I have been staring at a blank document for over five minutes now, trying to find a way to put the last two weeks into words. I am not sure where to begin. Morgan and I decided we wanted to travel over holiday. The original plan had been Zanzibar but a Tanzania visa was more expensive than Kenya. So Kenya it was. We left on a bus to Nairobi at two am and got there twelve hours later. Everyone was extremely helpful. With the help of a young Kenyan woman, named Claire, we found the hotel. Not only did she go to multiple hotels with us until we found one we like she also showed us were the closest Barclays was (the bank). We spent the day running around Nairobi. The city center of Nairobi felt like a western country. For a few seconds I forgot I was even in Africa. There were skyscrapers, Mercedes and trash free streets. But venture past the gleaming city center and Nairobi was similar to Kampala. For lunch our first day in Nairobi we ate cheeseburgers and chips and for dinner we had delicious Italian food. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.
The next day we went to the Langata Giraffe center outside the city. Everyone was more than helpful getting us to the right taxi and making sure were didn’t get ripped off. At the giraffe center there is a platform that puts you right next to the head of the giraffes. It was crazy. I didn’t realize how beautiful their spots are .We got to feed, pet, hug and kiss giraffes. The trainer would give you a handful of food and the giraffe would lick it all right out of your hand. After feeding it and hugging it he told us that we needed to kiss it now. I was terrified. We were instructed to put a piece of food in between our lips and the giraffe would take. He then insured us that the saliva of the giraffe was antiseptic and we were fine if it got in our mouth. I really didn’t like the sound of it, but yeah, I’m sure I’ll only get one opportunity to kiss a giraffe. I put the food in between my lips, leaned forward and closed my eyes. Well at least it made for a good story and pictureJ The giraffe center was a incredible experience that I’ll remember for the rest of my life. We left the giraffe center and headed back for central Nairobi. We got Thai beef salads and fresh juice at Nairobi Java House, the Nairobi equivalent to Starbucks. After lunch we did more shopping and I found a cute white sundress. That night we were taking a night bus to Mombasa so in preparation for a terrible bus ride we had Crème Brule at a five star hotel.
That evening we got on a 9 hour night time bus ride to Mombasa on the coast. Thankfully the bus wasn’t full so we each got our own row. The red dirt I had become so accustomed to began lightening and thinning in consistency. Before I knew it the dirt had become pale yellow sand. We were approaching the ocean. We got to Mombasa the next morning. After grabbing a quick breakfast in Mombasa we took a bus to a beach town called Malindi. We laid on the beach and ate really yummy seafood in Malindi for five days. Unfortunately it rained almost every other day we were there. On the rainy days I was forced to relax. Which I have really needed. There was a day I just sat and read an entire book. Malindi had tons of Indonesian style Tuk Tuks, three wheeled taxis. They were decorated in bright colors and dominated the small streets of Malindi. It was a sweet little beach town. After a few days in Malindi we took a four hour bus ride to Lamu.
Lamu is an island of the coast of Kenya, close to Somalia. At one point the bus pulled over to the side of the road and an policeman with a shotgun got on. he began walking up and down the aisle and making people get off the bus. We were really confused about what was going on. A nice Kenyan man next to us told us they were checking for guns that would be smuggled into Somalia. About halfway to Lamu we stopped and picked up more passengers. All the seats were full. I looked around confused at were the newcomers were going to go. Soda crates were dragged out from below the seats. A mother and daughter in matching bright blue and green traditional African dresses stood in the aisle. The 3year old daughters hair was braided against her small head. The mother had a headband made from the same fabric as her dress. They were adorable. The little girl looked up and our eyes meet. Immediately she smiled and excitedly greeted me with “jambo!”, a Swahili word meaning hello. The ride to Lamu was extremely bumpy. At one point the little girl and her mother were falling over and the man across the aisle reached over and set the small girl in his lap. She slept on him until he got off the bus. After he got off I offered to let her sit with me and she gladly accepted. When we got to Mokowo, where the boats wait on the main land to take people to lamu, the girl and her mom told us to come with them and helped us find the ferry to Lamu. The ferry to Lamu took about half and hour. Lamu is built right up at the waterfront. The only road is the narrow space that separates the water from the building facing the water. There were only two cars on the island. Instead of everyone having car like in the stats, everyone had donkeys. We were told that there are 3,000 donkeys on the island. The donkeys outnumbered the people. Lamu is rich in Swahili culture. All the roads are narrow alleyways that weave through the traditional Swahili buildings. Everything is decorated beautifully with accents from the Arabic influence. All the doors are elaborated wood craved trimmed with red or blue. Lamu is the most friendly place I have been to in Africa, but genuinely friendly. One our first day we made a big group of friends. On the beach on day we meet these two British girls, Anna and Holly. Through them we went a really nice group of Kenyan guys. For the next six days we hung out with all of them all day and night. It was tons of fun! We would take one of their boats to the beach and hang out at the beach all day. At night we could cook dinner and hang out. Lamu was my favorite part of the trip. We got to eat amazing seafood, ride in boats, and swim in the ocean. I was a very happy girl. We had planned to stay in Nairobi a night to break up the all the bus rides but ended up staying in Lamu an extra night instead. Holly and Anna took the bus back to Mombasa with us but stayed in Mombasa for the night. The travel back to Uganda was exhausting but worth the extra day. We had a seven hour bus ride from Lamu to Mombasa. A nine hour night bus from Mombasa to Nairobi and a thirteen hour bus ride from Nairobi to Iganga. It was brutal but the trip was the trip of a lifetime.
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