Nairobi, 2024 – Herrick Home Page

Nairobi and West Kenya.
An amazing trip 4-23-2024 to 5-2-2024.
Notes:
1. No speed limits on the roads or highways. They control speed by putting in rumble strips and speed humps (technically speed platforms or speed tables) every 1000 feet or so. Makes for an uncomfortable ride anywhere.

2. No lawn mowing needed on highways:.. cows, sheep, goats all used in small herds! We had to stop for cows, sheep, goats and geese crossing the road many times.

3. Christianity is very prevalent with churches in every small strip of shops. Christian music was also broadcast over the speakers in hotels and restaurants.

4. The food was always really good, with vegan offerings everywhere. They get tilapia in the lakes, so that was everywhere too.

5. The people were all friendly, except when we returned from our boat ride and I tried to give a tip to our boat captain. I found out that no one would take my $100 bill. It was not one of the newer bills with the clear window. They called my bill and “old” one and would not accept it to get smaller change. Older $20 bills were OK, but we understood that people had been counterfeiting the hundreds and thus would not accept them.

6. The people were happy and helpful, they seemed to like to dance. The shopkeepers would quote you a price of $420 but settle for $16 if you haggle a lot, or just walk away..

7.Most of the housing we saw was cardboard walls and tin roofs, very very poor people, it seemed like there was no work. They were installing a pipeline in a deep ditch, no machinery, just people digging the ditch.

8. Scaffolding was 2 inch branches, everywhere! I would not climb those!

9. As with many countries, drugs that say “Prescription Only” are sold without a prescription. I needed one such and there was no question, it was just sold to me. It turned out that the drug was only sold in India and Kenya! It was for nausea and worked amazingly well.

10. Gasoline was $5.10 and diesel was $5 a gallon.

11. They had diet coke everywhere, so that is what I drank, plus copious amounts of water.

12. We had beautiful weather all the way, 60’s at night, 70’s daytime, rain at night only. We had no mosquitoes, no flies, but did get our exercise and too much good food!

13. The average income for workers in Kenya ranges from $56 to $250 per week. United States provides nearly $324 million in humanitarian assistance to the people of Kenya yearly.

14. Kenya’s most recent exports are led by Tea ($1.39B), Cut Flowers ($665M), Coffee ($341M), Titanium Ore ($290M), and Tropical Fruits ($227M). The most common destination for the exports of Kenya are United States ($722M), Uganda ($677M), Pakistan ($541M), Netherlands ($502M), and Rwanda ($439M).

15. Imports: Electrical machinery, iron and steel, and vehicles are the core imports coming from China to Kenya.

16. Africa administers the Value Added Tax (VAT)

Just like other indirect taxes and income tax, VAT’s purpose is to raise government revenue.

The VAT system was designed to be more direct and less complicated than sales taxes or gross turnover taxes. VAT is easier to track than some tax systems because it’s levied at each stage, and all merchants are required to maintain meticulous records of purchases, sales, and supplies. It’s also administered by the federal government rather than numerous state and local governments.

17. Africa also has an income tax that supports the government, municipalities, and general welfare.

Those who don’t pay an income tax (slum dwellers) are petty much on their own and don’t qualify for any government assistance at all.

18. Luxury hotels, everyone spoke English, my best trip ever!

19. This was not a lazy trip, up at 5, breakfast at 6, off and running 7 or 7:30. Climbing down a gorge and back up! Lots of energy, I lost a pound on the trip even though I enjoyed every meal!

20. A reminder to check that the airlines included the TSA PreCheck logo on your airline tickets when they hand them to you. If it is not on there you will have to go to the long lines. That has happened to me twice, I paid for it and it was awarded, but the airlines and the agents do not seem to care.

Summary:

April 25
First, when we arrived in Kenya we walked around the block to the Kenya National Museum, an amazing huge sprawling museum with 10 million things exhibited.
In the afternoon we went to the Bomas for their dance presentation.
April 26 we drove out to the Maasai Mara and arrived at a fabulous Hotel (camp with canvas roofs), then off to the Mara Plain.
April 27 we had an all day drive around the Mara Plain watching all the animals.
April 28 depart for Nyahururu to go to the Thompson Falls Camp. We then went on a boat trip to see giraffes and other animals in the wild there.
April 29 we climbed down into the gorge by the falls, then off to the hippo pools.

April 30 we drove back to Nairobi.

May 1 we went to Giraffe Center to feed the giraffes, then to a location they were making beads, and then to a second bead place. Then in the evening we started our 26 hour trek home, arriving home May 2.

STARTING April 23 – 25:
We flew into Nairobi, the capital at about 7 AM their time on the 25th. We had started in Florida on the 23rd with a 1 1/2 hour flight to Charlotte. Then a 2 hour layover, an 8 hour flight to London, a 2 hour layover and a 9 hour flight to Africa. 26 hours portal to portal with very little sleep.
Meals on the airplanes were quite good. Breakfast at the hotel was excellent:

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In country Day 1
April 25 Museum and Dance

The Kenya National Museum was amazing. Thousands of exhibits, we spent the whole morning there and I purchased several beautiful objects there.

Lunch at the Museum

Then on to the Bomas to watch the dance:

While we were there, a monkey ran by me over to a trash bin. He ripped off the top of the bin, grabbed the remains of someone’s lunch and with one motion was up on the roof enjoying his snack.

Also on the front lawn were three warthogs mowing the grass!

The African dances were fun, Eileen joined in at times.

There were a number of costume changes and various dance routines.
When we they were done our Uber driver stopped at a mall so I could get a memory card for my Nikon D300 as I had left my card at home.

Gasoline was $5.20, Diesel was $5.00 a gallon

Day2
April 26
Breakfast at the hotel, they cook the eggs for you instead of having them pre-made. They had waffles and in addition, many exotic things to try.

Then we seven plus the driver pilled into the van for the drive to the Maasai Mara National Reserve.

Note:
We did not see the flooding in Nairobi as our driver took us a different way.

The animals in my photos were taken in the Maasai Mara, a six hour drive from the city. They just call it the Mara, it is a 580 square mile preserve. The Serengeti National Park (5,700 sq miles) abuts it but is in Tanzania.

Blue wildebeest are the dominant inhabitants of the Maasai Mara.^[2] Around July of each year, these animals migrate north from the Serengeti plains in search of fresh pasture, and return to the south around October. The Great Migration is one of the most impressive natural events worldwide,^[3]. It involves some 1,300,000 blue wildebeest, 500,000 Thomson’s gazelles, 97,000 topi, 18,000 common elands, and 200,000 Grant’s zebras.^[8]

All members of the “Big Five” – lion, African leopard, African bush elephant, African buffalo, black and white rhinos – are found all year round.

The Maasai Mara is the only protected area in Kenya with an indigenous black rhino population unaffected by translocations.^[9] Due to its size, the Mara is able to support one of the largest populations in Africa.

“Camp” day 2 and 3 hotel was a cabin with a canvas roof. One big room and a separate bathroom. The staff said to make sure the door was locked because the monkeys would get in. Eileen unlocked the door, she entered and I entered right behind. Eileen turned around to lock the door…and a monkey had already opened the door and was in the room with us! She shooed him out!!!

The hotel/Camp was very nice. They had mosquito netting around the beds that staff let down while we were at dinner and then the put them up while were at breakfast. The rooms were large and had a nice bathroom, they were in name only “camps” – the roof were canvas, but the rest were nice rooms. At night the monkeys climbed up on the canvas roof and ran around. The rain also made quite a noise on the canvas.

And off we go to the jungle!

Our driver Moses with two of the ladies that try to sell stuff to us. They are persistent! But we do not buy.

One of the most iconic species in East Africa, the African elephant is a memorable sight. At an average height of 11 feet, these majestic creatures stand tall and strong, with adults usually weighing in at around 2.5 to seven tons. They also serve a vital role in the East African ecosystem. Elephants use their massive strength to knock down trees in order to get to the most tender leaves. In doing so, they create open areas for grasslands, which provide food for countless other herbivores.

The common warthog is a wild member of the pig family found in grassland, savanna, and woodland in sub-Saharan Africa. In the past, it was commonly treated as a subspecies of P. aethiopicus, but today that scientific name is restricted to the desert warthog of northern Kenya, Somalia, and eastern Ethiopia. Warthogs are much smarter and faster than they may appear. They can run up to 34 mph in order to avoid predators. They’re also one of the most cautious animals we saw in Kenya.

With his luxurious mane and imposing roar, the male East African Lion is considered the king of all Kenyan animals and is the national animal of Kenya. The average male lion weighs between 350 and 500 lbs., while its female counterpart weighs a little less. Lions are known for their hunting prowess, preying on a variety of mammals such as gazelles, buffalo, zebras and more. The females tend to do most of the actual hunting, but the males usually get “the lion’s share” of the kill. Unlike other big cats, Lions are noteworthy for living in prides with their own clearly-marked territory. Prides will generally share their meals together, although some single male lions (known as bachelors) do hunt on their own.

Living primarily in floodplains, the Topi is also found in the savanna and other dry habitats. These reddish-colored antelopes are also known as the “blue jean antelope,” for the distinctive blue markings on their legs. Topis feed on very specific plants, chewing for long periods of time before resting and then grazing again. Unlike many other antelope species, the Topi is very sociable and interacts with other species, such as wildebeests and zebras.

Marked by their noteworthy long neck, the Reticulated Giraffe is another relatively common sighting in easthern Kenya. These giraffes use their long necks to feed in the tops of acacia trees, where they gather leaves and fruit. You can usually tell which trees they’ve feasted on: Since they tend to eat from the top (where the freshest leaves are), the trees look a bit like hats. They’re hardly ever seen drinking water (once a week or so), and look quite funny when they do. Their long necks combined with powerful eyes make for good eyesight.

The largest of Africa’s buffalos, the Cape Buffalo weighs in at around 1,000 lbs. These massive creatures reside in many different grassy landscapes across Africa, feeding on huge quantities of grass. They’ve developed a symbiotic relationship with birds known as Oxpeckers. They can often be seen perched on the buffalos’ backs, eating ticks and other bugs and helping to keep wounds clean.

Living in savannas, Baboons are smaller than Gorillas, but bigger than typical monkeys. These animals spend their time moving between the trees and the ground, feeding on a variety of food ranging from small mammals and birds to fruit and plants. A group of Baboons is called a troop. These troops are tight-knit and complex social organizations consisting of up to hundreds of animals. The Baboon is one of the largest monkey species in the world. Their preference for grass helps them survive in areas where other monkey species cannot. We saw them resting on the side of the highways, just watching the cars go by!

Perhaps the most familiar of Kenya’s antelope species, Impalas are best known for their speed and agility. These antelopes feed and run quickly in herds overseen by a dominant male. Young males are often kicked out of the herd, roaming as bachelors until they’re strong enough to fight the alpha male for breeding rights. Impalas can leap up to 33 feet in the air, which helps them to avoid predators and send signals to other Impalas, but is also occasionally done just for fun. Impalas have adapted to feed on a variety of plants depending on the season, eating grass shoots in the wet months and shrubs and other dry herbs in the dry months.

The fastest land animal in the world, the Cheetah is known for its lightning-fast speed and its well-defined spots. Unlike its spotted counterpart, the Leopard, Cheetahs do not stalk their prey. Instead they run after it, dashing at speeds of up to 75 miles per hour. Despite their great speed, Cheetahs are considered shy and less aggressive than other big cats. So they have to quickly eat their prey before a scavenger comes and steals it away.

Looking like a cross between a goat and a gazelle, East African Oryx (which is also known as the Beisa) are easy to spot due to their large antler-like horns. These antelopes are colored brown, black, and white, and reside in the savanna and desert climates of eastern Kenya. Like camels, these animals have genetically adapted to conserve water, and do not sweat until temperatures reach around 116 degrees Fahrenheit!

Moses and our van, we get to stand up and watch for animals out in the savanna!

One of the ladies pestering us, you have to close the windows to prevent them from sticking their head and hands in!

Only recently established as a separate species from the Common Ostrich, the Somali Ostrich is noticeable for its blue neck and legs, (females are pink) with males having bright red markings on their shins during mating season. These large, flightless birds can be found in various different types of habitats, such as grasslands and woodlands. They are unfortunately suffering from habitat loss, but stronger conservation efforts have been proposed in order to rejuvenate their dwindling population.

We stopped at this lodge for a potty break.

Leopards are excellent hunters, sneaking up on their prey and attacking without a warning. Along with hunting, leopards are athletic all around, with skills in swimming, climbing, and strength. Unlike the cheetah, its spotted counterpart, leopards prefer to stealthily stalk their prey and pounce rather than run after it. Their strong senses of smell and sight help them track and attack their prey, which is sometimes much larger than the leopard. This one was stalking an adult and a baby impala who took off running so fast it was amazing!

Momma with baby, she does not look as imposing here in a photo as she was in person, standing there with ears wide and challenging us before she moved on.

Newly weds from California on left, friends also from, Californis, Eileen and me, and “peanut” originally from Japan.

Behind the Elephant and White Rhinoceros, the Hippopotamus is the third-largest land mammal on Earth today. Adult Hippos average anywhere from 2,870 pounds (females) to 3,310 pounds (males). But despite its massive size and short, stubby legs, this behemoth is capable of running up to 19 miles per hour over short distances. These animals have strong gray bodies with thick skin and very little hair. They mud and water to keep themselves cool in the heat due to a lack of sweat glands. They may look scary, and they are– they’re actually responsible for more annual deaths (around 2,900) than Lions, Leopards, Sharks, or snakes. But Hippos use their teeth to feed primarily on grass, and their bodies retain nutrients for long periods of time.

We went on a boat trip to see giraffes and other animals in the wild there.

On the preserve:.

Gnu (Wildebeast) Originally known as the gnu, Wildebeests gained their current name from the Afrikaans language because of their wild and intimidating appearance. While it resembles a buffalo more than anything, wildebeests are actually a larger antelope species marked by their large, pointed horns. Despite their large size, wildebeests are prey for many major predators in Kenya, such as lions and hyenas. Wildebeests are herbivores, feeding on grasses and other plants. They move in fairly large herds, which can best be seen during their Great Migration north from the plains of the Serengeti to Kenya’s Maasai Mara every summer.

More fun in Nairobi April 28 to 30,

Moses our driver and us at the top of the falls. It was quite a hike down about 250 feet, then back up.

Our group at the bottom of the falls,

Thank goodness for the handrails!

A lot of water. The video shows the falls and our hotel toward the end:

We were all exhausted after that climb up!

Next we were off to the hippo pools.

Then we were off to a demonstration at the earth’s equator.

And off we go back to the city Nairobi. We had been told we were to bring only an overnight bag on our trip to the savanna, I had thought that it was going to be overnight so i brought an extra shirt. It turned out to be four nights in super wonderful extravagant hotels! I was quite under dressed wearing the same shirts, but our little group did not care.

The next morning (with clean clothes on) we went to a giraffe compound (May 1). We went to Giraffe enclosure to feed the giraffes, then to a location where they were making beads, and then to a second bead place.

Home to a towering crew of endangered Rothschild’s giraffes, Nairobi’s 80 acre Giraffe Centre supports conservation work and educational programs across Kenya. Here, visitors can feed giraffes from a six foot high platform, walk a nature trail to the Gogo River, and learn about wildlife conservation.

Next, in the afternoon, we went to a place that an American woman created, a place for women who were destitute to work and make and sell clay beads. I purchased beads for my daughter and granddaughter and a refrigerator magnet here.

The lady asked me to take her picture.

Then they got up and danced!

Then they invited Eileen to dance with them:

We then went to another bead manufacturing place where they showed us how they put the clay into a divot to make sure that all the beads were of the same size, then formed the bead and poked a hole in the center of it.

	Some of the Animals we saw (not including cats and dogs and chickens):
1	African Forest Elephant
2	African jacana – Actophilornis
3	Anhinga
4	Baboons
5	Cattle Egret
6	Cheeta
7	Cormorants
8	Cows
9	Donkeys
10	Ducks
11	East African Oryx
12	Egret
13	Fish Eagle
14	Gazelle
15	Geese
16	Giant Elund
17	Giraffe
18	Goats
19	Grant’s Zebra
20	Hartebeest
21	Hippos
22	Hornbill
23	Ibis
24	Impala
25	Leopards
26	Lions
27	Maasai Ostrich
28	Monkeys
29	Oxpeckers
30	Sheep
31	Topi
32	Warthogs
33	Cape Buffalo
34	Waterbuck
35	White Pelicans
36	Wildebeest