we'd seen enough of tanzania, and it was time to get the hell out.
we boarded an early morning bus and made our way to a shanty border crossing with kenya at some un-named location. the whole place had the feel of a cheap movie set, and rather than process visas, seemed purposely built to explode in the background of a b-grade hollywood car chase.
we boarded an early morning bus and made our way to a shanty border crossing with kenya at some un-named location. the whole place had the feel of a cheap movie set, and rather than process visas, seemed purposely built to explode in the background of a b-grade hollywood car chase.
the bus continued on to nairobi, and phuong felt nauseated the whole way there. but rather than nairobbery's reputation as one of the most dangerous cities in the world provoking anxiety and fear in his heart (as it did mine), phuong claimed that it was my socks that were 'setting him off'. i tried to prove his folly by stuffing them into his face at irregular intervals with limited success.
*(diversion!) let me pause now to explain one of most common forms of transport in kenya - the matatu. take a standard white van with bald tyres and no shock absorbers, gut it, pack in fifteen seats, add twenty-one people and all their luggage, travel at high speed down a road so full of potholes that all your sphincters give out simultaneously, and what do you get? pure exhiliration. how do you say that in swahili? matatu.
*(diversion!) let me pause now to explain one of most common forms of transport in kenya - the matatu. take a standard white van with bald tyres and no shock absorbers, gut it, pack in fifteen seats, add twenty-one people and all their luggage, travel at high speed down a road so full of potholes that all your sphincters give out simultaneously, and what do you get? pure exhiliration. how do you say that in swahili? matatu.
we travelled by matatu to a YMCA on the southern shores of lake naivasha for our last supper together. phuong took bread, broke it, and said "eat this, it is my body..." whoops. hang on. i'm getting my stories mixed up.
the following morning we took some mountain bikes and headed over to hell's gate national park. unlike the previous 5 days of craning our heads out of the back of a safari van to check out the animal action, in hell's gate you go solo - walking or cycling through fields of grazing gazelle and zebra, or plonking yourself down in front of a corps of giraffe and just watching.
the following morning we took some mountain bikes and headed over to hell's gate national park. unlike the previous 5 days of craning our heads out of the back of a safari van to check out the animal action, in hell's gate you go solo - walking or cycling through fields of grazing gazelle and zebra, or plonking yourself down in front of a corps of giraffe and just watching.
we saw lots of big-cat footprints, but none of the predators themselves. being attacked by a lion is a distinct possibility at hell's gate, but as phuong was having trouble with the gears on his bike and couldn't get moving as fast as i could, he thankfully provided the more obvious target. (i promised him that if he were to be eaten alive, i would take awesome photos of his priveleged wildlife experience).
but the day ended early, and everything fast-forwarded to a snapshot in time of phuong's smiling face in the rain as he waved goodbye and boarded a crowded matatu back to nairobi and home.
in a month that never sees rain, locals were astounded when it poured for almost 48 hours following phuong's departure.
in a month that never sees rain, locals were astounded when it poured for almost 48 hours following phuong's departure.
pic 1 - border town
pic 2 - heading down the main gorge in hell's gate
pic 3 - still life with zebra
pic 4 - a tower of giraffe and a zeal of zebras
pic 5 - phuong takes a tumble while a lion licks its lips (off camera)
pic 6 - P+O at the end of their adventure together
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