Dream, Plan, Travel, Repeat.

I know it’s been awhile since my last post- sorry! I want to keep up the posting momentum I had in India, but internet access is a little more expensive and a little less reliable here. Still, I hate writing notes with a pen (I get hand cramps, I can type my thoughts much faster, etc.) so — unless I want to forget all of these wonderful experiences– I’ll have to try to get myself to cyber cafes to write in my blog as often as possible!

I’ve been in Kenya for about a week, and have had a great time so far. On the first night, I headed straight for Carnivore, a very popular and luxurious nyama choma (roasted meat) restaurant that is known for the massive size of its fixed menu and exotic delicacies. Like my favorite Brazilian churrascaria, Fogo de Chao, Carnivore’s waiters offer you a wide variety of meats until you lay down your table’s flag in defeat, groaning at the sight of your swollen stomach. Due to some recent legislation from Kenya’s Parliament, Carnivore can no longer offer crazy choices like zebra, but I still was able to try ostrich and crocodile. (Sadly, they weren’t serving camel that day.) Like I mentioned in an earlier post, the ostrich was pretty delicious, but the crocodile was disgusting– it tasted (as my Lonely Planet guide also warned me) just like a fishy chicken. (Shudder.)

For the next couple of days, I wandered aimlessly around Nairobi, checking out local shops, a nice park, Kenya’s Parliament and High Court buildings, and looking out on the city and its surroundings on top of a 27-story (I think) conference center. The city is really the most interesting of the five African capitals I’ve visited, and I feel that its a shame that so many people usually view the city as a mere transport hub to other destinations.

During those days, I also went to several safari companies to research their services. I found a nice package to Lake Turkana, a “Jade Sea” amid the weird desert and volcanic landscape of northern Kenya, but the next group isn’t scheduled to depart for several weeks, so I’ll probably hang around Kenya’s coast until then. (A traveler’s tip: book your safari on arrival! I have to wait a bit because of my desire to go to a fairly unusual location, but trips to famous parks like Masaai Mara depart every day. The trip you book in Kenya will probably be much cheaper– I’ve heard that online bookings can cost 2-3 times as much– and dependable, given that you’ll discuss all the trip’s details in person. Just avoid the street touts who want to take you to their operator so they can get a huge commission!)

All of that is nice, you say, but you’re in East Africa– haven’t you seen any animals yet??? Ok, let’s talk about animals.

Once I started to get a feel for Nairobi, I decided to work my way into the surrounding areas, including one leafy ex-pat community called Langata. There is a center in Langata where you can handfeed giraffes from a high wooden platform and, since giraffes are my all-time favorite animals, you can guess that I had a blast. And, a lesson learned: giraffes have very slobbery, long purple tongues.

Next to the giraffe center is a “bird sanctuary” that was seemingly birdless but still ended up being wonderful because of a big surprise. At the beginning of the sanctuary, there is a sign that says that on your self-guided walk through the semi-wilderness you may come across birds and small mammals. What it doesn’t say is that you may meet a lone giraffe that is at least 3 times as tall as you as you’re walking down a path. Craziness! I was a little thrilled, a little terrified. You don’t really know how big a giraffe is until it’s only a couple of feet away from you.

The next day, I went to the Nairobi National Park, a huge area of savanna and forest just outside of the city that is home to tons of animals. It’s also –to the best of my knowledge– the only national park in Kenya that has a relatively cheap park shuttlebus for independent travelers. (Damn the monopoly of overpriced safari operators!) On the 2 1/2 hour ride through the park, I saw ostriches, giraffes, warthogs, cool black-and-white spotted birds with blue and red heads (as you can tell, I can’t remember their names), buffalo, baboons, and lots and lots of antelope-like creatures that all went by different names but, honestly, looked like the same thing to me. (Does that sound insensitive?)

But it gets better. Two days ago, on a bus ride to Mombasa, I saw a herd of zebras grazing along the side of the road. (!!!) That was very exciting. Classic East Africa.

More from Mombasa — or whatever small town I end up at in the next couple of days– later!

My life has been full of so many noteworthy experiences over the last few days that I don’t even know where to begin.

…

Let’s start with this: I’m writing from an internet café in downtown Nairobi.

I’m been in Nairobi since yesterday afternoon. I was supposed to arrive a day earlier, but my flight from Mumbai was delayed for many, many hours.

But I shouldn’t get ahead of myself. Earlier on June 4, I went to Ethiopian Airlines’ website to re-confirm my seat and discovered that the airline had cancelled my ticket for no apparent reason. Great.

Having solved that problem after a series of expensive phone calls to the US, Ethiopia, and northern India, Matteo and I decided to stay awake and go to a late-night movie near the airport before our 5:50AM flight instead of spending money on a hotel room. Once we arrived at the airport around 3AM, we found that we would be departing at 10:50AM instead.

After reaching the runway around 11AM, the pilot announced that a mechanical problem had been discovered. That’s definitely something you want to hear before take-off. So we spent another 3 hours waiting for the problem to be fixed.

Then, just as it appeared that we were finally ready to leave—we were moving toward the runway, the flight attendants were buckling into their seats—there was a bigger problem. The man that I had sat next to on the plane had left his seat and was nowhere to be found. Despite all of my travels over the years, I’m not a particularly calm flyer and – filled with fears about the mysterious mechanical error and (rational or irrational?) terrorism— his absence was really upsetting. So Matteo and I told a flight attendant who, along with others, searched the plane. We finally found that he had moved to another seat in another section of the plane to be with a friend. Sigh. Just one more delay in a night (and day) of delays.

So, leaving India was a little difficult.

One more point about the flight: For the first time in my flying career, I was on a plane where passengers had no concern for standard airplane rules. The poor flight attendants—who, like the rest of us, were already exhausted from the long delays—spent most of the trip re-directing people back to their seats who refused to sit down whenever the pilot put the seatbelt light on, including during take-off and landing. After the third person or so, it became quite amusing to watch.

Things got much better once we landed in Ethiopia. Because of the delay, most passengers missed their connecting flights. So, in an exciting twist to my round-the-world travels, I was provided a great hotel room in Addis Ababa for one night. Besides being thrilled about having a new set of visa stamps in my passport (it’s my quirk), I was happy to see a bit of a city that I had heard so much about from Ethiopians in LA and DC. I also became friends with the hotel clerks after declaring my long-time love for Ethiopian food, so the staff served Matteo and I some special dishes and injera in addition to the standard Euro-Indian buffet that they provided to the other passengers. I guess that when you have nowhere to be, delays can be a good thing.

Then, yesterday, I finally landed in Nairobi. I’ll write about the city when I have more time, but I’ll leave you with this tidbits: Within 12 hours of my arrival, I sampled both ostrich (good) and crocodile (god-awful). With such a great beginning, I’m sure many more African adventures await.