my Kilimanjaro/Safari vaca.

“I traveled to Tanzania and Kenya from 10/7-10/25. It was a fantastic trip. It was hot and dry but no mosquitoes. And the people were very nice and usually very friendly. Most spoke some English. I made it 3 weeks with just a couple Kiswahili words, jambo (hello) and asante (thank you). I picked up a couple other words as well but not necessary.

I started right away with the Kili climb. I did the Machame 6 day route with 3 other guys, 2 from Holland and 1 from Tokyo. All 3 were really good guys. It was a really nice hike but you were definitely feeling the elevation as you got over 14,000. The weather was excellent almost the whole time. Our team was the first to summit that day.

Then I went on a 3-day safari to the Ngorongoro Crater, Tarangire National Park, and Lake Manyara NP. It was really an experience being so close to all these wild animals. I was disappointed to not see simba though. I think my favorite was seeing the giraffes so close. I met some really nice people that I had safari'd with.

The last leg of my vacation was traveling to the coast of the Indian ocean in Mombasa, Kenya to just relax for a few days. And I did, I was very relaxed! I found a really nice, inexpensive resort on the water. It was so much nicer than I had planned on. The people and food were fantastic. It was so great to finally stay in a nice place after being on the ground or in some 'half star' hotel/guesthouses for the last couple weeks. And to have some really good food again.:)


http://photobucket.com/albums/d78/rrrobd/

I also have another folder of pics on this website, off my disposable camera, that you can click on. But the resolution isn't very good for these pictures. I hope you enjoy some of the pics.

I tried submitting these to my webshots account for the last few days but have just been having too many problems. Eventually I'll move these to Webshots.

Rob”

“I could also post the journal I kept if your interested.”

“Nice pics Rob! It sounds like the trip of a lifetime!

Asante for the TR bro.

PS, next time we backpack, remind me to bring the special stogies.
last edited: 11/03/05 7:25:57 AM”

“Awesome pictures and TR. Mucho thanks for sharing. Great shots. I also liked that tree. Reminds me of some of my ent friends! :)”

“Beautiful pictures Ltwt! I'd love to read your journal if you want to share it.”

“What's the story behind this picture. What are you looking out over:

”

“Awesome pics.”

“that pic is of Ngorongoro Carter and the picture is taken from the rim of the crater”

“Wow! That's great ltwt! Makes me want to be there.

I second the journal thing. I'd love to read more.”

“Fr. 10/7,
Joy and Abbie were kind enough to take me to the Detroit airport. My first flight was delayed, disrupting my later flights. So the Northwest lady was kind enough to book me an alternative, more direct flight to Amsterdam. It meant more time waiting in the Detroit airport, 2 more hours. But then I would have a straight shot to Kilimanjaro.
I met a couple climbers while waiting 3 hours in the Amsterdam airport for my flight from Amsterdam to Kilimanjaro. Their seemed to be a lot of people coming for safari. The flights were great. Northwest and especially KLM were great with food and drink. I didnt partake of the alcohol though, as I wanted to be able to acclimate as well as possible.

Sat. 10/8,
I got into Kili at 7:30pm their time. I bought my visitors visa for $50 at the airport, bypassing the long lines at customs. I also didnt check any baggage, further speeding me through. I think I was one of the first people through customs. Paul, my guide, was right there waiting for me. Paul taxied me to a small hotel called Golden View in Moshi, a totally third world town. The hotel staff were very nice. Paul even let me use his cell phone to make a quick call home.

Sun. 10/9,
The hotel was quite decent. The continental breakfast was pretty good with fresh fruit and really good coffee. Theyre storing my other bag in a secured room while Im on the mountain. Paul picked me up and I found out that Im joining another climbing group, 3 other people. Im a little apprehensive that my guide has pawned me off, but everyone is friendly. And Paul is making a special trip to the airport to schedule my 2 internal flights to Mombasa and Nairobi that I need, while Im on the mountain.
My 3 companions are Robert and Peter from the Netherlands and Shu from Tokyo. Theyre in their early 20s and all 3 guys are in pretty good shape so we shouldnt have anyone lagging behind. Our team consists of about 10 porters, a guide and an assistant guide. Oh, and 1 cook. The porters will carry all your gear, save for a daypack. Thats what the other 3 guys did. I chose to carry all my own gear. First, I didnt think it would be that much weight anyway (20-25#s). And second, because all the research I did on the mountain seemed to make it appear like anyone could climb it so I didnt want it to be too easy.J The porters did carry my food and our shared tents.
We started the climb out of the Machame trailhead at around 11am. It was hot and humid, in the mid 80s. The trail seemed very easy at first, but soon increased to a substantial incline. We climbed 3950 in 4 hours with just one 20-minute stop for lunch. Food for lunch consisted of a small piece of chicken, small banana and orange, a muffin, carrots, and a couple crackers. This proved to be a pretty typical lunch. Light rain started at lunch and continued the rest of the way to our campsite. The hike was uneventful and we reached the first days camp at 3pm in a light rain. The Machame camp is at 9850/3000meters. Once at camp and checking in we lost track of the one porter we were following and found ourselves standing in a heavier rain now looking for shelter. We had to wait for our team to arrive and set up tents. It really sucked watching other teams already setting up. Eventually when the rain increased we took shelter in another teams tent. Once the rain let up we found our group, still not set up. We waited another hour for the team to set up camp. We were cold and wet.
As Im writing this Im somewhat clean, somewhat dry, and relaxed. We soon received a warm snack of tea and popcorn. And dinner followed shortly thereafter and consisted of beef stew, tea/coffee, fruit, and bread. I think that was it. As you know, when your out on the trail and hiking a lot the simplest things can taste great.
The guys and I stayed up a while and played some cards by candlelight, which the cook precariously set up INSIDE our dinner tent. The Dutch guys taught us a game (dont know the name but sounds like tupin). We eventually went to bed to the sound of still more rain. But, we woke up to a very beautiful morning.

Mon. 10/10,
We had a good breakfast of scrambled eggs (could have been more), toast/jam, coffee/tea, fruit, and porage. Im still surprised by the amount of hikers at this time of year. There are probably about 100 other climbers. We started out fairly early today, 8am, I think to try and beat the early afternoon rains. We did beat the rain during our 4-hour hike. We only took 1 5-minute break, 1 10-minute break, and 1 15-minute break for lunch. We climbed only 1575 but it was quite steep with many uncertain rocky footholds. We reached camp by noon. To my surprise our tent was set up very shortly after we arrived. Hot tea and coffee followed not too along after.
I broke down and opened the card Carrie had given me to open once I reached the summit. I was missing her and I wanted to read what she had written. It brought a tear to my eye. She is so sweet! And Im such a wuss sometimes. We just kind of chilled the rest of the day, slept, relaxed, and played some cards. We didnt get much rain.

Tu. 10/11,
We woke up at 6:30am to our first cold morning. It was 27 degrees. But once the sun came over the mountain it warmed up to about 45 deg. fairly quickly. Breakfast was good and we got on the trail by 8:30. Today was our longest day so far, 5 and a half hours. We took a couple short breaks and 1 longer for lunch. Today we went from 11,420 to 15,100 in 4 hours. Then we descended to about 13,000, which took us an hour and a half. The purpose of climbing then descending was to help us acclimate to the higher elevations. I hope it works because all of us have slight headaches. It was a beautiful day today with no rain and some really nice views. The climbing wasnt difficult it just felt long. I think the elevation is having an effect on us. We got into camp at 2pm and Im exhausted.
Soon camp was made and we were served tea/coffee, small fried cakes, and peanuts. After the snack we all got cleaned up and took naps. Dinner followed at 5, which consisted of cucumber soup, some kind of cooked meat, green beans, spaghetti w/ a vegetable soup type mixture. Dessert was small bananas and oranges.
Robert was still not feeling much better. He had the worst of the headaches. So he went to bed early. Peter, Shu, and I stayed up and played cards and BSd for a while. It gets dark now around 6:30. We usually get to bed around 8 and get up around 7. So Im definitely getting plenty of sleep. It feels like Ive been out here a week already. Im actually getting tired. I just want to get to the summit. I think part of it is that I miss Carrie, Rush, my Mom, and friends. There is a lot of down time to think and thats not always good.J The best thing so far is meeting my 3 climbing mates. They are really good company. And I can share with them all my vast life experiences, especially about women.J Im really glad Im not climbing alone like I thought I would be.


Wed. 10/12,
We left Barranco camp at 8:30am. The weather was just fantastic. We started with a climb of about 500 almost straight up, scrambling up very steep rocky switchbacks. It was just a start to a very hard day. The trail throughout the day would level off for a bit then there would be another very steep climb. 4 good climbs all together. Which is strange because we wound up only 2000 higher for the day. The 4 of us did pretty well because we were the first team to camp. These young guys are keeping me going strong I think.
After dinner we are heading to bed early because we are getting up at 11:30pm to eat something and head for the summit One more thing, I CANT WAIT to take a shower!!!

Th. 10/13,
Its summit day. The temperature is 30 degrees. Its so beautiful out. The stars are incredible! They woke us up at 11:30pm and were on the trail by 12:10am. I wasnt feeling too good. And all they gave us to eat was a couple crackers and some tea. For some reason they think its a good idea to climb 4250 on an empty stomach. (I took a Cliff Bar with me) Also, I didnt sleep well because of the talking from our workers and from a neighboring team.
So, we started out and shortly into the climb I could tell I wasnt feeling good. I was breathing heavy early on, obviously from the thin air. As we got into the climb I was feeling light headed as well. All this coupled with the fact that my guide feels the need to pass all the other climbing teams while espousing pole pole (which means: slowly slowly). You could tell when the guide was ready to pass a group because he would ask us how we were doing. If we said ok it obviously meant we were going too slow and needed to pass some people.J My 3 friends were also feeling the elevation and when we needed a break we just stopped. I ate my Cliff bar and just took it 1 hour at a time. As the final hours passed I was getting more exhausted. Once we were within about two hundred vertical feet of the summit I could only hike about 100 feet before having to stop and catch my breath.
We reached the summit at 6am just as the sun was starting to come up. We were the first team to the summit that day and I was paying the price. We had passed at least 6 or 7 other teams. The temp was about 5 degrees with the wind chill being much less. I was out of breath within short distances almost all the way back to base camp. But it was totally worth it. The views were fantastic, so beautiful! We took some pictures and started down within a short time.
We descended the 4250 of mostly scree back to base camp Barafu in 2 and a half hours. I was really glad I had accomplished the climb. And Im really glad its over. Im EXHAUSTED. Once we were back at camp our workers congratulated us and we all took an hour nap till breakfast. All I ate was soup though because I felt like Id throw up anything more.
After another nap we had to descend another 4600 to Mweka camp where we will have dinner and spend the night. This 8850 of decline has really woken up my knees and theyre not liking it. Only another 4600 of descent tomorrow.J


Fr. 10/14,
We woke up at 6am to get breakfast, take a couple group pictures, and hit the trail before everyone else. We are headed to Mweka with probably 100 other hikers so Nelson, the guide, wants to get an early start. We had a 2 hour, 4600 descent to Mweka camp. Most of the trail was made of these stair step type platforms, apparently for drainage during heavy rains. But they were HELL on my knees. We made it down just fine and were rewarded with certificates of completion for climbing to the top.
We found out that someone had died yesterday on his or her summit attempt of AMS (altitude sickness). Which to me is very plausible because as we were coming off the summit we saw many people having a very hard time hiking up the last couple hundred vertical feet. It seemed to me like the guides were pushing some of the people too hard. And in one instance holding an oxygen mask to the face of a climber and pushing him up the mountain.
Well, it was a really great experience for me. Im really glad I did the climb. It was time for a challenge like that. The crew was pretty good and I made 3 new friends. But, Im really glad its over. On to some relaxation! J
Once we got back to Moshi I was glad to see my original guide/organizer, Paul, there to greet me. And I was happy to find out that he set me up with a safari group for the dates I needed and for the price we had agreed upon. He also took me over to Precision Air to get my flight to Mombasa. I was disappointed though to find out that the flight would cost me twice as much as I had thought it would.
Paul then took me to my hotel where I retrieved my other stuff from their locker and proceeded to shower, finally.J The hot shower and shave was fantastic! I was able to wash most of my clothes in either the shower or sink. (their laundry service couldnt return my clothes before I had to leave in the morning) I was able to dry my clothes on the beds wooden mosquito net frame. That coupled with the oscillating ceiling fan made quick work of drying my clothes, which had stunk so horribly.
Latter in the evening I met Robert and Peter for dinner. We had a great Indian meal and some Kilimanjaro beers. The Kili beer is a very mild lager. But after being on the mountain for 6 days they tasted just fine. After dinner we were all pretty tired and we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.

Brief GEAR review:
· Leki Makula trekking poles- THE BEST $5(rented) Ive ever spent! They saved whats left of my knees.
· Vasque Renegades- performed very well, no blisters.
· Thorlo Hikers and Mountaineers- my favorite socks.
· Thermorest ¾ ultralight w/ 8 sections of Z-Rest- made for very good sleeping.
· GVP Gears G4- this pack held up to all the abuse with about 20-25 pounds of gear.

Sat. 10/15,
I woke up to another beautiful day. I grabbed the continental breakfast before Paul picked me up for the bus ride to Arusha where Ill hook up with the safari team. The bus ride was interesting. People and gear all stuffed in like sardines, traveling from Moshi to Arusha. The bus took about an hour. Once in Arusha we met Alexander from Sunshine Safaris. He informed us that the 2 people I am to join dont want to start today because they got in late last night. Paul and Alex scrambled to try and join me with another group from another agency leaving today, but to no avail. I need to be at the airport for my flight to Mombasa on the 19th. We tried to re-schedule that, also no luck. So, they re-arranged the safari so that I could see most everything in 3 days instead of 4, well see.J
So Im stuck in Arusha for today. I spent the day reading, having lunch and looking around (pretty boring), and resting my tired body. I found an Internet café where I could make cheap calls home. That was cool.
The power went out in my hotels vicinity as night was starting to set in. So I searched out a place to eat dinner before it got too dark. Apparently its too dangerous to be out after dark. As I was eating the power came back on so that was a nice relief. I hope it stays on. I think Arusha is very Muslim because they enjoy playing Muslim prayers periodically over loud speakers placed around town. To me its very irritating, especially at 3 in the morning.
A couple very cool things to note however are no mosquitos to speak of. I hope it stays that way while on safari. And food is very cheap here. I had a very good lunch for $2 and dinner for $4. Beers are only $1.
Well, another safari surprise. Tonight at 10pm Alex the guide came to my door and informed me that the couple that I was to join, who are on their honeymoon, dont want me on their safari. Unbelievable, things just keep getting better! Alex is joining me with a different group tomorrow. They started yesterday and why I couldnt have joined them yesterday I have no idea. And I have to be ready at 5am to drive out and meet them for breakfast.

Sun. 10/16,
I woke up at 4:50 to get ready and meet Alex at 5:15. We drove to meet the group. They seemed a little irritated that I was holding up their trip. I quickly won them over with my charm and good looks.J All 3 are from the Netherlands. A couple, Arjan and Melinda. And Anna, a young biology student. All 3 are very nice. After breakfast we headed for Ngorongoro Crater. Its an ancient volcanic crater, about 2000 deep and 161 miles around, which holds its own microcosm of wildlife. Our guide/drivers name is Abraham. Hes a very nice guy but doesnt speak very good English.
Abe drives us in an older Land Rover. The roof pops up so that you can stand inside the vehicle and take pictures. Pretty cool. We got to the park at about 8:30 and started the game drive. The animals are very relaxed around the vehicles. We saw elephants, 1 rhino, pink flamingos, and a couple hyenas with babies, tons of zebra wildebeest and Thompson gazelle. We saw quite a few hippos, a couple ostrich, and jackal, ibis, and heartbeest. And the best was seeing a cheetah and spotting a huge leopard in a tree.
It was a great day of viewing the animals. And the weather again was super. Lunch inside the park was also quite good. We left at about 4:30pm, very tired. Anna ended her safari today so tomorrow for Lake. Manyara it will just be Arjan, Melinda, and I.
We ended the day not camping like I thought we were doing but stayed in a shady looking guesthouse in the very small town of Mto Wa Mbu. The room was actually quite good. The bed was very comfortable and I was happy not to be sleeping on the ground again.


Mon. 11/17,
We were ready by 7, had breakfast, and headed out. I tried this strange breakfast drink of hot milk and tea. Their milk alone tastes weird, maybe goats, so the combination was equally as such. It was palatable to me with a scoop of sugar. Anyway, it was a short drive to the park. Lake Manyara National Park skirts along the Lake, which is part of the Great Rift Valley. It contains forest, woodland, grassland, and swamp. The game drive started out slow but we soon started to see more animals. We saw giraffes eating, baboons, blue monkeys, impala, many elephants, hippo, many cool birds, warthog, zebra, a lone ostrich, and gazelles. My favorite part was seeing a herd of 12 giraffe walking about 12 in front of our Rover. So cool!! We also got within 12ish of some huge feeding elephants. That was cool too.
It was a good day. The weather was great again. And because the roof pops up your still out of the sun so its not too hot. In some of the vehicles the roofs folded back exposing the people to constant sun exposure all day!
We got back to the guesthouse and the power was out. Arjan and Melinda are leaving tonight so I said goodbye to them. I still have one day left so I went to rest and take a shower before dinner. I found out that one person is joining me tomorrow for Tarangire NP. And it turns out that it is my longtime friend Shu, whom I had shared a tent with during the mountain climb. Excellent, hes a nice guy. The power came back on just as we finished dinner. I have a feeling these power outages happen a lot.

Tu. 11/18,
Woke up and got ready by 7:30. Had breakfast with Abraham and Shu at our usual spot. We grabbed our lunch and bought water. Then we headed to Tarangire NP. The park is about 1600 miles squared and contains permanent sources of water. We saw a lot of animals we had already seen, only in much large quantity/herds. The park holds the largest population of elephant during the dry seasons. We also saw the dik dik, waterback, and common redback antelopes. The scenery was much different than previous spots. It looked a lot like I had pictured the Serengeti plains to be. Wide-open savannahs interrupted by occasional trees. I was really hoping to see some lions, but no luck.
Lunch in the park was cool. We had a great view from this overlook area. And we watched some baboons steal unsuspecting peoples lunches.J We spent some more time looking for some lions but no go. So we headed back to Arusha.
Alex put me up in another questionable hotel, The Annex. I got showered and napped for a bit waiting for Alex to come and let me know when to expect him tomorrow morning. I finally went to the lobby to see where I could get something to eat before it got dark. I ran into Arjan and Melinda, who I had been on safari with. I didnt think Id see them again. Apparently theyll be here for another week checking out Mt. Meru among other things. The 3 of us had a nice dinner together at a decent place Ive already forgotten the name of.
I think Ill read a bit. Alex had shown up and we agreed to meet at 9am for my trip to the airport. It will be nice to sleep in.

Wed. 10/19,
I woke up at 7:30, packed all my stuff for the flight and headed down to the continental breakfast. The lady working there wouldnt acknowledge me let alone wait on me. All the while waiting on the half dozen other locals. So I helped myself to some fruit and bread and butter. I managed to get some tea before she took the carafe from me to give to the other group.J
Of course Alex was late. Luckily I ran into a friend of his who had helped me before. He called Alex and he showed up shortly after to head to the airport. I got there in plenty of time and had an uneventful 45-minute flight to Mombasa. It was really cool to fly right past the top of the mountain I had climbed a few days earlier.
Once in Mombasa I bought my visitors visa and tried to exchange my Tanzanian shillings for Kenyan shillings. They wouldnt exchange them. A guess they dont like the TSHs in Kenya. Ill have to change them at a bank in town. I needed to schedule my flight to Nairobi now. I found out that only one airline flys this route, Kenya Airlines. And they are completely booked until Tu. So I got the flight for Tu. and at a good price. But this means that I wont be able to spend any time in Nairobi except to just catch my flight home. I thought I was all set.
I found a very helpful lady at the airport information counter. She helped me decide on a hotel and find a taxi. I was soon on my way with Dave the taxi driver. To Bamburi Beach Hotel. Dave seems like a real good guy and offered to take me around one day while Im here. I didnt know if Bamburi would have a room available but they did for all the days Im here and at a real good price. One of the workers showed me around and it seems like a real cool place, just right for relaxation. Its a big place with 2 pools and a lot of sun deck, multiple bars, 2 restaurants, a gym, entertainment room, and 2 squash courts (for the Brits I guess). And I guess they play sand volleyball on the beach. My room is very nice and clean with a small deck that overlooks the ocean. It was just great to be in a nice hotel for a change.
I showered, rested, and had a fantastic buffet dinner. I had to be careful not to stuff myself because the food was excellent. We had fish, chicken, and beef. And cooked veges, rice and sauces, breads, fruits, and desserts. After dinner I was looking over all my papers and I realized that the flight I made to Nairobi is on the 25th, but my flight home out of Nairobi is the 24th! DAMN!!! I need to re-schedule but I know all flights are booked. So I called some other airlines but Kenya Airways is the only company that flys to Nairobi from Mombasa. Well, its getting late. Ill figure out something in the morning. I did finally find some fingernail clippers in the hotel gift shop. It was great to finally be able to cut my nails.J Im not having any luck on the phone this evening. Ive been trying to call Carrie all day and this evening but I just keep getting all lines are busy. Ive tried at least 10 times. I need to fix these 2 problems tomorrow.



Th. 10/20,
I woke up to a beautiful morning. I felt guilty for the big meal last night so I did some pushups and crunches before breakfast. The breakfast was just as great as dinner. Fresh fruit, omelettes, different breads and desserts, coffee/tea, cooked vegetables and meats. More working out is in order. The gym looks decent so Ill head over there later. I need to get my flight taken care of.
I went to the front desk for help on a couple things including my flight. Another very nice lady, Pamela, helped me book a bus to Nairobi on the 24th. It seems like a decent bus and its fairly inexpensive, but its a 7-hour ride. Thats really my only real option though. Shes even nice enough to go into town on her day off and purchase the ticket for me! And apparently on the international calls home I only needed to dial 1 for the US not 01 like it said in the directions. Well see if that works. Hopefully 2 problems solved. What a relief! But I do wish I could have spent a day or 2 in Nairobi. But this hotel is so nice Im not complaining.
It sure is beautiful out today. I spent time in the pool, playing volleyball, and catching some sun. I ran the treadmill at the gym, read, and napped some more. I finally got a hold of Carrie. It was really good to hear her voice. I wish she were here. For some reason phone calls are very expensive here. I need to find a cheaper place to call from.
It sure is nice to just relax and not have anything in particular to do. It is hard though to view so many over weight, over tanned Europeans on holiday.J Especially when theyre sporting bikinis, yikes!
I went to the gym before dinner. I did some weights. This way, I dont feel too bad eating all this great food. Of course, dinner was excellent and the wait staff is very nice. I think this is the first time Ive ever vacationed by myself and the staff has made me feel very comfortable. After dinner I was very full and tired. I went back to the room and read on the deck till I fell asleep.

Fr. 10/21,
Life sure is tough! What shall I do today? I think Ill take a walk down the street and see whats going on outside the resort. Also, I think Ill schedule a massage for later in the afternoon. That sounds good. I managed to get a hold of my taxi guy, Dave. He agreed to take me around town a little bit on Sat. Besides a couple interesting sites to see I need to find a bank that will take my Tanzanian shillings in exchange and I need to find a cheap place to make a phone call.
I took a walk down the street before it got too hot. It was still pretty hot at 8:30am.J Not much to see really. The resort is close to a nature preserve but Im pretty much had my fill of nature.J The cop shop is just down the road and of course a few other resorts are on the beach side. I decided to walk into a bar called Cheers, (original name huh?) and get something cold to drink. I remember overhearing some people talking about this bar at the hotel. Its a nice enough place. 9:30 isnt too early for a beer is it? As Im drinking my Tuskar a pretty young prostitute came over for a bit. Her English was pretty bad and once she figured out that I wasnt interested she moved on. I was the only white guy in the bar. Im getting use to that ratio.
I went to the gym before lunch, again my justification to eat. Lunch was great. I hadnt eaten breakfast and I was very hungry. After lunch I just hung out in and out of the pool till my massage was ready. I went for a half hour massage and it was fantastic and very inexpensive. The nice young girl was very talented and she massaged from head to toe. I felt great afterward, but the oil she used was very hard to wash off. I had to take a couple showers to get it all off. After that I just went back to the room and read. I decided to go back to the gym and do some arms before dinner. There was an aerobics class going on with the instructor and 4 ladies. Dinner was fabulous with fresh seafood and just about anything else you can think of. It will be real tough getting use to boiled eggs and canned soup again when I get home.J

Sat. 10/22,
I woke up to another wonderful breakfast. I met my taxi guy Dave at 10am to take me around a bit. I finally exchanged my Tanzanian money. Then we went to check out Fort Jesus. It is a Fort built originally by the Portuguese and later taken over by an Arab nation. It was used to control the port of Mombasa, trade and travel along the coast. It was pretty interesting. And I bought a few souvenirs for some of the ladies in my life. Mombasa is very busy on Sat. The streets are filled with crazy drivers, diesel smoke, and people walking everywhere. Not to mention how hot it is without AC. But it was an experience. I found a cheaper place to call back home, which was really nice.
Then we headed to Akamba Woodcarving Co-Op. This is what I really wanted to see. The grounds consist of small grass-roofed huts with teams of artists carving different shapes. The huts are divided into different tribes and different stages of completion, from the rough cutting with small axes to the final sanding and painting. You can watch the whole process and walk all around the grounds. Certain people and certain tribes sometimes specialize in particular pieces. It was very cool.
We checked out a crocodile and snake farm and saw some really huge crocs and some very cool looking snakes and spiders. The oldest and largest croc was called Big Daddy and he was over 100 years old. Apparently they can live to be 200. BD supposedly had eaten 7 people in his lifetime and he still mates with the ladies.J Interestingly there was a disco attached to the farm, weird. I didnt check that one out. Ok, well I did the tourist thing and now Im beat. David was excellent taking me all over but he wasnt cheap. But like I said, hes taken me everywhere I wanted to go and helped me out with a couple problems.
When I got back to the hotel Pamela, at the front desk, had my bus ticket for Mon. morning, perfect. Well, Im beat. This heat really wears you down. I just took it easy until dinner and read some.
Dinner was great. Fresh grilled fish, beef, and chicken. I had all 3.J Everything else was awesome as well. I met a young British couple at dinner. They talked me into going out after dinner to a disco down the road. Its called Tempo. It was very dark and very loud. It was nice to sample a little nightlife while I was here. All the locals were very friendly and very good to me. We stayed for a couple hours and got back around midnight.

Sun. 10/23,
Today is my last day before I head home. Im ready to go home and see Carrie, my mom and the dogs. I got organized, started packing up. I had another great breakfast and went back and took a nap. When the cleaning guy came to clean the room I went to the gym to use the elliptical trainer. Then I went to the pool. I played some water volleyball. That was fun. I got a little too much sun today so I came in to shower, nap, and read. Im all set to go home. Just dinner tonight and get the bus in the morning.



Mon. 10/24,
After another great breakfast I silently said goodbye to Bamburi Beach. I then headed to the front desk to settle up my bill. To my surprise their was no food on my bill. Apparently the food is included in your stay here. TOO COOL!! The other day when I inquired on the price of meals the lady actually quoted me prices. Oh well, Im not complaining.J What a great place this turned out to be. Just dont make an international call!
Anyway, Pamela at the front desk was there to get me a taxi to the bus terminal. Shes been so helpful. I got on the bus in plenty of time. The ride was from 8:30am to 5:30pm. 9 hours over about half crap roads and half decent roads. The bus ride was pretty uneventful save for the overturned mini-bus along side of the road. Everyone was ok.
It was getting dark as we arrived in Nairobi. My bus driver didnt want me hailing a cab after dark so he volunteered to take me to the airport himself. (Or maybe he just wanted the extra $) It didnt matter to me. This is on a smaller bus by the way. After he dropped everyone off in town he dropped me at the airport. I thought it was very nice of him.
I got through the seemingly endless security checkpoints and exchanged some money that I had left. Soon I was on my flight. I sat next to a nice older lady who reminded me of my mom. She is a missionary in Kenya. Lizy is traveling to Seattle to see her family and carry out some business. Come to find out we were both born in the same town of Flint, MI. And she grew up not too far from where I did.

Tu. 10/25,
Well, we made it to Amsterdam after a little bit of turbulence, a couple of naps, and a couple mini bottles of red wine. I washed up and changed into some warmer clothes in the airport. Now I just have to endure 12+ more hours on my butt, a 4-hour layover and 8 more hours on the next plane before I get home.
After an uneventful flight to Detroit and a long time in security I finally made it out to meet my mom in the lobby. Its nice to be home!!!”

“Very good read Rob. It makes the pictures 10x better knowing what they are all about.
Thanks for posting it.
Hey, did you read/finish "Don't Lets go to the dogs tonight"?”

“Really cool! I'll hafta wait to see the pics at home since my friggn' work bans most photo storage sites. My goal is to climb 6 of the 7 continents high spots (no thank you, Mt. Everest). So far I've nailed zip, nada, zilch, zero, el none-yo espanol mucho grande leche nada zilcho mcgee-o.”

“Sass, yes I did. I thought it was very good. Her parents sure liked roughing it.

And I have a souvenir for you too.”

“Cool pics and journal. Thanks for sharing.”

“Oh boy! Does this mean I'm one of the women in your life?!”

“Awesome pics and prose, Rob.

You, Sir, ARE a RACONTEUR!

Welcome back to terra firma USA.”

“yes you are Sass”

“Holy Wah, Daddy. Fantastic pics. Let's grab a beer soon so I can see the real ones up close, k?”

“great pics Rob! thanks for sharing them.”

“the pics I have developed are the disposable camera ones, which aren't great. But we could still grab a beer.”

“Great pics there.”

“Really nice reading. I recognize that lake in the Ngorngoro Crater, that's where I had lunch. Sorry about the lack of lions though.

The food also surprised me there. It was so very good and there was so much of it and so many choices, every thing was buffet.”

“Ya, the whole experience was really great. It's something I'll never forget.”