Farewell for now, Kenya...

I made it safely back to Norway a few days ago, and from now on I believe my blog will be a little less exciting than before, but here is an update from my wonderful last week in Kenya.I was happy for the opportunity to go to Lamu with Marianne for a few days just before leaving the country! The Swahili style place we stayed at in Shella was perfect for the rainy and sunny days, as we could sunbathe on the roof terrace and quickly get shelter under the open roof on the other half of the terrace when it started pouring down. Which it often did.. But we still had enough sun to get a little sunburned. Great house, great view and great service! Breakfast with fresh fruits, omeletts, pancakes, and the best coffee was brought up every morning.Daily afternoon half hour walks into Lamu town to different restaurants and tasty fish dinners gave us some exercise, and a couple of trips to the beach on the other side of Shella was also good, if we could avoid the strong winds and the whisking sand... Except from flocks of donkeys passing we had the beach all by ourselves. Four very relaxing days with a lot of reading and sunbathing. And - fruit juices in Lamu are the best!!
Then, back in Nairobi on Thursday I was happy that my friends Brenton, Jessie, Kasy, and Jess were willing to meet for a last lunch at Habesha, and spend some time eating cake in my empty house afterwards. Thank you for making my last day good!

248 speed bumps away...

MERU NATIONAL PARK
Highlights day 1:

• Finally setting off from Nairobi at 3 p.m. after hours of waiting for the roof rack to be constructed and welded and fastened to the roof.
• Being allowed to enter the park even if we arrived 4 hours after it had closed for the night, and arriving at the camp site after yet another hour. Pretty scary, though, for the three girls of us, to be left alone to heat up dinner and put up the tents in completely darkness as Brenton was taking the KWS guy who had shown us the way to the camp site back to the gate, knowing that a lion lived close to the campsite and that someone was hired to kill the snakes. Noises came from the bush, we were in the middle of nowhere, were unable to put up the tents, and would have had nowhere to escape if a lion would suddenly come running. That the washrooms were only a few metres away was something we did not discover till Brenton came back and we could see it from the lights of his car...
• 1.30 a.m - creeping into the sleeping bag, dead tired.

Highlights day 2:

• Breakfast by a hippo and crocodile river, Rojowero viewpoint.

• Being dead silent and a little nervous in the car as we were surrounded by elephants who wanted to cross the road just at the same spot as we were standing.
• Finding the male lions that someone had told us about.
• Lunch and some sleep in the shade after the morning game drive.
• Getting back to the main road again after finding out that the looong track, which was covered with grass and full of biting tsetse flies, ended up leading nowhere.
• Sightseeing at Elsa´s kopje, an incredible lodge with beautiful huts and an amazing view.
• Dinner.

Highlights day 3:

• Finding out that the bus Kendra and Daylan were willing to take back to Nairobi early in the morning only cost 400 kshs. That was worth getting up for, at 5.30 a.m..
  
• Finding a track that turned out to be just as bad as the track the day before, but this one actually lead to somewhere.
• Long and relaxing breakfast and rest at the camp site.
• Discovering giraffes at the camp site and being able to approach one of them to get pictures.

• Getting down to Adamson´s falls, Tana River, and finding the most beautiful place for a picnic, completely free from crocodiles - I think...

Highlights day 4:

• Sleeping long, having a long and relaxing morning. Perfect pace.
  
• Baboons being scared away just by a sudden movement from inside of the tent!
  
• Discovering ELEPHANTS across the small creek just below our tent, as we were frying eggs for breakfast.

• Realizing that by the time we had left the campsite we had seen 5 different species of animals (elephants, giraffes, water bucks, impalas, and baboons)!
• Getting the car going well again after struggles with overheating.
• Counting speed bums. Kenya must be the world´s champion when it comes to putting up speed bumps!