2014 July 23-26 - Days 1-4 Getting to Nairobi and our first full day in Kenya

We left home on the afternoon of July 23, Marsha's birthday, and drove to St. Louis. We stayed the night in a Park-and-Fly hotel and took the hotel shuttle to catch our flight to JFK Airport in New York at about 10:15am. To make a long story short, it was 2 1/2 hours to JFK, a six hour layover there before our 6 1/2 hour flight to Amsterdam. Only about 1 1/2 hours there before catching our 7 1/2 hour flight to Nairobi, where we landed at 8:30pm on Friday, July 25, eight hours ahead of Illinois time.

After getting our luggage and breezing thru customs (maybe we missed it) a forty minute ride got us to the Safari Park Hotel and Casino where we checked into room 612. We had no towels and the "safe box" battery was low, so we had to call the hotel management and wait an hour or so for the "electrician" to change the batteries in the safe box and housekeeping to bring towels before we went back to the lobby to take some pictures before turning in at about 12:45am.

We were up at 7:00, had a great breakfast, and were picked up by a driver who would take us for the hour-long drive to The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust where they raise orphaned elephants, and sometimes rhinos, and release them back into the wild. At the orphanage, we saw 21 elephants from the age of a few months up to four years. The four-year-olds are ready to begin the process of being released into the wild, which can take from five to ten years. The keepers release them into the adjacent Nairobi National Park each day to expose them to the wild herds. Each night they come back into the orphanage for food and shelter. Only after they refuse to come back into the orphanage do the keepers know that they have been accepted into a wild herd.

On the way back to the hotel, the driver stopped at a few places where we didn't want to go, but he probably gets a cut of anything we spend at the shops. We didn't buy a thing! He took us to Tamambo, the Karen Blixen Coffee Garden. Karen Blixen wrote the book "Out of Africa."

We also stopped at the Galleria Mall, where terrorists killed 62 (I think) people last year. We were looking for a replacement for the luggage tag that was missing from my checked bag when we arrived in Nairobi, but couldn't find one! Ever had your car searched and your body scanned with a wand when you entered a shopping mall? We have!

When we finally got back to the hotel at 3:45, we went to the Hemingway Lounge, above the lobby, to taste some Tusker, the best beer Kenya has to offer. Not bad. I actually had two! According to our waiter, Earnest Hemingway stayed here quite often, so they named the lounge after him.
Now, were back in the room for a rest before going to the Nyama Choma Ranch, an African restaurant here at the hotel, to see the dancers put on their nightly show at 9:00. More later.

Well, we went to see the dancers and planned to get a "light" dinner. The menu was on a board at the entrance to the restaurant, with the heavy accents of the waiters and the loud music, we didn't understand the explanation of the dinner protocol. You will se a picture of the menu. We thought we would just have the chicken wings, to realizing that we had no choice.

We sat at a table and were served soup, salad, and a sizzling cast iron plate. Very soon, the server started bringing skewers of meat and cutting or sliding pieces off onto our plate. Pretty soon, we had EVERY meat on the menu on our plate. It was delicious, especially the crocodile. The desserts were good, too.

So much for a light dinner. After getting lost on the grounds, we got back to our room at 10:30 and quickly fell asleep. We have to meet our tour guide at 7:30 in the morning, so it will be an early day.