Dear Family,
Another 9 hour + flight and another ambien for me (thank
you Dr. Clayton for curing me from snoring fellow passengers). First off, the Virgin lounge at Heathrow is
amazing as you can shower, get mani-pedi's, massages, free food and enjoy the
open bar. Yes, next time I will simply
fly to London and spend a week vacationing in the Virgin club.
We landed in Nairobi around 7 am although who knows exact
times after the flights and time changes.
A woman approached me as I was pulling down my bag from the overhead
compartment and said that she was embarrassed that she didn't have $50 US (as
mentioned by the flight attendants that was needed to clear customs) and
wondered if I could spare the cash for a check.
She was pretty, seemed nice and from my police experience didn't appear
to be someone that I would need to hit with my billyclub so I decided to help. I asked Diane for my wallet, handed her $50
bucks and received a check. My beloved
who doesn't even know about all of the e-mails I've received from Nigerians
that will take us to the next level financially was ridiculously skeptical.
We were met in the terminal by a couple of Kenyans with
our name on a sign and they brought us through customs and then to the domestic
terminal/gate. Once through, a small van
drove us around some 1980's aircraft that had been repainted for local airlines
and over to a small 6 seat Cessna where "Sam" introduced himself as
our pilot.
We got in and he said we would fly to the Maisi Mara (SE
Nigeria near the border with Tanzania) and it would take an hour and we would
go to 10,000 feet. Diane grew concerned
as anything 9,500' can cause real issues since she had her lymph nodes removed
from under her arm during her breast cancer fight. I quickly said, let's keep it under 9,000 if
you don't mind and he told me no problem....
Unless there is a mountain which is 9,000 feet I quickly interjected as
I thought about Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper and the maintenance budget on
Nigerian Cessnas and pilot training on Croatian charter airline services in
Africa and the beneficiaries of my life insurance policy but I digress.
Sam was a great pilot and showed us some animals as we
flew in to dirt field international airport or as I call it, some sort of
antelope better get out of the way before our propeller grinds it up
airfield. William, a 25 year old Masai
greeted us next to the rock by the bush where we deplaned.
When we got into his open-air 4 row amazingly nice diesel
jeep, think JFK's car in Dallas with a roll cage and 4 wheel drive and no LH
Oswald. He asked us if we wanted to go
right to camp or see some animals. We
opted to go for the tour.
AMAZING!!! We saw all kinds of
animals including some sort of antelope in a mating ritual (she played hard to
get for 10 minutes and then a quick 5 second mount and William said that's it
to which Diane said, "you're kidding right"? - the male half seemed satisfied
and we drove on). We were amazed by the
wildlife within feet of us. Not since
Grandpa Arnie drove my brothers and me through Lion Country Safari in his
Cadillac have I felt this close to nature only I missed Granpa's cigar as he
pointed out the lions.
At camp, we had lunch and then napped in our tent. Yes, we have a tent and I told Diane that
finally a Kazan is camping. She said
that she wasn't used to crystal lamps and a bathroom in her tents but her
previous slum-camping isn't part of the discussion. That said, there are no fences around our
camp site and we were told to signal one of the Masai workers if we need to go
from our tent to the main tent since there are lions, hippos, leopards,
cheetahs, etc... roaming the area.
We took a dusk trip with William and saw a herd of
elephants (see attached photo of Diane's comfort of being within feet of the
fat family). We also saw 3 young male
lions and a leopard amongst many other animals.
Africa is truly amazing and we are off to a wonderful start.
I write this from our tent with a hot water bottle in our
bed and some small insects buzzing around me (larger ones can be heard
outside). Again awesome... Sorry for the long missive and congrats if
you made it to the end!
Lions and tigers and bears, oh my,
Kyle
Ps. It should be noted that the folks running our camp
know the woman who traded the check for cash and said she is really nice, from
a very wealthy family and it was great that I assisted her. My baton radar is still in effect!
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®
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