Blog January 2011 Part 3

The Beach and Back …

We had an uneventful (thankfully) drive down to the coast. Not too many trucks on the road. We did a short detour at Voi to go to the KWS gate and put money on our Safari Cards (virtual money system for entering National Parks – can only load with money at certain gates – not all- and the nearest to where we live, is Nairobi National Park gate which is a 2 hour round trip from our house)

On checking in we were allocated rooms which I suspected were not great – close to a walkway, on the ground floor and probably noisy – having booked in March I had no worries about suggesting that they should re visit the room plan and find an alternative … success – we got 2 Lamu rooms – on the quiet side of the hotel, both with view of sea and adult pool – lovely.

Having unpacked, we headed for the pool as the beach seemed full; to relax in the shade … The next day after a few hours on the beach it felt like we had been there weeks – must be the familiarity factor… both with the hotel and environs and some guests – families we knew from Nairobi and even Brits we had met at the hotel before. Anna had flown down to join her friends on 28/12 – she was staying in a house down the beach with 3 other families – this has a couple of benefits – she is with her mates all the time – and when they go out in the evenings they are altogether and I am not responsible for the curfew – good position to be in – also being mercenary this is a far cheaper option for us – her daily rate at the house was 25% of her cost at the hotel. We paid for her to come into the hotel for one of the days and at other times she ‘sneaked’ in to see us. She befriended one of the guards who then was willing to let her ‘pop in’ to see us! It seems a bit of a waste to be paying a high season daily rate for her to sleep a lot of the time – alternatively when not sleeping she was helping at Turtle Watch (even went on a turtle rescue to Kilifi (down the coast) one day) OR out partying elsewhere and not wanting to be in the hotel – when on all inclusive basis it’s really not the order of the day to be going out all the time buying drinks elsewhere!

New Years Eve brought a lovely Gala dinner – we were able to share a table with friends from Nairobi – RB and Barbara - and their friends from Uganda. The food was wonderful – including copious amounts of grilled lobster – most delicious. Following dinner there was a program of entertainment, fireworks at midnight, Goulash buffet at 1.30AM and Bacon Butties at 5.30AM – and I was under no illusions that I was going to be up for that – unless I had been to bed first!! We went back to the rooms to change out of our decent clothes into beach gear, to then head for a beach party where we were meeting friends and the teenagers… before they headed off for their New Years bash at Ocean Sports (popularly known as Open Shorts – go figure!!) We had been given directions to the house – I elected to drive … when we turned off the main road it was a bit of a white knuckle, twisty turny off road drive down to the property on a very narrow track – I was very relieved to find a turning spot as I was not relishing the prospect of reversing out. They had built a big fire on the beach and there was music and drink – they, like us had already eaten. The party was hosted by Philip Leakey – worth googling the name – he was a Kenyan MP and related to the famous paleontologist. We did not stay very long as the smoke from the fire was irritating Luke’s cough. We got back to the hotel in time for midnight and the fireworks on the beach. The public beach was packed with locals - it was a bit us and them – ‘us’ sitting in the relative luxury of the hotel on the private beach which had been cordoned off and ‘them’ clambering for a good view of the free fireworks – made me feel uncomfortable at the disparity. One firework failed to go off – we headed for bed at around 12.30 – Luke and Dad’s room was nearest and as we were walking to ours there was a scramble of guards running round panicking – we thought there was an invasion of locals coming over the compound wall but it turned out to be a thatch roof on fire – THAT firework had gone off – the wind had picked up in the meantime and it had drifted onto the thatch – we then looked and deduced it was the block that Dad and Luke were in. We ran in that direction and I started screaming and shouting for them to get out when I could not see them outside the block. It turned out to be the tiny lapa, which houses the boats, next door to their block which had been affected and the fire was soon out. A bit of a dramatic start to 2011.

I got up fairly early on the 1^st – to reserve the sun beds in our favourite spot on the beach and to grab some fresh milk for tea. The revelers from the night before were staggering down the beach looking starved of sleep and there I was fresh and ready for the day. At Breakfast they were offering ‘hair of the dog’ – not being an evening drinker myself (just affects my sleep so badly that I virtually abstain these days – one glass of bubbly is my evening limit) I decided that maybe a drink at breakfast was a good idea – how could it affect my sleep at 8AM!? I had everything – bubbly, a long dawa (Kenyan drink of vodka, lime and honey) AND a bloody Mary (actually I left out the Mary and just had the spiced tomato juice) Delicious!! That seems to be the way to go – as by bedtime the effect has worn off!!

The final Ashes test started on 3/1 – dilemma – really could not justify getting up at 2.30AM – so decided if I woke that I would check the score online – go back to sleep and then head for TV room at a more realistic hour. We managed to watch the last session everyday – and knew that we would win on the 4^th day – even though we were on safari and out of touch. What a result winning the Ashes 3-1 in Australia – a GREAT start to 2011.

One morning Dad and I went to see the Moray eels in the rock pools left behind at low tide. They all have names – King George, Obama and Henry to name a few. It is amazing how they rear up for a morsel of sausage on a stick and can be so easily coaxed out of their comfort zone. I went snorkeling – and discovered some new coral growth (coral was all destroyed in the 1997 El Nino storms) The shoals of colourful fish were amazing. Steve and I decided to try out the camera which will work to 3M depth – I was a bit skeptical – anyway it did work AND the camera lived to see another day! HOWEVER – it is very difficult photographing under water – the natural movement in the water and making sure the light is behind you is quite challenging – but the photos turned out to be OK – after a bit of photoshop enhancement!!

I have managed to get in some good reading … Rules of the Wild by Francesca Marciano, The Help by Kathryn Stockett and Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert (The follow-up to Eat Pray Love). The first is set in Kenya – kind of a contemporary Happy Valley story – clearly based on some truth – but a little regurgitating the usual expat formula and possibly a bit soap opera ish . The 2^nd book was great and I would thoroughly recommend it – interesting as I have domestic staff myself and certainly made me consider my privileged circumstances – will be interesting to see the reaction of others who have never had domestic staff to this book …. and finally Elizabeth Gilbert – it was a bit much having only read Eat Pray love in November – but I did feel compelled to read that first. I just feel like saying ‘Get over it and move on’ – I feel like she just goes on and on and does not move forward – but maybe having been married for a long time all those feelings have been overcome and so it is too distant for me to be relevant – I can see that the book would appeal to an unmarried early twenties type and be far more pertinent. Currently I am reading ‘A week in December’ by Sebastian Faulkes - not read anything by him for many years and am enjoying.

So all too soon our week at the coast came to an end. As usual we filled out a booking form for next time – requesting an upgrade to the Lamu rooms – definitely ruined for life now as anything less would not be acceptable!! It was nice not facing that long trip to Nairobi as we were breaking the journey on safari a mere 4 hour ride…..