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Epilogue |
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After five days in the bush, we were blissfully unaware of current
events, emails, and other realities of the civilized world. Sadly,
however, it was it was time to pack up and head for home. We
caught the Air Kenya flight out of the Governor's Camp airstrip at
5:00pm. After stops at two other dirt airstrips, a 45-minute
flight took us to Nairobi's Wilson airport.
Sammy was waiting, and with the 4-hour layover before our flight to
London, he took us to the apparently famous Carnivore restaurant in
Nairobi. It was actually a fun place, and the food was pretty
good. Sammy drove us to Jomo Kenyatta airport (there are two
airports in Nairobi) during rush hour. Lots of traffic, and lots
of peddlers selling everything under the sun at each corner. We
were actually glad to be out of dirty and busy downtown Nairobi, but the
airport wasn't much better - crowded and quite backwards. We made
it through three security checkpoints and settled in to our business
class sleeper seats for the 8-hour flight to London.
After a four-hour layover at Heathrow, we hopped on our ten-hour
flight for Houston. After 35 hours of
travel, we were home. Quote of the day: "We
got like a seven-course meal here. I'm not even hungry, but I'm going
to order everything." |
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One last look at Governor's Camp |
Dinner at the Carnivore restaurant in Nairobi |
Elizabeth and the chef at Carnivore |
Business class on British Airways - the only way to fly |
Elizabeth's new friends (the British Airways flight attendants) |
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* * * |
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We had a wonderful trip - so many great experiences...so many great
memories. Like Australia, we will probably be talking about this trip
for the rest of our lives. Actually, this was like two
very different vacations: man-made wonders in Europe; nature-made ones
in Africa.
What can you say about London and Paris? Beautiful sites, interesting
people, lots of history, and good (well, interesting at least) food. We walked
many miles, enjoyed interacting with the locals, became expert
in the use of subways, and learned enough French to get by. The
history and opulence of the things we saw was unforgettable.
As for Africa...we planned our week in Africa as a once-in-a-lifetime
trip, but now we are not so sure. Africa is difficult to get to,
intimidating, sometimes scary, and surprisingly expensive, but there is
no place like it. The land is beautiful, the people warm, and the
animals have to be seen to be believed. They are all beautiful and
interesting, and to watch them interact and try to survive in their
natural habitat is fascinating. We thought that four days of
safaris might get repetitive, but we were wrong - there was something
different every time we went out. And after a couple of days,
Elizabeth and Will were as good at spotting and identifying animals as
our guide. The hard working staff at Governor's Camp
did everything possible to give us a fun, safe, and comfortable holiday. Once-in-a-lifetime?
Probably not for us. |
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