Day 29 - Kwaheri Kenya, Namaste India...

An eventful weekend for us... after making our way back from Mombasa on the train on Thursday night (after a 5 hour delay leaving, it took 17 hours to get to Nairobi but the scenery was wonderful and we had a luxury 1st class carriage to lounge in (ok, so they didn't have an lights at night but you can't expect everything)) - we checked into a nice place near the jevanjee gardens and crashed out.

Saturday we planned to go to Nakuru but the journey was too long and we wouldn't have got there until 3pm so we decided to go half way and go to lake naivasha instead. It's funny but you get used to thrashing through the crowds at the bus station and we managed to get on a matatu heading for naivasha after about 45 mins. That was where the good news ended...firstly we were stopped by the traffic police after 10 minutes and there was lots of gnashing of teeth from the other passengers after we'd been there for 30 minutes and we found out the driver didn't have the requisite licence to drive along the naivasha route - I think they charged him and he'll be going to court pretty soon. Luckily, we were allowed to drive on..until we got stopped by another police check - no problems this time (I guess they didn't have the heart to charge him twice in the same hour). Off we rocked... until we got a flat tyre. Could not believe it...our 1 hour journey had already taken us 2 and the nakuru bus passed us at one point I think. Then we found the jack couldn't lift up the bus properly so there were 5 of us (all the men of course, the ladies were snoozing at the side of the road) trying to rock the bus from side to side as the driver tried to get the jack into place. It was quite funny but the traffic speeding past us abuot a foot away kept us on out toes. Long story short we got the wheel on, headed off and enjoyed some spectacular views of the rift valley as we descended into naivasha.

Emma remembered a campsite she had stayed at previously (Fisherman's) and we went there to look for a hut for the night. We ended up staying in a little palm banda with a corrugated tin roof - basic, but so were we. We'd only brought our silks to sleep in (it's always hot in Africa isn't it?) and were shivering from the cold at about 2am the following morning. Coupled with the hordes of resident moths, spiders and other beasties of dubious reputation we didn't get a good night's sleep but were rewarded with some fantastic early morning views over the lake and a slap-up breakfast (which, incidentally, we have nearly every day!).

After a trot along the highway and having said 'jambo' another 50,000 times (that must make over a million hellos since we arrived) - we visited the Elsamere conservation centre and learned all about Joy Adamson and Elsa the lion (as well as the less well known Pippa the cheetah). Had a relaxing cup of tea on the lawns (and scoffed a few biscuits), bought some nicknacks and got back to nairobi the same way in time for our dinner date at....Carnivore!

I was very much looking forward to sampling the ostrich meat balls and chicken gizzards (I still don't know what they are but they're not nice) but Em was less enthusiastic about the meat-centric nature of the restaurant. Thankfully, the vegetarian option was available (anything from the menu as long as it's meat) and Em was happy. The place was truly amazing and obviously a big tourist hangout given the number of wazungu there. Still, I ate till I felt ready to burst and the restaurant cat that had looked as though it would make a tasty pudding escaped unharmed in the end. A great way to end our time in Africa.

We fly out to Delhi via Dubai tonight and begin the second part of the adventure.

Emma will be taking over the blog handling from here on so I apologise in advance for that.

See you all in India.

Kwaheri na asante sana. :)