Nerves of Steel (Kenya)



 I know I haven’t written in a while but I have been a little busy so I apologize. Here is the update about what is going on and where we are:

We just passed between the island of Madagascar the continent of Africa and are coming up on South Africa. We will be stopping in South Africa for a few days before heading on to Brazil.

As for our last port, Mombasa Kenya:

The first day I went with some friends on a 2 day/1 night camping safari to East Tsavo (pronounced Sa-vo). Six of us went through a tour company called Ketty Tours that provided everything including a cook. We got picked up at the ship and were driving for about 3 hours to the National Park. However, no safari is a safari without some sort of a vehicle breakdown. We were fortunate that all it was was a flat tire. We broke down in the middle of nowhere but out of nowhere a man showed up and helped us.

After we arrived at the gate into East Tsavo and began to make our way to our campsite, we must have seen a dozen or more elephants, zebras and giraffe. All in all we saw over 20 different species in the first hour of our drive through the park to our site.

Campsite

Our site, a public campsite, made me think that public had more meaning than I knew before. Not only were there locals about 100yds from us but the area we had chosen was apparently a baboon sanctuary as well. I kid you not, there were 50 or more baboons walking through our campsite when we got there. I figured that this would be all that I would see of them but later I found otherwise. I’ll get back to that.

Our game drive after dinner (the food was amazing) was incredible. We saw cheetahs, dik-diks, gazelle, hippo, water buffalo and so much more. After we returned to our camp, we had the opportunity to just sit down at the fire and talk with our guide and cook about Kenya. We asked questions about their culture and they asked about ours. We talked for a few hours before turning in for the night.

That night I had a dream that I remember distinctly. I dreamt that our campsite was being surrounded by animals when suddenly I heard a noise consciously and began to wake up. Then I heard it again and tried to look outside without my glasses (our guide left a lantern on to keep animals away). I saw something move outside and started thinking that the locals from the campsite next to us were coming to take stuff. I put on my glasses and what do you think I saw? It was a herd of antelope making their way through our campsite (guess the lantern wasn't a great way to ward off the animal kingdom). They weren’t more than 10 feet from my tent!

The next morning when I got up and packed all my things, I looked at my tent to find that the baboons staying the night in the tree above my tent had left me a surprise all over my rainfly. Then, if that wasn’t enough, a monkey during breakfast finished the dirty deed by going to the bathroom all over my tent. When nature calls I guess right? Haha.

So we went out for an EARLY (6am) morning game drive and saw a bunch of other animals but I think pictures and video would better tell what I saw than me telling you. So I'll have to work on getting that up on here.

Masi warriors

Masi kid

On our way back to Mombasa, we stopped at a Masi Village where we were shown how this indigenous group of people live. They showed us homes built of goat and cow manure (which we got a tour of the inside, much cooler than the outside and not smelly at all) and sticks/grass. They also showed us how they started fires simply with sticks. They were no ordinary sticks though. In order to become a ‘Fire Man’ of the village, you must travel by foot to the mountain rage about 8 miles from their village and get a particular piece of wood. Along with manure and dry straw, they can start a fire in a matter of seconds. I also had the chance to start a fire (and was successful). We also had the chance to participate in a traditional Masi Warrior dance where there is singing and jumping.

Masi Warrior dance

Anyway, our return trip to Mombasa was uneventful and we crashed for the night. The next day we headed to the North Coast on a Matatu (Swahili for minibus). Before we get to what we did on the North Coast, let me tell you about these matatus. Before getting to Kenya, we were warned not to take them because they are dangerous and were strongly encouraged to take taxis. We tried to take a cab but to travel the 15 miles, they wanted $75 USD. So we opted to take the matatu for 50 cents round trip per person. Matatus are awesome! It is just slightly bigger than a mini van with about 12 seats. There are two people who work it, a driver and a doorman. You tell the doorman where you want to go, get in and as they travel through the city, the doorman yells to people on the sidewalks the general direction they are headed and at random points, the doorman sees someone signal to them and he hits the top of the van to tell the driver to stop. They person gets on, the doorman hops back in, hits the top again and the driver speeds away. This happens about every block so by the time we have been in the matatu for a few minutes, it is packed! There were so many people (more people than seats) that the doorman had to leave the sliding door open and stood with his feet barely on the inside of the door. Dangerous? Probably but it was fun. The driver had nerves of steel. The roads are not only poorly maintained but there are no lines or rules apparently. At one point, the driver wanted to pass a car while two semis were heading right at us. It was chicken to the ump-teenth degree. Talk about white knuckle driving!!

Dhow

Anyway, we finally got to the North Coast, safely, and dismounted from the mitatu. The North Coast was were we had chosen to go snorkeling and camel riding. We got to do both. First we took a glass bottom boat out to a spot (a hired boat with equipment and other people) and a diver took bread below and fed the fish. At one point, he put the bread in his mouth and the fish ate out of it. After his demonstration we were given our gear and jumped into the water. I took a moment to head under the boat and had someone take a picture...turned out pretty good. The snorkeling was amazing, there were tiger fish, zebra fish (we called this our ocean safari) and many others. If you have ever seen the movie Finding Nemo, I saw an angel fish exactly like the one in the fish tank at the dentist's office. I also saw a sting ray and got to hold a 10lb clam shell that was the size of a soccer ball. After about an hour, the guide took us to a natural sandbar about 300 yards off the coast where we got to swim for a while with no one around.

Prep for snorkeling

After we got back to shore, we found a resturant to eat at and had some great food right off the beach. Sometime during our meal, a small dog that looked like Wishbone appeared at our table. I fed him some of my scraps and at the end of our meal, scrounged up leftovers and fed him on the beach.

Under glass bottom boat

After getting back to the ship, I looked in the ticket trader box (a box that people can put field programs that they no longer want to do in so others can take and go on) and I found 2 tickets for a SOS Children’s Village visit on the outskirts of Mombasa.

Playing soccer

New best friend

Some of us went to the village and got a tour of the facilities. They have 12 houses, two stories each all with "Mama’s" along with 10 children. The person who took our group around was an 18 year old who just graduated high school and grew up in the village. It wasn’t a village that you might think of when you think of Africa. It was a nice place, grass lawns and was very clean. The houses were built as a house in the states would be. We got a tour of one of the homes and had the chance to meet the family that lived there. Shy at first, we broke the ice by asking if they played futball (soccer in the states). They all shook their heads yes and they took us to a field behind their house. It was regulations sized with no lines and metal poles for the goals (no nets). They brought out a soccer ball and we began to play. It was the USA Vs. Kenya (10 of them vs 5 of us). After about 5 minutes, 3 of team USA fell out because of the heat (it was midday and extremely hot) but Pete and I stuck it out and played for almost an hour. They ended up winning 6-5 but it was an incredible and humbling opportunity to play with them.

The remainder of our stay in Mombasa was mostly uneventful. We did go out to a Florida Night Club and saw the Kenya night life. A few crew members were there along with some SASers so there was no fear of something happening.

So that was Kenya. Like I said before, we just passed Madagascar and the sea has gotten rocky again. They told us that this was because there is a tropical storm hitting Madagascar and there are 2 other storms both over 1,000 miles away. The problem is that some have clockwise winds and others counterclockwise. This is bad for us because the wind pushes our ship around plus the waves come from all directions. We are ok and are heading closer to the coast of Africa to try and get a smoother ride. No worries.

Well, I have been writing so long my battery is probably going to die. We are having a Crew Talent Show tonight which should be interesting. Hope things are as entertaining back there as they are here.