Day 1
Our flight lands at 4am and in a sleep deprived fog we have to sort out our Kenyan visas. The visas cost $50 and they only accept $ or Ksh (Kenyan Shillings). We don't have either. So Rich has to run to an ATM while I stand around yawning. By the time we've sorted out visas, collected our bags & got our taxi to the hostel, it's about 6am and we're ready for bed. Unfortunatly our room isn't ready so we have breakfast instead.
Today we go to a Masai market, which is on the edge of the city in a muddy field. They try and rip us off. We had about 5 trinkets and the first offer was $200! But thats the starting price, now they want us to negotiate, but we can't be bothered as we don't really want any of the stuff. So we leave to walk around downtown Nairobi and go see a couple of safari companies (where we initially think they too are trying to rip us off - until we realise safaris are just very expensive).
This gives us food for thought as our journey from Kenya to South Africa was originally going to be one long overland tour. There are hundreds of tour companies that take you from Nairobi to Cape Town in 30-60 days, however fast you want to get there. But there are 2 downsides, one is they're expensive, about $110 pp/day, two is they're camping tours. 30 days of camping!? Now we're thinking it might be better to go it alone.
Day 2
The next day we do nothing but hang out at the hostel. Its nice and peaceful and we get a much needed rest after the Egypt adventure. That night we arrange to have dinner at the hostel and are joined by a Spanish couple (our age) and an older American couple. The Spanish couple are really cool and Juan (who seems to have been everywhere) gives us some good advice on travelling in Brazil. The Americans turn out to be really interesting too - the husband was in the Peace Corps and they spent a lot of his working life in Africa in the 70s. He also tells Rich an amusing story about once seeing elephants mating. His wife looks on disapprovingly.
Day 3
Thursday is our last full day in Nairobi and we spend it booking a 3 day Masai Mara safari, and getting Alicia's hair braided in some dodgy market on the outskirts of the city. The safari sounds good and Alicia's hair looks good (& was cheap) so everyone's happy!
