September 26 - October 15, 2014. KENYA
Nairobi, Kyaithani & Ndandini, Diani Beach and Cheli & Peacock FAM trip
KL Depart Vancouver Sep 26 3:45pm arrive Amsterdam Sep 7 at 10:00am
KL545 Depart Amsterdam Sep 27 11:15am arrive Nairobi 7:50pm, transfer to Norfolk Hotel.
Well this turned out to be a very busy morning and not the time to catch up with our work and maybe relax like we had planned! It was pouring with rain and the keyboard on my Ipad was not working so we caught the train and bus from the Vancouver airport to Broadway to Simply Computing to buy a new keyboard. Imagine my disgust when sitting on the plane in the Vancouver airport just 5 hours later I found that several keys (WSX2 ) were not working!! Just imagine how difficult that is going to make typing my blog while away!
We took off on time in the rain at 345pm which was good since we had only 55 minutes between flights in Amsterdam, in the sunshine, before our flight departs for Nairobi.Both flights were fine although a very large man sitting next to us in our group of 3 seats really squeezed us - to be surpassed by a 7 foot giant next to us on our next flight into Nairobi! When we passed over Southern Egypt it was nothing but sand sand sand - but Lake Nasser really stands out from 37,000 feet up - a huge lake created when they built the Aswan dam and had to move Abu Simbel which we were fortunate to visit back in 2007. Then we continued South over Sudan heading to Kenya.
The clouds really built up as we progressed towards Kenya at 925 km per hour with an outside temperature of -50 degrees Celcius making me wonder if we were going to arrive to rain?We had 3 pieces each of Kenyan paperwork to complete before arrival in Kenya which took quite some time - VISA Application, Entry Declaration Form and Passenger Declaration Form - even asking for the dates and duration of every previous visit to Kenya - that stretched my memory! We get our Kenyan Visa on arrival into Kenya ($50 USD each) and also get our phone working with Safaricom who have an office in the airport - at least that's how it all worked on previous visits but the International Airport had a major fire last year so this will be our first time in the new facilities at JKIA Kenyatta airport.
AMSTERDAM is 9 hours ahead of Vancouver on the world clock, and Nairobi one additional hour ahead of Amsterdam making Nairobi 10 hours ahead of Vancouver. Yesterday we had left Vancouver 4 hours before sunset, then we had winged our way halfway around the world, spinning around more than one complete revolution and arriving in Nairobi Kenya, which is right on the equator, 2 hours after sunset after travelling for 19 elapsed hours on the clock - 99% of those hours spent sitting in a small seat with knees bent and not sleeping!
The time to get our visa at the airport on arrival was quite quick, maybe 45 minutes, but our luggage took another hour before it arrived - almost the last pieces. We had started to think that we would be going to Ndandini in our travelling clothes. After arranging for our taxi inside the airport we were escorted by a taxi guide to a waiting taxi in a parking lot far from the regular taxi stand - part of the way to avoid all the aggressive touts trying to match up arriving tourists with anyone wanting to be or act like a taxi driver. We arrived at the Norfolk about 10:30pm, and fortunately the bar was still open for a welcome G&T and some great french fries.
SUNDAY SEP 28 Nairobi - pick up by George at 10am at Norfolk hotel
The day started with us dragging ourselves out of bed as our bodies adjusted to the time zone change 10 hours ahead of Vancouver! George our driver arrived as promised at 945am. It was a great day and a typical day for us in Nairobi - we visited the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT) to see the 11am feeding of the 29 orphan elephants - and so many tiny babies from only 3 weeks to 1 year old in the younger group of 15 elephants. The Keeper now speaks with a mike and amplifier which really helps everyone regardless of where you are standing to hear all the information he disseminates about every elephant and how they came to be at the DSWT located in the Nairobi National Park. We are so fortunate to be able to visit DSWT each time we come to Kenya and learn a little more at each visit! We also sponsor a couple of orphans for $50 year for ourselves and Kyaithani Secondary school which includes monthly updates on our own elephants and all the other elephants at DSWT. At 5pm we returned to DSWT to see the babies all come racing in from the park to be fed with their special formula milk in their 5 litre bottles, and then each elephant goes into their own pen with their keepers who will sleep with them all night long and feed them every 3 hours, sometimes more often for the small babies. As long as you sponsor an elephant you too can return at 5pm to attend this special time and get very close and personal with these elephants.
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| NDONO THE NEWEST AND YOUNGEST ORPHAN AT DSWT ONLY 3 WEEKS OLD |
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| THE BABY ELEPHANTS DRINK AT LEAST 40 LITRES OF SPECIAL FORMULA MILK EVERY 3 HOURS - THEY CAN'T DRINK COW MILK WHICH IS TOXIC TO THEM |
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| JAN WATCHES AS THE ORPHAN BABY ELEPHANTS HEAD BACK OUT TO NAIROBI NATIONAL PARK WITH THEIR KEEPERS AFTER THE 11AM FEEDING AT DSWT |
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| TERRY AND THE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST, NAIROBI KENYA |
Between these two DSWT visits we went for lunch at Utamaduni Craft Centre in the Makutano restaurant (including club sandwich, lasagna, baked chicken and fries) and a quick look at all the wonderful Kenyan crafts in the Utamaduni Centre - a large house with many rooms - each one containing different products including soap stone, beaded bags, belts and jewellry, carvings, textiles. Close by still in the Karen district is Kazuri Beads, all the beads hand made right here in the workshop, where today the shop was open but the workshop closed since it was Sunday. We also looked around Matt Bronze where the amazing cast bronzes are available for purchase from tiny earrings to life size elephants - there is a lovely coffee shop here and large grounds with lovely sitting areas to enjoy.
We stopped at the Galleria Shopping Centre to pick up 12 plastic buckets with lids for the Sawyer water filters we are delivering to each of the 6 schools in the Kyaithani cluster, and 48 bottles of water to keep us going during the next 3 days where it is always dry and hot and so dusty. As we drove around this Karen suburb of Nairobi, we loved the flowering purple Jacaranda trees - we are so lucky that their season for flowering is always when we are here in the September time frame. Being Sunday the traffic wasn't as bad as it typically is on work days!
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| 5PM AND HERE COME THE BABY ELLIES.... |
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| 5PM AND THE ORPHANS COME IN FROM NAIROBI NATIONAL PARK TO THE SAFETY OF DSWT AND THEIR MILK BOTTLES AND KEEPERS WHO SPEND 24 HOYRS EVERY DAY WITH THEM AND FEED THEM EVERY 3 HOURS |
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| GOOD NIGHT SLEEP TIGHT |
At 7pm we were dropped off at the Sarova Stanley Hotel where we both enjoyed an ice cold bottle of South African Nederburg chardonnay with rogan josh lamb curry with papadam and rice in the Thorn Tree Cafe - the perfect end to a wonderful day, before taking the 5 minute taxi ride (500 KS Kenyan shillings) back to the Fairmont Norfolk hotel where it was time to repack ready for our trip to Kyaithani tomorrow. We only had a small day pack for ourselves but with the computer bag we've brought over that Barb and Ivan sent for Sammy (the ex-vice principal of Kyaithani who moved in January to a new school in an even more remote and poor area 4 further hours from Kitui) and the water filters and buckets we had quite a load.
Monday SEP 29 to Kyaithani Ndandini
Another morning dragging ourselves out of bed when the alarm went off at 6am but at least I got a few more hours of sleep last night! Our small bag for Kyaithani was pretty much packed so after a couple of cups of coffee we checked out of the Fairmont Norfolk hotel at 7:45am and George and Duncan Kamau were ready for us. First stop to Sunny Money in Parklands to pick up our solar lights for Kyaithani Secondary School - 1 Sun King Eco light for each of the 5 Primary Schools: Ndandini, Kyaithani, Muusini, Ndunguni, Nthilini and 5 for the teachers at the secondary school (total: 104 D.light S2 solar task lights, 34 D.light S20 solar lanterns, 10 Sun King Eco solar lamps).
Unfortunately the traffic was as bad as we have ever seen it and we had to head to Sunny Money offices in Parkland first which was the opposite direction to Kyaithani -we had planned to be there by 830am when they opened it but it was more like 9:30am when we found the offices. We had the address and fortunately their phone number, but street numbers are not sequential along the street. Each dead end street off the main road has numbers from the main road and
as almost every building is behind high walls and gates, its a real game of hide and seek to find anything.
At Sunny Money we met Terry's main contact, Victor their project manager for Nairobi, as well as Cynaidah (sigh-nay-daa) who did all the paperwork, took our 105,000 Kenyan shillings, and arranged for all the boxes of lights to be brought to our van. It was nice to meet Cynaidah as she was one of the people from SunnyMoney who will be coming to Ndandini tomorrow to help present the solar concept to the village and schools.
By the time we headed back through Nairobi it was close to 1045am before we hit the outskirts and were on the incredibly busy Nairobi to Mombasa highway and on our way to Kyaithani.
After turning off the paved highway at KwaVonza, we arrived in Kiusyani and there was Principal Kimali, Principal Ann, Vice Principal Eliud, and Sub-area Chief Japeth waiting to meet and greet us. After a warm welcome, watched by all the shopkeepers and shoppers in Kiusyani, we all headed towards the village with our first stop being at the Lower Yatta Secondary Girls' boarding school. This school was only being built in 2012 when we were last here. Principal Ann was very proud of what she has accomplished here in the two years she has been here and deservedly so. She now has 55 girls boarding here, all wearing lavender coloured blouses and navy skirts with white socks and black shoes, and said they are all doing extremely well. Ann said that they manage to keep the girls safely in school, even those whose parents can't afford to pay for them. On the far side of the same property (closest to the dirt road and where we installed the water tank) is the Nthilani Primary School where the children are so excited to see you and all want to talk to you and giggle at us and have photos taken, all wearing their bright yellow shirts, royal blue tunics, skirts or (boys) pants with blue sweaters - note the sweaters some of the kids were wearing since by now the temperature was in the 80's and Terry and I were getting hotter by the minute!!
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| TRACTOR & WATRE BOWSER DELIVERING WATER TO ALL 7 SCHOOLS - DONATED BY ROTARY CLUB OF SUNSHINE COAST - SECHELT BC CANADA |
Next stop was Ndunguni Primary School, followed by Muusini Primary School, and Ndandini Primary School where at every school we shook hands and chatted with the excited small kids Forms 1 to 8, ages 5 to 13, took photos with them, photos of the teachers and Head Teacher and signed the visitors book at each school. As the afternoon wore on we had reached Kyaithani Primary School with 220 students and it seemed like each one of them was waiting for us and so excited to say Hello (Jambo in Swahili) to us! Of course we took photos of the kids and the teachers at Kyaithani Primary School before our very last stop at Kyaithani Secondary School. It's amazing to see what Principal Kimali has accomplished here in just 4 years. There was no Secondary School here previously so most kids did not go to Secondary school, only the very few whose parents could afford to send them further away to a boarding school had the opportunity to continue their education. Kyaithani Secondary has Forms 1 through 4 and currently has 138 students. Currently all of the top grade in Form 4 are boarding here, and a few from the other grades as well. The school year runs January through December and the Form 4 Final Exams are in December each year.
The girls dormitory (which has rows of metal bunk beds 2 high and 3 deep) is located on the property - believe me these are very small spaces that the girls live in. They have washing lines behind where they hang their laundry which they wash in their own basins that they use for all their personal needs as well. At some point Principals Kimali and Ann think that Kyaithani will become a boys only boarding school and Lower Yatta will remain as girls only but with all the girls from the area. In summary - we have seen huge progress here since our first visit in 2007 and of course, lots of room for more progress to be made. The significant items are that the students are now healthier with the clean water that they all get from the well drilled in 2010 by the Rotary Club Sunshine Coast-Sechelt BC and other Rotary clubs and private sponsors, delivered by the tractor and bowser provided in 2012, and making heavy use of the solar lights at this school installed in 2011. In addition, the kids are better educated which can lead to better opportunities for their futures. Principal Kimali told us that they had a few students who graduated from Form 4 at the end of the 2013 school year who progressed to University with government grants, and others are also now attending college.
So it was a very full afternoon talking to large groups of children and taking photos of lots of kids and teachers.
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| LOWER YATTA GIRLS BOARDING SCHOOL 55 STUDENTS |
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| NDUNGUNI PRIMARY SCHOOL |
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| NDUNGUNI PRIMARY SCHOOL |
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| MOMS WHO COOK MEALS AT KYAITHANI SECONDARY SCHOOL |
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| KYAITHANI PRIMARY SCHOOL KIDS |
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| THUMBS UP FROM KYAITHANI PRIMARY SCHOOL |
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| GIRLS DORMITORY AT KYAITHANI SECONDARY SCHOOL |
We were given soda (coke and sprite) refreshments along with ugali (maize meal) and chicken stew around 5pm before we finally left Kyaithani as the sun set, having securely stored the solar lights and water filters in Kimali's lockable office, and drove towards Kitui and the Talents Hotel where we would be spending the night. Not having stayed at this hotel before we were still wondering what awaited us - at the ParkSide Villas where we had stayed previously rooms like jail cells and no toilet seats had been common.
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| SAMMY MARTHA KALIN JOSHUA & GIDEON MASILA AT HOME IN KITUI WITH DONATED LAPTOP FOR KWA KIMWELI SCHOOL |
We stopped at Sammy and Martha Masila's home in Kitui on the way. Sammy used to be the Vice Principal at Kyaithani but is now Principal at the Kwa Kimweli school which is further South in another desperately poor area. We enjoyed soda and cake at their home, and were introduced to Kaleb, Joshua and Gideon their three boys. We also saw their wonderful fruit trees which they are thrilled are currently producing fruit bananas, paw paws, and mangoes since recently for a couple of years due to drought they did not produce anything. It is interesting as you talk to the folks here and they worry when they haven't been able to grow vegetables and fruit and "as a result have to buy all their food all year long when they don't have enough funds to do that". Sammy and Martha then joined Duncan Kamau, George (our driver) and us at the Talents Hotel for a simple dinner of chicken and rice around 1030pm before we headed to bed around midnight and were so grateful for a shower and to lie down and relax for the night. The Talents hotel is at the very end of a dead end single lane dirt track in Kitui, a couple of doors and barred windows in a long wall with "hospital" doors on each side. But the front desk lady was very welcoming and we were so relieved to get a room upstairs overlooking the street with a big bed and clean toilet/shower (even though the toilet seat was cracked and soon likely to disappear).
Tuesday SEP 30 Kyaithani
We ate a simple breakfast of hard boiled egg, beef sausage and dry pancakes (no maple syrup here) with instant nescafe coffee while waiting for George our driver. George was up early and off before 7am to go and get the front shock absorber fixed on the van which had broken yesterday as we drove over the very many bumpy roads as we drove into Kyaithani. Principal Kimali had recommended a good mechanic in Kitui and George was pleased with the work he did and was back at Talents hotel just after 8am where he picked up his breakfast to eat later so that we could get on our way back to Kyaithani for the expected 830am meeting (where the ladies and Committee who run the Community Garden had requested a meeting with us..) getting there about 9:30 as the roads were so corrugated and dusty. We arrived coated with red dust and feeling totally filthy.
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| COMMUNITY GARDEN COMMITTEE AND WORKERS OUTSIDE THE DRIP IRRIGATION & GREENHOUSE DONATED BY ONE OF OUR PRIVATE SPONSORS |
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| STRINGING THE TOMATO PLANTS AS THEY GROW |
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| INSIDE THE COMMUNITY GARDEN GREENHOUSE |
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| SOLAR LIGHT PRESENTATION TO PARENTS, TEACHERS AND SCHOOL KIDS BY SUNNY MONEY |
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| KYAITHANI SECONDARY SCHOLARSHIP STUDENTS GIVE US LETTERS TO TAKE BACK TO SECHELT ROTARY CLUB & OTHER DONORS |
... days activities to be added including the presentation of 148 solar lights to Kyaithani Secondary School and Lower Yatta Girls Boarding School
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| KYAITHANI SECONDARY FORMS 1, 2 AND 3 WITH THEIR SOLAR LIGHTS |
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| HAPPY KYAITHANI SCHOOL KIDS WITH THEIR SOLAR LIGHTS |
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| MORE EXCITED SCHOOL KIDS |
Wednesday Oct 1 Kyaithani to Nairobi, Norfolk Hotel
The morning was very cool and overcast just like yesterday which turned out to be blistering hot as the clouds burned off yesterday so we expected the same for today. Our simple buffet breakfast at the Talents Hotel in Kitui was a fried egg, pancakes (they don't use butter or syrup here) with a pork sausage - and Cadbury's hot chocolate, instant nescafe coffee, or African tea.
George was back by 8 after getting a bushing replaced in the van requiring another early morning trip to the car repair shop in Kitui. Then we were off three blocks away to buy a new 500 litre tank 7500 KES for the Community garden to fix their fertilizer issue for the drip irrigation system (not wanting to add fertilizer to the 10,000 litre tank in place at the Community Garden). This tank just fit into the back of the van so we didn't have to worry about how to get it out to Kyaithani and the cost that would be incurred to do this. It was another dusty ride out to Kyaithani - it takes a good 60 minutes each way between Kitui and Kyaithani along dusty unpaved roads - the bushes along the roadside are all red from the dust covering them, and all the people walking along the road (and there are many of them) hate it whenever a vehicle comes along making a huge cloud of dust that they get covered in and have to breathe.
...days activities to be added
Thursday Oct 2 - 5 Nairobi to Diani Beach, Swahili Beach Resort
Oct 2 pickup Norfolk at 1145am depart Wilson 1400 arrive Diani 1530
Oct 5 depart Diani 1600 arrive Wilson Nairobi 1730pm
It was so nice to not have to get up at any particular time this morning and we did sleep for about 6 hours. We managed a review of emails and enjoyed coffee and cookies while we waited - there's a Kenyan brand of Bourbon cookies that we get here for just 100Kes but they're not as good as Peak Frean's at home. Around 9am we headed out on foot to get money from Barclay's Bank ATM (maximum 40,000 Kes each day about $500 Cad) which we secreted away before moving away from the ATM. This was the essential task for this morning after spending all our cash while out at the village and needless to say there are no ATM's in Kyaithani or Ndandini! We walked along Kenyatta Avenue where it is lined with mature Jacaranda trees which are all in blossom at this time of the year - the amazing display of these purple flowers is stunning especially on a beautiful hot sunny morning like this morning. By the time we arrived at the tourist souvenir store that we like to visit just two blocks down from the Stanley Hotel we were sweating well so my first purchase was a new cotton bandana printed as a Kenyan flag.
Later in the day Pullman, our guide with African Horizons, told me I reminded him of the Kenyan Seven Rugby Team who all wear Kenyan bandanas! He also told us that the District Governor of Machakos recently arranged a Machakos Seven rugby tournament. Machakos is the town we drive through on our way to the village (about 100km from the turnoff to Kyaithani) and there were 20,000 folk from Nairobi who drove to the games - this was such a success of attendance that they ended up with a 12 hour traffic jam for miles in and around Machakos which has never had so many visitors at one time!
So this morning we made several purchases at our souvenir store all small items which would take little space and add little weight - no soap stone! At the BATA store I tried on beautiful bright blue Safari boots which I have been eyeing up - didn't buy them yet but they are still under consideration! On our way back to the Norfolk we bought a chocolate croissant from Nakumatt 80 Kes which we enjoyed with a coffee at the Norfolk before heading out to Wilson airport when Pullman arrived to pick us up at 1130am for the drive to Wilson - some traffic but nowhere near as bad as it can be. In all the locations where the traffic is typically backed up and stopped there are always vendors walking along the side of the vehicles selling all sorts of things: music CD's, flags, maps, potato chips, sunglasses, newspapers, drinks, fresh fruit - you name it, and occasionally someone begging for money.
Arriving at SAFARI LINK at Wilson we checked in and had too much weight in our luggage - maximum allowed 15kg each. We expected that so took out our spare bag and packed items we wouldn't need such as head phones that we use on the long international flights, souvenir purchases, old computer from Sammy for possible repair and our old Ipad keyboard, old Kenyan phones and chargers, magazines, Ndandini paperwork and student letters, and managed to offload about 12kg which African Hprizons will hold for us until we return from Diani to Nairobi.
The waiting room had 15 Chinese men in it and about 8 white Europeans by the time we boarded our flight to Diani. That required us all walking back out past the security check we had come through, down the street for 100 feet, back through a door with a sign "Boarding", through security again, then on to the SAFARILINK Canadian made 37 passenger Dash8 plane with 2 pilots and 1 flight attendant. After first identifying our checked luggage which was then loaded in the baggage compartment, we could board the plane. During the 75 minute flight, after a few very bumpy minutes as we flew through some heavy clouds, we enjoyed a juice, water, and cookies or nuts.
We arrived in Diani around 3:15 pm and after picking up our luggage were greeted by Mohammad our driver who transferred us to the fabulous Swahili Beach Resort - where we would enjoy our standard room (half board bed & breakfast) for the next 3 nights. This is a fabulous resort - very spacious and gracious with friendly helpful staff always smiling and the grounds are unbelievable - large and covered in flowering trees and shrubs and hundreds of palm trees. There are sun lounges and chairs with comfortable cushions and the views are forever either over the multitude of large swimming pools, the azure water falling gently from one level to another and ultimately looking away to the breaking white water over the reef offshore on the Indian ocean. Yes - this is a wonderful place for R&R.
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| SWAHILI BEACH RESORT GLORIOUS POOL LEVEL ONE OF 6 WITH INDIAN OCEAN IN THE BACKGROUND VIEW FROM OUR BALCONY |
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| OUR ELEGANT SPACIOUS ROOM OVERLOOKING THE INDIAN OCEAN |
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| TERRY AND JOSEPHAT THE POOL BOY |
Julius, the assistant manager, welcomed us with a refreshing lemon Kenyan Dawa (virgin) drink then we were shown to our room #48 very close to the central facilities, on the top 3rd floor with a balcony looking over the pool and grounds to the Indian ocean. A huge room with king size bed covered in flower petals. The bath room is even larger with shower, tub in the concrete floor, bidet, toilet and double sinks - soft white cotton bathrobes and slippers as well. Needless to say with the heat and humidity here at the Coast the room is air conditioned which runs when you are in the room with your key in the power slot. There is also a mini bar and safe for valuables, and a large flat screen TV on the wall so you can catch up with the current news while lying in bed.
We soon had our filthy laundry in a bag, and had changed into shorts to wander the grounds to take photos and become even more enamoured with the property as we headed down the multi level grounds to the beach area and the Zanzibar Teppanyaki restaurant and the Baharini Italian food restaurant with its wood fired pizza oven along with a wonderful beach bar amongst many palm trees, your feet in the sand and sitting on really comfortable cushioned chairs, where Joseck served us ice cold Bombay Sapphire G & T along with vegetarian samosas. Here on the Coast there is a huge percentage of the population who are muslims and of East Indian heritage brought over here by the British when the railway was built from Mombasa to Nairobi. As Mohammad told us, most of the large businesses and companies are owned by East Indians.
The Swahili Beach Resort faces East so we managed to cool down as we enjoyed ours sundowners looking over the beach and Indian Ocean before heading back to change for dinner which was in the large and airy Majilis Buffet Restaurant. We enjoyed an ice cold bottle of Butterfly Ridge sauvignon blanc from Australia with a wonderful dinner - even though the Majilis is buffet for breakfast and dinner, there are several different food stations and the food is prepared fresh - so I had penne pasta arriabata with fresh prawns! Terry enjoyed octopus and calamari - so good! The cheeses were so fresh and the brie was amazing, followed by fresh fruit and hot cashew nut chocolate cake of some sort with a vanilla custard. So after dinner we eventually collapsed into bed around 930pm after a wonderful travel day from Nairobi with lots of time to enjoy the Swahili Beach resort after our 75 minute flight from Wilson airport to Diani beach on the Coast. But as we always say every time you change locations it takes a good day - we had left the Fairmont at 1130am and arrived at the Swahili Beach at 330pm and into our room by 4pm - so even that short flight domestically within Kenya took a minimum of 7 hours when you include time to pack and unpack your bags.
FRIDAY Oct 3, 2014 - Friday morning already? We slept well although still awake for some time during the night and whenever the power goes on and off we wake up as the computers that we have charging ding at us and the screen flashes on - we need to get them powered up then turned off before we go to sleep but even that seems like an impossible job most nights when we just crash!! The sun was already up and very hot on the balcony with lots of cloud in the sky which all disappeared as the sun rose higher in the sky.
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| KAHAWA COFFE SHOP SHOWING ARABIC INFLUENCE HERE ON THE EAST COAST SOUTH OF MOMBASA |
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| VERVET MONKEY EATING THE FLOWERS ON THE VINES WHILE WE EAT BREAKFAST AT THE MAJILIS RESTAURANT |
We answered emails and enjoyed a coffee in the room catching up with the news and made it to breakfast in the Majlis buffet restaurant by 9am where we enjoyed wonderful fresh paw paw, mango yoghurt, warm chocolate croissant, paper thin french crepe with cinnamon sugar and maple syrup and for those who wished there was also eggs and omelettes to order, many kinds of juice, bread, muffins and donuts, pork sausage, baked beans, porridge, and at the table wonderful freshly pressed Kenyan coffee served by Joseck who also served us last night at the Baharino Beach bar.
Afterwards we checked out the 3 Swahili Beach stores but window shopping only, then after ensuring our laundry was picked up (it has been in the room since 4pm yesterday with a sign on our door saying laundry ready to pick up ) changed into swimsuits and down to the pool for a swim and some time to lie in the shade which is where at 230pm I'm currently writing this blog! The vistas and views across these many pools all different sizes, shapes, and levels are so beautiful we even spent time carefully moving around and across the walls between the pools with my camera (and a zip lock plastic bag) to catch the different perspectives. We were careful about using sun screen and more than happy to sit under the shade of the palm trees (later Terry discovered all the places where he had not been careful enough- as usual!!).
The flowering shrubs include flowers I don't know but also plumeria, and a glorious bougainvillea which must have a triple or quadruple flower! While siting around the pool Terry was busy with his budget for repairing the fence at the well site and corresponding with Kimli, Ann and Eliud, and I checked with Mohammed the cost for a private car to go North along the Coast to Malindi for the day about 100km North including the town of Gedi an old historical city ruins. That was $200USD but at this point we think we'll just hang out here at the resort and not take the day tomorrow to do that.
Right now we're relaxing close to the Baobab Pool Bar where we waited until after 3pm before we ordered a refreshing single Bombay Sapphire G&T which we thoroughly enjoyed. The sky had clouded in but it was comfortably warm. A group of Kenyans came down to enjoy the pool and swim-up bar - the same group 0f 90 from Kenya, Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania that we had seen yesterday afternoon - apparently a Peat Marwick Conference. Julius had mentioned yesterday that they don't normally have conferences at the Swahili Beach Resort - I suspect that business has been so low recently due to terrorist events a few months ago up near Malindi that these hotels are glad to take any business. We did hear that several hotels have closed and that maybe 50% of the locals have lost their employment since it is related to the tourist industry directly or indirectly.
Sunday Oct 5 House of Waine, Nairobi CHELI & PEACOCK FAM TRIP (Sylvia)
Anza Antoinette, Stephanie Lanson, Pamela Bell, Mette Skovgaard
Monday Oct 6, 014 TORTILLIS Camp, Amboseli
0900am East Africa Air Charters Wilson Airport Nairobi to AMBOSELI
Tuesday Oct 7, 2014 Elsa's Kopje
1000am East Africa Air Charters Amboseli to Meru
Wednesday Oct 8, 2014 Joy's Camp
0900am East Africa Air Charters Meru to Chaffa
Thursday Oct 9, 2014 Joy's Camp
Friday Oct 10, 2014 Kitich Camp
1000am East Africa Air Charters Chaffa to Kitich
SATURDAY Oct 11, 2014 Lewa Safari Camp
1000am East Africa Air Charters Kitich to Lewa
SUNDAY Oct 12, 2014 Elephant Pepper Camp
1000am East Africa Air Charters Lewa to Mara North
Monday Oct 13, 2014 CANADIAN THANKSGIVING Cotter's Camp
1000am East Africa Air Charters Mara North to Keekorok
Tuesday Oct 14, 2014 to NAIROBI
1000am East Africa Air Charters Keekorok to Wilson, Nairobi
Lunch with Cheli & Peacock
Day room Ole Sereni Hotel transfer to airport at 1930pm
depart Kenyatta for Amsterdam at 2225pm
Wednesday Oct 15, 2014
arrive Amsterdam at
depart Amsterdam arrive Vancouver
