Welcome to Nairobi, Kenya
and the fabulous 680 Hotel...
Well, okay maybe "fabulous" isn't quite the right word... how about "maloderous"?
The smell in the hall of the
sixth floor was nailed down a bit too accurately
by Cindy as the reek of several week old, well... up-chuck.
Admittedly, the odor was only present in the corridors of one floor
-- though it was the floor
most of us had the first night. Unlike the security guard posted in
the corridor,
we only had to bare the smell as we made our way to and from our
rooms.
We visited a number of sights
in and around the city of Nairobi
and gained a new appreciation for automobile exhaust controls --
sorely needed but apparently
not required in this part of Africa.
Brad noticed an interesting pattern -- most vehicles in the country are white.
What does this mean?!?!
Besides visiting the Kenya
National Museum, the Snake Park,
and the home of Karen Blixen (of "Out of Africa" fame),
we stopped in at the Langata Giraffe Center to see and hand-feed some
Rothschild giraffes.
Just another pretty face at the Langata Giraffe Center.
All aboard for Tanzania...
We often passed through small
towns on the highway like this one where many people
could be seen milling around. Most people don't own cars and instead
get around on foot
(what a concept!) and hitch rides on buses or other vehicles.
I never did get a good shot of
one of those incredibly overloaded trucks or buses
with people jammed into and holding onto every part of the
vehicle.
I also couldn't get a shot of
the many random police checkpoints along the highway.
It's not legal to photograph police and military persons or places --
and they
do carry semi-automatic rifles.
It's also not legal to photograph the Kenyan flag -- go figure.
One of many "rest stops" on the
way to Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
"Boys on the left, girls on the right!"
We did see some wildlife on the way, including ostrich, giraffe, and zebra...
We also saw some not-so-wild life...
[missing image]
At the Kenya-Tanzania border we
were quickly identified as tourists and overrun
with people desperately pushing bracelets and necklaces and T-shirts
and the like.
We had to go through the customs office and have our passports
stamped,
but it was difficult to get through the crowd without having at least
one bracelet forcibly "given" to you
only to be confronted later at the bus with the same person expecting
payment.
After surviving the border, we changed buses and continued to the next "rest stop".
These round hut villages are commonly visible from the road.
More villages and towns on the highway.
It was a long bus ride and it
was long after dark that we arrived at our destination,
the Kibo Hotel, on the base of Mount Kilimanjaro.