waynehazle

Thank you Lynda,
Day 11 was just GLORIUS!

atravelynn

Such luck with the cheetahs! Glad you could get the photos from an alternative source.

Just like the pilot's saying of "Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing," same thing with the balloon. As long as you get in and out, that's what counts.

I will spell it Maasai from now on.

bat

Your balloon ride sounds great.

LyndaS

Thanks, Wayne, Lynn, and cindysafari!

I am actually still a little confused Lynn on whether we should be spelling Masai Mara with one A or two. Benson (who is a Maasai) said the park was Masai, but as someone else pointed out, it was spelled wrong to begin with. But I guess an official name is an official name? Maybe if Eben is reading this thread maybe he can help?
By the way, Lynn, I read your INCREDIBLE panda reprot - FABULOUS! I'd like to go to Chengdu now to see them - not to work, but be a tourist. Can tourists pay the $ and go in the nursery or is that just for the workers and volunteers?

Maxygirl-
You are going to LOVE that trip! I looked up your itinerary this morning (still trying to figure out where the 7 flights come in though when you only have 6 legs and you are driving on one of them! (Serengeti to Ngorongoro). Wow, great trip though , camps sound wonderful! I hope you get Daniel as your safari director - you will LOVE him!

Anyhow, no, nothing special needed for evenings as I mentioned - dockers kind of pants for the men with a nice shirt or golf shirt, and nice pants/top for the ladies should do it at Mt. Kenya. Some people were all dolled up though, but I bet their bags weighed more than 15 kg!

Can you clarify what you meant about the luggage and the purse? We didn't have any extra luggage - we bit the bullet and just packed in the Micato duffle bag. We were two days in London after - I wore the same black pants in London that I traveled down in, and used for Mt. Kenya - laundered of course though!
You can indeed though leave a bag at your hotel in Nairobi (Norfolk I think you have) as you will be back there at the end of the safari for at least the day.

I did use a purse to travel there and back with - during the whole time in Nairobi and the safari, as well as Zanzibar though, I didn't use it. I just put it in the duffle bag - it is very softsided, squashes well, no hard sides or bottoms on my travel purse!

As for the money, I can give you a guide line of what we took - with a little disclaimer first though!

Disclaimer-
We may not be the average spenders. Hubby loves to try each country's beer, and is an incredibly social guy. Mix the two together, and that sometimes = high bar bills (am I not right, Julian and Kavey??? ;-) ) The saving grace is that I don't drink at all, but I certainly send out laundry! Every lodge got a sale of laundry form us!

OK, now that the disclaimer is out... Oh, and keep in mind we had one day in Nairobi before the safari (not with Micato - before everyone arrived) and 4 days in Zanzibar afterwards on a Micato extension.

We took 500.00 USD in cash, 700 USD in TC. From bank machines in Kenya we got the equivalent of about 550.00 USD more. - BUT - we brought back 220.00 in USD TC. (there was a good reason for this...)

Here's the breakdown (all in USD):

Misc tips that we felt were necessary (in our circumstance) over & above above what Micato paid at camps/lodges/hotels: 85.00 USD

Tips for Micato drivers, guides & safari director - 712.00 USD

Expenses Sunday prior to Micato portion starting (guide/entrance fees/lunch, etc) 217.00 USD

Hotel/Lodge/Camp bills (laundry, beer 231.00 cash + 210.00 CCard

Purchases & gifts - 229.00 cash + 60.00 CCard

Miscellaneous unaccounted for - 56.00 USD - probably misc tips.

The expenses are for the KY/TZ portion only - London was a little different!

The KSH from the ATM was in two parts - 220.00 on the first day in Nairobi so I would have KSH to spend, the last 330.00 was to cover some tips - as we only had 220.00 in USD TC left and I needed 330.00, it only stood to reason that I had to go to the ATM for either the difference or the whole thing. I opted for the whole thing as TC's didn't cost us anything to buy and can be redeposited into our bank at N/C.

Hope this helps maxygirl! You can always email me at lyndadswain at telus dot net as well!

maxygirl

Thanks again Lynda. I cannot figure out the 7 flights either. I am traveling by myself so I suppose the tips will be half of yours. although I am not a typical spender either. I think I may reduce what I was going to take after reading your answer.

I am going to London for 3 days prior to Africa and I have social commitments there. Dressy ones. Therefore I will have a lot of things that I won't need for safari. VERY good to know I can leave my luggage at the Norfolk. I was in a bit of a panic. I have just found out this morning that my final documents are coming from Fran this week so I am really anxious. I will surely be calling on you for more help.

Thank you so kindly.

LyndaS

Maxigirl - where are from? Are you by any chance from Vancouver? (that is where I am)

maxygirl

Lynda oh my God I am in Vancouver. Brilliant. Now how did you guess?

LyndaS

Just a note before I post the next segment - Maxygirl works in the next office tower to where I work - and we have mutual friends & business associates! Amazing....

LyndaS

<b>DAY 12 TUESDAY JUNE 8TH – MT. KENYA SAFARI CLUB</b>

“LIKE MANY OF EAST AFRICA’S PRE-WAR DREAMS THE THEN “MAWINGO” AND NOW KNOWN TO US MT KENYA SAFARI CLUB WAS BORN OF A LOVE AFFAIR, AND ONE THAT HAD ALL THE INGREDIENTS OF AN EPIC ROMANCE, A HANDSOME OLDER WOMAN, A DASHING AVIATOR AND, FOR THEIR PLAYGROUND, ALL OF AFRICA.”
-from Mt. Kenya Safari Club’s website on their history
And now they had us too…

A sleep in day today for us! Last night, after supper, Daniel gathered his little family around him to go over a few things. First off, he mentioned, the airline pilots the other day were NOT impressed with the weight of our bags. Without saying it, he gave us the impression that some pretty fast talking had to be done in order to get them to take all of the bags on one of the legs of the flights. To this end, he asked if everyone who was in a couple could pack whatever they needed for Mount Kenya Safari Club for 2 days into one bag, and the other would stay at the Grand Regency awaiting our return to that hotel on Saturday. A brilliant idea we all thought!

Next, he gave us three options for this morning – a morning game run, a morning bush walk (not of the paying kind – of the included kind), or sleep in and repack. Guess what we chose – we figured it was high time to sleep in and laze around the tents, and repack at our leisure. All too soon though it was 10:00 – time to go.

We flew out from Kichwa Tembo’s private airstrip on a 52-seat Air Kenya Dash 8 at 11:30, arriving at Wilson airport in Nairobi at noon. We transferred to three vans, met our driver, Patrick and settled in for a nice country drive from Nairobi to Mt. Kenya Safari Club. As the family would not be with us on this leg – their Hearts &amp; Splendour trip was finished – we had a pretty empty van. Audrey and Lucrece came with Jim and me so that we could take whatever pictures they would like for them, and that was it, just the four of us. To eat en route, whenever we chose, was a HUGE lunch box on each seat, from the Nairobi Hilton Hotel. Before peeking though I prayed to the lunch box gods that it would be better than the last one – and, hey it worked! It was actually a fabulous lunch: 2 sandwiches, (one ham and tomato, the other cheese and tomato, both on a bun), an apple, and a banana, a bag of chips, a pound cake (big slab!) and a fruit juice. It was really good, very tasty, but no way could any one of us finish that huge lunch!

The ride was nice, but it did seem to take an extraordinary long time. Congested traffic in the city contributed to this I am sure, along with many, many police road checks along the way once we got into the country. We were waved through the majority of them; but a couple of them did check Patrick’s insurance and his credentials. The roads are good, and the scenery was varied, lots of good picture taking-out-the-window stuff. At 3:30 we ‘pit-stopped’; at a curio shop of course. Strangely enough, there was only one real shopper in our group of 15 – very unusual. Lily, one of the ladies from Massachusetts was the shopper in our crowd, but the rest of had such fun watching her bargain and ultimately buy, that we didn’t mind waiting.

The roads after the pit stop were very scenic; we were climbing into the foothills around Mt. Kenya. At one point there was a huge traffic delay, just before Nanyuki; we crawled along the road at a pace near ‘stalled’. Whatever could it be, we wondered? Patrick said probably an animal crossing the road, but it turned out to be an accident – a huge truck had slid off the road, they were towing it back up. As we came into view we saw that it wasn’t just ANY truck – it was a TUSKER beer truck! All kinds of injured Tusker bottles lying at the bottom of the hill – all broken and unsalvageable! Poor things! Oh no, we thought, will Mt. Kenya SC have any Tusker in stock??

We arrived at MKSC around 5:30, given what seemed to be by now, regulation warm towels and a fruit juice drink and a seat in the bar. (I could see a few Tusker bottles on the bar….) Just as we got comfy, Daniel was back with our keys, we would all be staying in the Riverside cottages. The public areas of the club were amazing – lots of open airy space for the halls around a central courtyard, with wonderful cozy rooms on the other side of the hall. Lots of fireplaces, overstuffed chairs, and some great d&eacute;cor – despite having to take down some of the trophies of old due to ‘a new age’, they still managed to maintain the air of an exclusive member-only hunting club (a few scattered trophies were still displayed). The outside grounds were well-manicured and incredible – there was a maze, many gardens, an inviting pool (except it was a little cold up here), tennis courts, a few gift shops, an animal orphanage, a putting green, and a golf course. I decided right then and there that this would become one of my favorite places.

The cottages were incredible – we could see the river from ours, but as we were quite a bit uphill from it, we didn’t venture down. The cottages are convertible to either a large family size cottage, or 3 individual accommodations. Ours had a huge comfy bed, a cozy fireplace, a nice sitting area with chairs that weren’t as comfortable as they looked, and a writing desk – all in the one room. Lucrece and Audrey’s, which adjoined ours, had a separate bedroom from the sitting room. All rooms had a wonderful open deck, with wooden chairs and tables, along with 2 very comfy lounge chairs. We could neither see our neighbors, nor hear them, despite having 3 suites in one cottage, it seemed very secluded. The grounds were lovely, lots of pretty flowering bushes. Oh, but the bathroom – did I mention the bathroom?? Incredible – all slate and marble – and huge. That room had to be bigger than my kitchen! Sunken tub hair dryer, double sinks and walk in shower – it was amazing. But guess who left the very small travel size bubble bath in the suitcase that STAYED in Nairobi?

Supper was incredible. Breakfast turned out to be buffet, while lunch and supper was order off the menu. For supper each night there was three choices – a fish, a meat and a vegetarian dish for an entr&eacute;e, along with a soup, a salad or an appetizer, and desert. The service was impeccable – even at our noisy &amp; boisterous table! And, the food was delicious. Usually a die-hard meat eater, while in Africa, I found myself eating the fish dish quite a bit. And loving it! The tilapia comes from Lake Victoria, and it is way better tasting than the tilapia we can get here (which I believe is imported from Vietnam).

Not too long after dinner, we retired back to our wonderful cottage. Most people walked, but they do provide transportation to and from the cottages as it is quite a distance. We snuggled into our warm and cozy bed with the hot water bottle (scarred Jim, he thought it was a cat – memories of home), and fell asleep listening to the crackle of the glowing fire in the fireplace.

matnikstym

hmmm, with your crazy glue, scotch tape, duct tape and stapler, you could have salvaged some of those poor bottles of Tusker! LOL! Still enjoying this Lynda, excellent writing!
Thanks! Dennis

sandi

Lynda -

I would have been in tears seeing that Turker truck flipped off the road. All that wonderful brew being soaked into the earth. What a shame.

We loved the Riverside Cottages for the 1/nt here. The best being the fire waiting for us on return from dinner. The next morning we were awakened by a vervet monkey knocking on the window. Too funny!

The grounds are lovely, but the one afternoon and night was more than sufficient to stay here. For me, the stop was so I could have a manicure... (princess, moi). In those years, there weren't many options for spa treatments, let alone a manicure.

A great read.

hausfrau

Lynda,
We just got our first packet of info about our Stanley Wing tour in the mail last week! It is starting to feel real...only 5 months away!

I am really looking forward to MKSC and all its romantic history.

I check back here every day - keep the wonderful travelogue coming!

bat

Lynda:
Glad that you enjoyed MKSC. So maxygirl is a neighbor.

Patty

Lynda,
I too love the tilapia in East Africa. It tastes totally different than what we get here. Did you visit the animal orphanage at MKSC? I'm thinking of stopping there as we'll be passing through Nanyuki a couple of times.

LyndaS

bat- it really is a small world!

Patty - yes, we visited the animal orphanage - I loved it - but then I'm a sucker for animals no matter where they are! You can't go in any cages (such as the cheetahs - the guide was horrified when I asked...)

It's a very pretty, well laid out zoo/orphanage - and not too big, so it's not exhasusting. There was a lynx there though that I REALLY felt sorry for - it didn't have a very big cage and I did make note of that to the guide - although I know all of the good stuff that orphanages and zoos do WHEN they have the proper facilities - and I agree with them - sometimes there are one or two animals that I know would do better in the wild. The MKSC lynx (the mom) is one of them - she was sad, and she didn't hide it. All the rest were fine though - they were happy!

I think you should stop - if you haven't already seen it you should also take a look around the MKSC - the orphanage is on their grounds.

A full description of the orphanage(hey, you know me) is in the day that I am working on right now, as well as my 'fabulous mystery purchase' that was your fault! I'll bet you have guessed what it is already....

waynehazle

I must have had tilapia 1/2 dozen times across 3 countries in Africa, in many different styles and I always loved it.

Patty

No, I still don't have a clue but I'm glad to hear the &quot;fabulous mystery purchase&quot; will soon be revealed.

How long do you think we should allow for the orphanage? One hour enough or more? Thanks.

Patty

One more question, do you actually enter MKSC to access the orphanage? How was lunch at MKSC? I'm wondering if we should arrange to have lunch there as well if we visit the orphanage (I've never been there). OK, I'll hold off asking more questions for now until you finish the next installment

OnlyMeOirish

Lynda, I'm glad to have caught up with your fabulous trip report. I can just imagine that guides face when you asked about entering the cheetah pen!!!! You had me in stitches reading that, although I have to say I would probably have asked the same thing myself. I too feel sorry for some of the animals in orphanages / zoos and know exactly how you feel for thet Lynx. I thought the same thing about the Pigmy Hippo in KWS in Nairobi. He just hid in the corner and didn't look at all happy. The Colobus monkey cage was quite small too and I felt a little sorry for them also... what did you think?
The Mount Kenya Safari Club sounds beautiful - I'm envious

We don't have tilapia here in Ireland and Hubby isn't a big fish eater but he did try it in Kenya and thought it was lovely.

Can't wait until you reveal that mystery purchase!!

Imelda

Marija

And, Imelda, we're waiting for you to reveal your mystery detour!