Trip Report Part II (Safari Day 1)

So Tuesday morning (6/15) I woke up at 4:30am and couldn't go back to sleep. I re-organized my suitcase and backpack as I had brought a bunch of stuff for Jessica and Jordan and then took another heavenly shower. I laid around and watched soccer (of the 26 TV channels, 18 of them had soccer on) until a little after 6:00 when I called Jess and Jordan's room (we were meeting for breakfast at 6:30, so I knew they were up) and then took them all their stuff. We went down to breakfast together where we enjoyed the first of many delicious meals (more about the food later). We then went back up to finish packing as we were meeting the rest of our safari crew and our driver in the lobby at 7:15.
We all piled in the van (later named Jesus - the Spanish pronunciation) and made our introductions. Benjamin, our driver for the week is a native Kenyan who has been doing game drives for 10 years. Kathryn and Ben are from London where Ben manages 3 pubs (that's right, I've now got connections!) and they were on their honeymoon. Also on their honeymoon were Tim and Susan, also English, who were in the process of transitioning between London and New York. I have to pause here and say and extra-special thank-you to the Safari Gods because we got SO lucky with our safari crew. They were HILARIOUS and we had so much fun together. Benjamin called us the "happy bus."
So we were off!!! Or... so we thought. Because we proceeded to get stuck in the worst and scariest traffic jam ever. I honestly do not know how we didn't die at least 400 times...and add to that the fact that we had to keep the windows closed (for safety reasons - more on that later) and it was humid and about a million degrees inside the van - and Nairobi has VERY bad air pollution... I was miserable. If this is Africa, I thought, I want to go home. But, thanks to Benjamin, we didn't die 400 times, and we finally made it out of the traffic. The "suburbs" of Nairobi are full of very dilapidated buildings and make-shift camps. As the country of Kenya has between 30-40% unemployment, there is ALOT of poverty. It was certainly an eye-opener. However, the further from the city we traveled, the more we got into farm country. 75% of those that are employed in Kenya work in agriculture. There were pineapple, coffee, tea, wheat, corn, and many other kinds of farms. Another big crop for Kenya is roses, and we saw miles and miles of greenhouses. Anyway, the no-speed-limit was a good thing for us, as we were way behind in time from the traffic jam - so we made pretty good time for the rest of the 6 hour drive. Also, the pollution got much better out of the city, and the high 70's temperatures, while cool for native Africans, was really nice. The best part about the drive for me was all the different kinds of trees. I LOVE African trees. One funny anecdote - while driving out of Nairobi, Susan and I saw a bunch of huge birds in a tree. Tim instantly said they were vultures (which they definitely were NOT) and so from then on, EVERY bird we saw was a vulture :) Anyway...we stopped once at a designated spot (apparently a place that is approved by the Kenyan board of tourism for being safe) to have a potty break and do a little shopping. This was my first introduction to bargaining, and thank goodness for Jordan, who got my purchase of a really pretty big canvas silhouette painting thingy down from 14,000 shillings to 5,000 shillings!! ($65 dollars). We also drove past Mt. Kenya, but sadly it was covered in clouds so we couldn't see the top of the 17,057ft peak. The other rather-not-fun part about the day (and many days to come) was the state of the roads in Kenya. They are... basically... CRAP. And thus travelers often receive what is known as the "Free African Massage" aka getting bounced around ALOT. It was very much like riding in the back of a camp van (for those of you who can relate). So, needless to say, we were all VERY happy to finally reach our first lodge. This was the Sarova Shaba Game Lodge located on the banks of the Ewaso Ngiro River. Luckily Benjamin had radioed ahead to have them hold lunch for us (as it was 3:00 by the time we got there) and we were STARVING. We toasted to our survival and had a delicious lunch. We dashed off to drop our stuff off in our rooms, took a few quick pictures of the local vervet monkeys, and then it was off for our first game drive.
This part of Africa is very arid and hot. It is surrounded by 8 very old volcanoes and thus has a very rocky and unique landscape (kind of like Craters of the Moon in Idaho for those of you who have been there). It was late in the afternoon, so not incredibly hot, but definitely very warm. Anyway, the first thing we saw was a giraffe!! He was a lone male reticulated giraffe and was very cool :) This was followed by a guinea fowl and then our first elephant. Just to give you an example of how much I love my safari crew - it wasn't even MY idea to name the animals we saw :) and thus this handsome bull elephant was dubbed Bernard (pronounced Bernerd - the British way!) We watched him for quite some time, and then drove further to a lookout point. Another funny Tim-ism was when he was trying to point out some animals off in the distance and said they were near the tree -- the one with green on the top and brown on the bottom. The smartass that I am proceeded to ask him if it was the tree that had a vulture in it :) Oh dear :) On the way back we saw Bernard again (he was in the road, and thus had the right of way) and then a gerenuk gazelle (also known as a giraffe-neck antelope as they have a crazy-long neck). There were also a lot of tiny gazelles known as dik-diks which I don't think I ever got a picture of, but who are smaller than Sherlock! We made it back to the lodge as the sun was setting, had a quick rest in our rooms, and then Jess, Jordan, and I met for a fantastic dinner around 8:00. For dinner that night I had lamb-kabobs, caramelized butternut squash, fresh stir-fry veggies, and delicious bread. For dessert we had what I think is triffel - a alcohol soaked fruit-jam-concoction covered with cream. They were in shotglasses and were SOOOOO yummy. I think I had at least 3 of them :) After a lot of good conversation, we agreed to hit the sack, and I think I hit the pillow around 9:30 listening to the tune of African insects and the soft song of the river. I was already in love :) Click on this link for the pictures from this day.