And here we are in Kenya safe and sound...This first day's journal might be a bit boring. Okay, let's call it what it is. It is boring, but I promise I will try to write some interesting stuff here and there and hopefully upload some interesting pictures along the way. For now, I am using this blog as somewhat of a journal, so I can look back on it in the future. I will also be posting my pictures to my websites (eventually). Including my Africa site and my main site as well as on my photography facebook site.
Gaye and I arrived in Kenya safe and sound with not so much as a hiccup. It was amazing really, I have never traveled this far before without even so much as an incident of any sort. No flights were delayed, we weren't late or rushing anywhere, nor were our lay-overs very long between flights. We didn't even have to travel far between gates and we always seemed to be landing in the hanger near where we were departing from. We both slept well on the flights and landed in Kenya actually feeling somewhat re-freshed and energetic considering the fact that we had just traveled 29 hours to this point. My only annoyance was our first Swiss airline flight had a screwy inflight tv system that didn't work very well. That is extremely minor when you are travelling with overweight, oversized bags that the airlines don't like me to travel with that I insist must be carry-on bags. When we arrived in Kenya it was 6p.m. and we had a short line up to pick up our visa's (which cost half as much as if we had mailed in our passports like we were supposed to. I refused to mail ours away. The last time I did that, our passports came back a day late, making us change our tickets and leave a day late, thus messing up the first part of our trip.) The line up for the visa was short and everyone else had to go through another line up to show their passport anyway, so in the end, it didn't cost us any time and we saved over $100 US.
A representative from our first hotel (The Fairview Hotel) was waiting for us at the airport and took us to the hotel. Unfortunately the president flew in today apparently, so there was a huge traffic jam and what should have been a 15-20 minute taxi ride took us an hour. We were bumper to bumper for most of the way. Vehicles were agressively jockying for a better position in line and all the while 50 or 60 men and boys were walking between the cars trying to sell their goods. They were selling everything from bags of peanuts, huge blueberries, oranges, limes, hats, pants, posters, to DVD's and pornography.
Tomorrow we get picked up by a representative of Giraffe Manor at 10:30. Our agenda for tomorrow theoretically is a visit to the giraffe centre, The David Sheldrick elephant sanctuary and lots of sleep if need be. Oddly enough, I am actually kind of tired, so I may sleep well which would be a miracle. Usually the jet lag really sets in for the first couple of days after such intense traveling.
20,000 images is the goal. Tomorrow, it begins. I need to take 2000 pictures tomorrow...
Gaye and I arrived in Kenya safe and sound with not so much as a hiccup. It was amazing really, I have never traveled this far before without even so much as an incident of any sort. No flights were delayed, we weren't late or rushing anywhere, nor were our lay-overs very long between flights. We didn't even have to travel far between gates and we always seemed to be landing in the hanger near where we were departing from. We both slept well on the flights and landed in Kenya actually feeling somewhat re-freshed and energetic considering the fact that we had just traveled 29 hours to this point. My only annoyance was our first Swiss airline flight had a screwy inflight tv system that didn't work very well. That is extremely minor when you are travelling with overweight, oversized bags that the airlines don't like me to travel with that I insist must be carry-on bags. When we arrived in Kenya it was 6p.m. and we had a short line up to pick up our visa's (which cost half as much as if we had mailed in our passports like we were supposed to. I refused to mail ours away. The last time I did that, our passports came back a day late, making us change our tickets and leave a day late, thus messing up the first part of our trip.) The line up for the visa was short and everyone else had to go through another line up to show their passport anyway, so in the end, it didn't cost us any time and we saved over $100 US.
A representative from our first hotel (The Fairview Hotel) was waiting for us at the airport and took us to the hotel. Unfortunately the president flew in today apparently, so there was a huge traffic jam and what should have been a 15-20 minute taxi ride took us an hour. We were bumper to bumper for most of the way. Vehicles were agressively jockying for a better position in line and all the while 50 or 60 men and boys were walking between the cars trying to sell their goods. They were selling everything from bags of peanuts, huge blueberries, oranges, limes, hats, pants, posters, to DVD's and pornography.
The hotel room here at The Fairview is nice, but plain, but the grounds are spectacular! I can't wait to see them in the morning. They have an absolutley beautiful and huge water feature. The grounds of this place are stunning. It is definitely an oasis in the middle of a large city. Nairobi has a population of four million. It is really decieving. As you fly in, the airport looks like an old small airport in an old town. It is unique looking, but certainly doesn't look like it is a major airport that supports such a large city.
Tomorrow we get picked up by a representative of Giraffe Manor at 10:30. Our agenda for tomorrow theoretically is a visit to the giraffe centre, The David Sheldrick elephant sanctuary and lots of sleep if need be. Oddly enough, I am actually kind of tired, so I may sleep well which would be a miracle. Usually the jet lag really sets in for the first couple of days after such intense traveling.
20,000 images is the goal. Tomorrow, it begins. I need to take 2000 pictures tomorrow...
Check out our main wildlife photography website and our main wildlife photography blog.
View pictures of giraffes from Giraffe Manor.
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