Kenya (Part 2)

21 September 2012. 18 of the Geckos have gone ballooning so there's plenty of breakfast for the remaining 6 people. It's a slow bumpy ride from our camp site to the Masai Mara gate, past the "Masai Village", shops and thousands of plastic bags.  Once inside the park we see a Dik Dik. Further on there are lionesses stretching and a lion taking a morning stroll. After picking up the balloonists from Keekorock Airstrip we see sticks and rocks that may also be lions. A line of Wildebeest which Malinga estimates to be a thousand  pass by. Whilst looking at a stick we notice a yellow blur that attacks a baby Wildebeest and is fought off by the youngster's mother. The blur is a Cheetah. This is very exciting to see and it happens so quickly. Even the guide is excited by the event we have just witnessed. We park under a tree and eat lunch in the middle of the Mara then drive down to the Mara River and see Hippos and Crocodiles, but no Wildebeest trying to cross.  On the way back to camp we see Giraffes, Elephants, Zebras, various antelopes and gazelles and a large herd of Buffalo. We then drive off track and circle a bush where we see the Cheetah with four cubs resting in the shade. A good day for us and the Wildebeest.

22 September 2012. We leave the Mara around 6:30 am and for the next 3 hours it is a dusty, bone shaking drive back to Narok. There's a lot more driving to Nairobi before we arrive at the Hotel Panafric, on the edge of the cbd. A hotel representative tells us that due to a rugby tournament they have overbooked and there is no room for us. As we draw straws to determine who will attack this person first, he tells us we have been upgraded to the Stanley Hotel. We are still sceptical. When we arrive at the Stanley in the middle of the cbd our scepticism disappears. It is a beautiful old style hotel which has been part of Nairobi since 1912. There is nothing tired about the service or decor of this establishment. After we settle in, the Geckos group goes to the Carnivores Restaurant. It's not how I remember it from 2007. Maybe it's the type of place you go to once and then tick off the list. The drive back to the hotel is interesting as we continually drive through red traffic lights.

23 September 2012. The phone alarm which was set for 5:30 am yesterday was not cancelled and springs to life this morning. Unfortunately the phone is locked away in the room safe. After a breakfast to die for we go for a wander about the city. Being Sunday, Nairobi is relatively quiet. We buy some goods at the local supermarket and use visa to pay for it. Lyn is asked for ID and she fakes her passport number which the cashier accepts. There is some question as to whether we have booked a second night at the hotel. We barricade the door, disconnect the phone and stay for the second night.