Day 6 Oh My God....I can't believe I saw a Zebra :-)

17th September 2010

I awaken once again to the sound of pigs and covered in red dirt. Today is an exciting day for us, there is a hot shower awaiting us at the end and we can hardly wait.

After breakfast and seeing the children off to school, we pack and set off to Lake Nekuru for the weekend. Lake Nekuru is famous for Pink Flamingo's and beautiful scenery. We catch the Matatu to Naorobi which takes us almost 3 hrs, a journey that should only take just over 1hr. Everything here happens in African time (very slow) so they stop for 15mins at a time and have a chat while you sit there patiently passing out with 25 people crammed into a bus that fits 14. We decide after this experience we would travel to Lake Nekuru by the monoline, which is the same as the Matatu but you purchase 1 seat you don't have to share.We are then pulled over and each of us searched before leaving Naorobi for weapons etc by the Police, then we are on our way and get comfortable for our 3hr trip.

And then....OH MY GOD I see 6 Zebras on the side of the road just grazing, I actually couldn't believe it, it was very unexpected. I turned to the others and said with excitement "Oh my God, We are actually in Africa!!" They were the most beautiful animals I had ever seen with my own eyes, I couldn't wait to see more at the park tomorrow. It began pouring with rain and the temperature dropped the view of the mountains and Lake Nekuru still breath taking, so misty and green.

We arrive at the hotel, anxious to know whether the hot water is working. Often we are disappointed alot of places aren't what they seem, the Lonley Planet sometimes tells lies.But we are lucky this time and you will be glad to know we have a long awaited "hot" shower before having a look around the town centre. Apparently Nekuru is the most up and coming cosmopolitan city in Kenya. As we are leaving a feeling of maybe we should keep our stuff with us and not in the hotel comes over me. So I keep my possessions close by and safe hoping this is just a feeling......

I purchase some beautifully hand painted cards off a local and a young begger about 17 asks me for money for food. I hand the money to the man selling me the cards and then Matthew does the same only for the begger to snatch the money from the man with the cards. I tell him it's not his and he needs to give it back, then a fight breaks out in the street and the money is returned to the man selling the cards. We make a break on our way to get money we are followed by the begger and warned by people on the street. Fortunately he is just a kid and has no weapons on him I figure since he didn't use them in the fight and after some time he appears to give up. This feeling still remains.....

We purchase some supplies from the supermarket and return to the hotel for dinner and an early night. We had earlier organised a driver for the National Park, an early morning game drive. Sweet dreams......or are they??