Thought I’d drop a quick line as I’ve actually ended up back in Nairobi for 1 night before my big 8 day safari to Lake Turkana leaves tomorrow. Yesterday I joined a couple of Brits and headed on a tour up to the Great Rift Valley (the longest valley in the world that starts in Egypt and finishes in southern Africa in Mozambique). Our destination was Lake Nakuru National Park for a half day game drive. The lake is home to a couple of million flamingos and without describing it I think you can begin to imagine the awesome spectacle of a vast alkaline lake painted iridescent pink with the plumage of these birds! The other highlight was coming within metres of white rhinoceros – we saw eight in total, including a couple of “babies”. There really is something magical about the “big five” game in Africa.
This afternoon I returned to Nairobi and indulged in one of its highlights – voted amongst the top 50 restaurants in the world is the culinary experience of “Carnivore”. All of the colonialists seemed to have eagerly taken up the idea of barbecues – Aussies, Springboks and Kenyans included. The basic idea is an all-you-can-eat barbecue with every meat you can imagine brought around on skewers and carved onto your plate. What you see on safari you can eat the next day at Carnivore, and aside from the usual taste in meats they serve Zebra, camel, wildebeest and crocodile! There is a flag in the middle of your table and when you can eat no more you signal your surrender by lowering your flag! Well I am now going back to my hotel to rest and digest – my ennui with flavourless starchy African dishes from the last 5 weeks has today been relieved. Burp! Talk to you in a week.
