Tuesday, 20 July: Leave Nairobi for Tsavo National Park

Helen and I are in Anthony's van today for the drive to Tsavo National Park. It takes a while to get out of Nairobi, but except for the constantly belching diesel fumes, it's not bad for a city. There is lots of greenery and more pedestrians than I've ever seen anywhere, most of them wearing bright colours, some in patterns that would do Mod-era Barbie proud. Newspaper sellers stand in the middle of the road just like the ones do in London selling the Evening Standard on The Highway in Limehouse. These ones are much more pushy though, and sell an array of magazines, such as The Economist, as well.

Speaking of papers, I'm reading Anthony's copy of The Nation, and it's fascinating. The news writing is a bit on the dry side though not as bad as many American papers, and the slant seems to lean comfortingly toward the left. But it's the obituaries that grab me. Every single one comprises a photograph, a flowery quote or poem, a narrative in the style you'd find in a famous person's obit, and long lists of survivors, sometimes including multiple wives or co-wives.

We pass Ralph Bunche Road; I spent half my life at UCLA in Bunche Hall but I have no idea what he did or what connection he has to Nairobi! Perhaps I should look him up. The petrol stations all sell kerosene. Most of the billboards advertise mobile phones, but here's one for clothes. It shows a model in jeans and says: "Woolworths: The Difference!" They're also all in English, till I see one for condoms - that one's in Swahili.

We pass some flats that are similar to housing association flats in England, and later pass an area labelled "Blue Sky Estate". Good thing the sky is blue cause there's trash all over the ground! It's still not any worse than a UK council estate; we're not going that near to the real slums on the outskirts of Nairobi, the ones no one ever talks about.

Once we're out of Nairobi we pass through various villages and I enjoy looking at the signs. "Phoenix Supermarket - The Original Taste of a Supermarket. Thank you, we love you, come again!" "New York Shop and Dressmaking" (there are countless businesses named after places in America; New York, Hollywood, Texas and Miami being the most popular.), "New York Bar", "Woodlinks Coffin Parlour".

There are loads of hotels (some are merely drinking establishments but others do offer lodging), usually in the same building as a butcher (one's called the Butchery Hotel, which sounds like a 70s slasher flick.) I wonder if it's BYOG (Bring Your Own Goat). Another butcher is also a vet. Hmmm, wouldn't want to take my dog there!



Most villages have a mosque, and what wonderful buildings!! I'm not even sure if I managed to get even one photo, as we were usually zooming past, and no one in the van seems interested in architecture but me. But these are Googie-style mosques - they make St. Basil's Cathedral seem drab! Ultra-bright dayglo blue and green with loads of curly-Qs and geegaws. What Disneyland would look like if I'd been in charge.

The road signs look familiar:



We're starting to see a lot of Masai walking their cattle along the road, others riding bicycles, holding their blankets clear of the wheels. Masai cattle have humps like a camel, so they don't have to drink as often presumably. Masai also keep goats, donkeys and dogs, but they never got into horses.

We pass two overturned trucks, one burnt out. A troop of baboons play nearby.

And lots more birds, including what I later identify as a Somali Bee-eater, sitting alone on a telephone wire, and a group of mousebirds (with long long - Im talking ten inches! - tails), who flew in formation right past our windscreen (shield).

Suddenly it's all different as we've entered Tsavo National Park. We're on a red dirt road. Tsavo is Kenya's largest national park; we're in the western bit which gets a lot more visitors than Tsavo East, but still, it is one of the least visited national parks. I'm not complaining - it was really nice to drive for half an hour in complete wilderness and not see another vehicle. One reason it's not on the main tourist safari trail is that the terrain is nearly all bush, ultra thick foliage, so it's hard to see animals. But Anthony is an expert spotter. We arrive at the lodge half an hour after the others because Anthony had stopped to show us a secretary bird and several other critters. There have been a lot of natural fires and some of the foliage looks like this:

(The ghostly looking creatures there are impalas.)

And what a lodge - the Kilaguni Serena Hotel is built around a big group of waterholes. As I walk in the main lobby and look out, it seems surreal.



It brings to mind the famous elephant tableau from the New York Natural History Museum, but these animals are moving! The restaurant and bar as well as the balconies of each room all overlook the waterholes and there is always a flurry of activity. As we have lunch, buffalo and zebra are wallowing, a large baboon troop are playing on the rocks, and Van Der Decker hornbills hop around on our table (the restaurant is open air), trying to steal from our bread basket:


Before we leave for the afternoon game drive another herd of elephants arrives at the waterhole and kick all the buffalo out.

We see more elephants on the game drive as well as Syke's monkeys, dik diks (always in pairs), waterbucks and baboons. As I said, it's difficult to spot animals in the distance or many at once because of the thick foliage, but around every corner there they are, in your face!

We get out at Mzima Springs, where we are lead on a jungle walk, with monkeys leaping about on all sides, down to a hippo pool. Here is a photo of the sign warning visitors of possible gruesome death and dismemberment:

Hippos are responsible for more human deaths than any other animal in Africa. Our guide carries a rifle but tells us not to worry; the hippos don't come ashore until at least 6 PM. It's only 5:30. There is an underwater viewing chamber and the Lonely Planet guide says you never see anything but the primeval-looking fish. This is true, the hippos seem to know to stay away from the window, and with all their excretion (hippos only defecate in water), the water is pretty murky!

There's a smiley wily crocodile lying with its mouth open under a small waterfall, waiting for fish to fall right in.

Back at the lodge at dinner, the elephants and buffalo are still squabbling and we see hyenas, jackals, mongooses and a genet, sitting on a nearby post. Next thing we know Gennie the genet is sitting on the wall, and then she's at our table; she'd like to steal the meat off my plate but I don't have any! (There is a wide selection of vegetarian food at all the lodges.) (Oh, nature lesson for those who need it: a genet looks very much like a spotted wild cat with a pointy nose (and a ringed tail), but they are not cats; related to meerkats, civets, etc.)

I didn't have my camera and flash at hand when she was traipsing across the table, so here is the only photo I have of Genie, looking a bit Tasmanian devilike:



I spend some time after dinner watching a yellow house bat. Every few minutes it leaves its perch, chows down on a few moths then rehangs. Someone tells me there's a tree in the grounds on the other side covered in hundreds of bats, presumably fruit bats. For some reason I don't rush out; I'm too into watching the yellow bat and hanging with Gennie (she's watching him too). Then, when I venture out on my own, I can't locate the tree. It's meant to be by the swimming pool, but I haven't seen the swimming pool, and the grounds are extensive.

Helen crashed before we returned from the game drive and missed dinner. She continues to sleep through the night for once. I've booked, as you may, a wake-up call, if a leopard or lion visits the water hole during the night. No knock comes on our door, but I wake up to the sound effects of my childhood re-occurring nightmare, inspired by Gumby and that episode when the robots tear up the house. I go out to the balcony and watch the elephants uprooting trees, throwing them about. It takes a long time to go back to sleep, and I'm woken a few more times, but I don't really mind.