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Trip Diary by Winnie So
Arrival -- 4 November 2003
It was my first time to Africa and it was a trip that came with some of the fear and trepidation of first times. Even before the trip, it was the first time I had to get a shot (yellow fever) and take medication (anti-malaria pills) for a trip. I have a great phobia of needles. So much so that when the trip was initially postponed, I was overjoyed I didn’t need to get my yellow fever jab. I had also been told about the side effects of the vaccination. “Expect to get a fever around the 5th day”, some said. “Expect to feel like you’ve got the flu”, said others. In the end, there were no side effects. Same with the Larium, the anti-malaria pills with a bad reputation for inducing severe depression and other nasty side-effects. This wouldn’t be so bad after all.
By the time I boarded the Kenya Airways flight, I was absolutely thrilled to be embarking on my mini safari adventure. I had visions of Lara Croft landing onto her Land Rover in the middle of the African bush searching for the Cradle of Life (I had actually been reading up on the Leaky family’s contribution to the understanding of man’s evolution). My landing into Kenya was not quite as glamourous as that though. I ended up having to walk from the plane to the terminal because the electricity had gone out so they couldn’t move the jetway into position. I was met by Kennedy who rushed me through the visa formalities (Just fill out a form, hand over US$50 and you get your visa) and dropped me off at the Norfolk Hotel.
After a quick shower, during which time the electricity cut another two times, I began to understand why it could take days for my Indian suppliers to reply to my e-mails and that “The electricity has cut again as I sit replying to your e-mail for the third time,” was not just a convenient excuse.
Over breakfast, I met up with Sarah and David, who had arrived from Hong Kong several days earlier as well as our guide Phil West. After a hearty buffet breakfast, we made our way to Wilson airport to catch our scheduled flight to Nanyuki. I had been reading Bill Bryson’s African Diary and opened it up again in the lounge as we waited to board our plane. As I was reading about Bryson’s fear of flying in light aircraft (“I was rather counting on you to tell me everything is going to be fine, and that these planes never crash.” Bryson says to Nick, a member of his travel group. “Oh, no, they crash all the time,” Nick replied.), I paused and looked up from my book and out the window. On the tarmac, was a 12-seater plane. As it turns out, the flight to Nanyuki was a smooth one. There, we transferred to an even smaller 5-seater private charter. As we were about to board, Sarah pointed to some fluid on the ground. Jamie, the pilot, reassured us, “As long as it’s not petrol, we should be fine”. And we were fine as we landed softly onto the dirt airstrip at Loisaba. We were happy to be greeted by Peter, Pocket, John and two Land Rovers.
The journey to Loisaba was a good warm-up to what would be our retreat for 2 nights. After nearly 17 hours of travelling, with each successive airport getting smaller and smaller, I had finally arrived at a vast wilderness. We were in the bush, but we, by no means, were roughing it. We drove through tons of thorny African bush, passing impala and dig dig along the way to arrive at the lodge. Our rooms opened up to a veranda which looks down onto untamed bush as far as the eye can see. The air was fresh, the weather was beautiful and it was incredibly quiet. Nanyuki was the last point where we had gotten mobile phone reception. In the rooms, there were all the comforts that one looks for except there was no phone and no internet access (for those true e-mail junkies, the lodge does have internet access). I had in fact been looking to get away from it all, and Loisaba was the perfect place to escape to.
Before lunch, I wandered around the grounds. Loisaba has lots of toys for the adventurous bush explorer including horses and camels, motor-bikes and a micro-light. For those who prefer less action with their adventure, there is a swimming pool, tennis, fishing even bocce and croquet. What I was most looking forward to, however, was a massage in the spa. But that would have to wait until the next day.
After a delicious lunch (There was tortellini with tomato and basil sauce, salami and salad, cheeses and a scrumptious lemon meringue pie), we rested a short while before meeting for tea in the lodge and then an afternoon game drive. I sat on the veranda with the book I was determined to read on the trip, the nearly 500-page 1421 on how the Chinese were the first to discover the new world. Every so often, I would take a break from Gavin Menzies descriptions of where one of Zheng He’s many fleets had sailed, to admire the majestic view. I would squint my eyes to see if I could find elephants or zebras by the watering hole. History and nature -- two things that put one’s life into a much larger perspective. Somehow, the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong life that I had left behind for less than 24 hours seemed a lifetime away.
By 4:30pm, I met up with the rest of the group in the lodge for coffee and cookies before heading out on our first game drive. We piled into the open Land Rovers with Pocket armed with a rifle, John at the wheel and Phil providing play-by-play commentary on whatever animals we happened to come across. We spot giraffes and then see elephants nearby. We head towards the elephants. It’s a group of 3 males and one is in must, Phil tells us. Must means madness, it’s the state male elephants get in when he’s looking to mate. It lasts 3-4 months and symptoms include a dripping penis, secreting temporal gland and a very bad temper. Sounds like a bad prolonged case p.m.s. We watch a bit of territorial drama as a lone male elephant tries to crash the party. There’s a brief stand-off, but it ends peacefully (we learn that when an elephant puts his trunk over his tusk, it’s a sign of appeasement). We drive off. John takes us up to a cliff for a sundowner. David and Sarah get out to shoot the sunset. Pocket and John open up the well-provisioned bar in the back of the Land Rover. There’s red and white wine, beer, soft drinks and peanuts. We hang out for a while, waiting for the sun to disappear so that we can start our spotlight drive back to the lodge and hopefully catch a few noctural creatures in the spotlight.
We arrive back in time to freshen up for dinner. The evenings are much cooler than the days and as we walk into the sitting room of the lodge, there’s a welcoming warm fire in the fireplace. Dinner is delicious again with a marinated chicken, roasted potatoes, garlic spinach and a sinfully rich chocolate mousse with toffee sauce, heavenly. I already start to fade. As discusses 6:00am wake-up calls and breakfast plans for the next morning, I decide to retire and rest up for an early start to visit the Star Beds.
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