1984 - Solo to Kenya and Seychelles: Nairobi National Park

Tuesday 24 April 1984 – Nairobi

I read until quite late last night, forgetting the one hour time difference so felt a bit odd waking up at 05.00 this morning. Anyway I went back to sleep until 06.45 when my continental breakfast arrived. Papaya with lemon, mango juice, coffee and a croissant – not bad.

After getting dressed up in a suit and tie because that is what businessmen still wear here, I confirmed my bookings at Kenya Air and checked on some hotel prices in Mombasa then strolled down to the Lion of Kenya offices. (Lion of Kenya was one of the Group companies.) quite a pleasant walk but in full daylight and without yesterday’s lunch in me, there is no doubt that the city is shabbier than Harare. Broken pavements, potholes and grass and weeds abound. The people seem quite chirpy but perhaps not as happy as the Zimbabwean folk.

I met young Seaman, a young Pom who is heading back to UK next month and the Assistant General Manager, whose name eludes me at the moment – Morope I think. It was quite interesting chatting to him about his business here. It seems very similar to ours in Zimbabwe, but with twice the staff and running at a loss. He kindly invited me to lunch, which I declined and I left him, having done my duty at about 11.00.

I wandered around town on my way back to the hotel and bought a couple of knick-knacks for Rab and Matt. Most things here are very reasonable – a T-shirt for Matt only cost $3.00 for instance and it looks good quality. After a swim in the rather nice hotel pool and a refreshing glass of granadilla (passion fruit) for lunch, I made my bookings for Mombasa, staying at Nyali Beach and tried to sort out a couple of trips for today and tomorrow. It is difficult for the longer trips tomorrow because although there are plenty of tours advertised they are not running unless there is a minimum of 3 – 5 people since it is the off season.

I managed to find a local bus tour to the National Park, which is only ten kilometres outside Nairobi. Stacks of game there, although the driver said we were lucky as he had not seen so much this morning when he was out. He was a bit of a grumpy blighter – it turned out that he didn’t like French tourists and as four out of our seven were Frogs, he wasn’t too happy. We started late too which led, later in the afternoon, to an altercation between him and the remaining couple, a pair of scrawny, nervous Americans who demanded that he stay on duty for another half hour because we were a half hour late in starting. They were not successful.

 

Wildebeest and elephant

It was quite a site to see a huge herd of wildebeest (gnu) – I’d estimate it to be about 2,000 strong – grazing on the plain with Nairobi city quite clearly in the background. The animals all looked in first class condition and, apart from the zebra which looked exactly the same but smaller, differed from our game both in size and colour. They tended to be larger and darker. We saw wildebeest, hartebeest, buffalo, eland, impala, Thompson’s gazelle, baboons, warthogs, vervet monkeys, ostriches, secretary birds and plenty of evidence of carnivores – bleached skeletons –but no lions or cheetahs.

Vultures on the lookout for business

I enjoyed the trip very much and felt it was well worth the $10 I had paid. While at the hippo pool – the driver had said to me “I have to take them there. They won’t see anything but they will never believe me if I tell them. They never do.”

I got chatting to the driver of another bus – there were about a dozen there – and this is the quiet season! The upshot of our chat was that I managed to wangle a trip to Amboseli Reserve tomorrow with his tour company. It is costing an extra $30 more than usual – I am in effect paying for the other two passengers who usually make up the minimum load.

Warthog

But it will be a one man safari so it should be fun. We leave at 06.30 tomorrow morning.