African Adventure
When we started our adventure, we began in London where we were to pick up our tickets for Kenyan Airways. We looked for the address of the travel agent and were surprised to find the office down a small alley near Piccadilly Circus. As we climbed up the three flights of stairs, we felt a bit concerned. The office was a tad seedy. However, the flight arrangements that we had made earlier in the US weeks in advance, turned out to be just fine. It was an actual travel agency and we got a very good price on the airline tickets.
We landed in Nairobi after a long flight of ten hours. We took a cab to the car rental agency and picked up our VW bus. We then stocked up on supplies for the camping part of our trip. After that, we checked into hotel at the animal park that was close to Nairobi.
When we first got to the hotel, we each took the antibiotics that had been recommended to prevent various tropical illnesses such as Malaria and parasites. We had already gone through the multiple immunizations for bubonic plague, yellow fever, and smallpox before we left the US.
We were leaving nothing to chance as we did not want to spoil our trip with amoebic dysentery or some other exotic illness. So, being cautious people, we swallowed the big blue pills. One minute later, we both threw up. So much for the medication keeping us from getting sick.
Later that evening, after we were feeling better, we had a wonderful dinner at the lodge. We were then escorted back to our hut by an armed guard carrying a spear. He told us that he was protecting us from the leopard and lions that frequently wandered into the hotel lobby. We thought that was pretty exciting, as so far, we had not seen any African wildlife. However, I did not feel that a spear was much of a weapon against a lion or leopard.
The next day, we drove to Samburu where we stayed at another lodge. I thought the monkeys were so cute coming into the lodge dining area until they started to grab our food. Then, the waiters started yelling at the monkeys and chasing them out of the dining area. I realized that the monkeys were rascally little critters who were very good at stealing food.
We went out to our VW bus to tour the park. To our shock, our bus had been broken into by a raucous bunch of baboons. They were having a great time eating our food supplies and ripping out the rubber seal on the sliding car door. We yelled at them and jumped up and down waving our arms. This had the affect of causing them to pause, look up at us and then continue to eat our food. We got some help from the park guards who charged the baboons and forced them out of our bus. So our first wildlife encounter was a bit messy. After that, we were cautious about leaving the door unlocked. Who knew that baboons could open car doors?
