9-27 Hello dearest, I’m a Nigerian Prince

To say it was a difficult morning would be an understatement. Sylvester, CEO of our tour company, came to see us at the hotel. It seems that his company has had a number of problems of the last couple of months and now finds itself with cash flow issues which are impacting his ability to provide our safari. He told us he would be having a phone meeting with one of his shareholders and that he was confident that this man would give him an infusion of cash. In that case, everything would be fine and everything would be fine. Though we were supposed to leave for the Samburu, we didn’t feel comfortable not knowing if everything would work out of if we might get stuck in the middle of Kenya. After some discussion, we all agreed that the best course of action would be for us to stay another night at the hotel and leave for safari the next day, provided that the investor came through with the funds. I asked if we could go to the Nairobi Game Reserve so we wouldn’t just be sitting around all day. Yes, that could be arranged. So off we went with a very nice driver/guide called Charles. We got to the park and spent the next 30 minutes waiting for our paperwork to be processed. As I sat there in the jeep, I felt completely dispirited. The dream of the trip of a lifetime was looking decidedly like a nightmare. Was he the Kenyan version of the Nigerian Prince that just needs $5,000 processing fee before he sends me a million dollars, or is this company legit? Before you ask, yes, it’s a Kenyan company, but we did check it out and concluded that everything was above board.

Anyway, we finally made it into the camp and Charles turned out to be a very good guide.

We saw lots of species of birds, common zebras (which I did not find common at all)

Masai giraffes, hippos from a distance, crocodiles,

rhinos (a couple of which were in a very testy mood – gulp) and toward the end of our time, two lionesses taking shelter under a tree.

Oh, and sprinkbok, Thomson’s gazelles, warthogs, and lots of monkeys and baboons. The only think that was a bit jarring was the fact that the reserve is in Nairobi, and virtually everywhere you look, you can see the Nairobi skyline. So it's not a zoo, but it kind of feels like a zoo. There was one very sad moment when Charles took us to the ivory burning area. This is a place where ivory and rhino horn seized from poachers and smugglers are burned.

The do this every couple of years, and the fire is lighted by the President of Kenya. It was horrifying to see the the three huge piles of ashes

As we were leaving the reserve we stopped at the animal orphanage, where injured animals and animals seized from the illegal exotic animal pet trade are brought. A lovely young lady showed us around and gave us backstory on the residents. There’s a male lion who was injured in a fight and has limited use of his back right leg, a couple of lionesses who can’t share an enclosure because they don’t get along, a leopard, a serval, a genet cat, two kinds of guinea fowl, a couple of warthogs and cheetahs. Hanging around outside their cages were all manner of monkeys and baboons.

The orphanage doesn’t feed them, they just come visit from the reserve, hoping that one of the animals will be careless and drop some food outside their cage.

It was a very enjoyable afternoon, but we arrived back at the hotel with a feeling of dread. Shortly, Sylvester arrived and told us that everything had been sorted out and that we were to leave first thing in the morning for Samburu. We did get him to write a letter of explanation which, should anything go wrong, we can use to file a complaint with the ministry of tourism. I should say that Sylvester is a charming young man who is obviously under a lot of stress. They managed to come through COVID well enough, but some of their subcontractors didn’t and they took Sylvester’s money with them as they went under.

Relieved and hopeful for the next day, we had a bite at the restaurant then I retired to the room while Bruce went to the bar. I had an online training course I had to do for Bates Technical College, the school from which KBTC operates. (For anyone who doesn’t know, I’m the voice of KBTC television a public TV station in Tacoma, WA.) I finished the training, then headed to bed.

Male ostrich

Masai giraffe