African Tour:Amboseli National Park

Four hours south of Nairobi, our first stop was Amboseli National Park. About the size of Denver, Amboseli is pretty small compared to other national parks. Kruger National Park is more than fifty times larger. But Amboseli has something Kruger and Denver never will. Not only is it one of the best places in the world to see a couple thousand elephants in the wild, it also has the best views of Mount Kilimanjaro. The mountain is in Kilimanjaro National Park in Tanzania, but the view from that side looks nothing like the famous view from Amboseli.

Since Mount Kilimanjaro is a volcano, it is flanked by volcanic rock that has been feeding the ample vegetation that feeds all the animals in the area. The ice cap also provides an almost endless supply of fresh water. Lake Amboseli only has water during the rainy season, but the entire park is pretty much a swamp. Animals need not gather at one place to drink, which is much safer for most of them.

I spent four nights at the Ol Tukai Lodge. The main building had a lobby, gift shop, and a large two story restaurant with scenic views from any seat around the outer edge. There were some standard hotel rooms near the main building. I stayed in one of the small cottages on the outskirts of the property. From the cottage patio, I could sit and watch the elephants walk along the fence line. There was an electric fence around the perimeter of the lodge that, while practically invisible, kept out the elephants and most mammals. Except baboons. They do whatever they want to do. The lodge also had a swimming pool that was not all that impressive. I never really had time for a swim anyway. The lodge was not exactly in the middle of the park, but Amboseli was small enough that driving from one end to the other did not take long.

My first day at Amboseli was short since we had to drive in from Nairobi. Edgar drove me to the lodge and helped me check in, which was unnecessary. Everyone who worked at Ol Tukai spoke English. Then he disappeared for a while so I could settle in and have lunch. I never asked him where he went when he was gone. That was none of my business. Right on time, he picked me up and we went out for an afternoon drive.

Like most game parks, mornings and evenings were the best times at Amboseli. Afternoons were best spent taking a break at the lodge. But I had only just arrived. I wanted to experience this new environment. Edgar seemed just as excited to show me everything as I was to see it. Up to this point, I only knew him as a driver. He wanted to show off his animal tracking skills.

Since Amboseli is the premier site to see elephants, it was only appropriate that my first dramatic animal encounter was with an elephant. We were in the van watching a group of gazelles when Edgar noticed two rather large male elephants walking toward our general direction. They were more than a few yards away and we were not directly in their path, but Edgar decided to back the van up a little just to give them plenty of space. As soon as we moved, the elephant in the front turned so that we would be directly in their path. He was not moving quickly or displaying any aggression, but he clearly altered his path on purpose. When Edgar backed up even further, the elephant changed course again. Edgar thought he wanted to show us who was boss. What the elephant never knew was that we had no intention of challenging him. Edgar was prepared to back that van up as far as it took. Wherever we were, that was where he wanted to be. When the giant elephant got close enough to charge us, Edgar simply drove away. As long as we were parked, we would always be in his way. By leaving, we let him know he won.

Finding elephants was easy. They were everywhere. I could look out the window of my cottage and sooner or later a group of elephants would walk past. I wanted to see a leopard. I have no particular interest in leopards, but I saw the rest of the Big Five at Kruger. Edgar's mission was to find me a leopard, though he warned me that afternoon was the worst possible time. We would be more likely to see one the next morning or maybe later that evening.

While we saw no leopards that afternoon, we came across a few prides of lions, a gang of buffalo, a cackle of hyenas, a confusion of wildebeest, a couple coalitions of cheetahs, a few herds of impalas, several towers of giraffes, multiple zeals of zebras, and more elephants than I could count. The predators were mostly napping, so the herbivores used the afternoon lull to go about their business.

Near the beginning of my leopard quest, we were driving around the savannah when Edgar said he might have spotted a leopard lying in the tall grass under a tree on the ridge over in the distance. He pointed and I could barely see the tree. I thought he was just trying to make himself look good. There was no way he could see anything that far away. We drove to the ridge and the tree became more obvious. It was still impossible to see if anything was in the grass. He slowed down when we got close and told me that the leopard must have run away. Yeah, right. The camouflaged leopard that he magically saw lying down just happened to leave right before we got there. Then he pointed out how the grass under the tree was flattened, as if something had been lying there. He also showed me the fresh claw marks on the tree. I got less skeptical pretty quickly. Obviously, something had been there. Maybe not a leopard, but whatever it was, Edgar saw it from a respectable distance.

In addition to his excellent eyesight, Edgar used his phone to keep in contact with other guides throughout the park. They all let each other know where to find something interesting, right after they showed their customers first.

One of the benefits to sleeping in the park was that I could be there before the gates opened in the morning and after they closed at night. We would take full advantage of that on other days, but Edgar thought we should take it easy on the first day. I had flown in from Dar es Salaam, which is not all that far, and we had driven from Nairobi. It was a bit of a long day. He was also mindful of how much and how often my people like to eat. I tried to explain that I do not need three jumbo meals each day, but he knew that I was American. He wanted to make sure I was back at the lodge before they stopped serving dinner.

The Ol Tukai Lodge was also used to dealing with western foreigners. There was always more than enough food for everyone. Though in the heart of East Africa, the menu was more intercontinental than anything else, with nothing too unfamiliar to North Americans and Western Europeans. They had a wide array of alcohol available at the small bar that could be taken or delivered anywhere on the property, and more than a few signs warning guests not to feed the monkeys.

That first night at Amboseli was the first time I really noticed the night sky. I had been in the Southern Hemisphere ever since we landed in Johannesburg, but most of that time was spent in cities. Even at Kruger, we were generally indoors and asleep by the time it got truly dark. After dinner at Amboseli, I sat with a drink on my cottage patio and looked up at the stars. There was little point in looking out to the savannah since it was pitch dark. There were elephants out there. I could hear them. But I could not even see the fence line, let alone all the animals on the other side, The sky was the only thing visible beyond the lodge lights. I have never been much of an expert when it comes to astronomy, but I could always find the Big Dipper. Until this night. There was also no North Star, though the Southern Cross was clear as day. Or night. It occurred to me that I did not even know the names of any Southern Hemisphere constellations. Everything I have ever heard about the constellations has always been about what is visible from the Northern Hemisphere.

Our first full day at Amboseli started early in the morning. That was fine with me. Edgar seemed to be as much of a morning person as I was. Or at least he faked it well when he was on the clock. While driving around, he got a call from one of his guide friends that some lions were hunting a wildebeest. This was exactly the sort of thing you could only see in the early morning and evening hours, and what most visitors wanted to see. I never really understood that part. I was there to see the animals as much as the next person, but I had no particular interest in watching them eat each other. Lions frolicking in nature were always more interesting to me than lions gorging on breakfast.

Edgar rushed us to the hunt site. By the time we got there, the money shot was over. I saw a pride of lions feast on a wildebeest carcass. Edgar was a little confused when I did not take any pictures. Next to a dramatic kill shot, this was what the tourists wanted to see. I told him that I wanted to experience the environment, not any specific event. He suddenly realized that his job just got a lot easier. If only he could find a leopard.

By lunchtime, we were nowhere near the lodge. Edgar gave me two options. He could drive me back to the lodge for lunch, where I could take a break from the afternoon heat, or we could have a bit of a picnic and make it a full day. I was out and about and saw no reason to stop, so we ate lunch under an acacia tree. He kept a cooler in the van, from which we ate yogurt and cheese. He also had a bag of bread and other snacks. The highlight of lunch was an ice cold Pepsi. He had Pepsi in the cooler because I bought myself one when we stopped at a local grocery store on the drive from Nairobi to Amboseli. I am not a big Pepsi fan, but the store's selection was limited. They only had a few drinks and even fewer were chilled. I wanted a cold drink. A bottle of Pepsi was the easiest option. From that moment on, Edgar made sure to keep ice cold Pepsi on hand.

The ice cold part is important. It got a little warm on the savannah in the middle of the day. Several people warned me that it would be hot at Amboseli and all the other game parks during the rainy season. Since it was the rainy season, it might also be a little humid, though it was never going to rain every day. But I live in Taiwan. Kenya humidity is nothing by comparison, and the temperature never went above 30 degrees. The biggest adjustment was how much it dropped at night. In Taiwan, hot days lead to warm nights. In Kenya, cold nights were more than possible.

Photograph by Diana Robinson
As much as I liked Kruger, Amboseli quickly became my favorite national park. Having a professional guide made all the difference, as did sleeping inside the park. After the gates closed, we could still drive around. Spotting animals is far more difficult at night, but the park itself is beautiful during and right after the sun sets. After Edgar went home for the day, the lodge was large enough for a nighttime walk. I have no idea what Kruger sounds like in the middle of the night, but I can tell you that the animals of Amboseli never close. It was almost like camping, only with elephants and lions instead of crickets and owls.

African Tour:Nairobi Again

Jomo Kenyatta International Airport
Nairobi, Kenya
Dar es Salaam was the final leg of our big African Tour. Once finished, we all flew back to Nairobi. From Nairobi, everyone else flew out of Africa and slowly made their way east. I had other plans.

Kruger National Park was great, but it felt unfinished. Driving around on our own, we only saw bits and pieces. I knew right away that a trained professional could have shown us far more. Under most circumstances, I will always choose to go exploring rather than to take a guided tour. Where I live, tour guides spend more time at the gift shops than at whatever everyone is there to see. Most sights will never give a tour guide a percentage of sales. Plenty of nearby shops will.

Kenya has more than its fair share of national parks. It also has hundreds of registered companies that can show you around. Finding the right one probably takes a great deal of research. Unless you meet someone in Cape Town whose cousin is a safari guide licensed by the Kenya Wildlife Service. It only took one phone call for me to know this was the right guy. He knew what he was talking about and did not hesitate to tell me when my plans were unrealistic.

I had a list of places I wanted to see, including the Serengeti, the Maasai Mara, Tsavo East National Park, Amboseli National Park, Mount Kenya, and Lake Victoria. Edgar pointed out that seeing all of those places in one trip would take considerably more time than I had. He explained the travel times, how long I should stay at each place, and what I would see where.

We created a more realistic itinerary: Amboseli, Lake Nakuru, the Massai Mara, and Serengeti. From Nairobi, Amboseli is south, Lake Nakuru is north, the Massai Mara is west, and the Serengeti is southwest. The most logical course would be to drive in a big circle, but you have to take into consideration the best times to visit each park and how crowded they are going to be. Looking at a map, I would say it makes sense to go clockwise from Nairobi. That would make Lake Nakuru the last stop. Wisely, Edgar wanted the Serengeti to be the last park I saw. I also realized after the fact that making Amboseli the first stop was a brilliant move.

Edgar picked me up at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport just after five in the morning. My flight got in extra early because everyone else was taking another flight to Doha. He did not seem to mind the early hour. In fact, most of our time together would be spent earlier in the day rather than later. We were going to national parks. Just like Kruger, they all opened their gates around sunrise and closed at sunset. The difference this time was that I would be sleeping inside the parks. Edgar picked me up in the morning, drove me around all day, and dropped me off in the evening.

When we loaded my bags into his van, I wondered where everyone else was. In general, safari companies like to cram in as many people as possible, unless you pay extra for a private tour. I did not. But I got one anyway. That was my bonus for knowing his cousin. I loved the idea of not being in a crowd, but wondered if this was the kind of thing I should be doing alone. More often than not, I prefer to share life's more interesting experiences with other people. On the other hand, my travel companions at Kruger were kind of a pain in the ass. There are advantages to not wasting time doing something someone else wants to do or following their bathroom schedule. Since this turned out to be a private safari, I could do whatever I wanted, pending Edgar's advice.

I also wondered why we were in a van. I was expecting a jeep. Whenever you see pictures of people on safari, they are in a big, open jeep. Edgar took me everywhere in a white Toyota Hi Ace van. That turned out to be pretty convenient. It had a roof that popped up like a camper van, without the tent, so I could stand and get unobstructed views of everything. I could also stand and sing “Born To Be Wild” while driving through the savannah. Some of the drives between parks were a little long, but as the only passenger in a nine seat van, I had plenty of room to stretch out. The van also had more room than a jeep for my luggage. Unlike most people that Edgar picked up from the airport in Nairobi, I had just come from several other cities in Kenya and South Africa. I left as much of my luggage with the company as I could, but I still had more than I needed.

African Tour:Dar es Salaam

Julius Nyerere International Airport
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Before we got to know Mombasa, it was time to leave the country. We were scheduled to perform in Dar es Salaam, which is only 500km down the coast. For whatever reason, there are no flights from Mombasa to Dar es Salaam. We had to fly an hour northwest back to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi and catch a 90 minute flight southeast to Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam. It was a lot of effort for very little reward.

We all stayed at the Johari Rotana Hotel in the Kivukoni district near the city center. Normally, I would have been disappointed in a generic business hotel, but this was the end of the tour and we had experienced plenty of local flavor. I kind of liked the predictability. The hotel had a small outdoor swimming pool that I never used. One of the room's better features was the floor to ceiling window with sea views. If only my room was facing the Indian Ocean instead of the industrial harbor. It was still a better view than looking at the building next door. Just like today's Chinese hotels, my room had large bathroom windows so people in the bedroom could watch their roommates in the bathroom. I have no idea why anyone wants this. Maybe the designers think it romantic to watch someone take a shower, but people do a lot more in bathrooms than lather up. Luckily, we all had ample experience with Chinese hotels, so we knew how to work around it. Easily the best feature of the room was the jazuzzi bathtub. It was not especially large, but it had eight jets coming out from all directions. If I did not have a roommate, I would have spent far more time in that tub.

Makumbusho Village
The Makumbusho Village Museum in Kinondoni is a recreation of traditional villages from several different indigenous tribes. Though it looked nothing like any specific village, the houses were supposed to be authentic representations of each tribe. It all seemed a little too fake to me. There are probably genuine villages people can visit away from the city. The Ngoma dancers were pretty good, though. I did not mind how much that was staged for the tourists since rehearsed dance performances were our reason to be on the continent in the first place.

Kariakoo Market
The Kariakoo Market in Ilala is the outdoor market in Dar es Salaam. Like Mahane Yehuda in Jerusalem or Albert Cuypmarkt in Amsterdam, everyone seems to go there. While I can say nothing for the food, the textile shops on the south end of Jamhuri Street were useful. I know of no better place to buy kangas. The crowds made some of my colleagues a little nervous, which I found interesting, considering where they were from. The most uncomfortably crowded outdoor market I have ever been to anywhere in the world was the Fengshan night market in Kaohsiung on Christmas Day, which is not even a holiday in Taiwan. Kariakoo felt as empty as the Carrboro Farmer's Market in North Carolina by comparison.

Mlimani City in Ubongo is the largest shopping mall in Tanzania. Unfortunately, it looks like any urban shopping mall. I cannot even be bothered to find a picture of it. Some of my colleagues wanted to shop at the Game Supermarket because it was owned by Walmart. We have no Walmarts in Taiwan, so they were curious. I pointed out that the absence of Walmart is one of the best things about Taiwan. Not that it really mattered. While Walmart is a majority stakeholder in the company, Game is run by a South African grocery store chain. It was like any large South African grocery store and had no hillbillies shopping in questionable attire.

The most interesting part about our Mlimani City outing was that the South African company closed down its only Game outlet in Dar es Salaam right after we went and completely pulled out of Tanzania just after that. Had we gone any later, my colleagues would have never experienced a Walmart that was nothing like Walmart.

Zuane, near the US embassy in Kinondoni, is arguably the most authentic looking Italian restaurant in Dar es Salaam. At least that was what a lot of people said. I only went to one Italian restaurant in Dar es Salaam, so what do I know. Their pizzas looked pretty good and the mozzarella was obviously fresh. The person I went with said the ravioli was excellent. Taiwanese people are not the most discriminating connoisseurs when it comes to pasta, but ravioli is essentially dumplings. She knows Chinese dumplings, so who's to say she is not a good judge of Italian ravioli from Tanzania.

Hong Kong Tai Yong Sun Restaurant in Ilala is either the most authentic Cantonese cuisine in all of Dar es Salaam or all of Tanzania, depending who you ask. Oddly, no one said it was the most authentic in all of Africa. My colleagues, some of whom are originally from Guangdong, all of whom are intimately familiar with Cantonese food, were unimpressed.

Azania Front Lutheran Church
A few blocks from our hotel was the Azania Front Lutheran Church. There was nothing particularly special about the building or its history, but I often find myself near Lutheran churches in the least Christian places.

Our time in Nairobi and Mombasa felt entirely too short to me. As soon as we got used to waking up in strange beds, we were off to the next city. In Dar es Salaam, we did not even get a chance to get used to anything. We flew in Wednesday morning, checked in, went to work, spent two whole nights, and left Friday morning. And one of our days in Dar es Salaam was mostly spent in Zanzibar.

On our last full day, we all caught the morning ferry to Zanzibar, did a show in Stone Town, and caught an evening ferry back to Dar es Salaam. The ferry ride was uneventful, except that everyone needed passports and went through immigration and customs. Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam are both in Tanzania, but Zanzibar has its own separate border control. It was almost like crossing the border from Shenzhen into Hong Kong, only with a lot of people speaking in unfamiliar languages. Going through immigration made the trip take a little longer since everyone was a foreigner, no matter which direction they were going.

Zanzibar is a pretty small island. Maybe half the size of Bali. It would have been nice to see more of it. After less than a full day on the island, and most of that time spent at work, I am not exactly the world's foremost authority on Zanzibar. I would not mind staying at one of the beach resorts one day. There are far fewer locals at the resorts, so it cannot possibly be as interesting, but some of the hotels look pretty nice.

Though Mombasa and Zanzibar are both mostly Afro-Arab and/or Muslim with large populations living below the poverty line on the shores of the Indian Ocean, they could not have felt more different. There was a good deal of tension in Mombasa's air. The locals tolerated the mzungu, though my impression was that they merely tolerated our money. It was similar to the Muslim Quarter in Jerusalem's Old City. Anyone who calls you “my friend” is trying to sell you something. Zanzibar was more relaxed. People seemed more genuinely friendly, regardless of how much money we might spend. It probably helps that Zanzibar is made up of several tropical islands with some beautiful beaches. I doubt I will ever go back to Mombasa, though I'm glad I went once. I will be disappointed if I never make it back to Zanzibar some day.

Since the preceding paragraph might come off as negative toward Muslims, I will point out that Zanzibar, the place I liked and want to go back to, has a much larger Muslim population than Mombasa.

African Tour:Mombasa

Moi International Airport
Mombasa, Kenya
After barely any time in Nairobi, we flew from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to Moi International Airport in Mombasa. Moi just might be the least interesting airport I have ever seen. It looks like an old roadside motel on the outside and a bus station on the inside. The drive from the airport lacked any scenery, despite crossing two bridges and driving over an island.

We all stayed in several apartments relatively close to each other in the Nyali neighborhood of Kisauni. Nyali is generally considered one of the better neighborhoods in Mombasa with the best beaches. Our apartment was largely forgettable. One of the reasons I prefer to stay in houses and apartments is because they usually have more charm than some generic hotel room. This apartment disproved that theory.

As with Nairobi, we worked every day in Mombasa. There was little time for sightseeing. I think I left Mombasa with even less of an impression than I got from Nairobi. At least in Nairobi I had some interesting interactions with the locals. Everyone in Mombasa pretty much stayed away from us.

We saw a few sights. Everyone who goes to Mombasa visits Fort Jesus on Mvita Island. Fort Jesus was built by the Portuguese 400 years ago and was controlled by everyone from the Portuguese to the British to various Arab sultans. As forts go, it is not particularly big, which might be one reason it was so easily captured over the years.

Old Town
My most interesting tourist adventure in Mombasa was walking along the narrow streets in Old Town. Nothing eventful happened, but I always like to see how people live in a place I have never been, especially if I am staying in a building or neighborhood most of them could never afford. The fancier your hotel, the farther removed you are from the real world around you. Mombasa reminded me of Bali in that regard. Not that the two places felt anything alike, but we stayed in a private villa on Bali that the people who cleaned would have to save up to afford. I have no idea how much the apartment in Mombasa cost. Hopefully less than the villa on Bali by the look of it. But it was probably more expensive than most of the houses I saw in Old Town.

Nyali Beach
Like all the foreigners in Mombasa, we went to the beach. Nyali Beach is generally considered the nicest in Mombasa. There was certainly nothing wrong with it. But after the beaches in Cape Town, it was nothing special. It was like going to the Hong Kong Museum of Art right after the Louvre. Something Nyali had that I do not recall ever seeing on any previous beach were camels. More than a few enterprising capitalists brought their camels to the beach so tourists could ride them. This is more common in Kenya than I would have expected. One of my favorite afternoons in Cape Town was riding a horse in Kommetjie. Oddly enough, none of us were as interested in riding a camel.

African Tour:Nairobi

Jomo Kenyatta International Airport
Nairobi, Kenya
After a few days at Kruger National Park and driving around the Mpumalanga countryside, Nairobi was like a different world. Not only is it by far the largest city in Kenya, it is also the gateway to all of the country's national parks and reserves. Everyone who goes to Kenya goes through Nairobi. The mix of international tourists and more locals than any other city in Kenya makes for an interesting, and a little tense, atmosphere.

The entire company stayed at the Sarova Stanley Hotel in the Central Business District. I always preferred houses and apartments, but this was not a bad hotel. It was a little less generic than typical business hotels and it was smack dab in the middle of the CBD. The hotel had a swimming pool that I never got a chance to use, a restaurant that I only saw at breakfast, and a tiny gym that most of us ignored because it was pretty much useless.

Nairobi at its best.
Just outside the hotel was the Jamia Mosque, Kenya National Archives, and Memorial Peace Museum. A little farther away was the Nairobi National Museum. As with most mosques, heathens are not allowed inside the Jamia Mosque. The outside was surprisingly unimpressive. The Kenya National Archives houses the “largest Pan-African art gallery in Africa”. The Memorial Peace Museum is a small memorial to those who died when the American embassy was blown up in 1998. The Nairobi National Museum is a larger than expected natural history museum that focuses exclusively on Sub-Saharan Africa. Between the hotel and the museum was the Maasai Market on the banks of the Nairobi River. It was like any other handmade tourist crap market, but it felt more authentic, for some reason.

We were only in Nairobi for a few days and we worked on all of them. That left little time for exploring, except late at night and early in the morning. The hotel staff told us not to go out after 22:00. They were not even subtle about it. They just came out and said it was too dangerous for foreigners. The CBD is supposed to be the safest part of the city. The hotel staff disagreed.

Not that any of us were going to get murdered if we walked outside the hotel at night. Probably just robbed. Scams are exceptionally popular in Nairobi. We were warned about fake police wanting to check our passports, strangers claiming this ATM is broken and we should use that one over there, good samaritans telling us some tourist sight is closed that day and offering an alternative, friendly people trying to start conversations while their accomplice picks our pockets, and the old international favorite, shady taxi drivers who take you some place you really do not want to go.

One of my favorite scams was one none of us had to worry about. Apparently, some children in Nairobi will approach strange men and loudly claim to be the child they abandoned. The goal is to embarrass the “father” enough to give them some money to go away. Since we were all women, and did not look at all like any of the children, none of us saw that one first hand.

Having already traveled a bit before we reached Nairobi, I was not unfamiliar with the concept of nefarious locals who prey on naive tourists. I met a few taxi drivers in Bangkok who were not entirely honest and was told by a local that the Grand Palace was closed while I was walking away from just visiting the Grand Palace. Stealing my passport is difficult in any country since I never take it with me when I wander around a city, I only use secure ATMs, and I have spent enough time in New York to know how to defend against pickpockets.

Even so, I encountered two obvious scammers in my brief time in Nairobi. One was a middle age man claiming to be an undercover police officer. He never asked to see my passport, but he showed me his badge for about a tenth of a second. From what little I saw, it looked homemade. I know nothing about Kenyan police, but there was nothing about this guy that made me believe he was legitimate. His cheap suit was too large and the way he carried himself looked like someone who had never gone through any military or self-defense training.

Our conversation went something like this:

Scammer: Are you lost?

Me: Not yet.

Scammer: It is not safe in the street.

This was in broad daylight on a reasonably crowded road.

Scammer: I can help you find the way.

Me: To San Jose? Do you know Burt?

Scammer (completely ignoring everything I say): The American embassy is moved. (pointing) It is now that way.

I never said anything about going to any embassy or that I was American. But to a lot of people, if you are white, you must be American.

Scammer: My car can take you.

Me: Pass.

I turned around and walked away. The entire exchange happened too quickly for me to fully realize that he was trying to get me into his car. I prefer not to think about why.

I looked it up later and they did move the American embassy. In 2003. We were relatively close to the old site, which is now a monument to the 1998 bombing.

The second scammer was a longer conversation, but one I still do not understand. I was maybe half a kilometer east of the hotel when a man roughly my age told me he worked at my hotel. He never mentioned the name. He only called it “your hotel” or “the hotel”. He said he worked in the kitchen and was getting ready to make my breakfast. It all sounded completely innocuous at first, other than his refusal to use the hotel's name. I talked to him for a while because, in the highly unlikely event he actually did work for the hotel, he might have some good stories to tell. The people who work behind the scenes are usually the most interesting. Unfortunately, when I asked him for directions back to the hotel, he pointed south.

After some small talk, he asked me if I could help him move some boxes. This really caught me off guard. He said it was for my breakfast, so it was only fair that I helped. I wondered if he had ever met an American tourist before. The more I declined his offer, the more upset he got. He really wanted help moving those boxes. In the end, I walked away, just as I had with the undercover police officer. The good news about Nairobi scammers is that they take no for an answer.

I understand what the fake cop was after. He wanted me to get into his car. I have no idea what the fake hotel employee wanted. Unless he legitimately wanted me to help him move boxes.

Nairobi on any given day.

African Tour:Drakensberg Escarpment part 2

The Drakensberg Escarpment
While the rest of the company flew from Cape Town to Nairobi, our little group drove to Johannesburg, returned the rental car, and caught a flight that reunited us with everyone late at night. We could have gotten there much earlier, but we still had large chunks of the Drakensberg Escarpment to explore.

Our route from Johannesburg to Hazyview was northeast to Lydenburg, east along the Panorama Route, a little back and forth around the waterfalls at Sabie, and then due east to Hazyview. Our route from Hazyview to Johanesburg was a little different.

The 45 minute drive to Graskop was mostly one long country road with a lot of trees that gradually went uphill. When we turned from R535 to R533, it became a winding uphill road. There were fewer trees, but the occasional glimpse of how much elevation we were getting. Graskop was an easy enough town to drive through without worrying about missing anything. I think the only reason anyone goes there is for the nearby scenery.

God's Window
Just north of town is God's Window, a cliff with views of the valley almost one kilometer down. There is no indication that anything like this exists on the drive to Graskop. We obviously went uphill, but the road was never at the side of any hills. It is a simple country drive to a small country town, and then suddenly, you are looking out over the edge of the Drakensberg Escarpment.

Pinnacle
Just north of God's Window is the Pinnacle, a tall rock formation you can only see by standing on the edge of a steep cliff and looking down. It is a nice looking rock, as far as rocks go, but not the kind of place you can spend all day.

Wonder View
North of the Pinnacle is Wonder View, another cliffside perch. The name is not too clever, but you get incredible views of the seemingly endless rainforest below. Though facing the same direction, it looks different from God's Window.

Lisbon Falls

Berlin Falls
Just west of Wonder View are Berlin Falls and Lisbon Falls. Like Mac Mac Falls, Lisbon Falls are just off the road. You park at a large parking lot, walk a few meters, and look down at the waterfalls below. Berlin Falls is a little farther from the road, but the parking lot looks exactly the same. And it is only a single stream of water, at least when we went. Mac Mac and Lisbon had more water rushing over their cliffs.

Blyde River Canyon
All of these spots are at the southern tip of the enormous Blyde River Canyon, the second longest canyon in Africa. The first is Fish River Canyon in Namibia. Fish River Canyon, like the Grand Canyon in Arizona, is dirt and rock. Blyde River Canyon is green as far as the eye can see. Except for all the blue in the river.

Bourke's Luck Potholes
Photograph by Daniele Codegoni
About 30km north of Berlin Falls are Bourke's Luck Potholes, large erosions in the rock that have created small pools more or less separated from the river. Driving to the potholes is not an option, but there is a visitor's center with minimal parking. The hike is relatively level on a clearly marked trail with three separate foot bridges that span across the Blyde River. The potholes are easily seen just past the east bridge.

Three Rondavels
Less than 20km north of the potholes are the Three Rondavels, a series of mountain peaks on the Drakensberg Mountains. Rather than look down the canyon, as with the potholes, the Three Rondavels are viewed from a few different vantage points on the other side of the river. The point we went to had no parking lot. Everyone simply parked on the side of the road. That was easy enough since that particular road went nowhere else. Touching the Three Rondevels requires a long hike through the canyon. We did not have nearly enough time for that. Most people just look at them and take pictures.

Though most of the Blyde River Canyon lay before us, we had a car to return and a flight to catch. We had been driving north most of the day. Johannesburg was 430km to the southwest. We had less time to stop and appreciate the scenery, but I thought the drive out of the canyon was more beautiful than the drive in. At least until we turned onto R36. That was just another country road, and the same road we took to Lydenburg, though headed south this time.

The Drakensberg Escarpment
After a brief stop in Lydenburg, we were back on the same route that got us there in the first place. The only difference was that I liked driving out of the big city and into the wide open country a lot better than the other way around. At Lanseria International Airport, we returned the car and boarded a plane for Nairobi.

I have to say, South Africa was the easiest country in the world when it came to renting cars. There were never any problems or delays and they always had the kind of car I reserved. As long as there were no additional drivers, they were more than happy to take my money and give me the keys. I have no idea if I will ever go back to South Africa, though I certainly hope so. If I do, I will not hesitate to rent a car or two. The countryside is beautiful and easy to drive around. Cape Town has some parking issues in the City Centre, but is otherwise a great driving city.

Even without driving, Cape Town was my favorite city in South Africa. We met friendly people everywhere we went, especially Betty in Durban. But as an international city, Cape Town has more diversity than Durban, which really helps when it comes to all that racial tension just barely hiding under the surface. As a beach city, Cape Town is more laid back than Johannesburg. There was still more of Africa to see, but I had a feeling South Africa was always going to be my favorite.

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Just a reminder, I did not take any of these photographs. These are placeholders until I can replace them with my own. I am attempting to give credit to the photographers when I know who they are.

African Tour:Kruger National Park part 3

After entering Kruger through the Phabeni Gate twice already, there was little point in going to the same area a third time. Realistically, there was a point. We cold have easily spent every day near Phabeni and still only scratched the surface. But since we all agreed that we wanted to cover as much ground as possible, it made more sense to enter and exit different gates. On our last day at the park, we took the Phalaborwa Gate, which is more than a two hour drive from Hazyview. That meant leaving our warm rooms by 03:00 and braving the cold, dark morning drive.

Not that it was cold. Even winters in Kaohsiung get colder than spring mornings in South Africa. The dark was different since we did most of our driving outside of Hazyview during daylight hours, but the drive to Phalaborwa was mostly one road and there was absolutely no traffic. Leaving extra early in the morning meant there were only three of us instead of four. One of the night owls could barely go to sleep by 03:00, let alone wake up. I could sympathize, but when you make an extra effort to go someplace that requires an early start, and the tiny town in the middle of nowhere has no night life to speak of, you might as well go to bed and wake up early.

Our first two days were mostly ambling around. The Phabeni and Crocodile Bridge gates are relatively close to each other. If you simply wanted to go in one and straight out the other, for some reason, you could probably do it in under three hours. Phabeni to Phalaborwa is a little farther, but that is the most narrow section of the park and you mostly drive north and south. The rest camps north of Skukuza are less interesting, so there is less reason to spend more time in one spot. The two gates on our last day were more than 200km apart. While it might sound easy to drive 200km in 13 hours, it can be challenging when you stop a lot to smell the roses, not to mention masticate and micturate.

I paid more attention to closing hours on the way to Punda Maria. We left the park by 18:30, as we did every day. We wanted to hit those gates right before they closed, while being careful not to stay too late. The fines to get out after they close the gates are steep, and they reserve the option to ban you from reentering the park. Since we had been driving north all day, we were as far from Hazyview as we were going to get. The drive home was about five hours, mostly during and just after sunset. It got dark pretty quickly on the country road with no street lights, but half the drive was the same way we took from Hazyview to Phalaborwa, so it was not completely unfamiliar. This was one of those times we were really glad there were gas stations inside the park.

After three days at Kruger, we had spotted all of the Big Five, except leopards, as well as several small families of cheetah, a few packs of dogs, maybe a hundred hippos bunched together in a river, who knows how many crocodiles mostly under the water, dozens of hyena and jackal, some warthogs, a few foxes, dozens of baboons and smaller monkeys, at least a hundred giraffes, even more wildebeest, and countless zebras. The most abundant animal we saw, by far, were the antelopes. There are more than a few species of antelope in Kruger. I could not even begin to guess which was which, but since there are more than 100,000 impala in the park, I can assume we saw a few of those.

Kruger also has hundreds of species of birds. I can tell the difference between an eagle, hawk, and stork, but I am not about to try and identify each species. Except the marabou stork. That one is pretty easy because it is so ugly. Ostriches were also easy, but we saw plenty of them in Cape Town.

I stayed in Hazyview for a few days, but know pretty much nothing about the town. Since we always left for Kruger early in the morning and came back after sunset, we saw nothing in town. All we did in Hazyview was sleep and go to the grocery store once.

Staying at a hotel outside the park seemed like a good idea at the time. With strict gate times, there is far more freedom of movement if you sleep outside. Since we arrived late on our first night, an outside hotel was the only option. In hindsight, staying at one of the lodges inside the park would have been more efficient, even though that also would have meant driving directly to the park and not seeing anything on the Panorama Route since the park gates close so early. The Blue Jay Lodge in Hazyview was quite nice. Phil and Margi are friendly hosts. I can easily recommend it. But if I ever go back, I will definitely stay inside Kruger.

African Tour:Kruger National Park part 2

Phalaborwa Gate
For our second day at Kruger, we entered at the same Phabeni Gate in the morning, but left through the Phalaborwa Gate in the evening. Instead of exploring the southern end of the park, we drove north from Phabeni and explored the middle section. Since Phalaborwa is about 170km from Phabeni, that meant a longer drive back to Hazyview, but everyone was happy that we did not have to wake up any earlier.

In addition to all the marked roads you can drive around and look for animals, there are designated areas of the park where you can get out of your car. There are also ample hiking trails. Driving is the best way to get around Kruger, but you do not have to stay in your car the entire time. The biggest rule, aside from the prohibition against murdering the wildlife, is to stay in your car any time you are close to any of the Big Five. They can all kill you effortlessly. Elephants and lions mostly do not, unless you piss them off. Leopards are more likely to run away. Buffalo and rhinos will kill you as a matter of principle.

Kruger is mostly untamed wilderness, with paved roads and plenty of signs. The park also houses a surprising amount of civilization, at least compared to the immediate environment outside its borders. There are gas stations near most of the gates, which are terribly convenient when driving around all day. There are a variety of places to sleep inside the park, from expensive all-inclusive lodges to small self-catering huts to tents in the grass, though all have to be booked months in advance. Some of the rest camps have middle of the road accommodations, restaurants, shops, gas stations, and something every game reserve needs, ATMs.

Sabie River from Skukuza Rest Camp
Since we left Hazyview early every morning and came back after sunset, we did most of our eating inside Kruger. Skukuza is practically a tiny village inside the park. Both restaurants served a wide variety of international cuisine, the main store had everything you could ever need while driving around a national park all day, and there was a nice walking path along the Sabie River. It also had a library and golf course, though I cannot imagine having enough time for either when the days were so short.

Lower Sabie Rest Camp
Though much smaller than Skukuza, Lower Sabie has the best restaurant in all of Kruger. The outdoor terrace overlooks the Sabie River, where you can watch elephants and lions get a drink while you eat lunch, yet every table is safely in the shade. Their store is more gift shop than supplies, but people have to buy coffee mugs with their names on them from somewhere.

Olifants River from Olifants Rest Camp
Olifants is a basic spot to take a pit stop and is mostly unremarkable. Except that it sits on a small hill over the Olifants River. There are multiple vantage points to stare at the river and watch elephants, lions, hippos, and crocodiles leave each other alone.

Tsende River from Mopani Rest Camp
Mopani has a decent little coffee shop and plenty of views of the Tsende River.

Guineafowl at Punda Maria Rest Camp
Punda Maria is the northernmost rest camp, and pretty basic. The tiny restaurant is more fast food than diner and the shop looks like a small 7-Eleven. But the area around the camp is a birdwatcher's paradise and several species of antelope hang out in the area. Unfortunately, there is no river nearby, so large mammal spotting is less likely.

African Tour:Kruger National Park part 1

Kruger National Park is enormous. It covers about two million hectares, which is roughly the size of New Jersey or Israel. Though rarely more than 60-80km wide, the park is over 350km long. Driving straight through from end to end without stopping would take all day. Not stopping for any reason would defeat the purpose of going to the park. We knew we were never going to see it all in what little time we had. We decided to get in early every day and concentrate on a different section of the park.

All of the gates opened at 05:30. I would have preferred to get there earlier. The best times to spot most of the animals away from their beds were sunrise and sunset. The more elusive creatures liked to nap in the middle of the day when it was hottest. My roommates were not enthusiastic about waking before dawn, but they knew that our time was limited. Since the gates closed before sunset, our best chances were in the early morning hours.

Phabeni Gate
The only way to get into Kruger, legally, is through one of nine gates spread out around the park. Our hotel was a quick drive to the Phabeni Gate, so it made the most sense to go there first. But if we entered that gate every day, we would always be in that section of the park. To see more of the park, it made sense to enter through different gates each day, which required longer drive times. That meant waking up even earlier to be there by 05:30. I never had a problem with that. My roommates were less enthusiastic.

We entered the Phabeni Gate just after 05:30 on our first day. That meant waking up an hour before the sun. I have always been a morning person. My travel companions were not. Only one of them was capable of waking herself that early. The other two were like teenagers on the day of a big test. Except that they volunteered for this. They wanted to see Kruger and take pictures of animals. They simply wanted it to happen later in the day.

I knew that getting there early was a good idea as soon as we got there. Though it was just after 05:30, there was a line to get in. It moved slowly, and I could imagine how long it might take later in the day when there were ten times as many cars. Fortunately, the park is so large that even if you drive in with a few hundred other people, you can drive around all day and never see them again.

We also discovered pretty early that our 4 wheel drive jeep was completely unnecessary. The main roads in the park were well paved. Even the dirt trails were smooth enough for the average sedan. The most rugged off-road driving was where the general public was not allowed to go anyway. Instead of the Mercedes-Benz W463, we could have rented a brand new E-Class. Not that the jeep was uncomfortable, but I would not mind driving a proper Mercedes across Mpumalanga.

The main reason to drive through Kruger National Park is to look at animals in their natural habitat. The park provides all kinds of maps and apps to find whatever creature you want to see. The problem is that none of the animals know when or where they are scheduled to appear. Some animals are inevitable. We spotted antelopes and zebra near the side of the road before we even entered the park, and saw thousands more inside. They were not as skittish as any of the giraffe we saw, but they never let us get close. Most people want to see the “Big Five”, elephant, rhinoceros, buffalo, lion, and leopard. They were supposedly the hardest to hunt back when hunting was allowed. Now that they can only be shot with cameras, they are the top attractions, for some reason.

I can see why people actively seek leopards. They are solitary, they know how to hide in trees, they are essentially invisible in the tall grass, and they want nothing to do with humans. There are a thousand leopards living at Kruger. We saw none.

The rhinoceros is much easier to find, but not an animal you want to meet up close. Kruger has both black rhinos and white rhinos, whose numbers are increasing thanks to a greater effort to protect them and more aggressive prosecutions of poachers. The funniest thing about black and white rhinos is that they are neither black nor white. The British called white rhinos white because they misunderstood the Dutch name, similar to how they called Nederlanders Dutch because they confused them with the Deutsche. Black rhinos, like white rhinos, are gray and brown. We saw a few rhinos, but since they were all gray, we have no idea if they were black or white.

There are more buffalo at Kruger than any of the other Big Five. Spotting them is pretty easy since they travel in large herds and are never far from water. Getting close is impossible. African buffalo are nothing like American buffalo/bison. While American bison are pretty easy to slaughter en masse, African buffalo will not hesitate to kill anyone who gets too close. They have strong horns, weigh a ton, and are relentless. While a rhinoceros might run you over and run away, a buffalo will trample you, turn around, and go back for more until the job is done. That was why all the big manly hunter men saw their rotting corpses as prized trophies. None of your buddies back at the bar would be impressed if you killed a turkey, but if you cut the head off an animal that could easily kill you without a second thought, that should help everyone forget about how tiny your penis is.

Lions are the king of the jungle, which is a little ironic since they do not live in the jungle. Their numbers at Kruger are almost as small as leopards, but they are much easier to find since they live in groups and congregate out in the open. With no fear of any other animals, they see no reason to hide, and they are not at all impressed by humans. Everyone at Kruger is told to roll up all windows when driving close to lions. If they feel like it, they will climb onto your car. Our sturdy jeep would have been safe, but if you are in a Toyota Corolla, they are going to cause damage. The problem with lions is that you want to see them catch a zebra in some dramatic fashion, but they mostly just lie around during the daytime. Almost all of their hunting is at night when it is much cooler and the park is closed to visitors. We saw plenty of lions at Kruger. The most they did was stand up to go lie down somewhere else.

Photograph by Pierre-Yves Babelon
Elephants are the easiest of the Big Five. They are huge creatures that are easy to spot at a distance, though not as easy as giraffes, they travel in groups, and they are rarely aggressive. You can get pretty close to a female elephant. It is the males you have to watch out for, and only when they are horny. Conveniently, they let you know when to stay away. If a male is leaking fluid from the side of its head, or any elephant flaps its ears and loudly raises is trunk, it is time to move along. Otherwise, you can drive right up to them, slowly. The only time I did not want to get close was when a few other cars were around our elephant. He was almost surrounded and it was only a matter of time before he felt threatened. Since we were in front of him, I did not want to be there when he started flipping cars.

Kruger is big enough that you can drive around all day and never see another human. But sometimes you run into them. People driving through the park can follow whatever route they want. Some like to follow the guides. They think they are more likely to spot more animals if they stay close to the professionals. They are probably right. Since we were in a jeep, we would get someone following us every once in a while, even though official jeeps were an obviously different style, shape, and color from our car.

We left the park just minutes before they closed the gates. Since we entered through the Phabeni Gate, we decided to exit at the Crocodile Bridge Gate. That gave us the entire foot of Kruger to explore. Since we left just before closing, there was almost as long a line to get out as there had been to get in. While all of the gates are at well paved roads, to get out of the park at the Crocodile Bridge Gate, you have to cross a ramshackle wooden bridge over the Crocodile River. The bridge is barely wide enough for one car at a time, so the line moves slowly.

Outside of the park, it is a quick drive near the Mozambique border to the N4 and about two hours to Hazyview. Since we were in no hurry to leave, we all decided it was better to drive the long way home than to drive farther to get into the park. We also quickly realized that we might want to eat most of our meals inside the park. Hazyview is not a 24 hour town, and while it is surrounded by beautiful scenery, there are not a lot of options if you want to pick up a bite on the way home.