Leaving Cairo – Oh my what an ordeal…
I have to start with a little info about leaving Cairo, Egypt on August 28th (late at night) to get to Nairobi. It was hotter than hot even though it “cooled down” to only 110 degrees. First of all, the airport at Cairo is COMPLETE CHAOS! I have never seen anything like it. First the taxi driver can`t even drop me off at the curb as there are too many cars, trucks, and families sitting in the road. So he let me out, and I had to weave my bag between about 10 rows of cars to get to the front about a 5 minute walk. Then every possible family member was there to say goodbye to their loved one at the airport was blocking the entrance, and I couldn`t even get in. Finally, I just pushed my way past them, tried to show my passport, but since I don`t look like a local he just waved me in without a look. Success…I made it in to round two of chaos. I had to pick the magic line to enter the area to check my bag (in case non traveling people were able to sneak in somehow). I chose the wrong line and was told rudely to go elsewhere. After making it through the main security screener, I was greeted with the check in counter lines of about 50 people deep with so much baggage it was overwhelming. At that point, I was going to try to use my “United Premier status” with the Star Alliance (since Egypt Air just joined the alliance) to check in faster. So I found the secret check in counter way around back, smiled nicely at the guy and tried to check in. The guy wanted to see proof of my Premier status. I told him my card was stolen in the Ukraine in June and could he pull it up with my mileage number in the computer. He couldn`t but I think he felt bad for me and it was just me and one bag – so he let me in and allowed my bag through (which has grown to 30 kilos and well over the weight limit). Since it was the first class counter, they don`t charge for over weight, I got it through for free and was seated in the front of the plan (economy plus?) and I got a whole row of seats to myself to sleep (and the rest of the plane was pretty full). Yes – one win for Megan!
12 hours before Amanda Arrives
Arriving in Nairobi – (at 4 in the morning)
I knew I had to hurry off the plane to get in line for a visa and glad I did, as the Kenyan immigration officers have not learned efficiency yet (as witnessed by Amanda later that afternoon). I was the 3rd person in line and it was a slow and painful wait as the one officer was slow and had to open his visa book and flip page by page to find the next empty one. He didn`t turn the book over, use a bookmark or anything to find it easily the next time. Then he had to do the same slow process to write a receipt. I think he took about 15 minutes per person and at 4 in the morning, that`s the last thing I wanted to wait for. But I made it through, got my bag and Alex was waiting for me to drive me to a hotel for a little sleep. I will note, as it was 5am when I got to the hotel, all the hotel employees were huddled around the one TV in the reception to watch the Democratic convention as Obama was speaking. Obama is loved by all in Kenya (and really everywhere in Africa). Anything to do with Obama was the most popular questions we got. What do you think of Obama? Will you vote for him? etc.
Visit to the hospital – 10:00am
My big excitement for Nairobi was going to the hospital. I realized I had an ear infection as I`ve had them many times from swimming. I was in so much pain and it had increased for a couple days, so off to the hospital. Again, the hospital experience told me that Kenyan`s are not efficient in what they do, as I was told to sign in, sit down. Come up to discuss my issues again, sit down. Go to cashier to pay doctors fee, sit down. Go see nurse, sit down again. See doctor, (who used to work in Chicago for years and all he wanted to do was talk about home after he confirmed an ear infection and gave me a few prescriptions). Then to the pharmacy, sit down. Talk more to Pharmacist. Sit down. Pay for drugs, sit sown. Then finally after showing my receipt, I could take my drugs and leave. But then again…I`m not in Kansas anymore… It was so much up and down and waiting and it could have all been done much smoother. I will laugh as it cost me $7 to see the doctor, but then $60 for all the drugs and drops as they were imported, but it was all worth it as I was better 7 days later.
Lunch with Brian – 12:30
I was so fortunate as I was able to meet up with Brian McBrearity for lunch. He used to work at Bernstein and now is working in Nairobi. The crazy part, we “worked together”, but never met until I came to Nairobi. I was in the San Francisco office working as the Hedge Fund Liaison and Brian was in charge of Hedge Funds in New York, so we spoke all the time and had video conferences. Over the years since he left Bernstein, we have spoke a lot about travels and it was great to finally meet up and have lunch. Thanks again for taking me for a wonderful lunch!
Afternoon wanders…
As I waited for Amanda to land, there wasn`t much to do in town, so I walked the streets and had little interest in the town, and finally decided to see a movie and “Kung Fu Panda” was the winner, and it was actually entertaining. I took care of more business with burning photos, getting more passport photos that I would need in SE Asia and then the most important job….finding a bottle of wine to have ready for Amanda`s arrival. I knew she was bringing me some treats from home, so I wanted to have a treat waiting for her and she was super excited as we got to chat, drink, and get ready for dinner. The one night we had in Nairobi, we met Mark and his friend Carolyn for dinner at a Swiss restaurant called Rudy`s that Mark said was great. Amanda knew Mark`s sister from New York, and we decided to meet for dinner. I was excited for cheese fondue as it had been a while. Amanda said it wasn`t as good as the fondue I make, but I didn`t care as it was a nice treat. Amanda had the local specialty – Elan which is like a big bull or something. We later saw them on safari and kept referring to it as Amanda`s dinner. I even tried some of Amanda`s Elan steak (brave I know). I can`t order my own beef dinner yet, but I`m taking little bites and trying. After dinner, Amanda wanted to check out Kenya`s nightlife, so we were off to a club for a few hours and got to bed around 2am.
August 30 – Leaving for Kenyan Safari
We met Edwina at our hotel, who arranged all our safari details, and she saw we had a liter of water each and she asked if that was all we wanted? We didn`t know we had to bring our own drinks (budget camping safari I guess) and she said if we wanted any alcohol we should get that too. Good thing Brian showed me a Wal-Mart like store the day before so I knew where to go. Amanda and I thought we would get a bottle of wine for each night and glad we did. We were the envy of all the other campers at our campsite!
So we were off on a “long drive” to the Masai Mara Reserve. Our driver Tom said it was a long drive and it would be bumpy for a few hours. Bumpy was nice as it was really horrible roads with pot holes and Tom had to zig zag across the roads and into the ditches to avoid them. It was kinda funny as with all the bumps, Amanda kept asking to stop for a restroom so we got to stop a good amount. As we had downtime in the drive, we got to use Amanda`s blackberry to check email and such. This was the first sign I haven`t been in an office in a while and have disconnected from the working world, as I really forgot how to use the blackberry. Amanda was laughing as she had to explain a few “basic” features. Guess my trip is better than blackberry knowledge!
After about 5-6 hours of driving, we reached our camp and got settled. We didn`t know what to expect, but it was really nice as we had a raised tent with beds and a huge shower with hot water. We were already impressed! We were off for our first game drive and were so lucky to see the following:
–Family of giraffes – babies were so cute
–A zaggle of zebras (remember that term from last years safari!)
–Water Buffalo`s by the hundreds – and they are big
–Heart beast and wildebeest – heart shaped horns
–Ostrich (males have black feathers as they sit on the eggs at night and have to blend in, the females have tan/gray feathers so they blend at daytime when they sit on the egg). Talk about shared family planning! Also, the males had red necks if they were ready to mate.
–A family of Lions – we hit the mother load! We came across 3 females and 4 little cubs. I think we sat there for an hour watching them play, move, nurse and just be in the grass. We saw these other vans and the men had the largest cameras I have ever seen and we had to take photos of them taking photos of the lions. It was so cool! Now time to head back to camp for dinner and wine.
August 31 – Full day in Masai Mara Park
Our second day started off with a bang as we came upon 2 sleeping lions. After driving further, we found two more lions just chilling by the road sleeping. It was funny as at one point, I said (in a low voice as to now scare them), “Here kitty, kitty, kitty” and one of the lions got up, walked towards our car – literally less than a foot away and then past us. So from then on, I had to call the lions and a few times they came. I guess I used to train Financial Advisors and Associates and now I can train lions. New career possibility???
Later we drove further and got surrounded by wildebeest. There are about 2 million in this park and they migrate from Tanzania to Kenya each year in search of food. It was very cool to see so many and how they really “follow the herd”. One leads, they all follow single file. Very well trained. Amanda got a great video of it with all the sounds of them running and grunting, but it was too large for the website. We continued on and came to the border of Kenya and Tanzania. You would never know as there is just a stone stump (which we had to climb to take a photo of). Amanda is making a “T” for Tanzania and I`m making a “K” for Kenya. We felt like cheerleaders!
The Hippo River was next, and Amanda and I hired a park ranger (with a big gun) to walk us around. Jackson was his name, and he was there to protect us if we needed it! We saw a lot of crocodiles and more hippos and then as we saw enough, Jackson said we needed to go back as an elephant was approaching and he said we should go back and she didn`t want to shoot it but would have to it it got closer.
On our drive back, we came across 3 more lions in the grass and then 4 more with little cubs. It really was a lion day as we saw 11 in one day and there are only about 40 in the park. Our action packed day didn`t end there, our guide Tom was being nice and moved the jeep out of the way to let another car pass, and we got stuck in the mud. Amanda kept asking, “should we get out and push”, but we were down in a ditch and it was muddy. Good thing we were out of the park, so no lions could eat us! Luckily, Aaron and John, who were passing in another car offered to tow us out. They were on holiday from England and were really nice to help out. We were supposed to meet them for a drink at their camp as a thank you, but Amanda and I were so engrossed in travel scrabble and our bottle of wine, we forgot. That`s it for the Masai Mara reserve. More of Kenya will come later…