Summer, 1998

Our adventure began with my departure from Logan airport in Boston the evening of July 28. My flights went smoothly, and I arrived in Nairobi's Kenyatta airport at around 10:30 p.m. on the 29th. A representative of Utc, the tour company, met me, whisked me through customs, and took me to a car waiting to take me to my hotel. Stephanie was due to arrive the following morning. When the tour company's agent met her plane, she wasn't on it (glitch #1). Stephanie had forgotten to confirm her flight from Conakry (lesson #1: always confirm flights 72 hours in advance in Africa). She was rerouted on an exhausting itinerary which took her to about 3 countries, with an overnight stay in the Cote d'Ivoire. All this time, she wasn't sure whether or not I or the tour company had gotten messages from her, telling us that she would arrive one day late (we did). (Stephanie's #1 panicked phone call to dad).

The afternoon of Stephanie's arrival, we had a day trip to Karen Blixen's house (of Out of Africa fame). They really milked the connection to the movie - it reminded me of an earlier trip this summer when I went to Squam Lake in New Hampshire and we were "On Golden Pond"ed to death. As we gazed out the window of Blixen's house, Steph told me that when she saw that movie, she wanted to go to Africa (so that was it - all because of Meryl Streep and Robert Redford . . .). Anyway, she ended up in West Africa, not East Africa. We could see why Blixen loved it there, though. It was beautiful country. We then visited a giraffe center - kind of an educational organization, with viewing platforms where Rothschild giraffes would come up and eat out of your hand. There were some pretty ugly warthogs hanging around there, too.

The next day we embarked upon our 6-day circuit to the northwest and west of Nairobi. First we met our driver, Francis, a quiet sort who knew his stuff and transported us to wonderful places, but never said much about them. Then our fellow travelers: a couple from New Zealand, who were on their 2nd trip around the world, and another couple from Peru. They were all very pleasant and good companions for us. That afternoon we were taken to the Outspan Hotel for lunch. It was a sumptuous buffet, one of many we would have over the next few days. We strolled around the grounds, once home of Lord Baden-Powell, for those scouters among you (Boy Scouts could get a free tour), then were taken to the famous Treetops in the Aberdares for dinner and overnight. The structure is set on stilts, and wildlife comes right up to it to visit a waterhole nearby. Steph and I had settled down for an afternoon nap when I heard something outside. I peeked outside our window, and there were elephants! Of course, we couldn't sleep after that. People had been telling us not to figure on getting any sleep at Treetops. Each room has a buzzer (which you can unset if you want) that goes off if wildlife shows up during the night. We unfortunately had a good sleep . . .

The next day (after a huge breakfast at Outspan) we were off to Lake Nakuru Lodge. It was a long drive, but it was so interesting. It was Sunday, and there were hordes of people walking along the road to church. We also saw Masai tending their cattle by the road. Along the way we saw our first zebras. We were so excited, and wanted our driver to stop, but he pushed on to the lodge, where we ate well again, at a beautiful site overlooking fields of zebras, baboons, and gazelles. Then we were off on our game drive. We could now understand why Francis didn't stop before. We saw zebras, lions, rhinos, flamingoes, pelicans, gazelles, waterbuck, impala, bushbucks, water buffalo, baboons, and warthogs. We got such a kick out of the animals, especially the lions, seeming so blase about all these vans full of people watching them. They would just kind of gaze at us and look bored. It was sometimes hard to believe these were wild animals. If an animal looked at us and started moving in our direction, Francis moved right along, though. One male lion we saw several hundred yards away, was lying there looking at us, then got up and flopped over on his back like a big kitty! We saw the back end of a leopard crossing the road (only glimpse of a leopard we got on the whole trip). We kept trying to find a cheetah, but never did. We saw a group of 3 rhinos up quite close - we drove off, and as we looked back we could see their 3 rear ends swishing back and forth as they lumbered down the road. The countryside and the lake and marshlands were lovely in the evening light as we headed back home.

The next morning we headed off again. On the way, we stopped (for a price) at a Masai village. It was pretty interesting, but they did pester us to buy things and to pay them for every little favor. On to Lake Naivasha Country Club, our next luxurious accommodation. Steph and I rented bikes for a tool down the road. It was the first time we'd been able to just go off by ourselves, and it was fun to just see the African countryside in the open air instead of from a van. The Kenyans are very physically attractive people: tall, lithe, graceful. They also seem very confident in themselves, and peaceful. After another lunch (can you figure how many pounds I put on?), we went on a boat ride on Lake Naivasha - saw lots of hippos (don't say it!), and many birds: fish eagles, ibex, kingfisher, terns, cormorants, and more. We weren't allowed to walk around outside after dusk for fear of hippos or other critters.

The next morning we drove across the Rift Valley to the Masai Mara Game Reserve and checked in to the Keekorok Lodge. This is a beautiful lodge, where we ate, then lounged by the pool before our afternoon game drive, the best of the whole trip. We saw so much: many lions, including a family by a waterhole; hundreds, maybe thousands, of wildebeest on their migration, with zebras along for the trip; all the other animals we'd seen before, plus jackals, and topi. We of course took many pictures, but also just enjoyed looking at and listening to all these animals. It seemed so unreal at times that we were actually seeing them, so close up! The sounds were not loud, often just a swishing in the grass, or wildebeests' hooves gently thudding across the road. We never tired of looking at zebras, with their beautiful markings, all different. The other part that I try to remember in my mind's eye is the movement of the animals. The elephants and giraffes, especially, are so graceful and quiet, and seem to impart a feeling of peace and calm. It makes me feel relaxed just to think of them, moving along at their giant pace.

That night after dinner, there was a performance by Masai dancers. It was pretty good, and seemed more authentic than the performances we'd seen at the other lodges. The young Masai man who'd promoted it at our table (in full regalia, with all the jewelry, the ear all looped like they are) was very nice. He chatted with us and surprised us by knowing all the landmarks around New Hampshire, having visited here doing educational presentations about the Masai culture, and gone to school at Cambridge. He gave an excellent talk before the dance. We crashed, exhausted after our day, knowing we had to get up at 6 a.m. for the next game drive.

When we got back from that game drive, Stephanie realized she had lost her purse. Eventually she figured out that, the night before, she'd left the purse on her chair in the dining room before the Masai dance. (glitch #2). And, lesson #2: keep your purse on your body at all times, especially in 3rd world countries. And, dad's phone call #2: Dad, can you cancel my credit cards, and I've lost my money, my passport, my Peace Corps ID, visas, immunization card.

Then followed an exhausting run of discussions, with hotel manager (not very helpful) 4 different police stations (very kind and helpful), all the nice waiters (who hadn't seen the purse . . .) frantic searches for the purse. And, calls to the Peace Corps in Guinea and Utc. In the meantime, we took another game drive, and conked out that night, ready to get up in the morning and leave for Nairobi.

This is Wednesday, August 5. I've been in Africa for exactly one week.

We arrived at the Landmark Hotel in Nairobi at about 1 p.m., after several trying visits to police stations on the way. Our fellow travelers were very patient and kind through all these tribulations. We immediately contacted Peace Corps Nairobi (Kevin), who told us to get photos for Steph's new passport. We did, at the shopping center across from the hotel. When we showed them to Kevin, he said they were no good, and told us where we should go to get ones that were acceptable (2" with your whole head in it, no shoulders). He gave us papers that Peace Corps Guinea had forwarded, and sent his assistant off with us to the street to tell the cab driver where to take us for the right photos. We went to that shop, and after a fairly long discussion, established that they could take the right kind of photos. Then they figured out that they had no film, and directed us to another photo shop. We ran over there (expecting our driver to arrive momentarily) and had an elaborate procedure with some "professional" photographers. Paid them an outrageous price, then found our driver again, and he drove us to the embassy. They looked at our photos and shook their heads. They were not ok. They suggested 2 other places down the street. There are long lines in the embassy, they close at 4:15, it's getting late, and we're getting a little frantic, because our plane leaves in the morning (August 7). A very kind lady at the embassy finally gives us a copy of a map of the vicinity with 2 photography establishments marked on it. By this time, Stephanie has, for the first time in all these incredibly difficult times, lost her cool. Mom takes over, for about 5 minutes, and we go out there and get photos taken at 2 different places, just in case. One of the 2 is, incredibly, right! The other one is not, and Steph refuses to pay for it. We walk out of this photo shop, not sure whether someone will come after us or not, but they don't. At 4:45, we show up at the embassy, and the guards, who know us by this time, let us through (they are careful, though, and check us every time) even though the embassy is closed, because we tell them that they are expecting us. We turn in the photos, they're accepted, and they tell us to come back in the morning at 10 a.m., when they promise to have Steph's passport ready.

In the morning, we did a little shopping, said goodbye to Jenny and Allan, our New Zealand fellow travelers, and were picked up by the Utc driver who would take us to the embassy to pick up Stephanie's passport, then to the airport. He dropped us off at just about 10:00 a.m. The guards at the parking lot wouldn't let him wait for us, so he said he'd circle around and pick us up - what time did we think we'd be ready? We said we'd try for 10:15. We went in, first seeing long lines of Kenyans outside the embassy. This was the time of the green card lottery, when they could try for a chance to get a U.S. visa. We went in and were pretty much moved to the head of the line, probably because we are white, and obviously American. When we caught the eye of the woman who had helped us the day before, she motioned us to come up to her window. Steph had thankfully filled out all the required paperwork, and the embassy employee was able to give Steph her passport. We used the rest room, and were out of there at 10:15. We went out to wait for our driver in front of the embassy. I'm not sure how long we stood out there, in front of that fence that we all saw on the news broadcasts. Probably about 5-10 minutes. Stephanie noticed our driver honking his horn and waving, from about 2 lanes of traffic over to our left. He had stopped his van in the middle of wild, rushing traffic. We ran through fast moving cars, hopped into the van, and sped to the airport. On the way, we heard a boom (what was that?, we said). When we got to the airport, we saw people clustered around TV monitors, and eventually found that the embassy had been bombed. You probably know more about what happened after that then we do, since we went directly to Guinea (via the Cote d'Ivoire) and hadn't much news after that.

Editor's note: The bomb that destroyed the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi and the building next door went off at 10:40AM local time.

The next leg of our trip was in Guinea, so that will be a separate report.