Month: March 2009

Dubai and Kenya. January 2009. Photos can be accessed from the menu on the far right column.

Sergei and Carol kindly extended an invitation to visit them in Dubai this past January. The original plan was to hang out there for five days. That was modified by a business trip that required Sergei and Carol to head to Kenya. So rather than stay in Dubai on my own, I went to Kenya, too..

After being enroute 25 hours, I arrived in Dubai just in time for a late dinner. Two days in Dubai seeing the overwhelming construction and trying to find signs of the Emirati history and culture. Yup, saw the Atlantis Hotel on one of the Palm Tree islands. Glanced at the Burj Dubai, for the moment the world’s tallest bulding. Stopped for lunch at the indoor snow ski slope. Best way to see the sights- The Big Red Bus. Took a one hour tour of the river, shopped at the spice market, and toured the Dubai Museum

And then, off to the airport for a 5 hour flight to Nairobi. Overnight at the Palacina Hotel, breakfast, and off to the Wilson Airport for  a 45 minute flight to Mara Triangle in the Masi Mara. Not even 5 minutes on the 4WD van and we are looking at scads of wild animals. Another 5 minutes drive and we’re awe struck staring down an embankment at a river filled with Hippos… and as we found out when we returned two days later, really big crocodiles. I mean really big.

Oh, yeah in Kenya for work. After driving on a dirt road for 4 hours to Kissi (about 30 miles from where President Obama’s grandmother lives), we have a 30 minute meeting. I help with my techical prowless and fiddle with the government official’s computer and ping Sergei’s company’s server in Nairobi to prove that is in fact reachable. We brown bag lunch while sitting on a stone wall outside the office compound and then drive 4 hours back to the Mara Triangle. Our respite for two days is the Tichwa Tembo (elephant head) Tented Camp. Tent is very misleading. More like really nice cabin with canvas walls.

Up early Friday morning. Finish packing up from last night. Head over to the lodge building for a quick bite to eat before jumping back into the 4wd van for 3 hours of looking at wildlife. Flight back to Nairobi is at 11:00 a.m. We’re back at the river looking at the hippos and the newly observed crocodiles that I mentioned earlier. Have a new respect for not standing too close to the edge of the undercut bank. At 10:45 a.m. we head back to the airstrip to catch the Kenyan Air flight back to Nairobi. It’s the first leg of  25 hours of flight time and another 9 hours of layovers before getting back to Sacramento at 2:00 p.m. Saturday.

Not bad for a week and a day worth of travel. Ready to do it all over again.

Much thanks to Carol and Sergei for their invitation, hospitality, and friendship.