to the bottom of it. We legged it down the mountain, all thoughts of the buffalo at least put aside, if not forgotten, for now.

Sprinting down the mountain was pretty exciting in itself, we kept overtaking little rivers starting up, and of course the worn away path makes a pretty good river bed. It's a little scary when you're not the fastest runner in the world to know that if you don't go fast enough it is all going to much worse!

So we did get there, otherwise I wouldn't be writing this, now would I?

We arrived at the Park Gate (Kenyan Park gates aim to be as big as their parks, they don't quite manage it but they're still vast structures) and the KWS (Kenya Wildlife Service) chappy was brilliantly confused as we stood dripping. But the excitement was not over yet.

We were still a good mile from the road and the river that had sprung from nowhere was getting pretty huge and was straight across the track. Hurray for 4x4 cars (yes they actually do have a use in some countries other than doing the school run) We drifted, floated and powered our way through the torrents, past the pickup which wasn't going to be much use again as the river was surging though it, and eventually out onto the road. Where it didn't get much easier.

Here we found a horde of matatus (Kenyon minibus taxi/bus/deathtraps) sitting at the end of the track, we maneuvered around them with some difficultly then realised why they were there. The river we had just navigated was nothing compared to the one on the road. There were people standing up to their thighs in water everywhere, pushing matatus around aimlessly, and huge dilapidated lorries barging through regardless. At this point I should say how much we didn't want to get out and push our car, though I have done it many many times, this was not the moment. We had got a warm fug going on in the car and were all down to undies and newspaper for modesty, except Lexi who had a Kikoy with her (a Kenyan sarong). The newspaper wouldn't have held long.

Having waited our turn we eventually churned our way through gesticulating wildly to the lorry drivers to wait, and trying to avoid the people on the road who were trying to get a closer look (Lexi and Sam are very pretty).

The trip back to Nairobi was calm compared to this although it's never calm driving on Kenyan Dual Carriageways where the only right side of the road is the one you are on. This was only punctuated by a quick trip to the shop where Lexi volunteered, as the best dressed, to nip in and get milk. She ran bang slap into the boy she liked who had been coming out of the shop, no surprises,when he saw her scantily clad dashing in, he promptly turned back in to the shop!

So that was the end of that story.

2005-08-23T18:56:00.000+01:00

As you can see, I've been clever enough to put Adsense ads on my blog, I'm pretty chuffed with that! As time wears on and I become better at this sort of thing I'm determined to do all sorts of things with feeds to get this blog to really sparkle. But for now I reckon that's plenty good enough.

Escape2Kenya. Holidays off the beaten trail. Book now for Christmas and prepare to be thrilled

2005-08-22T14:05:00.000+01:00

http://www.escape2kenya.co.uk/
This is an address I found while I was looking at other things. It seems to do exciting holidays to Kenya so it's probably worth a look. It has plently of pretty pictures anyway.

Tiwi beach. The coast south of Mombasa and all it's delights

2005-08-19T08:51:00.000+01:00

So Isn't this just where you want to be. This is the view from one of the amazing self catering places on Tiwi beach. There are many places along the coast of Kenya that are simply amazing, the sea is warm (practically hot some of the time) there is a coral reef just off-shore for snorkling (which also keeps the beaches as safe as anything). You can go diving with qualified schools, or learn how to kite surf. You can do anything and the food is fabulous everywhere you go. The is a big Italian influence so the icecream is great and the fishermen bring fresh seafood to all the houses so you can have it fresh every day. There is also an amazing restaurant called Ali Barbars which is in a cave with a roof which is open to the stars. It is the perefct place to relax and be sinfully lazy.

2005-08-15T14:46:00.000+01:00

Exclusively African Adventures

2005-08-03T18:57:00.000+01:00

The Chequred Flag Ltd :: Value for money car hire in Kenya from reputable company

A plug for my friend's company. The Chequered Flag, Westlands (and Karen), Nairobi

2005-08-03T18:52:00.000+01:00

On a totally unbiased note I'd just like to tell you about hire cars in Kenya. Now if you want to follow the herd and end up in a stampede of minibuses in the game parks then go with the cheapo tour firms. If you want the real Mcoy then hire a car and go where the wind takes you. It's so easy and a brilliant firm (which I am not completely unconnected to) is called The Chequered Flag. They are in Nairobi and you won't find any difficulties dealing with them. They are very reputable. Of course there are other car firms too.
But isn't this smart, and I found out yesterday that the UN recommendsChequered Flag to their employees so it comes highly recommended.

2005-08-03T18:46:00.000+01:00

Topees in the Masai Mara. This was in March, an exciting time to go the the Mara, the rains are upon you and the place is stunning

2005-08-03T18:24:00.000+01:00

2005-08-02T18:48:00.000+01:00

Hi there, I thought that I'd like to let the world know about the cool things there are about Africa and Kenya in particular. Everyone hears so many of Kenya's negative aspects but these are far outweighed by the positive ones. I am not a tour operator, nor travel agent. I have merely spent time living in Kenya and loved it and I want to share it with you.