(apologies in advance for some of the language in this post – I took serious issue with a few things that happened)
Day 7: Kampala to Nairobbery
Don’t know what I had to worry about only arriving at the airport in Entebbe 2 hours before departure…They didn’t even open check-in until 90 minutes before scheduled departure. Who the hell knows why they bother to tell people to show up 3 hours early then! So had half an hour of sitting round doing nothing waiting for check-in to open. There’s a little café landside, but that’s really it, the other couple of tiny shops were shut. And since I’d just had breakfast, there wasn’t much point of the café. Oh, by this time I’d already said goodbye to my guide and handed him a tip. Yes, I hate tipping, but it’s “expected” in Uganda and people drop some not so subtle hints about it. Whatever, what’s done is done. He was a good guide and the trip was amazing.
So after eventually checking in, I exchanged my remaining Shillings back to USD, filled out the exit form and cleared immigration. There’s maybe half a dozen shops airside: a café, a few souvenir shops and a couple of duty free shops. I still really wanted to buy a book on Ugandan wildlife, but sadly, despite the fact that there was a bookstore, no dice. There were a few books on East African wildlife in general, but after flicking through, I noticed they focused almost entirely on Kenya and Tanzania. About the only mention wildlife from Uganda got was the ubiquitous mountain gorilla. I want to be able to identify photos of the animals I took in Uganda. In the end I found one that’s sort of ok. And also found a cute kids t-shirt with a gorilla on it (I’m lucky that I can fit into a kids “large” if the adult styles don’t interest me – which they didn’t). No stuffed gorilla toys though L That makes me sad, since that’s what I collect on my travels – stuffed toys. They also had the wooden carved gorillas like they had in Bwindi, again, none I liked. So that’s the result of my souvenir shopping: a half decent book on East African wildlife and a t-shirt. Still have lots of “souvenir” money left, so hoping that Kenya/Tanzania/South Africa offer more options!
The flight was uneventful, it left about 45 minutes late because the plane was late arriving from its previous destination. Landed ok and was very glad I’d downloaded and printed out and filled in the visa application form prior to arriving. Meant I could go straight up to the desk and clear immigration while everyone else stuffed around at the desks filling in more forms (the visa form is separate to the yellow immigration form you get given on the plane). Easy enough, and US$25 later I’m good to go. Bag came off quickly and I called the parents to let them know I arrived ok. At least I can get cell phone reception here! I know how stupid that sounds when I’m meant to be on holidays, but meh. Went to find my arrival transfer and was easy enough. Exchanged $100 into Kenyan Shillings and off we went to the hotel. Traffic was mad! Basically one big traffic jam. Took an hour to get to the hotel when it probably should have taken 15 minutes at most. But such is life! What do they say? “TIA – This is Africa!”? LOL, so true.
I suppose my run of decent hotels had to end at some point though. I’m staying at the Kivi Milimani Hotel in Nairobi, and well, it’s pretty dank. The bed is pretty uncomfortable, the shower isn’t clean, it sort of seems to be falling apart. It has a pool though and apparently the bar and restaurant aren’t terrible. I’ll reserve judgement on them for now. I’m staying here rather than somewhere nicer because this is the hotel where my tour of Kenya/Tanzania leaves from and it saves having to stuff around changing hotels. I suppose I’ll survive for 2 nights.
Day 8: Nairobi
Had a bit of a sleep in today and ended up going down to breakfast at around 8.30. Ended up randomly running into one of the people on my safari tour and by pure coincidence she turned out to be the one I’ll be sharing a room with! Breakfast was ok I guess – western style. We had to change rooms which turned into a major drama with hotel reception. Borderline incompetent. Eventually sorted it out and went for a walk downtown. Perfectly safe. Had a quick wander around the Masai craft market. There’s a bit of harassment, but doesn’t hit the same levels as Cairo or Cambodia. Cos it’s Sunday, everything was shut though. Did find one store near the Hilton though that had some totally awesome (and very genuine looking – and priced) souvenir masks/statues. Plan to head back to when we get back to Nairobi. Then ventured back to the hotel via a local park. Would be a good place for a picnic. Decided to go for a swim in the hotel pool, was a bit a cold, but was still refreshing. Then back to the room to charge the camera and laptop batteries. Had a nap for a bit before the tour group meeting at 6. Everyone on the tour seems nice, though the guide seems like a bit of a tool. Not a good sign. Basically he treated us like morons and it really felt insulting. Hopefully it was a once off moment. Anyway, we decided to head to Carnivore for dinner. Got taxis there and back. It was ok – massively overrated though. Most of it was meat I would normally eat at home (except for the ostrich and croc, and even then you can get croc in Australia pretty easily if you want it). So, yeah, for the price (~US$40), not particularly impressed. Basically just went back to the hotel and crashed after that.
Day 9: Nairobi to Nakuru
Up early to depart at 7am for Nakuru. We were meant to visit a kids orphanage along the way, but it was pissing down rain and apparently cars were getting stuck on the way up there. So that got cancelled and we just continued the drive on to Nakuru. Stopped along the way at a viewing platform for the Rift Valley. Our guide tried to explain it, but yeah, not a good one. I thought about piping up and explaining it correctly, but figured it wasn’t worth it. Nobody would really care. There were a bunch of souvenir stalls, and the harassment there was worse than at the craft markets in Nairobi. More like Cairo. Then continued on to our campsite at Lake Nakuru. Got there and set up our camp and had lunch. We were then about to head off for our afternoon game drive when it started pissing down rain big-time. So shocker, game drive got cancelled. Was a bit peeved that they didn’t have any kind of contingency plan though. We just sat around doing nothing. Eventually the rain slowed and we decided to do the drive, but by this time, one of the windows on the truck had busted and water had come flooding in…And guess what? It ended up all over MY gear. Camera got wet, laptop got wet, clothes got wet. And Intrepid reckon their vehicles are well maintained? Bullshit. I know accidents happen, but this is just ridiculous. Was so pissed off and angry. Anyway, went off on the game drive and saw a heap of animals. Giraffes, impala, water buffalo, gazelles, rhinos, flamingos, and LIONS! Was so cool! The drive didn’t last that long because we had gone out so late. Got back for dinner and had to help with the cooking and cleaning etc. Had an early night after that. Long day!
Day 10: Nakuru to Naivasha
Because our game drive yesterday was cut short by the weather, we ended up spending about 3 hours this morning finishing it off. Heaps more animals – some great bird life! Then went back to the camp and had brunch and packed up the camp. Fairly straight forward. Then the drive to Naivasha. We stopped in Nakuru town along the way to exchange some cash and pick up some groceries etc. Exchange rate wasn’t great, and it took a good 45 minutes between queuing up and filling out paperwork…And this was cash exchange with USD. Let alone travellers cheques. Oh well, TIA as they say! Then onto Crayfish camp at Lake Naivasha. Didn’t do much when we arrived, just set up camp and had dinner. Went and had a drink at the camp bar which is ok. Then just went back to the tent to crash.
Day 11: Lake Naivasha
So today we had the option of doing a walking tour of Crater Lake or doing a cycling tour of Hell’s Gate. I chose the walking tour cos it’s hot and couldn’t be arsed cycling. Got picked up at 8 and drove to the Crater Lake. From there we got to walk around for a couple of hours or so. Saw zebras and giraffes and impalas and other animals up close. Was pretty cool. Then got to the crater and a couple of us ventured off from the main group and ended up seeing a bunch of colobus monkeys! Then went back to camp and had lunch before spending the afternoon vegging out by the camp pool. Had a bit of a laugh later on that night after dinner with a random song and dance show with the other people on the tour. Hilarity!
Day 12: Naivasha to the Masai village
Left Crayfish camp at Naivasha around 7.30am and drove to Narok town. Checked emails and stuff before continuing on to our camp for the night. Stopped for a bathroom break along the way and picked up a Masai blanket to help keep warm at night. I obviously have a sleeping bag – but it is winter here and it does get pretty cold at night. I think I paid 700 shillings for it, which was ok and seemed to be a better price than others had got elsewhere.
Tonight we’re staying in a Masai village in Loita Hills. There was an optional afternoon walk that I opted out of. Not only don’t I feel 100%, but it’s becoming incredibly frustrating that the prices quoted for the optional activities in the Intrepid trip notes are way off the reality – prices are consistently double to triple what Intrepid said. Now I can accept a bit of fluctuation, but this is ridiculous. It makes budgeting impossible. It’s not that I don’t have the money, I brought plenty with me, it’s the principle of the matter. And while I may have enough money to cover myself, there’s others in the group whose budgets are totally screwed due to the price discrepancies. Anyway, around 5 we went to the Masai village for a bit of a look around. Got to see the women doing a dance and we had to join in. Don’t get me wrong – I like that we have that option, but I don’t like being dragged (literally) into it if I say “no”. Anyway, stayed there for a bit before walking back to camp for the night. Mara tomorrow, so an early night!
Day 13: Loita Hills to Masai Mara
Up at 6.30am again to pack up before our final visit to the Masai village to see a warrior dance. Was sort of cool, but again being (literally) dragged into things after saying “no” doesn’t impress me one bit. Especially at the end when the “warriors” told all the females in the group to line up so that they could “choose a wife”…They may find it funny. We felt it was sick and degrading. If they want to treat women like shit within their own culture, whateverthefuck, good for them. But don’t drag us into their offensive, chauvinistic games when we say “no, we don’t want to do this”. And I have to say, I’m incredibly pissed off with our guide for encouraging this behaviour. While I’m all for understanding the local culture and participating, when a group of us say “we don’t want to do this because it’s offensive to our culture” he should understand. Cultural understanding has to go both ways. And later on, a few of us realised just what a chauvinist our guide really is with his “oh, the females just go help with the cooking and let the men do the hard/dirty work” because we’re apparently incapable and women belong in the kitchen and should never question a man’s words. Excuse the fuck out of me while I go puke. Intrepid is a western company, and while I appreciate the fact that they employ local guides for their local knowledge and to give back to the local community, they really need some training on cultural sensitivity. This guide is great with his local knowledge and all, but I really think he’s an ass.
Anyway, the women of the Masai village then pulled out their little village market for us to buy stuff (shocker!). I bought a chunky necklace that I plan to have framed for 500 shillings (I’d never actually wear it, not my style). Then off to the Masai Mara! Not a long drive – but definitely bumpy. Arrived at camp just outside the gates (Mountain Rock Camp), setup camp and had some time to do laundry and shower before our evening game drive. Didn’t see a huge amount of wildlife – a few elephants, gazelle, impala, and then right at the end as we were about to leave and head back to camp, we saw a cheetah!!! Totally awesome! It was about 100m away, so I don’t know how the photos will turn out yet. Hopefully not all blurry and will get a couple of good sharp ones – cos that was epic! Then we basically just headed back to camp, got to recharge camera batteries and stuff, then had dinner and drinks (there’s a small bar there to buy drinks from). Early night after that. Got a full day game drive in the Mara tomorrow!
Day 14: Masai Mara game drive!
Up around 6.30am again to leave at 7.30 to be at the Mara gate at 8 to get into the park for our full day game drive! Overall, the day was a bit of a letdown, but as they say TIA. We saw some elephants, a couple of Masai giraffes and a couple of hippos (barely) and that was more or less it. It’s obviously called wildlife for a reason, but still…And then in the middle of the day we got bogged. Which turned into a huge drama. We’d been there about half an hour before a couple of other small vans showed up and offered to help. The guides in the vans were great, as were some of their clients who offered to help try and push us out. But there were a bunch of snotty American bitches as well who kept making asinine comments like “haha! You’re stuck, we’re not,” and “why the fuck are we helping you, this is supposed to be our game drive”. For people who’d claimed to be in Africa to “help” and “volunteer”, they surely weren’t very helpful or prepared to volunteer. I seriously wanted to just go over and smack them upside the head, but managed to restrain myself. Exactly the kind of people who travel to Africa for a couple of weeks to “volunteer” just so that they have something to stick on their college application, rather than the people who volunteer because they genuinely want to help out. I fucking hate people like that, and am so glad that the university system in Australia is grades based and doesn’t give a crap how much “extracurricular” stuff you’ve done. Eventually we got ourselves out and continued our game drive though. Didn’t see a huge amount of other wildlife though. Ended up leaving around 4pm and heading back to camp. Had a few drinks and dinner and then went to bed since I had a massive migraine.
Day 15: Masai Mara to Narok
Left the Mara around 7am and drove to Narok town where we got dropped off at a hotel for the night while the tour truck goes back to Nairobi for the night to take a couple of travellers back who are only doing the shorter trip. Staying at the Seasons hotel which seems nice enough. Went into town for lunch and stopped at the supermarket and internet place to check emails. Nothing to be too concerned about there, though my dad seems to have discovered the wonders of chain emails “sign this petition for *insert cause here*”…Joy. Spent the rest of the afternoon updating this trip report and reading before heading down to the hotel bar to watch the football and grab dinner. After dinner a bunch of us stuck around the bar to watch the football. Outcome was predictable of course, but still had to see it! Anyway, sleep-in tomorrow as we get picked up again by the truck at 11am. Mmmm…sleep!
Day 16: Narok to Kisii
So tired. Stayed up late last night to watch the football and ended up being woken at around 4am by trucks passing by the hotel. Ugh, so much for the sleep-in. Ended up being picked up around 11.30am and had an early lunch…Which none of us wanted to eat because we’d all had a late breakfast just an hour or so earlier. But such is life I guess. Then we basically just drove straight through to Kisii. Stopped a couple of places along the way for a very quick bathroom stop. One of which almost resulted in a serious tragedy. The way the camping mattresses are stored on the new truck we have meant that they had a couple lodged up on the side areas of the bus. And one of them caught on fire. Yeah, no joke. We’d been on a bathroom break when it happened and nobody was on the bus. If we’d come back 5 minutes later, half the bus probably would have caught on fire. It was quickly taken care of and no major injuries (our guide ended up with a minor burn on his arm). But this trip is slowly turning into a litany of disasters. I know they say TIA and all, but seriously? This shit is just getting dangerous. There’s been half a dozen accidents on the truck so far, most of which could have been avoided if Intrepid actually maintained their vehicles the way they claim they do. Anyway, we got to our campsite for the night and found out that we had the option to be put up in basic rooms with a bed and bathroom for no extra cost. Hell yes! They are pretty basic, but hey, if I don’t have to set up that tent, I’m all for it! I don’t mind sleeping in tents, just don’t like setting them up 
I think the place is within a school or something, seems kind of like a boarding house, but it’s got a small “bar” and has electricity so I spent a couple of hours after dinner watching tv on my laptop (yeah, I transferred some tv eps over before I left in case I ever got bored). Travel to Tanzania tomorrow, so probably a long day…Joy. Hopefully the roads aren’t terrible. Guess I’ll find out soon enough!
Day 17: Kisii (Kenya) to Lake Victoria (Tanzania)
A long and relatively boring drive. Left Kisii and ventured into town to pick up some supplies. Then hit the border at Sirari/Isebania for formalities. Easy enough as we’d all arranged our visas for Tanzania before arrival. Only around this point I started to feel a bit ill. Anyway, a few hours later we arrived at our camp on Lake Victoria (Tembo Camp). Pretty spectacular – right on the lake edge. Had a few sodas and ventured in to the little town of Musoma to exchange some money. Only to find out that despite the fact they advertise the currencies that they will exchange, the fact is that they will only buy and sell USD. So if you’d exchanged everything for KSh in Kenya and then wanted to exchange that KSh for TSh, you’re up shits creek. Lucky I had some USD floating around. After that ventured back to the camp bar and watched tv (football was on) for a while. Unfortunately at this point my “I feel a bit ill” turned into “I’m going to end up puking my guts up for the next 6 hours”. Not fun. Still not sure what caused it, and it turns out I wasn’t the only one who got sick. But I ended up skipping dinner and just crashing (as best as I could given that I was up every hour puking until around midnight).
Day 18: Lake Victoria to Serengeti
Up early today for the drive to the Serengeti. A quick stop in town to buy food and stuff. Managed to check emails quickly – nothing that can’t wait. I still wasn’t feeling great after last night, but at least I didn’t want to throw up anymore. Then onwards to the Serengeti. A couple of hours until we hit the gate. Then we game drove our way to our campsite. The totally epic event? Me spotting a lion with a fresh kill of baby wildebeest!!! Yup, someone owes me a drink for spotting that, cos we were about to drive right past it when I yelled out stop! So, so epic! Got some awesome photos, and I think someone else got some good video. Plenty of other wildlife, much more so than we saw in the Masai Mara. But yeah, the lion made the day. Stopped off briefly at one of the lodges to sort out the hot air balloon details for tomorrow. Just some paperwork and figuring out pickup/drop off times. Bloody 4.45am wakeup, so this better be worth it!!! Made it to our bush camp around 6.30 and setup camp. I’ve been deserted by my tent mate because one of the other girls is scared to sleep alone in the bush camp and wanted the company. Meh, whatever. I’ve done this before. Some of the other people on this trip crack me up though. They belong in 5* hotels/lodges with the silver spoon stuck firmly in their mouths…Not camping and *gasp* actually having to help with the cooking, washing up, tent pitching etc. They’re hilarious, but bug the hell out of me at the same time with their “someone has to do this for me” mantra. Anyway, such is life. Think I’m just going to go help with dinner and then crash. Need to be up way too early.
Day 19: Serengeti!
So woke up at 4.45am to be ready to be picked up for the balloon ride at 5.15. It was about a 45 minute drive to the launch site. I’d thought the plan was to be in the air for sunrise, but apparently not. The sun came up and then we launched. Got some nice photos of the sunrise anyway I guess. The balloons here hold 16 and there’s 2 people in each compartment. I got stuck with this stupid (I mean really stereotypically stupid) American woman. The kind you just want to slap upside the head with a piece of 2×4. Anyway, we launched and the first thing we spotted was a pride of lions! With tiny little baby cubs!!! Sooooooo adorable. We were probably a couple of hundred feet up though, so the photos didn’t turn out great. But still adorable! Then along the rest of the ride we saw hippos, giraffe, zebra, Thompson’s gazelle, wildebeest…Really cool. But it had to come to an end and we stopped in the middle of a field full of zebra and wildebeest. Quite a short ride – it’s advertised as an hour, we were only up 35 minutes. Guess you can’t do anything about the wind. Then we had a champagne breakfast supplied before being driven back to the Serengeti visitor centre to be picked up by our trucks for the remainder of the day. Now here’s where I get pissed off. I was meant to be picked up at 9.30am. 11am comes and still no truck. It showed up at 11.30. Now don’t get me wrong, I know TIA and shit happens and all that. But you don’t leave someone alone in the middle of the bloody Serengeti and not tell them you’re running late. The crew have mobile phones, all they had to do was call the visitors centre and tell them to give me a message that they were stuck somewhere. I mean, common sense, right? I just got really peeved off at their lack of communication and the total lack of apology when they finally did show. Anyway, we then went back to camp for a few hours to rest up before our afternoon game drive. Which turned out to be awesome. Saw lions and all sorts of things. Still no leopard, but here’s to hoping we see one at Ngorongoro…After that we went to the Seronera lodge for a couple of hours to watch the sun set and have a drink at the bar. Nice place, and I expect the sort of place I might stay next time I come to this part of the world (expense be damned). Then drove back to camp in pitch black. Saw heaps of eyes staring at us, but no idea what animals they belonged to…Then had dinner and crashed. Slight sleep in tomorrow, have to be up at 7 to pack up and leave for Olduvai gorge and Ngorongoro crater.
Day 20: Serengeti to Ngorongoro (or the most EPIC day of the trip!!!)
So wake up and pack up camp before game driving our way out of the Serengeti on our way to Ngorongoro crater. And what do we see just as we leave camp? A LEOPARD!!! In a tree! WIN!!! Got some genius photos! Then we saw more lions and other assorted animals. But seriously, LEOPARD!!! Fucking made the entire trip worth it!
Then we had lunch at the park gate before continuing on to Olduvai gorge – the place where they found Australopithecus Africanus and other homonoid remains/footprints. There’s a museum there (though as a scientist, I hesitate to call it a museum…more like a glorified curio shop). Nice rocks though, and clearly defined stratigraphy. Anyway, after that we drove to Ngorongoro crater and set up camp on the crater rim. There’s elephants wandering around the camp site, so should make for an interesting evening! Oh well, tired after a long day of driving. And have to be up at 5am for our morning game drive in the crater…Early night!
Day 21: Ngorongoro game drive
Woke at 5am to be ready for the 4wd’s to pick us up at 6am for our half day game drive. The truck is too big to go down the crater, so we split up into smaller groups and had regular safari 4wd’s and local guides for the game drive. Pretty sweet. Didn’t end up seeing any black rhino, but saw quite a few lions (including one with cubs – adorable!!!) and one of them was even stalking Thompson’s gazelle. Would have been awesome to see it make the kill, but our guide said since the hunt had only just started, it may take a few hours – time we didn’t have. Also saw a hyena with a wildebeest kill – awesome to see it walk off with the head in its mouth away from the vultures! Yes, I think the kills are epic. It’s just unusual more than a morbid fascination with death. So basically not overly awed by Ngorongoro – the Serengeti crapped all over it. Maybe we were just there on an average day? Who knows.
After that we drove on to Mto Wa Mbu (sp?) for a short stop for souvenir shopping and to meet back up with the truck. Picked up a small painting of some Masai women for about $12, would look cool in my office. Then drove on to Meserani Snake Park. Imagine my joy…I hate snakes. They have a few dozen on display as well as some tortoises and crocs. Depressing to see animals in cages after just having seen the most epic wildlife in the wild running (or sleeping as the case may be) free. I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to visit a zoo again. Anyway, had dinner there and watched a bit of tv at the onsite restaurant/bar before crashing.
Day 22: Meserani to Nairobi
So the end of the trip. Or the end of the East Africa safari part of the trip at any rate. Woke up at 5.30am and packed up the tent for the last time (for which I am forever grateful). Then drove through to the Namanga border crossing and went through formalities. Pretty quick and easy. Exchanged my remaining Tanzanian shillings back to Kenyan shillings at the forex bureau at the border. Exchange rate wasn’t great, but didn’t want to risk not being able to exchange them back in Nairobi. Then we continued on the road (or what they call a road!) to Nairobi. Was pretty shocking for a couple of hours, but then the road was pretty good for the last hour or so. Arrived in at around 3.30pm and checked back in to the Kivi. Said goodbye to the crew and the others on the tour who were leaving. A few of us are flying out to various destinations at around the same time tomorrow, so will say final goodbyes then. Ventured in to town to do some final souvenir shopping – only to find out that the shop that had that totally awesome mask I wanted to buy was shut by the time I got in there. Craptastic. So instead I ventured back to the Masai markets and picked up a bowl and a different mask. Happy with what I paid for the bowl, but still think I paid too much for the mask. Gonna take a look at the airport in Jo’burg when I fly back home to see if there’s anything in there I want (other than the books and the stuffed safari animal toys). Then ventured back to the hotel and had dinner and a couple of drinks. Gonna go crash now though – have to be up at stupid o’clock to leave for the airport.
Anyway, thus ends the epic African animal adventure. In some ways it was awesome, in some ways I was frustrated. I loved the itinerary. I loved the adventure. I loved the animals. But I don’t know that I was entirely happy with our trip leader or the tour company in Kenya and Tanzania. Just a few incidents along the way (some of which I mentioned above) left a sour taste in my mouth. Maybe we just had exceptionally bad luck with the vehicles. Or maybe they’re not as well maintained as they claim to be. Maybe our guide thought he was being chivalrous. Or maybe he’s a chauvinistic pig. Maybe lots of things…But anyway. I enjoyed the trip, but don’t know that I would necessarily recommend travelling with Intrepid. I’ll reserve judgement until I travel with them again to see if this was really a once-off type situation or whether it’s systemic. Churchill Safaris in Uganda were brilliant though.
I think in the back of my mind I’m already making plans to return. I expect I’m done with Uganda and Kenya. But I wouldn’t mind returning to Tanzania at some point and staying in the Serengeti at one of the upmarket lodges and doing it the “other” way, and maybe heading out to the coast to do some diving or something. And maybe tie it in with some time in Mozambique or Madagascar (yup, want to go see them lemur!). Who knows when I’ll get around to it though…Other destinations are on my must do list, and to be honest, I’ve seen what I wanted to see here. I saw the Big 5. I saw the gorillas. Maybe at some point in the future when I’ve knocked other things off my list I’ll come back. It’s a nice enough place.
A couple of random final things about Africa though…I couldn’t believe how hard it was to find a decent cup of coffee in Kenya when it (arguably) produces the best coffee in the world. Apparently they export it all, which blows. The locals (and caffeine deprived tourists) should reap the rewards of being in the best coffee producing nation! I don’t know how many times we got served Nescafe when we thought we were getting proper filter coffee. Ugh, I hate Nescafe. And also, what on earth makes curio shop owners and market stall owners think I’m honestly going to give away/trade my $250 Oakley sunglasses for a bloody $5 trinket?!?! I had to have been asked a couple of dozen times if people could have my sunnies or whether I wanted to trade them for a little bracelet or something. How about NO! I was nice about it and all, but every time I was asked, I just cracked up laughing. I don’t know whether they thought I was a stupid Mzungu or whether they genuinely didn’t realise that they were expensive (which I doubt – for poverty stricken countries, they’re very brand conscious) or whether they were just joking.
Oh, and on the whole “Galapagos vs. Africa” question I got asked numerous times: Galapagos. Sorry, but it’s cleaner and just more unspoiled. Not to say Africa isn’t epic, but Galapagos just wins that argument.
