On our way to Kenya

We got a lift to Sevilla station boarded the AVE and off we were. It was Yancy’s first time on a high speed train and it was much better then the TGV I remember, granted that was a ways back. We arrived in Madrid and after being completely taken by a hotel we took off the next morning for Doha.

Yancy found his way to his old apartment building and once inside started knocking on doors, some answered some did not. One of the first to answer wasn’t anyone he knew. He had only lived there a few days so he couldn’t remember exactly where people lived but he finally found a few. We hung out, ate some shawarma, slept and boarded our next flight for Nairobi.

We arrived in Nairobi excited to see Todd and figure out what we were going to do in Kenya. Todd showed up and after his 10 hour drive to pick us up he wasn’t too hot on turning right around so we opted to stay the night in Nairobi. We headed for the YMCA central on State House road, travel tip for anyone heading this way; it is a great cheap place. The rooms are nothing fancy but clean enough and mosquito nets are in every room. Room rates are 700 Kenyan Shilling per person, so about 12 Dollars, not bad and it has a pool, garden area, restaurant, internet café and nice staff.

We had to try Carnivore’s, a restaurant that I hear is rated top 50 in the world, for the fun atmosphere I am guessing. The place is super fun though! It is an all you can eat BBQ, Kenyan style complete with Crocodile, Ostrich, Lamb, Chicken, Pork, Beef and I hear on some nights Camel. First you can sample some Dawa, meaning medicine in Swahili, a cup of vodka with squashed lime and a spoonful of honey. It is a safe version of what you can find in Kenya, the real Dawa drink is normally made with local brew that is more like straight ethanol than drinking alcohol and has been known to make people go blind! Although a full cup of Smirnoff was more than enough for me.

In the morning we took off for Kitale, a town in the north west of Kenya where Todd, Yancy’s childhood friend is currently working on a new children’s home. The roads, he warned us would be bad. What should be a 4-5 hour drive would be closer to 10 and bumpier than we had ever seen. The fist couple hours weren’t bad at all. Turns out that a well connected politician has a house a few hours out and the roads are fine till there but after that there was no guarantee.

After getting out of the city and watching Todd fight his way through the Nairobi traffic the first thing that hit me was overlooking the Rift Valley. It was such a large valley, one that I had read about and studied for years. It is always so amazing to get to see something that has only been words in a book or images on the discovery channel. The cradle of life right in front of us, to think about all the prehistoric activity that has taken place in the valley that I was overlooking was pretty overwhelming.

It was my first chance to see some wildlife, a herd of zebra were grazing on the side of the road, which of course is amazing seen as I have only ever seen them in zoos. The roads were bad and bumpy but I was able to sleep and before too long we were there.