Out In Africa day 1

The flight to Africa was unending. Lucky for me the people I am traveling with suggested that
we come a day early and relax before our tour..

Today we toured Nairobi with a wonderful driver who spent the day taking us shopping. We went to several local markets with native crafts. We also toured the Kazur Bead factory. They hand make beads for several markets, 10,000 Hands and Harrod’s of London are two examples. The employees are hired from the slums (an employee description) and trained to specific jobs. The majority of the employees walk 45 minutes to work for $6 a day. In a country with double digit unemployment , they are grateful for the work. We have noticed that the women do all the heavy work and the majority of men do plenty of observing. The country does have equal rights and they think that has improved the economy.

Prior to the trip we read two books and watched Out of Africa. The two books, Wildflower and
Circling the Sun are historical accounts of the people of the area. For dinner we went to the Norfolk Club and ate in the Cin Cin room. This is the club where the men of Out of Africa gathered and where Beryl Markham was married. It is so much fun to walk among the setting of books you enjoyed.

Lessons in Scatology

Today we boarded jeeps and left for the great rift lakes, another important setting for the books and movies we we studied before leaving.

At Lake Navashi we took a boat ride to view the birds and hippos. On the way to the boats we walked through fields of poop, the guide explained each pile and the animal that deposited it.

Our hotel is on Lake Elementeita The rooms are unbelievable, They look like they were decorated by Karen Blixen. The individual tents are set in the middle of a game preserve, the grounds are surrounded by an electric fence. Tonight I sat on the deck at the reception area, sipped tea, watched the water back graze and thought about what a lucky woman I am.