Back home, simmering down

Warning everyone, this is a looong post... ;)
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While it seems strangely unreal, I am now home in my flat in Gbg, with a familiar mess on my desk and the living room wall patterned in golden sunlight, at 9:15 pm. I am recovering (?) after possibly the most exciting, fantastic, harrowing, fascinating, fun and confusing ten consecutive days of my life. Kenya was an experience that topped all the other trips I took this summer, and offered both amazing experiences and held up a mirror to myself - I didn't like what I saw in that mirror, but hopefully I can make the best of the experience.

After the Amboseli trip followed a few days where Helen had to get some work done at the U.N., so we agreed that I should bum around in Nairobi first and see the town. I was taken by taxi to the Maasai Market in downtown Nairobi on tuesday to practise the art of haggling (which my mother has elevated to an art and which I therefore usually leave to her). At the market, I encountered a guy who first sold me an oil painting and then whisked me off with a colleague to see all the other hawkers. I was, in fact, given an impromptu grand tour of the entire market area by my two new rafikis, who explained what the handicrafts were made of, what they symbolised and what tribe the different sellers belonged to.

It was a bit scary to be both alone, a muzungu, tourist and girl, and to be so unyieldingly escorted everywhere by the two Nairobi hawkers, but I stayed behind my sunglasses and turned down sales or haggled prices downwards with the argument that I was a poor student (which is partially true). As Helen later pointed out, I had luck - by following me around, they were actually keeping other hawkers from attacking me with sales pitches and fervent shoving of stuff into my hands. I emerged after one hour relatively unscathed, but pretty exhausted.

Helen then planned for me to see more of the amazing wildlife that East Africa has to offer, so I went on a two-day trip to Hell's Gate National Park in Naivasha and later to Nakuru National Park.

This is when I got into some trouble. The taxi driver suggested to me that it was a great idea to tour Hell's Gate by bike, and there was a bike rental about 1 km from the gate. Both the driver, the rental guy, and later the Park guards assured me that biking in the park was safe and fine, so I set off, luckily with a hat on my head. The sun beat down and I pedalled down the dirt/sand roads and took in the magnificent views of the rock formations, the acacia woods, the eagles, zebras and... then came the intermittent stretches of sand banks which slowed down the bike (which was on the small side and had a sinking saddle that I had to keep adjusting).

I ended up biking 24 km in the sand and nearly exhausting my water supply, which I have since sworn to never dimension that scantily again. Afterwards, I can't believe what I did, that I did it alone, and what might have happened if I hadn't had the stamina to bike all the way back. Zebras are cute but not necessarily helpful.

The next day, I told John the driver pointedly "No bikes this time," as we set off by car into Nakuru national park, which has mind-boggling views of rhinos and a salty lake laced with a population of 1.5 million flamingoes, shading the lake horizons pink!

We saw some magnificent animals up close (including two napping rhinos), and all was well until we were leaving Baboon Cliff lookout - John, the driver, inadvertently chose a mud road that was wet and gouged with tire tracks too deep for the Toyota Carina to manage, so we got completely stuck. As John revved the engine trying to get out, something under the car said Kkkkrnktnktnkt - it was the ball bearing of the left front axle popping out of its wheel socket, breaking into pieces and spraying steel balls into the mud.

We were stuck a long time on that road - it was hot, there were mosquitoes, and since we were at first optimistic about help coming soon, we soon ran out of water. We had been promised assistance by the Park guards within 15 minutes of the breakdown by cellphone (as had Helen, who as soon as she knew of the situation did what she could from Nairobi by calling anyone who could possibly help).

It is usually a bad idea to be outside of a car in a game park with lions, buffalo and other potentially aggressive animals, and even more so after dark. Help finally arrived after 6 hours - two park personnel arrived in a jeep as darkness fell at 6.30 pm, and after some banter in swahili they decided to tow the car out of the park, then take me to the main gate. I holed up at Hotel Merica that night in Nakuru town, and was taken to Nairobi at 5 the next morning by the fastest taxi driver named Charles that I have ever met.

The same day I came back to Nairobi, I re-packed and left again with Helen and her colleague Wendy for Malindi, a resort town on the east coast with beautiful white sand and azure sea water. It was good to be in a 'safe' place with company and just relaxing, but at the same time a bit surreal after the Nakuru espisode. At any rate, Malindi was a treat! We had three fantastic days of sun, sand, surf, snorkelling, good food, boating and lizard-spotting before it was time for me to go home again to Sweden.

The trip home was unexpectedly halted in the middle - the plane had to make an emergency landing in Luxor because of a poor passenger becoming seriously sick, so the plane landed and she was taken to hospital. I hope she's OK...

So all in all, it's been a trip with some (for me) pretty extreme experiences. I suppose I was stressed by the newness of some of the situations, but didn't realise this until afterwards. But I'm glad I went.

And as I told Helen; if I can't think of a way to reciprocate this experience, I think I owe her fika for the rest of my life!