Kenya Day One

As I mentioned it was very late when we arrived in the Norfolk. We were to leave at 0800 and had to organize our bags so we awoke at 0630 and were down for breakfast by 0700. It was apparent that we were back in the British Empire. We ate outside on the open air verranda. The posts were painted white and there were ceiling fans circulating the morning air. The breakfast buffet had the usual assortment of fried food one has been accustomed to, travelling in the Empire.

Our driver met us a 0800 and we headed out through the early morning Nairobi traffic. Nairobi is undergoing a major road building project that makes the Quesnel Bridge look like a pothole repair and we had to skirt around that. Fortunately most people were heading into Nairobi. Nairobi is sprawling and it seemed to take about an hour before we were in the country. Farmland began to surround us with bananas, pineapples and corn seeming the most popular.

After an hour and a half, our driver, Peter announced the first break to "stretch our legs". We were introduced to the first carving shop. After going to the bathrooms in the back we came out into a largish room filled with carvings of various sizes, species and woods. It was our first day, we really didn't fancy hauling anything around. This didn't stop a man from following us around extolling the qualities of the carvings and the excellent deals we could expect. Our driver finally rescued as.

We proceded on further and the land became more arid grassland, strangely like around Calgary. We had one more carving stop where the proprietor was even more annoying and agressive than the one before. We continued on climbing higher and higher. The land seemed to be grassland and we wondered what the land surrounding our hotel would be. Finally we went through a gate towards the Mount Kenya Safari Club.

From kenya 2011

This was another "died and gone to Heaven" experience. The MKSC is a classic hotel. Heads of animals adorned the walls. It overlooked manicured lawns patrolled by different species of birds. There were photos of all the celebrities who had stayed there including Ernest Hemingway, Bogart and William Holden who actually lived there. Looking towards Mt. Kenya the foothills were densely forested, very different from the grasslands we had just passed through.

From kenya 2011

We of course had arrived in time for lunch which we ate on the verranda washed down with a beer. There were all kinds of activities available to us we were told, however in such a beautiful location, why would you want to do anything except hang out, which is what we did all afternoon and into the evening.

From kenya 2011