Nairobi to Masaai ... unbelievable

Bright and early the ST and I were up with the wakeup call. We chowed down at the WTER (Way Too Expensive Restaurant) then started looking for our guide. There were a handful of safari vehicles queued at the hotel and ours was the white Hiace. Our driver is named William and we set out about 8. The vehicle is all ours so naturally there is lots of room. It did not take long to get out of Nairobi and the first site was the start of the Rift valley. I believe we were told that the mountains and the valleys go all the way down to Mozambique. It was chilly and there were huge grey clouds in the sky with no blue peaking through. The view was breathtaking (somewhat like an ugly baby in Seinfeld, or Elaine ... do not lobster poach unless you want to wear an orange outfit and garbage pick). We started to descend into the valley as the weather improved but it never really got sunny. We drove for about 4 hours or so and saw very fertile and green countryside which eventually "deteriorated" into some very harsh terrain indeed. We saw gazelles, impala, donkey, goat, lamb, cow, and baboon. We took lots of pics and on many occasions were on some very rough road. Our "luck" ran out about an hour before we arrived as we were informed the good road was about to end. From time-to-time, William would stray from the dirt road to follow obviously what he had learned to be a smoother track in the dirt. All along the way we saw locals who were most happy to wave and smile as we passed. We did our best to make out what William was saying but often were unable to decipher due to the noise of the vehicle and terrain. We finally got to the masaai gates and while waiting to enter, we were swarmed by 2 then 4 native women peddling their wares. Once they saw the green, the necklaces as well as the bracelets came out, ST gave them $10 for 2 strings of bracelets and a ring. They were so hot to sell something and I eventually had to start closing the window on their arms to get them to let us proceed. A mere 15 minutes into masaai and we got to our lodge, a very nice tent-based hardwood floor development called the Sarova Mara. The tent (number 35 to boot ... nothing but double chai [minus 1] for the Jewish couple) is about 10 by 3 metres and quite spacious. It has a king bed, a private bath, a table for me to put on my face, and a balcony. It is very nice. We are here for 2 nights. We chowed down in the mess hall at a nice buffet and quaffed 2 local beers called Tusker. They were nice with no after-taste ... yippeee! I am by the pool and ST is walking. At 3:30 we are due to hit the trails for our first of at least 8 other journeys this week to see the wildlife. If we are lucky we may even see the wild Borgies. A mere 6 months ago we could have only dreamed about a safari. Lo and behold, here we are, about 225 kilomtres south of Nairobi and bound to be out and about in some very new surroundings over the next 5 days. By the way, how many times have you been traveling and regardless of where you end up staying, there are never enough electrical outlets. This is even more possible the older the hotel. Guess how many outlets we have in Kenya (night one)? Eight ... count-em EIGHT!!!! This is beyond. I spoke too soon; please sit down before reading this ... I have a very sad announcement to make about the electrical outlets ... the power bar fried itself. I had both batteries charging for the cameras and when I tried to plug in the computer there was smoke and the smell of electricity. We will be having a service and sitting shiva for the 8 outlets. We sat in the bar after dinner and listened to a singer to 4 songs on the guitar then take a break. That is a far cry from what Melaku and I saw at Club Alize in Addis a few weeks ago when the band played the whole 2 hours we were there and there was no sign of their stopping. AGain no whirlpool in the toilets at Sarova Mara ... if I cannot confirm the counter-clockwise whirlpool rumour while I am here, I may no be able to come south of the equator again.