An Equatorial Christmas

Once Peter began working in Kenya, in October 2012, the planning for family visits started in earnest, so it had been a long build up to my sister Mary’s arrival in mid-December 2013.

The Mara river: the rainy season continued, in 2013, into mid-December and
ground conditions remained green and muddy, with full-flowing rivers

Peter had to work over this busy period, building up to Christmas berry sales, so Mary and I took a week's safari together, travelling first to the Masai Mara reserve, then flying to Mombasa and on to Diani on the south coast, returning on the train from Mombasa to Nairobi.

The Mara: vast plains and skies

A rare opportunity to see a hippo out of the water in the middle of the day

All the comforts of home in a safari tent

Note the fleece and knee blanket... it can be chilly on Mara mornings

The harsh reality of survival:
we witnessed this baby zebra being caught, killed and eaten...

Afternoon tea on the cool verandah of the Mombasa Club

The old town, Mombasa

Travelling back to Nairobi on the overnight train (on my birthday). The 12 hour journey took 20 hours ... but we had great views of rural Kenya

Mary and I returned to Naivasha a few days before Christmas, ready to welcome Catriona and Fritha who took the Christmas eve flight, once prices had dropped, arriving in Nairobi on the morning of the 25^th.

We did the Naivasha sights together for a few days, including horse-riding on the lake shores and a fascinating gorge walk in Hell's Gate National Park. We then split for New Year: the girls flying to the Mara, and Mary, Peter and I joining Naivasha friends for a trip north to a lovely, serene camp in Laikipia.

Kibera from the air: Nairobi's enormous 'slum' suburb

A close enconter with a Mara elephant

An amazing threesome taken by Catriona in the Mara

We met up again in Nairobi on January 1^st for Mary’s last night and then the girls, Peter and I drove through Tsavo West, then Tsavo East to reach the Indian Ocean and a short week’s diving holiday at Watamu. Frith flew back on the 11^th and Catriona, snatching a few last rays of sunshine stayed on until Jan 18^th.

Driving to Tsavo: Peter's Toyota truck was in the garage so we had borrowed his boss's Range Rover and had a puncture within a couple of hours!!

A road in the red-soiled land of Tsavo West

Tsavo's elephants:covered in red dust

Tsavo lizards

A gerenuk : a rare long-necked antelope that grazes the middle of bushes...above the level where other antelopes can reach but below where giraffes graze

Sunset at Lugard's Falls in Tsavo East

We saw many, many pairs of dik-diks in Tsavo East...

 but they were mostly elusive to photograph

 We'd chosen this riverside camp as we'd been promised close encounters with elephants ...coming to the water to drink in the early morning

What does one do after a hard morning's diving...?

Enjoy the comforts of a beautiful Swahili-architecture-inspired rented house!

Raspberry growing for M & S: a short video

A couple of week's ago, Peter and I were given a half day's notice that M & S wanted a video of raspberry growing in Kenya.

Down memory lane...

Peter and I had a bitter-sweet trip last weekend for his 70^th birthday on Feb 1^st!

Despite the 20 hour trip that Mary and I endured on the train from Mombasa to Nairobi on my birthday in December, we decided that it must have been an isolated one-off linked to heavy Christmas traffic. The timetable says the journey will take 12 to 14 hours. As Peter hadn’t been on this train for 50+ years, he wanted to relive something that had been a big part of his school years: the termly overnight train ride from coast to capital and back. We fully expected to arrive in Mombasa just after breakfast on his birthday.

Just like the old days...

We left Nairobi station at 20.00h, only an hour late. The sleeping carriage, though shabby, was reasonably clean, the evening meal edible and the company equable. 

We retired to sleep with Peter, singing the 'Runaway train went down the track and it blew...'(remember that kids? Dad's favourite lullaby for you!) He wanted to ring Elizabeth to let her hear the familiar sound of the clunking wheels. You'll be glad to know that I stopped him phoning you, Elizabeth, but we have it on video!

The runaway train...?

We awoke at dawn as we drew into a station. Peter joked, “Don’t tell me it’s Makindu…”. Makindu is where we’d had an eventful puncture on our way to Tsavo with Catriona and Fritha in early January: it’s less than half way to Mombasa! Without my specs I squinted and spelled out: M…A…K…I…. Yep: we were on a slow train ride to Mombasa again! 

Reaching Voi only by midday some German fellow travellers jumped train and decided to flag down a passing matatu (small bus). We had slight sympathy for the matatu as one of our Teutonic friends must have been well over 20 stone! We decided to sit it out, enjoy the view, knowing we had the Mombasa Club booked for the night. This year we have both spent our birthdays on the Nairobi - Mombasa train!

Arriving in Mombasa

Why the trains are going so slowly is a matter of debate but we generally think the track is in bad shape and, with a promise of Chinese investment to build a new line, this current one is not being maintained.

Mombasa station...nearly home?

Peter’s dampened birthday spirit was revived by arrival in Mombasa by 17.30, the recognition of familiar sights and our warm welcome at the timeless Mombasa club ... hardly changed over 50 years, with a breezy room and a great view of the bay.

The timeless Mombasa club

The club pool

After a quick swim in the unchanged pool, we had a wonderful seafood platter for dinner on the warmest Feb 1^st birthday evening since we’ve known each other!

We had a rapid walk around the old town after breakfast but even Peter's pretty good Swahili couldn’t avoid the immediate arrival of a 'guide' who couldn’t be thrown off. So we curtailed our walk and got a taxi to nearby Nyali beach where we were booked to stay for one night at the big hotel near Peter’s old house and go in search of his childhood memories…

'Now where did we used to live?'

We were last here in the mid ‘70s when we had found the house where Peter‘s family lived in the 50’s and early 60’s with ease, and met the expat lady living there. 

This time Peter wandered up and down the beach in puzzlement. He knew approximately how far he should be from the hotel; from the army camp that is still there; from a nose of rock that apparently had been washed away. The houses on the beach were either dilapidated or reconstructed into non-descript blocks of flats behind high concrete walls.

We retraced our steps as it dawned on Peter that what he was looking for was the most dilapidated of all the houses: set back from the beach, a small white bungalow with a collapsed makuti roof and unkempt garden, now looking as if a local family was living there. The photos tell it all...

Tempus fugit

'...and we walked through there to get to the beach'

Time had not been kind to this memory.  

What hadn’t changed was the intensity of colours: sky, sand, flowers and foliage.

...and the sound of waves breaking on the reef...

We swam lengths in the huge hotel pool, collected a sand sample, slept fine and flew back to Nairobi on Monday (taking 40 minutes where the train had taken 22 hours!)

Colourful Kikois on Nyali beach