Off we go on another trip! This time our goal was the Great Migration in the plains of Kenya and Tanzania. Once again we were in the capable hands of Road Scholar, and with Gwen’s great aid in getting us ready (a much more complicated process than going to Europe, for example, what with visas, immunizations, and clothes requirements), we flew first to London (on 17 Sep) to see relatives and friends, a play (“Kinky Boots”), and to time-adjust partially.
On 22 Sep, we got on our British Airways flight, joined by Gwen’s great friend, Gretchen Hurlbert, and traveled the 8 hours to Nairobi.
It was a pleasant journey, and a nice introduction to business class on British Air. The food was great, the service as well. The two ladies each had seats next to the windows, and those turned out to be cold enough to where they commented on it, but the aisle seat I was in was “just right”. We got in as scheduled, late in the evening, and shortly met up with our tour guide, Philip Keter and the driver Charles after we got through the usual customs and passport control dance and picked up our bags from the carousel. We also met the other pair we are to tour with, Dee and Bruce Dwelley, from Northern California. The group of us got along really well throughout, and so the tour was very successful in this way. Philip and Charles took us to the Eka Hotel about half an hour away from the airport, and there is where we stayed the rest of the night.
Wed 23 Sep: Nairobi to Amboseli Park, and out on our first safari
In the morning, we arose and after a very pleasant breakfast buffet, packed ourselves into the van that was to be our safari ride for the next few days, and off we went. The trip to Amboseli Park took four hours, and had a variety of very interesting sights as we moved from Nairobi urban life through its gradually thinning suburbs, and finally out to the rural farm land and the small town markets that exist near Amboseli.
The Amboseli Park area is quite something, and we are glad we made it! (We learned that evening that the park is over 350 square kilometres.)
The trip to the park kept me interested most of the time (as opposed to sleeping, which is what I thought I would be doing). The buildings we passed through as we moved out of the hotel’s location on the outskirts of Nairobi proper are not high rise, getting to three or four floors only. The bottom floor fronted a number of businesses, not unlike those found all over Europe. These included car dealerships, grocery stores, bars, hotels, taverns, hardware markets, and a variety of specialty consumer shops including electronics and furniture, as well as the occasional lawyer’s office or something business-to-business.
The business that Phillip said delineated the outside of town was the cement manufacturing plant. Indeed that took a lot of space, and was quite clear to see. Other manufacturing concerns filled in the area around and after it, however. I have to give him credit, things began to be more suburban after that. More housing, street markets, and so on.
As we got further out, the space between the small towns expanded. The trip itself took all of the four hours, with the look-and-feel of the place not really fully changing until we took off on the side-road to Amboseli’s entrance and our hotel which is just outside the entrance.
The markets were probably the most interesting. One of the first we saw was indeed market day for all the surrounding area. There were numerous stalls each selling something different (well, many stalls sold onions apples tomatoes and squash in one form or another). The market fronted more established shops which were housed in ramshackle rectangles often of tin or wood, with hand-panted signs indicating the goods to be found within. These shops continued for several city blocks in either direction from the market square, and appeared to fold back behind the front lines offering more than one street of these kinds of shops. As we continued on, the number and quantity of housing types decreased, as well as the actual number of houses of each type. The markets were to be found where the main drag used speed bumps to slow traffic to a stand still — just long enough to allow the potential customers in the vehicles to get a good eyeful of the merchandise on offer by the purveyors walking between the lanes and holding their wares up to the windows for those inside the vehicles to view.
The last 10 to 15 kilometres were driven at breakneck speed by Charles along the corrugated dirt road from that turnoff through to Amboseli Park. He later explained that driving as fast as he could over the corduroy road forced the car to skate over the top of the corduroy strips essentially smoothing the ride out for the car and the passengers. It’s a good theory…
We arrived safe and sound, and disembarked from the van in front of the Kilima Hotel. After checking in, Phillip sent us off to our rooms to freshen up and gather as soon as we could at the lunch table. We did, and enjoyed our lunch with the group of us.
Philip Keter, our guide for the trip., Amboseli Safari Hotel
Superb Starling, Amboseli
White-Headed Buffalo Weaver
White-Browed Sparrow-Weaver
Above the restaurant in the hotel is a look-out overseeing a small pond. Today, elephants were enjoying it.
Starting at 4:00, we got in the slightly reconfigured van (it’s top was up) and into the park we went.
That proved to be an excellent start to the adventures ahead, enabling us to see elephant, Grant’s Gazelle, giraffe, wildebeest, zebra, warthogs, an eagle, and even a cheetah and a lion.
Traffic jam in Amboseli Park.
2 
Bearded Wonders 