My photos

I am finally back in the land of fast internet (actually not really I have Shaw cable). I have also edited and culled my pictures.

Here are the web album. These are not in any particular order because we had two cameras and loaded them to the computer in haphazard fashion.

Home to Canada

We just got back after an epic journey.

Our day started early at Masa Mara where we left at 0730 after breakfast. I was dreading the 60 km of rough roads however we took two of the hotel staff out with us as they were going off for 10 days and they knew a more direct route that wasn't that bad and also passed through some villages. After an hour we hit the highway and proceeded east to Nairobi, stopping the drop off the staff and also for a trip to the carving shop where we actually bought something.

Before Nairobi Peter left the highway and we drove through the outskirts of Nairobi past some markets, some nice areas and as Peter pointed out in the distance, Nairobi's large slums.

As we were not leaving until late in the evening we had a hotel room at the Ole Sereni. We used the time to freshen up, have a swim and catch up on our emails. At 1930 we were picked up to go to the airport. Nairobi is a very busy and confusing airport. Unlike in Canada, it is necessary to line up and X-ray all your baggage just in order to get in, so the sidewalks are a mixture of people being dropped off and people standing in line to get in. Very crowded and confusing. After getting in we checked in, and checked our baggage. It was then off to passport control. We only had to fill out one form this time; the agent I dealt with felt it necessary to both photograph and fingerprint me.

We hung around the departure lounge for almost three hours. This was busy with people coming and going. It was very hot. Our gate was not posted until quite close to when we were supposed to board. Instead of having your hand luggage X-rayed before entering the departures area, the hand luggage is X-rayed just before you board the plane making for a long line-up (especially when you have been doing nothing for 3 hours).

Our plane took off about an hour late. I had decided to sleep on the overnight flight to Brussels and with some Imovane slept as well as one can in an airline seat. I woke around 0600 and had breakfast before we landed in Brussels.

It was necessary to have our passports checked and our luggage X-rayed again in the Brussels airport (three times now if you're counting). After a three hour layover we were on the way to Toronto in quite a large jet. We were more or less awake and were able to watch 3 movies on the way over. We actually arrived in Toronto 30 minutes early, got through Customs in reasonable time and picked up our luggage to be rechecked. We were also able to get onto an earlier flight to Edmonton and I was even able to get upgraded to business class.

Arriving in Edmonton we were seriously staring to fade. We got our luggage and headed for the taxi. As it happened our taxi driver was from Zambia. Edmonton was lush and green. We were relieved that our house was relatively clean. We opened a mountain of mail and read the Saturday paper as well as starting on a huge load of laundry.

Masa Mara

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We got to spend our last 3 nights in Kenya at the Masa Mara.

Our driver had warned us that the last hour of driving would be an "African Massage" but we had been on some pretty rough roads in Rwanda and in Kenya so didn't think much of it.

We set out from Lake Nakura and headed west on the main highway. This was quite busy with a mixture of vehicles in a hurry and those not in a hurry which meant our van pulled out into the other lane to pass quite often and cars driving in the opposite direction pulled out into our lane. We passed thru small and medium sized towns and of course made one stop at a carving shop. After about 3 hours, we turned off the main road onto the dirt road to Masa Mara.

The road exceeded it expectations and was extremely rough necessitating our driver to swerve all over the road, drive on the shoulder and occasionally straddle the shallow ditch all the while never really slowing down. We were passing through the cattle country of the Masai but as we approached the Masa Mara we started to see giraffes, antelopes and zebras alongside the "road".

After an hour of bumping and grinding we entered the Fairmant Mara Safari Club. As was usual we were greeted with hot towels and a welcome drink before being oriented to the facility. The manager was talking about "tents" and we assumed that he was just using the term in the way some hotels call their rooms villas or cottages, however each room is actually a canvas tent on a platform with a stone floor, and indoor bathroom and a nice deck outside. The facility is located overlooking a muddy but fast flowing river and it is possible to see and hear hippos.

After checking in we had a buffet lunch overlooking the river. There are huge catfish in the river which one of the waiter demonstrated by throwing buns off the deck.

At 1600 Peter picked us up for out first game drive. We used the same minivan as we used to get there. These have the roof "cut off" so that it can be raised and one can stand up to look for game or take pictures. Over the next two days we had early morning and afternoon game drives. The Masa Mara is the northern extension of the Serengeti. In July the Wildebeasts migrate north accompanied by their predators. There were already some Wildebeasts around but the migration hadn't begun in earnest yet.

We did however get to see a lot of species. I have already blogger about the honeymoon couple:

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We saw the above Lioness about 1 km from the honeymooners. By the third day she had joined them, except for the sex.

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Ostriches.

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Cheetah. We this individual quite a bit and actually witnessed him start to hunt on the last day.

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There were a lot of baboons around the hotel.

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Hippos in the water. These are fascinating to watch and we were able to see a group from the hotel grounds. We didn't get to see any on land.

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Lot of birds including this secretary bird which actually looks like it is walking in high heels.

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Lots of different types of antelopes.

I will post a few more as I start downloading off my camera.