We’ve been saying our team of 8 is small but mighty. Mighty good at being flexible.
The short story is we survived our detours and hiccups and travel chaos and almost running out of money,
but if you want to hear the rest of the story, keep reading.
After leaving Eldoret early Monday morning we headed to the
Maasai Mara for two days of R&R and safari through Kenya’s largest and most
famous game reserve. Our route took us
through some of the most beautiful winding scenery in Kenya, the Nandi Hills. This is tea growing country. We passed hill
after rolling hill filled with tea plantations and forests of eucalyptus as far as the eye could see. Tea
is one of Kenya’s largest exports and a very labor- intensive venture. We saw many workers weaving their way through
rows of tea judiciously picking only the most tender, new leaves from the very
tops of the plants and collecting them in large bags on their backs.
About 2 ½ hours into our 7-hour trip, the van Wachira rented
is beginning to run rough and sputter.
He pulled into a gas station in a town on the outskirts of Kisumu, where
the van promptly died. Right next to a
mechanic standing there. After some
quick assessment by the mechanic, Miriam decided we should wait it out
somewhere with more amenities while Wachira determined how or if the van could
be fixed that day.
Detour to Kisumu, one of Kenya's largest cities. The mechanic helped us find another van to
take us to the Acacia Premiere Hotel, an upscale spot with a roof top
restaurant and a panoramic view of Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest lake. Poor us. I think we would all say our lunch
at the Acacia was actually one of our highlights despite the fact that we were
van-less and our plans very uncertain.
In the meantime, poor Wachira stayed behind with the van and
our luggage to haggle with the owner of the van who clearly had not kept it serviced properly. After several
assessments, it was determined that the engine block was actually cracked. No simple
fix. The van was toast. We later learned
the owner had taped over a dashboard light that kept going on, so no one could
see there was trouble brewing.
Wachira was also trying to find another safari van, but
with it being peak tourist season this was no simple task. Things for Wachira were further complicated
by the fact that he is from a tribe not exactly popular with the tribe who
predominately make up this Kisumu region.
He was either getting the run around or being quoted ridiculous prices.
In the meantime, we made our way after lunch to the mall
next to the Acacia and hung out in the Java House, our favorite coffee chain. All afternoon. Some of us did a little detour shoe shopping
(guess who?), some of us played cards, some of us caught up on email, etc.
All of us waited and waited, getting updates
from Wachira, as plan B, C, and D came and went. Eventually it was clear we were not getting
to the Mara that night and would have to miss our first night
reservations. Plan E was Wachira would
abandon the van and catch a ride and bring our luggage to Kisumu.
As we waited and waited some more for Wachira in the hotel
lobby, the Acacia concierge was beginning to notice our small but mighty team
(we tend to stick out). He offered to
help us make new arrangements, knowing it would result in a “big fat tip”
(Miriam’s words!). The Acacia was all
booked, but he found us an alternate/ detour hotel just around the corner with
9 rooms, and lined up a taxi van to take us there. That van driver was another
story, with even more detours, but we survived.
The concierge was also working on tracking down a new safari
van to take us to the Mara the next day.
Eventually he did find us a good safari van (an even larger one!) with a
decent driver, and the hotel was doable (despite the dogs barking all night),
so he actually did earn his tip. (It was
likely he also earned tips from the hotel and van company too!) The
discouraging thing was we were now double paying for vans and hotel rooms and
paying tips left and right to “thank” people for helping us. We were all pitching in and running out of
money, and we had yet to pay $80 each for the Mara park entrance fee! All of this was exhausting for Miriam who had to negotiate and
re-negotiate every single detail with every single person to try to avoid being
totally swindled.
The tip paying was not over, however.
On our way to the Mara, our driver took us on several
“shortcuts” (read detours) that added about two hours off-roading through very bumpy back roads, several of which were no more than washed out
gullies. At one particularly steep and
rocky gully, several Maasai were blocking the way with a log and rope,
extorting every safari driver with a 200 shilling “toll”. Ugh.
We were done, done, done with paying extra for anything, but what could
we do? As soon as they were paid, the
log was rolled to the side, but then quickly rolled back in the way of the next
van. Quite the little racket they had
going.
Our accommodation for the night was actually a tent camp.
All the main safari hotels had been booked long ago and we told Wachira we were
up for the adventure. He had been there
many times before, was confident of the service, and had booked us the “better”
tent cabins. Well…because we had missed
our previous night due to the van breaking down, we didn’t get the original
tents Wachira had booked and paid for. By
this time, Wachira was done, done, done with things not going as planned.
On the up side, the food was great and we just made it to a
late afternoon safari, where we saw lots of giraffe, wildebeest, zebra,
impalas, elephants, and Thompson gazelles. The
bonus was a pride of lions at the bottom of a riverbed ravine. And of course the sunsets in Africa are just
stunning. The next morning on our way
out of the Mara we again saw several giraffe and a few more herds of zebra and
impalas. We loved having Wachira along
as our tour guide with his wealth of knowledge.
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| We counted 17 giraffe in all from both sides of the road. |
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| Kissing zebra! |
Now here’s the kicker.
As it turns out, the tent camp had double booked our cabins. Another large party had taken our 5 tents and if we
had in fact showed up the night before, when we had planned to, we would have been in the middle of nowhere with no place to sleep. Ha!
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| Goodbye to the Mara! And yes we made it back to Nairobi safe and sound. |
