Safari – Back to Nairobi – Thursday 3 May

This is it. The adventure is over. The safari is at an end. Today we got back in the truck and got bounced all the way back to Nairobi.

There were a few less of us on the truck for the return trip. Matt and Heidi were flying out from Arusha. Matt was going straight to Zanzibar. Heidi was flying to Dar es Salaam (capital of Tanzania) then she was going onto Zanzibar. The rest of us were back on the truck to Nairobi.

The drive back was uneventful. The border crossing was much the same as last time, but the Tanzanian’s claimed that Flick and Sarah’s passport didn’t have the right stamp so Alex had to take them and their passports back and then they had to point the stamp out (it had been there all along). Then we were on the Kenyan side getting our entry stamps and Alex gave his form to Sarah but then she had to wait at the counter because Alex had to line up in person. It took some scurrying round to find him and get him to the building. Meanwhile we’d all got our stamps, some people went and got their money changed either to US or Kenya and the rest of us got safely on the truck.

While on the truck there were loads of locals arms reaching in the door trying to sell us bracelets and other trinkets. It was actually a good way to buy stuff – 6 feet in the air buying stuff out the windows of the truck.

We stopped at the same rest area just on the Kenyan side of the border but just for a quick snack. We bought some chips etc and we shared our money round a bit for those who were nearly out of currency. We also did some last minute purchasing. I bought a soapstone chess board. I’ve wanted one for ages, I’m getting a backgammon set for Egypt and now a chess set from Kenya. These will be my lasting touristy trinkets in my house.

When we got back to the Comfort Inn in Nairobi Dee and Aubrey headed off to the airport. Fiona and Hugo went to their next hotel and Aidan, Colin, Sarah, Flick and I went for a wander round the market.

We lasted about 20 minutes. Colin – as usual – kept getting separated from the herd. He’s like some wildebeest cub being picked off by hyenas! We walked down the street, around a corner to a marketplace. We walked in and immediately the harassment started. No worse than Khana Khalili but still bloody annoying. We walked about, bought a few little things (including some more Tusker beer t-shirts). We got jack of the constant harassment pretty quick and decided we were better off just going to the bar.

So the five of us went to the bar, had a drink, then had an early dinner at the hotel restaurant and then back to the bar for another quick drink. Most of us were fairly tired so we headed off to bed pretty early. Colin stayed up and ended up drinking with some other random tourists at the bar across the street. Aidan and I are convinced we’re going to get a call from some South American gaol house because he’s gone out drinking with random tourists and ended up in a pub fight… ok he’s not the aggressive kind but who knows what these random strangers were like. Fortunately he survived none the worse for wear (if a little tired and hung over) for our 7am trip to the airport.

I can’t believe the trip I’ve been waiting for forever is now over… I’ve been talking about a safari for 10 years and now I’ve been, I’ve seen all the animals and I’ve looked at the stars in the middle of the Serengeti. Pretty cool really.

Next stop – Cairo for the beginning of our tour of Upper Egypt.