Day 3 - To Samburu

We were up before dawn to get organized. The camp's animals were on the job, and I had a cat in my lap through breakfast, which was delicious, if rushed. One of the camp dogs, had a different notion of hospitality, and christened our luggage.  One should probably be vigilant...

Then, we were on the road for seven hours to get to the Samburu. We stopped once for the necessaries, and were subjected to a bit of a hard sell, but nothing like we have seen.

That said, when stopped at a public road block, we were swarmed by vendors, and adopted the principle that one should never leave the windows open when the truck is not in motion, and on a street

The Samburu Reserve is an amazing plateau full of all sorts of animals, including some fairly unique to the reserve, including Grevy's zebras.

Upon arrival, we were greeted with cool moist towels, and asked to sit. We were brought fruit juice, and filled out our check in forms on the sofa.

The tent is bigger than most hotel rooms we have stayed in. It is luxurious, features a veranda overlooking the reserve. As we were arriving at our tent, some vervet monkeys decided to have an "interlude" on the lawn. No, there are no pictures of that.

The camp is gorgeous. And the food is very good. After a delicious lunch, we had some leisure time to relax before the evening game drive.

 There are lots of animals in the Samburu reserve. We especially enjoyed the lions and baboons.

Kenya - Days 1 & 2 Travel Days

Well, we had an incredible time and made it back. It is, sadly, taking me some time to go through all the pictures and video, but I wanted to get started on this update.

We flew Air France from Toronto to Paris, and then Kenyan Airways from Paris to Nairobi (I love to say "Nairobi". Try it, go ahead.). The first pleasant surprise was the Air France person offering to let us use the VIP line and take advantage of the lounge for a paltry sum. Naturally, we took her up on it. Lines? What lines?

...And the lounge. With its tasty snacks and serve yourself bar. A dangerous place, but we survived somehow. Interesting side note: if you are in the VIP lounge, they tell you they will call you when your plane is boarding, but they wait until last call so you don't have to stand in the line.

We tried to sleep on the flight with mixed success, but at least the food was good (the bread! I could snarf down a whole basket of that bread), and we had exit row seats with tons of leg room.

Charles De Gaulle was the airport we made our connection in, and, in the spirit of full disclosure, I would recommend transferring somewhere else. When you get off your plane, they make you go through security, taking any bottles of water, or duty free liquids you may have purchased inside your previous airport's secure zone, or even on the plane itself. Not impressive. Equally unimpressive was the obscene prices they were charging. 4.50€ for a small bottle of pineapple juice.. 13€ for a "continental breakfast". 

We weren't here long on the journey out, however; and soon we were on Kenya Airways for the final leg of our journey. Again, good food, good service, and the added bonus of being on the final leg of our journey.

Getting Close

Arrival at Jomo Kenyatta Airport saw us finding our way to Passport Control to get our visas. I must say, I liked the fact that they paste the visa into your passport. It makes a fun souvenir. it also didn't take that long. Then baggage, and through the double doors, as described, to find our Odyssey Safari representatives who would take us to our first hotel.

There was traffic on the way, and a small road closure misadventure, so it was late when we arrived at the Wildebeest Eco Camp. All we really wanted to do was relax with a beer and go to bed. So that is what we did.

Our Ensuite Bath

Our King Size Bed

In Our Tent

Countdown to Kenya

In a couple of weeks, we are going on safari with this company. This came about almost by chance. A friend is a member of Team Buy, and she saw a purse she thought I might be interested in and sent me a link.

The purse wasn't quite my style, but I saw a link for travel deals. Dear Reader, one thing this blog should tell you about me is that I will always click that link. I am constitutionally incapable of *not* clicking that link. Under the deals was an air-included safari for a price substantially lower than I had thought was possible. Since the plan had been to go 2 years later anyway (when I will turn *gasp* 50), I spoke to the World's Greatest Husband, and he agreed now was as good a time as any.

One of the animals we hope to see

If you are not familiar with Team Buy or Groupon, the way it works is something is offered for sale at a low price if x number of people buy it. Basically, strangers on the internet band together to get group discounts. The number of buyers necessary for this deal wasn't specified, and it said that the deal would expire in 4 days. I signed up, honestly believing that there was no way enough people would sign up for something so extravagant.

It will be nice to see hippos, but not too close

So, feeling virtuous about all the money we would save not going on safari, I started planning our consolation trip to New Orleans. I hadn't quite decided which hotel to stay at before I got an email saying our safari purchase had gone through. Apparently we were the minimum number of buyers. I was very surprised and said to TWGH in a quiet voice, "Apparently, we are going to Kenya."

It was only a couple of days later, when the shock wore off, that it occurred to me to find out exactly what it was we had bought. Curious? Stay tuned.

Housekeeping: The pictures are from our trip to Disney's Animal Kingdom in 2010. Not sure if I had mentioned it, but I will happily respond to questions and comments.

Gratuitous Food Boob Picture

I have no idea why, but it seems like a frequent theme in our travels is food shaped like breasts, usually with some sort of nipple type decoration, so you can't miss the intention. This one actually jiggled, and is from our 2012 Girl's weekend cruise on the Monarch of the Seas. Thanks to Lisa for the picture.

Liverpool Day 7 & 8 - Our Last Full Day and Home

We had promised to thank our genial hosts by making one of my specialities for them: gumbo. So, off to the store, and then dash to the stove!

On the way to the store. It was a lovely, warm morning.

Gumbo made with indigenous ingredients

I know what it looks like, actually I was covering a cough.

Our friends seemed to enjoy the gumbo. They had classes in the afternoon/evening, and we didn't want to interfere with their schedule, so we determined that the better part of valour was to head off across the river again.

This was the first time we had experienced a train delay. It wasn't bad.

It was warm in here.

This lovely gentleman was strumming his racket along with his sound system. Fun.

The World's Greatest Husband at Olive

 We wandered around a bit. Got some badly needed souvenirs, and ended up having dinner at Olive. Olive was fantastic. The food was delicious (especially the duck) and the service was warm and friendly. Overall, the price was good, as well.

More Architecture

Detail from a building.

 We weren't late back, since it was a school night and we had to leave early in the morning to catch our plane home.

I just loved the graphic for this. We should have this sign.

Lisa looking both gorgeous and professional.

I am still not sure what an airport ass is.

Lisa's Dad kindly drove us to the airport, and had us riveted with his stories. We were sad to arrive as quickly as we did, truth to tell. 

A quick shout-out to Air Transat: the service was great, and their Option Plus amenities are good value for money.

Liverpool Day 6 - A Trip on The Ferry

Saturday, we started with a ferry ride across the Mersey to Liverpool.

At the Station

The Mersey

Waiting to Board

River View

On the Ferry

What a Lovely Boat

Once we arrived in town, we took a walk and headed towards St. George's Hall, to have a look around.

I just loved the name of this restaurant.

More Architecture

Still more buildings.

In Gaol

Definitely hardened criminals. ;-)

A bit of landscaping

Judge Lisa

Justice must be served

Judge's "Bench"

This room was huge. A random gentleman standing next to us explained that his parents used to tell him this was where they hanged people

I forget the name of this pub, but this was their idea of a Caesar salad. I think this was some kind of tourist prank.

Very Windy on Deck

Two Awesome People

The World's Greatest Husband and Me. We were at this amazing Greek Restaurant.

The Swinging Arm in Birkenhead

Revolver

After a few beverages, we went home to bed, since it was late. The next day would be our last full day in England.