June 24th.
Bound for Africa, the 5 of us arrived at Dulles only to find a ridiculously long line for international check-in and security. The wait was good in that we could all catch up and chat about the upcoming trip as well as other things unrelated to work.
Lynetta was the first to arrive followed by me and Martin. Louise came next followed by Kerin who was a good 60 people behind us in line. Louise, in her priceless Louise fashion, made her way right up with up! HILARIOUS!
We made our way to the gate just as they were preparing to board. And then, in a scene that I want for myself, I noticed that the crowd parted and a half dozen suited guys were making their way through with a bearded man following behind. It was Ben Bernanke the Chairman of the Federal Reserve.
We settled in for the 7 hour flight to Zurich. I was separated from the group as they put me in an EXIT row. The rest of the gang was together a few rows back. After a movie I went back and loitered in the aisle and we chatted, had a 35,000 foot toast and chuckled about the less than gracious German flight attendant that almost assaulted me when she figured out that I was talking about her. Not my best moment!
Zurich was beautiful to fly into. It looked like one continuous golf course. The mountains were lush and the overall aesthetic was clean and attractive. Swiss Air was a great way to travel even though they refused my flirty and humorous request for an upgrade to first class.
We landed in Nairobi at about 6:30 local time, made our way to the Visa line and met our trip leader David. The airport was a madhouse! They are doing construction on the airport and we just happened to be there at rush hour and heavy flight arrivals. Nonetheless, we met up with David, our driver Roge, and another instructor from World Leadership School, Chris, who was supposed to be leading another group but was delayed.
As we made our way from the busy Nairobi airport, we saw a bustling area. Lots of traffic, lots of development and lots of people going here and there. As well, we quickly saw cultural elements in the driving! Paved roads with signs gave way to dirt roads with "I'm bigger than you and I'm merging whether you like it or not" as the rule of the road. Some of us napped while in the traffic, others took pictures but we all got a healthy dose of the fumes that came from being within arms length of a 25 passenger bus filled with 45 people!
From the masses of people we finally emerged at the Masai Lodge 3 hours (15 miles) later. The Lodge sits against a National Park that buts right up against the airport and the fringes of Nairobi. Even at night, it was wild to see this dark expanse of natural and untouched land juxtaposed against the bright lights of urban sprawl. Dirt kilometer after dirt kilometer came and went until the Lodge emerged on our left. We passed through the guarded checkpoint and proceeded to the entrance.
We were greeted by a very friendly staff. They offered us juice upon arrival and proceeded to take us to the table that they had prepared for us for our arrival dinner. Now, remember, this is 9:30pm local time and so that's 5:30am EST.
We sat down and had a round of Tuskers beer. It's a local beer and is fantastic. After that we shared vegetable salad with the table, took some pictures and readied ourselves for some traditional Kenyan fare. I had lamb, a couple of people joined me in that. A couple of folks had the fish, we had one cheeseburger and one order of goat! Not too bad for day one!
After dinner, we were escorted to our rooms. I should say our huts. The accommodations were individual, modernized Masai style huts. They were great! Each has a deck which overlooks a gorge where there were gentle rapids flowing below that provided the ambient white noise to sleep by.
For me, the night came and went pretty quick. I slept well but was up early. I took advantage of the still of the Lodge to walk around shortly after the sun came up. I walked down a bit towards the gorge, took a look at the pool, and just generally took in the surroundings. I then walked towards the front of the property where I saw some movement in the distance. I walked closer but lost the movement. I kept going though bound and determined to catch my first glipse of the wildlife that surrounds the property and then there they were...about 20 baboons playing aorund on a rock cliff about 200 yards away.
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