Off To Africa! - 29-30 Jun 2013
No, this is not a prequel to Out of Africa. Robin and I are flying to Nairobi, Kenya for a two-week safari to witness the Great Migration of Wildebeest and Zebra that takes place annually in Western Kenya.
The KLM flight from DTW to AMS was good for us, but not so good for one passenger. He took ill about 30 min into the flight, collapsing in front of us next to the galley. He then passed out before landing and needed EMS before we could deplane. Robin and I were in Economy Class (thank you, Robin) so we had 8 hrs of "Netflix" viewing. I could've watched 8 hours of Game of Thrones but my remote wouldn't allow me to scroll the menu. So I tried to sleep. We left at 6 pm and arrived at 7:20 the next morning (7 hr time diff).
Our plane to NBO (Nairobi) was already waiting for a 11 am takeoff at 7 am but was the delayed 2.5 hrs when the pilots discovered that one engine wasn't working and we needed to refuel before takeoff. Sleep was lousy in a sitting position but we felt pretty good when we arrived in Nairobi at 9:45 pm. It took 45 minutes to get thru immigration, then another 45 for our luggage. The bag drop was so loaded that they had to pull bags off the carousel - the belts stopped moving from the weight of the bags. Finally our bags showed up and we were able to clear customs and meet up with Charles Ombongi Masese (our driver) and Nerisa Kamar (our host).
As we left the airport a little after 11 pm and drove past the Nairobi National Park I was scanning the fences to see if I could spot an owl or my first African bird. I didn't see any birds but did see a Zebra grazing next to the road! We dropped Nerisa off at her new home and continued on to Nairobi and the Village Villa Guest House, where we would stay for two nights. On the way we passed the United Nations and American Embassy. We finally reached our rooms at half past midnight.
The KLM flight from DTW to AMS was good for us, but not so good for one passenger. He took ill about 30 min into the flight, collapsing in front of us next to the galley. He then passed out before landing and needed EMS before we could deplane. Robin and I were in Economy Class (thank you, Robin) so we had 8 hrs of "Netflix" viewing. I could've watched 8 hours of Game of Thrones but my remote wouldn't allow me to scroll the menu. So I tried to sleep. We left at 6 pm and arrived at 7:20 the next morning (7 hr time diff).
Our plane to NBO (Nairobi) was already waiting for a 11 am takeoff at 7 am but was the delayed 2.5 hrs when the pilots discovered that one engine wasn't working and we needed to refuel before takeoff. Sleep was lousy in a sitting position but we felt pretty good when we arrived in Nairobi at 9:45 pm. It took 45 minutes to get thru immigration, then another 45 for our luggage. The bag drop was so loaded that they had to pull bags off the carousel - the belts stopped moving from the weight of the bags. Finally our bags showed up and we were able to clear customs and meet up with Charles Ombongi Masese (our driver) and Nerisa Kamar (our host).
As we left the airport a little after 11 pm and drove past the Nairobi National Park I was scanning the fences to see if I could spot an owl or my first African bird. I didn't see any birds but did see a Zebra grazing next to the road! We dropped Nerisa off at her new home and continued on to Nairobi and the Village Villa Guest House, where we would stay for two nights. On the way we passed the United Nations and American Embassy. We finally reached our rooms at half past midnight.
