Hotel Shenanigans

Tim: Last night we had a final meal with the Gorilla gang at Carnivore, a Nairobi institution and as you’d guess, a meat fest.  Fixed price all you can eat, but with more class than the concept suggests.  It originally started as game meat specialist, but now it’s a little more generic with sausage, beef, lamb and pork on the menu.  The game we were served was ostrich balls (meat balls rather than their bollocks) and crocodile.  The ostrich was great and the croc was a little salty.  It was a great night, despite everyone being shattered from the drive and the last few nights on the grog.

Caro and a couple of the others headed home at midnight to try and get some time on the internet (access is so rare and precious on the road, you have to grab the opportunity when you can) while the rest of us headed to a club. When she got there she discovered that the hotel had moved all of our belongings out of our room in our absence. It must have been quite an exercise because the room was a mess! We’d unloaded practically everything in our bags when we’d arrived at the hotel, washed clothes and hung them to dry and we’d plugged in our laptop, cameras and phones to charge.

They weren’t very clear on the motivations for the move – but it seemed to centre around them drawing the conclusion that we were two single people who both should have been sharing with someone of the same sex and so they’d taken it upon themselves to right the situation it in our absence. They’d made no effort to contact us to discuss it – and god knows how they were going to decide which belongings to put in which room! It took them about 15 minutes to track down our things when Caroline got in  – everything had been packed into a series of plastic bags. When I got home at 2am some sense of order had been restored and we‘d been moved back into the original room.

We found out the next morning that all sorts of shenanigans had gone on around rooms the night before. Janice and Dave, another couple, arrived back from dinner to discover a third bed had been brought into their double room and someone’s belongings, complete with SLR camera, were in the room – but no sign of that person. They didn’t even know whether the belongings were a man’s or a woman’s and whether that person was on our trip or not. Turns out the bags belonged to Carla. They’d already changed her room once earlier in the evening – but this second time they’d done so without her knowledge. Chrissy had been moved three times. Bearing in mind that none of us had met yet, it was all a little disturbing! Really poorly handled by the hotel…

And back to Kenya

So the last two days have been all about getting back to Nairobi to offload a few bods (Kirk, Stobie, Jess, Steve, Angelo and John are all headed back to the UK, Babs and Dave are off to travel independently in Africa) and collect twelve or so newbies who are joining us for the southbound leg. Another border crossing, and happily we didn’t have to pay to re-enter Kenya, since Rwanda has just rejoined the East African community. We got to Eldoret in time for a late lunch and a swim. Then another great Indian meal and a few quiet drinks before bed.

As I type this we are driving down a shockingly bumpy road which should continue for the best part of the day. Tim and I have spent most of the trip sitting at the back of he truck because there‘s a table back here. I know nothing about suspension and the like – but I am reliably told that it’s bumpier at the back then the front because it has twin axels. Regardless, we regularly “get air” when we hit potholes or bumps – although my head hasn’t hit the roof – yet!

Tomorrow we will be in a newer but smaller truck, so we will see how he handles the roads…

Off to Eldoret

We’d had a tip off that there was a lion kill nearby so we headed off in search of it first thing. It was a buffalo that they’d killed the night before and the three lionesses were still busy munching it the next morning. Just behind them I spotted a Jackal – maybe waiting for the remains.

We drove along the soda lake and saw the masses of flamingos that Nakuru is famous for. We had brunch at Baboon Cliff lookout, with its impressive views. On the way out we got up close to another couple of white rhinos, including a baby and a male napping in the sun.

The rest of the day was given over to the drive to Eldoret. We were settling into truck routine – playing cards, reading, sleeping , listening to music, chatting and enjoying the stunning scenery. With 17 people sitting in the truck (Emily and Matt in the cab) there’s plenty of room to stretch out, move around, and sit with different people.

We arrived in Eldoret mid-afternoon and made the most of the excellent facilities at the Naiberi River campsite – washing clothes, swimming in their pool and having hot showers. The site is run by Raj, whose team cooked us a delicious banquet of Indian food  and we had cake for Denford’s birthday. The bar had a huge fire in the centre and lots of comfy sofas. But the icing on the cake was the novelty of the ten or so dogs, of all shapes and sizes, that belong to Raj and hung out with us for the evening. One even slept on the bar!

Lots of drinks later, it started bucketing down rain. Our tents held up to the rain and we woke up snug and dry. The other truck using the site, from another overland company, weren’t so lucky. Several of their tents had leaked and their occupants had spent the night sleeping in the bar. To add insult to injury they’d then been charged for it by the campsite!