Specific comments about pictures and in General
This page has two sections for each picture gallery page(excluding Best Of):
- 1. Comments on specific pictures (referred to using a shorthand - R for row, C for column. So, R2C3 would be picture in 2nd row and 3rd column). For example, the name of the animal in the picture or a story specific to the picture.
- 2. A general narrative about the events related to the time period covered by the gallery.
London
Nairobi Day 1
Nairobi Day 2
Mountain Lodge & on the road to and from it
Lake Nakuru
Lake Naivasha
On The Road To Maasai Mara
Maasai Mara
Mara Serena And Maasai Village
Lake Victoria
Serengeti & Leopard Lunch
Ngorongoro Crater
Lake Manyara
Arusha, Purchases and Going Home
London
Pictures: R1C1 - we did not eat there, I just wanted a picture.
Narrative:
We left San Diego 8:30 PM and arrived in London at 3 PM Saturday. We could have left San Diego on Saturday, taken 3 flights and arrived in Nairobi Sunday night. But we wanted to get some time in London.
We got lucky and cleared customs in about an hour. We had been told to expect that process to take 2 hours. This turned out to be a good break.
We ate dinner at a place called the Frontline Club. We tried the 'chips'. They turned out be old fashioned French fries, no big deal.
We decided to try to catch a night bus tour that left the Marble Arch at 8 PM. We got some tickets and decided to walk since it seemed like we could get to the arch by 7:45. We got to the arch around 7:45. However, the area was quite large, and we did not know exactly where to get the bus. After about 15 minutes, we finally found where to get the bus. It was about 10 minutes late anyway.
Since we got the bus at 8, we were able to go though the whole tour. We passed by Piccadilly Circus, London Bridge, Tower of London, London Eye, Parliament & Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and some other well known places. Unfortunately, it was windy and rainy for about half the tour, so I had to put away my camera. We got off the bus about 10 PM, easily making it back before the last train back to the airport.
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Nairobi Day 1
Pictures:
R1 & 2 - Peace Park. This park has plaques and statues commemorating Kenya's independence
R3 - Karen Blixen house. R3C5 - coffee machine.
R4 & 5 Kazuri Bead factory
R6 - at lunch
R7 & R8 C1 - C3 - Giraffe Park
R8C4 - Maasai herding cattle in the city limits.
Narrative:
We arrived Sunday night. We had to walk out on the tarmac. We saw some armed military at the airport. The we had to go through a machine that read our body temperature. We had to buy visas and got on a bad line. Our line only had one clerk, but we could not see that. The other lines had two clerks.
We then met our guide and driver. At the hotel, there was a gate and 2 security guards. One guard looked in the vehicle, while the other inspected the undercarriage using a mirror attached to a long pole. After we got past them, there was security at the entrance to the hotel. We had to go through a metal detector, and our bags were inspected or X-rayed.
Breakfast was a buffet. They had just about everything you could expect at a breakfast buffet - baked goods, eggs, dry cereal, fruit, juice, sausage (but their sausage was usually kind of soft, not like US). They also made crepes (they called them pancakes) from scratch. If you ordered bottled water, they charged for that.
The pictures are pretty much in order of what we did that day. The first
remarkable thing we saw was a small herd of cattle in the middle of the city. It
was the Maasai. They are allowed to roam the country with their cattle. They did
not allow photography in the Karen Blixen House. It was a very nice house, with
hardwood floors and some paneled walls. The monkeys at the bead factory
appeared out of nowhere at lunch. At the Giraffe Center, the giraffes were off
in the woods soon after I arrived. I watched an employee go into the field as he
lured one giraffe to the platform. It took him about 20 minutes. He would offer
the giraffe a treat, then back up. But the giraffe would stand still for about 5
minutes before it would take a few steps toward the guy with the treats. Once
that giraffe got to the platform, people ran up to the platform and started
feeding the giraffes. Other giraffes followed. Some (crazy) people put giraffe
treats in their mouth, making it look like the giraffes were kissing them. On
the way back to the hotel, we got see rush hour traffic. They have almost no
highways within the city limits. We never saw anything like it, cars packed in
bumper to bumper for miles. Back at the hotel, dinner was sit-down with a nice
menu. There were mostly Western type items, but also Indian. There are a lot of
Indian tourists in Africa. There was one local dish that I tried, strips of
chicken in vegetables, a mash of sweet potatoes and beans and an item, ugali,
that was from corn and kind of tasted like Cream of Wheat in solid form.
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Nairobi Day 2
Pictures: R1-5 - taken from top of Samsung tower or near the tower, which is part
of the Kenya International Conference Center. R6 & 7 - taken at Nairobi National
Museum. R2C4 - a fire at a local market. The fire was put out fairly quickly.
R6C5 & R7C2 - actual skulls of early humans. R8 & 9 - taken at David Sheldrake
elephant orphanage. R10 - decorations at Nairobi Serena hotel.
Narrative: We went downtown where the government buildings are located. You are
not allowed to take pictures anywhere on the street, and there are plenty of
police there to enforce that. We went to the Kenya International Conference
Center. We had to go through security and then had to hand over one passport to
go to the top of the Samsung tower. Nairobi looks very impressive from the top
of that tower.
We then went to the City Market. They have lots of really nice things at the
market, not just tourist junk. But they also have excessively aggressive
salespeople. We were the only people shopping, so that probably made things
worse. The merchants would call us 'mama' and 'papa' and would try to show you
everything in their inventory, especially if you showed any interest. They also
had no fixed prices. When you wanted to buy something, they would make an
initial offer, but it was around double what you might expect to pay. So, it was
like you were making the first offer. We bought several things from one lady who
said her name was Purity. She sat me down to bargain with her. I thought that
was some kind of custom, so I did. She positioned herself between me and the
exit. Janice was sitting near her also. I was doing the negotiation, and did not
pay attention to Janice. It turned out every time Janice tried to walk away,
Purity would kick her in the leg. I did not find that out until later. I thought
what we wanted from Purity should sell for about $120, she made a starting offer
of $220. Eventually, we settled at $160. After that, we were so annoyed by the
salespeople, that we just got out of there as quickly as possible, even though we
still wanted to look around.
Our next stop was at the Nairobi National Museum. They have a wide variety of
displays. There were animals of all sorts, bones from excavations of Early Man,
the political history of Kenya, and history of slavery and an interesting
picture of world figures.
Our final stop was the David Sheldrake trust that helps rescue orphan elephants
and rhinos (mostly elephants). Because we agreed to sponsor an elephant (which
costs $50) we got a spot in a line where they parade the baby elephants. There
were about 20 elephants in the parade. It was fun watching them, except for one
elephant that seemed a bit upset. Fortunately, the handlers got control. After
that, we heard a few elephants trumpeting because they knew they were supposed
to be fed at a certain time. We then walked around and looked at the elephants
and the one rhino that was there. Then we saw a cat get chased by a warthog.
On the way back, it was more traffic gridlock. We saw one minibus driver follow
an ambulance through the traffic that parted to allow the ambulance through.
Very creative driving!
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Mountain Lodge & on the road to
and from it
Pictures: R1 C1 - C3 - dining room at Mountain Lodge. R1 C4-6, R2C1 - around the
lodge. R2 C2-4 - the watering hole at the lodge. R3 - a nature walk at the
lodge, includinga stop for tea in the middle of the jungle. R4, R5 C1 & C2 -
Scenes along the road from the lodge to Lake Nakuru. R5C3 - Thompson's Falls.
R5C4 - At the Equator
Narrative: We left Nairobi Wednesday morning. The mostly 2-lane highway was in
pretty good shape, but the speed limit was only 50 MPH. Near Nairobi, there were
pedestrian crossings and occasional speed bumps. On the way to the lodge, there
were frequent police checkpoints, and speed bumps near small villages. I had to
stop at an ATM that was near a bank. There were two armed guards there.
The Mountain Lodge is known for the watering hole, which is lit at night. But the
lighting is very dim, so it was hard to get any pictures or video. When we went
to dinner, they gave us a list of animals that might appear at the watering
hole. If you selected an animal, they would wake you up if that animal was
spotted at the watering hole. None of the animals we selected showed up, so we
got a good night's sleep. We also did a nature walk, led by an armed guard and
some guides. We did not see many animals, but it was good exercise. About
halfway through the walk, they had tea and biscuits in the middle of the jungle.
The trip from the Mountain Lodge to Lake Nakuru was nice enough. It was
interesting to see people herding animals along the road and see how they
transported goods. We made two stops on this leg of the trip: at Thompsons Falls
and at the Equator. The Falls was no big deal, except for the overly aggressive
merchants that worked near the Falls. One guy came up to me and started making
shoulder to shoulder contact with me. I tried to send him a message by walking
so close to a tree that he had to get away from me. But he still kept annoying
me. After that experience the Equator seemed much better. When we got there, a
guy demonstrated that the coriolis effect was exerted 20 meters away from, and
not at all at, the Equator. Then he brought out a piece of paper saying we were
at the equator and asked us to pay $4 for the piece of paper. Here's a You
Tube video of what we saw - click here.
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Lake Nakuru
Pictures: R1C1 - bathroom and view of lake. R1C2 - Superb Starling. R1 C3 & 4 -
water buffalo. R1 C5 & 6 - male and female waterbuck. R2C1 and R4C5 - Yellow
billed oxpecker on zebra and Impala. R2 C6 & R3 C2 - Egyptian Goose. R3C1 -
Hadada Ibis. R3C3 - Blacksmith Lapwing. R3C6 and R4 C2-4 - Jackal. R4 C1 & C5 &
6 - Impala. R6C1 - Eland. R6C5 - Crowned Crane. R7 C3 & 4 - Spoonbill. R8 -
Savora Lodge.
Narrative: The Thursday game drive at Lake Nakuru was our first. It was also the
first time I saw a Superb Starling. When the sunlight reflects off of one these
birds, the bird has an iridescent appearance. It's very remarkable. The golden
color of some of the giraffes is not because they're a particular species, it's
a natural change of old age.
Note: In most cases, I will not repeat animal identification across pages. Also, I
did most of the bird identification after the fact, and some of the names may
not be correct.
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Lake Naivasha
Pictures: R1C1,2,5 R2C1-4 - White Pelican. R1C3&4 - Marabou Stork. R2C5 - Grey headed gull. R5C2 & 5 - long tailed Cormorant. R6, 7 & R8C1 & 2 - Fish eagle. R8C3 - Men gathering fish in nets.
Narrative: Our driver asked us if we wanted to go to Lake Naivasha. It was not a scheduled stop, and we had to pay extra ($80). I thought he was going to drive us around the lake, instead he took us to a guy with a wooden boat and an outboard motor on it. He got us quite close to the hippos, which are considered the most dangerous animals in Africa because they're very territorial and unpredictable. I assumed he knew how to keep a safe distance. Later, I saw the guy stuffing a wooden cylinder into a fish and wondered what the heck he was doing. What he did was to throw the fish into the water near the fish eagles and then whistled to get one of the eagles to come get the fish. And one did get the fish.
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On The Road To Maasai Mara
Pictures: R1C2 - a Maasai tribesman. R1C3 - R4C5 - shots of one small town north of Narok. R5C1 - C4 - at a gas station.
Narrative: We passed through a lot of small towns that looked like the one shown here. I was not going to take any pictures of these towns because I felt bad about the conditions. But I decided that I wanted to have some pictures, so I shot pictures of this one town as we drove through.
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Maasai Mara
Pictures: R1C4 - Mara River. R1C5, R4C1 & 2 - Helmeted Guinea fowl. R4 C3&4 - Topi. R4C5&6 - Lilac breasted roller.
R5C1 - black headed heron. R5C3 - grey heron. R5C4 - Long toed plover. R6C5 - Thompson's Gazelles. R6C6 - Cattle Egret.
R7C1 - Red-Necked Falcon. R8C1 - first lions we sighted. Picture by Janice Werber. R8C2 - Grant’s gazelle.
R8C4 & 6 - White-browed Coucal. R9C1 - Marabou Stork. R9C4 - Yellow Billed Stork. R10C4 - Wildebeest.
R13C2 & 3 - Southern ground hornbill. R15 - crowned crane.
Narrative: The Maasai Mara and the Serengeti are the two most famous reserves, and from my point of view, deserve that reputation.
The pictures pretty much speak for themselves but a few comments are merited. When we saw our first lions, it was the 2 females that showed up on the road right in front of us. Janice took the picture of the two lions together in the morning light. Unfortunately, I must have hit a focus lock button on my camera and my camera would not focus! After some moments of panic, I reset the camera and got it working again. By then, the lions were entering the deep grass. But, one lion turned back to face the sunlight, and I got some pictures. But, I had to overcome some fear of being so close to a lion. After the lions left, I asked our driver why the lion would not jump up on top of the vehicle. He said that they're usually not interesting in hunting people. But, if they did, those lions would be killed. I thought to myself, I'm really glad this lion I just photographed was one of those lions that had a taste for people!
The story behind the picture at R5C5 is that I saw this heron walking directly towards the crocodile. I got all ready to take pictures of a crocodile eating a heron. But, to my surprise, when the heron spread its wings out (as per the picture), the crocodile went away! Amazing.
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Mara Serena And Maasai Village
Pictures: R1 - R5 - Mara Serena. R6 - R7 - A Maasai Village.
Narrative: As you can see from the pictures, he Mara Serena was a very nice
place. The stop at the Maasai Village was another visit arranged by our driver
and not on the schedule. He told us that we'd have to pay the Maasai something,
but he did not tell us how much. We found out when we got to the village, $100.
For that, we got a guide who told us all about the Maasai and answer our
questions, a jump dance by men wearing traditional clothes, and a tour of the
village. The last stop on the tour was shopping for locally made items. All the
things our guide told us about the Maasai can be found by searching the Web, so
I won't write all that stuff. Our shopping experience was better than previous
ones, as the Maasai did not try to push anything on us. But they did the same
bargaining as others, they made a first offer that was way higher than what I
would pay. We did make a lower, and probably reasonable offer, but they would
not come down to something we thought was reasonable. So we left. They offered a
lower price on some things, but we were too annoyed by our previous experiences
to listen to them.
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Lake Victoria
Pictures: R1C2&3 - African Mourning Dove. R1C4 - Speckled Pigeon. R1C5 - this was the type of row boat we took to get to the fishing village.
R1C6 - May be a Speke's Weaver. R3C1 - Nile Perch. R5C6 - Spur winged goose. R8&9 - Taken around the resort. R8C4 & R9C3 - Swamp Flycatcher.
Narrative: After leaving Maasai Mara, we were back on a dirt road, with some really bad spots. There were some sections that were being built, so there was some smooth sailing. When we got to the border we were told it was a good place to use the bathroom, although we would have to pay to use it. I thought it might be a decent bathroom since we would be paying to use it. When I walked into the bathroom, a guy got up and said "Give me money." I gave him the $2. The bathroom turned out to be a room with a hole in the floor, or a wall with a gutter. I was less than impressed.
Before we left the USA, it looked like we could choose from several activities at this resort. One choice was a nature walk to observe birds. I wanted to do that. But when we got to the hotel, they told us we needed wading boots, and they did not supply them! We also found out that the activities were not included in our tour.
Since the bird walk was out, we chose to go to a fishing village. It turned out to be very interesting. We got to the village by row boat. As can be seen in the pictures, the village was crowded with people selling fresh fish and farm products. We had a guide who told us about life in the village. As we walked past the market, we were surrounded by about 10 children. Some of them would hold our hands. This seemed really odd to me. But they did not ask for anything and were harmless. But it was odd.
We ended our trip to the village at the school. The idea of having children attend school in this village was started by a person born in the village who went off to university and returned. There were no classrooms or desks at first. But visitors to the village started donating money to build rooms and supply desks. We saw the kids in several classrooms. Every time we entered a room, the kids would stand up and greet us, saying "Hello Meester and Meesus." The guide had one group of kids sing a song (You are My Sunshine) and another group recite the alphabet. At the end of the tour, I was just too curious, I asked how much you had to donate to build a classroom or buy a desk. It cost $11,000 for a classroom and $100 for a desk.
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Serengeti & Leopard Lunch
Pictures: R1C1 - leopard tortoise. R1C4 & 5 - Vervet Monkey. R2C1 - Wildebeest. R2C3 - Red Faced Mousebird. R2C4 & 6 - D'Arnaud's Barbet.
C3R1,2 & 4 - Lilac breasted roller. C3R3 & 5 - Superb Starling. C3R6 - Crowned Lapwing.
R6C1 - Striped cuckoo. R6C2 & 4 - probably some kind of vulture. R6C3 - Jackson's Hornbill. R6C6 - a weaver flies towards its nest.
R7C1, R8C3, 5 and 6 - Magpie shrike. R7C2 - African Hoopoe. R7C3-6 - Gray-backed Fiscal.
R8C1 & 2 - unidentified. R9C1 - 3 - Nubian Woodpecker. R13C1 & 5 - Lappet faced vulture. R13C4 - Crowned Vulture.
R14C1 & 2 - Fischer's Lovebird. R15C1 & 2 - Pygmy falcon. R16C5 & 6 - Hildebrandt's starling.
R16C5 - Serval. R19C1 - Secretary Bird. R19C2 & 3 - Bateleur Eagle. R19C4 - red headed agam. R19C5 & 6 - Yellow throated sandgrouse (male and female).
R21C3 - Sacred Ibis. R21C5 - Black headed heron. R22C1 - Blacksmith lapwing. R22C2 -4 - Little Bee Eater. R22C5 - Saddle Billed Stork.
R23C1 - hyrax. R23C2 - Purple-Banded Sunbird. R23C3 - Wattled Starling. R24C1 - Coke's Hartebeast. R24C4 - Bat eared fox.
R25C2 - Monitor lizard. R25C5 - Gray-backed Fiscal. R28C4 - Green snake. R29C1-3 - Roufous tailed weaver.
R31 & 32 - At the Serengeti Serena. R31C4 - Dik-Dik.
Leopard Lunch page - All pictures are of the same leopard, taken from two vantage points.
Narrative: The Serengeti lived up to its reputation as a wildlife reserve, as we saw all sorts of animals. The most remarkable sight was the huge herds of wildebeest and zebras. They were massing for the Great Migration, which was about to happen in mid-July.
Another memorable sight was all the lions. No matter when you see them, or what they're doing, seeing a lion is amazing.
We got very lucky seeing a leopard eating some kind of animal. When we first saw the leopard, it was pretty far away, but in good light. So we stopped for a while as I took lots of pictures. But our driver knew we could get closer, so when I was satisfied that I got the best pictures I could get, we headed off to a spot where we were closer. Being on the other side of the sun required some adjustment to make good pictures, but they came out quite well.
One thing I have to admit is that the game drives could get a bit boring, especially in the Serengeti, where you could drive for miles and see almost nothing.
Lastly, we had not seen any cheetah, and our driver thought that we would not see any at the other parks we were scheduled to visit. As we were leaving the park, we were driving through a lot of nothing, when the driver got excited about something. he suddenly stopped and took out his binoculars. He spotted a cheetah. The cheetah was very far away, but I got a not too bad picture. So I was happy. But a few minutes later, I got a little happier, as we spotted a group or 4 cheetah. The group was significantly closer and I got better pictures. We generally saw only one of the cheetahs, as the others were spending most of their time in the deep grass.
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Ngorongoro Crater
Pictures: R1C1 & 2 - Thompson's gazelles squaring off. R1C4 & 6 - warthog. R2C1 - Ostriches mating. R5C4 - female ostrich. R5C5 - male ostrich.
R7C1 - 4 - Kory Bustard. R10C5 & 6 - Common Moorhen. R11C1 - 4 - Greater Flamingos. R14C1 - panorama of crater. R14C3 - Maasai village.
R15 & 16 - Ngorongoro Serena.
Narrative: The Ngorongoro Crater (formed from a volcano) was a very pleasant, but not complete, surprise. I had done some reading about this place, and it's right up there with the Mara and Serengeti.
We had a choice of whether to go early and leave for a late lunch, or go a little later and stay until near sunset. We chose to go early, because we hoped that early would be prime time for watching lions hunt. The thing we discovered about going early, was that it was incredibly foggy. We could hardly see ahead, but the driver made his way down fairly quickly.
When we got down to the bottom, we saw and heard some baboons scampering about, and saw some lions at a great distance. But, no early morning hunting.
After driving around and not seeing much, the driver heard that there was a group of lions. On the way to the lions, we stopped to watch 2 ostriches mate.
When we got to the pride of lions, I started shooting loads of pictures. But, no hunting. So we left after about 30 minutes.
After going to view some other animals, the driver heard that there was a hunt going on, we sped away to go watch. As we approached, the driver spotted one lion in the deep grass, and we stopped for that lion, despite the fact that there was a cluster of vehicles further down the road. We were hoping our lion would make a kill. She took up position in the deep grass near our vehicle. After waiting what seemed like a really long time to me, she made a dash towards some zebras. But she gave up after about 20 seconds. However, she had two other lionesses in her pride that began chasing down 2 zebras that got separated from their herd. She joined her companions, and brought down one of the zebras. We could hear the zebra screaming for a while after it was brought down. The pride then went and had their feast.
After stopping to see some hippos and trying to get good pictures of flamingos,
the driver heard that something was going on with a lion, so we headed over to
see what was going on. When we got there, we saw a lot of vehicles and a lioness
walking close by the vehicles. It was also making a sad sounding noise and
sniffing around. I also noticed it seemed to have something wrong with its
mouth. The driver thought the mouth injury might have been the result of the
zebra hunt, while the noise indicated that it got separated from its family. We
waited for quite a while, as everybody's driver jockeyed for a good position to
see what was going on. After a while, we spotted three lions in the deep grass
approaching. After walking along the road, in the middle of all these vehicles,
we saw the three lions walking towards the single female. Unfortunately, we were
not in position to see the reunion.
After that, it was time to return to the hotel for lunch. On the way up we got a
good view of the crater. We also saw a dead cattle to our right, and considered
ourselves lucky that we did not hit that animal. The, about two minutes later,
we passed a water buffalo that was only about a foot away to the left of our
vehicle!
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Lake Manyara
Pictures: R1 - Silvery cheeked hornbill (male and female). R2 - Blue Monkey. R6C1 & 2 - Blacksmith Lapwing. R6C3 & R7C4 - Black winged stilt.
R7C5 & 6 - Long toed plover - R8C2 - Hadada Ibis. R8C3 - Cattle Egret. R8C6 - Grey Heron.
R9C1 & 2 - Sacred Ibis. R9C3,5 & 6 - Great Egret. R9C4 - Yellow billed Stork. R10C1 & R11C4 - White-browed Coucal. R10C2 - Grey headed Kingfisher. R10C4 - Hammerkop.
R11C2 & 3 - Little Beeeater. R12C1 - 5 - Green Woodhoopoe. R12C6 - Speckled Mousebird. R13C1 - our vehicle in Tanzania. R14 & 15 - Manyara Serena.
Narrative: Lake Manyara was fairly remarkable for the number of birds we saw, especially the hornbills. We also made a long stop for the baboons. I think the driver knew that they would start climbing all over the vehicle and start making a bit of a show. At one point, it looked like one was about to reach inside the window near my equipment. I stopped that from happening.
The other notable thing was the Hippo Viewing area. It was a place deemed safe enough to get out and look around. The hippos were off at a distance, with lots of birds in the nearby water.
When we got back to the resort, we were greeted by loud frogs in the early evening. I did not mention it earlier, but there were some really loud frogs at lake Nakuru and at the Maasai Mara. These frogs were really small, but really loud. They woke me up both nights a the Maasai Mara. I just wish I had recorded the sound.
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Arusha, Purchases and Going Home
Pictures: R1C1 & 2 - Arusha Serena. R1C3 - Mount Kilimanjaro, taken as we were preparing for takeoff from Arusha. R2C1 - soapstone figure given as gift. R2C2 - 6 - figurines I kept.
R3C1 - soapstone dish given as gift. R3C2 - shoes given as gift. R3C3 - shirt for me. R3C4 - shirt given as gift. R3C5 - we bought two of these shorts for ourselves. R3C6 - shirt given as gift.
R4C1 - picture on cloth. R4C2 - purse given as gift. R4C3 - necklace given as gift. R4C4 - necklace for Janice. R4C5 - case for glasses. R4C6 - refrigerator magnet.
R5C1,2,4 & 5 - bracelets for Janice. R5C3 - bracelet given as gift. R5C6 & R6C2 - small purses given as gifts. R6C1 - scarf given as gift. R6C3 - figurine for us. R5C4 - shirt for Janice. R5C5 - purse and shoes for Janice.
R7C1 & 2 - Masks now hanging on a wall. R7C3 - belt for Janice.
Narrative: As I described earlier, the City Market in Nairobi was our first real shopping in Africa and was a crazy experience. But they did have really nice stuff (pictures: R3C3, R3C5, R4C1, R4C5, R5C4 & 6, R6C1,2 & 4).
The masks were purchased on the road to the Mountain Lodge. Our driver stopped for coffee. I saw some guys hanging around the shop near our vehicle, and I got one of my bad feelings. So I hung around the vehicle. Meanwhile, Janice went into a shop and found the masks. We were way low on cash, but, unlike most of the places we shopped, the owner took MasterCard! Since Janice really liked the masks, she did a little haggling and bough them.
We also bought a few things at the shop at the Equator (R2C1, R2C2, R2C4). We wanted the cat to give as a gift, and I also wanted the hippo. The owners opening offer was $60, which I thought was ridiculous. I offered $20 for just the cat, and he said no. So I started to leave. He then not only gave me the cat for $20, but also the hippo. I think he must have thought I wanted both for $30. After that, he gave the wooden gazelle for free. Apparently, this extra 'gift' must be some kind of custom because we got 'gifts' from two other places. One more thing, when we were killing time at the Nairobi airport, I priced similarly sized soapstone figurines. They sold for about $5.
We also bought a few things from the hotel gift shops. I was surprised to find out that their prices were pretty comparable, sometimes even lower than the merchants we bargained with!
I bought the little elephant and fish (R2C5 & 6), at some 'stores' (actually run down shacks) just outside the gate at the Manyara. We were again almost completely out of cash. This made it very easy for me to bargain. I offered $2 for the elephant, and the merchant refused and kept countering. But I told him I just did not have the cash. After a while, I had to get going, and he finally gave me the elephant for $2. But he took a long time to finally give in.
Our final shopping was at some places in Arusha that took credit cards. Janice wanted to look at Tanzanite jewelry. She just looked, as the pieces were very expensive. We still wound up buying a few things there (R5C1-3,4), and they threw in a 'gift' (R3C1).
After all the shopping was over, it was time for lunch. We were originally supposed to see downtown Arusha, but there was so much traffic, that we diverted to the Arusha Serena. The roads were pretty nice approaching Arusha and in most of the city. But as we approached the hotel, we wound up on a poorly maintained dirt road. We also went past a big market place, that was totally packed, it was some sight to see all the people packed in shopping for all sorts of stuff.
Our trip home had a low point right at the start. When we got to the baggage check, I took out our ticket that only showed that we were going from Arusha to Nairobi. We explained to the baggage guys that we were going to San Diego. But they would not check our bags through. At one point, they asked us what the airport code was for San Diego. I was not 100% sure, but I said SAN, which was right. They did not agree and still did not check our bags through. So, we left, being tired from the whole trip. Then, I thought, what if we had to go pick up our bags at baggage claim? That would be awful! So I went back and asked to see a supervisor. Fortunately, somebody who knew what he was doing looked up our flights and was able to route or bags to San Diego. I checked in Nairobi and London to make sure the bags were going to San Diego.
When we landed in Nairobi we found the security to be excessive. We had to go through security to get into the airport. I expected that. But, we wanted to walk over from one food court to another, and there was some kind of internal security screening. We decided that we did not feel like going through that. Then, in order to get on the plane, we had to go through 2 metal detectors and have our bags x-rayed twice!
We left Nairobi about midnight. I was looking forward to some sleep. But, around 1:30 AM, the crew woke us up for a meal. I loved the fact that BOAC gave us meals, but I would have like to have skipped that one.
Our final stop before San Diego was Heathrow Airport. It's a beautiful, modern airport. But we had a 9 hour layover there. I did do that on purpose, because I did not like the alternative of taking 4 flights to get home instead of 3. But that was an insane amount of time to kill at an airport. We did manage by eating breakfast and lunch, and shopping around. They have very nice stores including some camera/electronic places and a Harrods. We did not buy anything there.