Nakuru to Amboseli

Again we were up ourselves on time to be ready to leave at 7:30AM. I took a few minutes to pack then we were off for breakfast. I think the Sweet Thing left a bit before me. We actually got away a bit early, then I asked how far we were driving today. I knew it was going to be a piece and was told 396 kilometres! When we drive to Toronto it is exactly that to the Bathurst cut. That usually takes us 3 to 4 hours on a 416/401 so we just imagined how long it could take on dirt/broken/construction roads. We were told we would be stopping in Nairobi to collect a picnic lunch. We wound down some pretty dreadful roads after we left Nakuru and finally it all started to look familiar. We appeared to be traversing the Rift valley as we did Sunday; lo and behold, William confirmed my suspicion. We kept passing the tiny curio stands towards the pinnacle of our ascent, and I again had visions of the headlines about cars and people plummeting to the floor of the valley after one of these establishments broke loose from the side of the cliff. As we neared Nairobi of course the density of people changed, and the more traditional garb we saw here and there along the way became more western. We saw some pretty remarkable stores all along the way made out of nothing more than wood as dry as driftwood at home, a few rocks, and some corrugated tin. We wound our way into Nairobi and made our way to the Club Safari. As usual the people at the hotel were very helpful to Hop-a-long-Ferenge. When I came back outside, it appeared as though, strange as it may seem, that ST had already befriended a local. As it turned out it was Daniel from the safari company, the same as I had communicated with many times via email before the trip. We sat and chatted for a few minutes and wolfed down some coffee. William collected our 2 box lunches and off we went. We drove southish from Nairobi for about 2 hours and ran into some road construction that made the work we see along the roadside at home look like Fisher Price. We passed again through many towns bustling with very large clusters of ramshackle stores and guest houses. One of the town's specialty seemed to be onions. There were probably, at all the stands in that village put together, more onions than are consumed in Canada in a full year :) The tomatoes, leaf lettuce, and cabbage looked wonderful. About 45 minutes from Amboseli park we turned right then stopped for a bit at a curio stand where ST bought some napkin holders. We then went west on a really swell road for 30 minutes or so and, naturally, all good things must come to an end. We veered left and shortly passed a sign that said the park was 18 kilometres away. The Sweet Thing was as happy as a shig in pit that we were finally close. She was minor-cranked that the ride had been so long and we went for an hour or so looking for game but they were very sparse. The terrain here makes masaai look like the garden of Eden. We were wondering how the animals here survive just about the same time William confirmed the dead carcasses (mainly zebra and buffalo) littering the landscape were as a result of a very long drought. According to the front desk guy at the hotel, we are in the rainy season; someone forgot to turn on the tap I guess. We are at a very nice hotel called Amboseli Lodge and ST is now happy. She is having a massage at 7 tonight and then we will have dinner. Tonight, for a change, after dinner I am hoping to sit by the fire as we have done our previous 3 nights on safari. We had a chat with a local in traditional dress. We asked about the hollow ear lobes, and were told that this is done at a very young age with a knife ... and yes it does hurt. This gentleman is a warrior, and it is his family/tribal custom to cut the ears. He hunts goat, lamb, cow, and sheep. We asked if he had to be a warrior or if he was allowed to do something else. In his tribe, if one wants to do something "out of the ordinary" say like go to school, one must get permission from the chief. He is married, the bride picked by one of his brothers. Apparently a young man makes it known "what he is looking for" and a sibling finds a wife. I spoke to another native while the Sweet Thing was having her massage and he has a mathematics university degree that he got in 2000. He had trouble finding work in his field so returned to the tribe. He did not need the chief's permission to go to school. We also visited briefly with Joseph who works at the hotel. He lives many of hundreds of kilometres from the lodge and goes home every few weeks to see his 10, yes 10 children ... 5 boys and 5 girls with 2 sets of identical twins. We were told there were 22 people from Canada traveling together and ST picked them out (at least 3 sisters from near Toronto). My ST is such a friendly little thing. Behind the lodge is the bar and it overlooks the park. They have some dim floodlights deliberately trained on a set of bushes. As it turns out, the light attracts the wildlife and as they investigate the source, a little more than their silhouettes can be seen against the bushes. While sitting out here I have seen a handful of gazelles and impalas. Time for Swahili school: Asanti - thank you Karibu - welcome Sawa sawa - yes yes A kuna metate - everything is fine Jambo - hello