Greg found us in the Istanbul airport and we all sat around waiting for a late evening plane.
The second we got onto the flight from Istanbul to Nairobi, Celina fell asleep and only woke up once to eat...and then passed out again. This was good because it prepared her to stand in a million lines when we arrived in the Nairobi airport. There was the Visa counter, then Baggage Claim, the Money Exchange Counter and then ... sort of skipping Customs. Customs really consisted of a woman who was not wearing any official clothing talking to you for a minute and letting you go through, so we didn't feel too badly about it.
Our first event took place at the Money Exchange counter. We had been warned in advance that noone in Africa would accept $100 bills made before 2006. It turns out that they'll take neither $100 nor $50 made before 2006. In any case, some passengers on our flight did not know about this stipulation and brought only old bills. One woman was refused entrance into the country because she couldn't buy a visa. One man was so angry that the booth would only change $40 of his money that he began accusing the man behind the counter of theft and threatened to have him killed. It was a big scene! The policemen didn't want to get involved although they were hanging around close by.
We had originally planned to spend the first day in Nairobi National Park with a rental car but due to the recent heavy rains we decided not to chance getting stuck in the mud. We opted for the morning bus to Kampala, Uganda. When we got to the Nairobi bus station it was still dark and the ticket desk wasn't open so we hung out in a small cafe and ate a Kenyan breakfast. Each meal came with tea made with warm milk, some form of eggs and chapati, a flat bread resembling tortilla made with lard. Chapati was familiar to us from "African Food Night" which we hosted at our house before leaving. We must say that Melanie Lewis did a phenomenal job making the Chapati!
Once the sun came up and birds were visible, Gavin and Greg hit the ground running. The first bird they saw was Black Kite, followed by Little Swift and Common Bulbul. Art eventually joined them and has since been helping them to distinguish field marks on the different swallows, raptors and crows.
The bus was a travel coach bus with cushy large seats that afforded each passenger plenty of private space. We got onto the bus for the supposed 8-12 hour ride to Kampala, Uganda and waited over an hour to begin the journey. Gavin was irritated that we boarded late and then frustrated that we took off over an hour later than that!
Our first mammals were domesticated cows, donkeys, ZEBRA and Thompson's Gazelle!
The ride actually took 14 hours. We stopped every 4 hours in some random large city but didn't dare wander too far from the bus to find food which wasn't fried (possibly in peanut oil) so we ate nuts which we brought with us and bread/water which we picked up along the way.
Upon our arrival (at 10pm) to the Kampala bus station an anxious cab driver appeared who graciously offered a ride. Dead tired we happily accepted the exorbitant rate in anticipation of a real bed and a journey as far away from the bus as possible!
We arrived at the Red Chili Hostel at 10:30 at night, just 30 min after they stopped serving dinner. We really didn't care at that point and settled for a beer, a shower and a bed covered by mosquito netting. It's a wonderful hostel secluded from town and off the road. There's a gate and a security guard - not that we wouldn't feel safe if those things weren't here, it was just a little more peace of mind after a harrying day.
