Sunday, August 12, 2012
It’s the first night of the first day of my second tour. We are heading to Uganda, though currently we are still in Kenya. We started early this morning, and only just arrived at our campsite around 8pm. It’s been a long first day!
I tried not to have any preconceived ideas of what things would be like, but I think after travelling for 40 days it’s hard not to. I feel like an old pro, but things are already different. I suppose it’s like classrooms and teachers; every one has their own style and their own way of doing things. Tour guides are much the same.
This tour is different already in that there are three guides, whereas before we just had two. We have a Chief Experience Officer (Wilson), a cook (Jackson) and a driver (Stevie). The truck is very different inside. There aren’t any tables, like in Pumba and the storage is very different. It seems a lot easier to pack, though I thought Pumba was well set up too. The truck, Tusker, seems to be roomier inside.
Stef from the other tour is also on this tour as well, so it’s been really nice having a familiar face. Once again, it’s a very different group, though it’s still early days (the first in fact) so perhaps it’s too soon to judge. We are 5 Canadians, 1 American, 1 Norwegian, 7 Australians, 3 New Zealanders and 6 people we have yet to meet. I wasn’t really looking forward to lunch, because for the past 40 days it’s mostly consisted of white bread cold cut sandwiches, which I don’t enjoy. The wholewheat buns and the fresh fruit and veg that were laid out for us pleasantly surprised us. We will see how Jackson compares to Vernon as a cook. Vernon was great! Jackson just told me that he trained in Nairobi to be a chef, so that’s definitely promising.
We went on a game drive today through Lake Nakuru National Park. It’s a bird watcher’s paradise; there were so many great birds to look at. We also saw rhinos, giraffe, buffalo, zebra, impala and lions eating a kill, though we didn’t see the kill and couldn’t really identify what it was, other than dead.
It’s been a really long day and tomorrow is an early morning. Dinner is supposed to be ready by about 9:30 but I am thinking we will be eating closer to 10. We have been warned about the bugs, particularly the mosquitoes and the safari ants. They bite and bite and apparently it’s excruciating. My pants are tucked in to my socks and I am moving quickly!! Someone already complained they were in their tent. Yikes!!
Wilson was telling us that this is a very difficult trip. I am a little nervous, though I know it’s a little late for that. Oh well, it’s supposed to be a cold night tonight! That makes me happy. I have a feeling this portion of the trip is going to fly by!
WWT: No ants in my pants… yet!
