Blog 12

Monday, June 30, 5 p.m., Nairobi, Kenya

We are back in Nairobi, our departure city, staying here until tomorrow evening. I will tell you the tale of our trip from Mombasa on the sleeper train.

Once again, we greeted bus drivers for the trip into the Mombasa train station. The people here are probably scandalized (and rightly so) by the amount of "stuff" we require for safari. Our 20 passenger bus had no room inside for baggage, so it was hoisted to a rack on the top, covered and secured with rope. 

Our bags have expanded considerably since we arrived, filling up with gifts and African treasures. (We are checking them all for the flight back, even if we have to pay for excess weight.) 

All loaded up, we proceed through the streets of Mombasa again, but we take a different road that gives us a bit of hope. There are actually some nice houses, smooth streets, and some degree of comfort to be found on a few streets. However, the train station is nothing to boast about.

At the station, the poor bus drivers must unload from the bus to the wagons the porters have supplied. Then it is off to find our train car. The 20 of us take up five of the six sleeper cabins in car #2503. There are four bunks per cabin -- two upper, two lower. 

We are only in these cabins for a few minutes before the chime is sounded by a porter for dinner in the dining car. Of course, by this time we have inspected toilet facilities with some degree of trepidation. One of the two in our car is adequate for women. And it flushes!

Dinner is served by several adept young men who rock and roll with the motion of the train while serving soup and the main courses without spilling any on the table or on our laps. Amazing! Both entrees -- chicken marsala and beef goulash -- are tasty, and we chose white wine, also tasty, to accompany our meal. 

Once again, we represent the majority of passengers, at least in the sleeper cars and in the dining car. There are not many train travelers this trip.

Rather than retire immediately to our sleeping quarters, which another porter was making up as we ate, most of us stayed in the dining car playing games or reading. When sleep overcame us, we headed to our bunks.

The accommodations were fine, but sleep was intermittent as the train stopped often with some shuddering and then started up again. We were supposed to get to Nairobi by 9:30 a.m. Monday (leaving Mombasa at 7 p.m. Sunday), but we pulled in closer to noon. That was okay. We had nothing better to do today. The trip is shorter by half by roadway, but this was more fun and we did not have another hotel bill.

Pete and Liz commented that the stars they saw from the train were the best yet. Seeing stars over Africa and over the Indian Ocean has been amazing, so I can't imagine how it got better.

Because we were all buddied up during the night with four to a cabin, the cabin of four men had an unofficial snoring contest. There was some agreement that Br. Chuck took the award, but I don't know that he had a vote in that.

We found the morning part of our train ride quite interesting, seeing a few animals along the way -- notably ostrich and baboons. We climbed from sea level to mile-high plus, so at times the ride was quite slow-going, with the Little Engine That Could chugging up the inclines.

People brought out their cameras to record life along the railroad line. We were once again among the herding villagers in their stick or straw or mud huts. In some towns children were headed to school in their uniforms. 

Sadly, the most memorable part of our trip was past the slum area of Nairobi, which, we found out later from our new van driver, is the second largest slum in the world. The largest is in Soweto, South Africa. This cannot be adequately described. Shack after shack after shack -- children and their parents. Trash heaps. People foraging in trash heaps. No running water, no sewers, no drainage.

These people set up their "shops" so close to the railroad tracks we could almost touch them. Later we saw a view of this area from another angle and it goes on and on! Our driver told us houses were being built for them to buy at low cost, but I don't even know how that can be. No hope! Sorry to be so sadly graphic.

And here we are again, back at a hotel with all our bags and all our stuff. Smack me hard if I ever complain about anything again!

This afternoon six of us went to the Karen Blitzen Museum (Out of Africa) and took a tour. It was quite interesting. I have a feeling many of us will be rereading and reviewing African-themed books and movies. Darrel and Jim K. bought Out of Africa at the gift shop there. This area of Nairobi was quiet and quite affluent looking. 

From there we went to the Giraffe Center, a breeding reserve for Rothschild Giraffes (they are the ones with white stockings.) We were able to feed giraffes by dropping food pellets on their tongues while hugging them -- we got pictures. Giraffes are my favorite safari animal. They are so graceful and they have the most beautiful eyes and eyelashes. 

Other members of our group went on a shopping trip with Br. Chuck at the helm. We will hear their adventures at dinner tonight. We are staying at the hotel to have our closing night meal together.

Tomorrow is the Maasai Market just down the street from our hotel. This will be our last chance for bargains. I am going for beads and musical instruments. We have almost reached capacity.  

As time winds down, many of us are ready to be back home. The long journey by air begins late tomorrow night and ends the next night.

See you soon!

Kathy