The team arrived! – Wednesday, February 9, 2011 part 2

Ted met the team of 24 Canadians at the airport in Nairobi and I’m pleased to say they all arrived! Only 4 bags were missing, which is about average, but they will be delivered to Mikinduri by Monday. Everyone was very excited and overwhelmed by all the new Kenyan noises and sights. Kenya was a British colony, so everyone drives on the left here. In addition, the traffic is crazy! Cars drive so closely together, pass when there’s oncoming traffic, and drive quite aggressively. It’s scary to sit in the front seat! Our team will drive around in Combi’s,which are 9 passenger van that have a top that opens up once it comes time for the safari. Our vans say ‘Voyage Afrique’ on the side as that’s the company that drives us around. The drivers as part of Voyage Afrique are very professional, and are a big part of the team. They go to school for two years to get a diploma to be drivers, so they’re learned about Kenya, foliage, landscape, and animals. Plus they never have to ask directions. They know where everything is!

The team spent the night at the Methodist Inn, a nice hotel in Nairobi, but were only there from 2am until 8:30am. Ted met the final team member at the airport, and all were on their way to Castle Forest Lodge, an idyllic spot outside of Embu. It’s on a mountain, near a waterfall, at a spot where herds of elephants come by. The rooms are cute little huts with thatched roofs and have fantastic names like ‘purple rain’, ‘jungle’, etc. The drive was 3 hours and about the last twenty minutes is on a dirt road, a very bumpy dirt road that you have to go slowly on. Even the hardest stomachs can get a bit queasy on this road! The dirt also gets in the combi so you either shut the windows and bake, or cough from the dust and dirt. It’s an interesting feeling that makes you so very happy to arrive at the beauty of Castle Forest Lodge. Once at the lodge, everyone had lunch and they met up with the people that have been in Kenya during the ‘pre-week’. There was a team meeting and people had the evening to relax. 

Elephant watchers

 It wasn’t long until there was a great excitement. An elephant came into the clearing. Then 19 more followed! Everyone gathered to look at all of the elephants and were awed by nature. They were in a clearing maybe 200 feet away, and easily visible from our restaurant. There were babies, some as young as a month old, and some giant elephants! It was so exciting!

21 Elephants came to visit!

They stayed for over an hour and it was hilarious to see how excited we all got and watch all the cameras come out. There couldn’t be a better start to the trip! We had a beautiful dinner with curry, goat, and chapatti ( kind of a fried fattier very delicious tortilla). Plus it was one of the teammember’s birthday so we ended the evening with cake! Everyone was pretty tired so they headed back to their huts where there was a nice fire waiting to keep them warm, as being in the mountain it can get down to 5 deg C.


Summary: We are all feeling very blessed to shave arrived safely and see the wonders of nature welcoming us to Kenya!