Travel Tuesday: Week 3

Welcome to a new edition of Travel Tuesdays! Today's travel question is: Where did you feel the most unsafe when traveling? What did you do about it? Please grab a button below and link up with any travel-related posts you want to share this week, whether you decided to answer the prompt or share something else!

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Last summer, as you probably know if you read my blog, I studied abroad in Rwanda for nearly three weeks. The most common response I got when I announced my impending trip was: "Oh my gosh, aren't you scared? Isn't Rwanda dangerous?" Unfortunately, most people only know of Rwanda because of the tragic genocide that occurred there in 1994. But now, the country is very safe. They have done a wonderful job rebuilding, and I never once felt unsafe. (Well, except sometimes in the bus. I just wasn't comfortable with how closely we drove past pedestrians and the motorbike taxis.) It probably helped that we were paired some Rwandan students to show us around the city, study with us and help translate for us, and we became very close with some of them.

My roommates and I with Emmanuel, a Rwandan student who traveled with us throughout the program.

Rwanda really is a wonderful example of how a country can move past a tragedy, even one as horrific as a genocide, both as a society and in the government. I only wish more people understood the current state of the country instead of imagining a massacre every time Rwanda is mentioned. Almost my entire experience in Africa was very comfortable, safety-wise. In fact, I felt less safe walking to work in the morning on the Mizzou campus than I ever did in Rwanda. It was only when I got to Nairobi, on my way to Amboseli National Park with my mother, when I felt unsafe.

Nairobi was a very bustling, urban city. My mom said she had heard it called the "New York City" of Africa, and I think that's pretty accurate. There were people everywhere. All over the sidewalks, in the streets, between cars ... everywhere. We were only in the Nairobi for the night, so we could catch a bush plane to Amboseli early in the morning, but we wanted to see the city a little. We dropped all our things off in our hotel room, and I wrapped my camera strip around my wrist and stuck it in my pocket. That was all I took with me; I knew in that throng of people, I would never feel someone trying to pickpocket me. (And just for the record, I do not think pickpocketing is an "African" or "abroad" experience. I'm very careful of my things in America, too.)

View from the hotel room. And trust me; the crowd looked and felt a lot denser from the ground.

My mom and I took a short walk around the block, and promptly went back to the hotel. I don't want to sound like a wussy traveler, and if we had gone to Nairobi to see Nairobi we would have spent more time in the city, but we really just wanted to get some dinner and a good night's sleep so we could enjoy a game ride the next day. The entire time we were walking around, I was worried about bumping into someone, how to cross the street (crazy drivers!) or if someone would try to pickpocket me. I've never felt like that before in a city, so it was an interesting experience.

Luckily, that's the only time I've ever felt unsafe while traveling. I can't wait to read your travel tales. Thanks for reading and/or participating!

Next week's topic: What destination is at the top of your travel bucket list? Why? What do you want to do there? Do you think it will ever happen, and if so, when/how?

Nine movies in 24 hours.

Saturday/Sunday, July 23/24

At the Amboseli airport, waiting for the flight back to Nairobi.

Finally, after 23 unforgettable days in Africa, it was time to return home to the U.S. It would take me 24 hours and 15 minutes, including a 16-hour flight over the North Pole. Actually, if you want to count from the time we left Amboseli, it took 38 hours and 45 minutes - plus the two-hour drive from San Francisco to my home. That's right, we had a 14-hour layover in Nairobi, which we spent at a little cafe at the airport because we really didn't have anywhere to go in the city. I did get to try Pineapple Fanta, however. That was exciting.

 

I have now tried Citron, Fiesta, Apple, Pineapple, Orange

and Strawberry Fanta. It's kind of a game for me now.

Mom was flying straight to Switzerland for work, so we parted ways in Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. I had a semi-quick layover in Dubai, which gave me the following impressions: Shiny! Western. Unbelievably hot. I felt like I was in a kiln the moment I stepped onto the jetway, despite the fact it was 4:50 in the morning. In the airport, I saw a familiar green straw, so I wandered about the terminal for a few minutes and - sure enough! - there was a Starbucks in the airport. I didn't get in line, though, because I didn't know if they would accept my gift card.

A monkey stole my apple!

Friday, July 22

Today, Mom and I made the very fortunate decision to ask Victor for an abnormal game drive time, at 10:30 a.m. Our British friends had seen giraffes when they went at this time earlier in the week, so we were hoping the animals would follow the same pattern today. Victor was very accommodating and agreed to take us, even those this wasn't a time offered by the lodge.

As luck would have it, we saw both lions AND giraffes on this drive! The lions were extremely far away, so it was difficult to capture a picture of them, but we could see them (a lion and a lioness) clearly through the binoculars. The giraffes were a different story; they were everywhere! There was a group about eight walking along the horizon, plus four more under a smattering of trees, and finally a momma and baby giraffe crossing the road.

After the drive, we spent the day eating and lounging by the pool. Before dinner, I took my book with me to enjoy an apple and a drink by the main lobby. I set my book and apple down on the table and turned to get some hot tea. I had barely taken a step when I remembered a member of the hotel staff warning me that the vervet monkeys that overran the hotel liked fruit. (He told me this after I ordered a cocktail by the pool. Apparently, the monkeys like to jump up and take the fruit pieces right out of the glass!) I turned around to grab my apple, and a monkey was already sitting on the table, holding it in his creepily human-like hands! The monkey held it to its face guiltily before it turned and scampered up the pillar to hide on the roof, before the Maasai man standing nearby could run over and scare it away. I felt bad for my neglect, especially considering the signs that are posted all over the lodge grounds:

I did feel a little better later, though, when a woman sitting nearby had her soda knocked over multiple times by a persistent little monkey who climbed onto the table to lick up the spillage after she finally moved seats.

Chasing lions to Tanzania.

Thursday, July 21

Serena Safari Lodge offers two game drives per day, one at 6:30 a.m. and another at 4 p.m. We chose to do the morning drive today in hopes of seeing some different animals. Specifically, we wanted to see some lions, who typically stay well hidden during the day. After driving for 90 minutes without luck, Victor got a phone call from another guide.

He was speaking Swahili, but we thought he was getting good news from the tone of his voice. When he got off the phone, he turned to us.

"They're almost in Tanzania," Victor said. "Do we want to go?"

Of course, the answer was a resounding yes. Lions had been spotted near the edge of the park!

"It's about 20 kilometers," Victor said as he turned back to the road and stepped on the gas. We bumped off along the dirt path at about 55 kph, instead of our usual 30 kph crawl that allowed us to admire each animal as we passed. We did see some new species on our way to the lions, including warthogs and several types of birds (secretary birds, Egyptian geese, white pelicans, flamingos and guinea fowl, to name a few), but they didn't deter us from our mission.

After a little while, I saw a sign reading: "Observation Hill, 7.2 km." I had picked these words out of Victor's conversation, so I knew that's where we were headed. If only the lions would wait until we arrived!

When we did arrive, we met up with several other vans filled with hopeful tourists in khakis, binoculars attached to their faces and camera lenses stretching toward the tall grass. Unfortunately, we were all disappointed. Victor and the other guides looked for the telltale lion's tail raised above the grass but couldn't spot any.

Disappointed, we drove away after twenty minutes of watching and waiting. Compared to the 141 pictures I took on our Wednesday game drive, I only took 29 today, but here are the best of those:

Welcome to the plains.

Wednesday, July 20

Today was the real transition between Rwanda and Kenya. Although there were differences between Kigali and Nairobi (size being the main one), they were both fairly modern East African cities. Today, we were finally seeing another side of Africa at Amboseli National Park in southern Kenya. We visited the local airport, where we hopped on a bush plane to fly us 45 minutes down to Amboseli, a national park located just north of the Tanzania border.

Our adorable baby bush plane. Look at the man on the far wing to get

an idea of how tiny it was.

On the way, we could see animals out the window, which got progressively more exciting. At first, right outside Nairobi, there was an occasional gazelle, but as we prepared to land in Amboseli, we saw elephants, wildebeest and zebras wandering the plains. A guide from our hotel, Serena Safari Lodge, was waiting for us at the runway when we landed. We paid our park admission fees and jostled off across the bumpy dirt roads to the lodge. I knew I was being “such a tourist” as I snapped pictures of every wildebeest, zebra and gazelle we passed, but I really didn’t care at that point.

This mama baboon carrying her baby waited at the side of the road

for our Jeep to pass before she began crossing.

When we arrived at the hotel, the staff greeted us with glasses of passion fruit juice and sat us down in the lobby for Mom to fill out her paperwork. That is one thing I have noticed is tremendously different between here and the U.S. – the service! Maybe I just don’t stay at as nice of places when I’m traveling in America, but the staff at the Serena Safari Lodge was unbelievably friendly and attentive. They pulled out our chairs and put our napkins on our laps for us at every meal, they kept our key at the front desk any time we left the room, and every time we visited the pool, someone was there within two minutes to serve us drinks. But the best part was that after you spoke with an employee once, that person would remember you and greet you personally every time he or she saw you after that.

Next stop: Kenya!

Tuesday, July 19

Today we transitioned from Rwanda to Kenya. At the start of the day, I only had four things left on my to-do list with Mom:

1. Avenir
2. Bourbon Coffee
3. Artists' market
4. Ride a motorcycle taxi

We had decided not to visit Avenir or the artists' market because we were able to shop at both the open market and Ineza, and Mom wasn't too keen on the idea of me riding a motorcycle taxi in Kigali. So that left Bourbon Coffee, which they had at the airport. Bourbon is like the Rwandan version of Starbucks, but they have the best African coffee! It's made with chocolate and ginger, which was strange the first time I tried it because I'm only used to having ginger with sushi, but it was so, so delicious. After coffee, we breezed through security (no need to remove your shoes or separately screen your liquids here) and boarded our flight to Nairobi.

 Kenya Airways wasn't quite as glamorous as Ethiopian Airlines,
but it was still nicer than most American carriers.

After arriving in Nairobi, we got a taxi to our hotel and settled in. It was already almost 5 p.m., which meant daylight was winding down quickly. On the drive to the hotel, I had gotten the disenchanted impression that Nairobi was like a dirty version of New York City, with a lot more people on the sidewalks and worse drivers. But we wanted to experience the city a little, so I put a camera around my wrist and we walked a few blocks around the hotel. It was kind of fun for me, because I love weaving through people and finding the quickest way to get through a crowd. (You should see me with my suitcase in a busy airport; it's like a game for me!) Fifteen minutes outside was enough, though, so we returned to the hotel for dinner and went to bed, anticipating our 5:30 a.m. wake-up call to fly to Amboseli.

Me in front of the Kenya National Archives, which was within view
of our hotel room window.

I want to see a lion!

I have a five-page synopsis on my final project for my Rwanda class due Thursday. Of course, instead of doing my readings, I can't stop thinking about actually being in Africa this weekend!


That's right, I'm leaving early Friday morning! Atlanta -> Washington D.C. -> Addis Ababa -> Kigali! And then approximately two and a half weeks later, I'll be flying to Kenya to stay at Amboseli National Park with my mother. I can't wait to add my own photos to Pinterest, but for now, these will have to do....


But most of all, I WANT TO SEE A LION! Rawr, Alphie!