A couple things about Nairobi, there are pedestrians walking all over as soon as the sun is up. It's a little unsettling. Especially because the driving there is bananas. I got a little taste of it in Mexico, but it was pretty crazy. People walk right next to your car, other cars drive really close to your car, and the intersections and round-abouts look like there must be accidents there hourly. But the scariest part is the highway where there's big truck going slow so cars are constantly flying past them on two lane highways regardless of oncoming traffic. Jaclyn was no exception. She was driving a smaller car and she zipped in and out of the lanes like the rest of them. There would be cars or trucks oncoming that would surely have to slow down or go onto the shoulder to avoid us. But it is how they drive there. I kind of wanted to close my eyes because of the jet lag, but I was too nervous to not watch. Plus, there was a lot of swerving. Also, the "road" that google maps told us to take to Mount Longonot was really sketchy and we got nervous. I guess I should be used to the dirt roads leading to trails, but this being such a popular trail we assumed it would be better maintained. And Jaclyn didn't feel like it was familiar to her, since she's been there before it should have been. We think Google maps led us wrong somehow. It's not a big deal but we certainly don't want to be a bunch of white women stuck in the mud in the middle of nowhere in Africa. Most people seemed super friendly. They were always smiling, the kids would wave and come running towards our car. But of course they would take advantage of us in a vulnerable situation. There was a police man standing in the road (not the dirt road, a bigger highway) at one point and tried to wave Jaclyn to pull over. She did not. It's similar to Mexico where they try to take you in unless you pay them. She has had training from the State Department about driving in Africa. She said, "he's on foot, what is he going to do?" Being a white tourist there does make you feel a bit vulnerable at times. Luckily Jaclyn is a resident, not a tourist. She knows what to do. That being said, she doesn't like to drive that far from home without Cameron very often, and she wanted to be home before dark.
Anyway, it seemed like we missed the correct turn for the hike so we went to the lake first and knew there was an easier way to get to the hike from there. I had told her I was nervous about getting into any small boat in any body of water in Africa! Hippos are scary. Especially if you watch the show Something Bit Me. But it seemed safe enough and the hippos here were fairly small.
The gloomy day and the dead trees provided an interesting scene! They said the trees were dying because they were drowning. Too much water lately.
This was a fun introduction to Africa. If we had done the safari before this, it would've probably been boring. But it was not! I love giraffes! We even had a guide come over and point out a hippo hiding in the brush. We found it and it was staring at us and it really freaked me out, even though it was a small guy. I still wouldn't want to be chased by him! Animals you might see (we saw most of them) are giraffe, zebra, monkey, hippo, dik dik, fox, mongoose, hyena, jackal, cape buffalo, waterbuck, wildebeest, impala, gazelle, black mamba (second largest snake, with a black mouth). We steered clear of the part of the island where he said black mamba lived. They drive a truck full of corn husks and drop big piles of it along the road so that's where the animals were gathered mostly when we saw them.
We opted to not have a guide, but this guy sauntered over and kind of hung out with us. I know we had to tip him at the end, but I really enjoyed talking to him and all his knowledge. The baby zebra in the picture behind us is 5 days old. I don't remember much of what he said now, but it was cool then. Tips are pretty cheap in Africa anyway.
This is where the hippos hung out. These guys didn't look too scary. (The ones in Masai Mara were much, much bigger and scarier).
We had lunch at the lake. It took way too long to make our food especially considering there were only like three tables occupied in the whole restaurant. And this was the first food I had ordered in Africa. I learned quickly that I wouldn't starve, but I wasn't going to enjoy most the food either. Let's just say I didn't gain any vacation weight here. I tried this bitter lemon drink. It was okay.
After lunch we found our way to the hike, but this was the only road to get there and it was definitely flooded. We were nervous. We drove further looking for another option and were just about to give up when we saw a motorcycle come up to this on the other side. We watched as they cruised through it and could tell it wasn't very deep at all and her car would be just fine. Yay!
We were thinking we wouldn't have time to get to the top of the volcano. We certainly didn't have time to go around the rim. But we really wanted to get there. There were groups of kids coming down that kept stopping and asking my blonde friends to take selfies with them, lol. I was ahead of my friends for a bit and I did notice that it looked like these kids might be taking pictures of me without me knowing, which was weird but whatever. After a little while I did have a couple ask me for selfies too. It's just not the same with dark hair.
You have to look close, but there are giraffes back there.
We didn't get home before dark. And the ride home was just as scary as the ride there, but my eyes were so heavy I rested a little anyway. Cameron had dinner for us when we got back and Jaclyn's boys played us their songs on the piano and finally we couldn't keep our eyes open anymore and we went to bed. We had a flight to catch the next morning!
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