Last full night in Kenya, and it’s ending in a spectacular way. The Mountain Lodge is built in Mount Kenya National Park surrounding a waterhole, and I’m writing this journal entry from the patio outside of the bar area while floodlights illuminate a huge expanse with bushbucks and other critters roaming about in the shadows. Earlier tonight two genets arrived to eat scraps left out on a tall platform, and there are chances for leopards or giant mountain hogs during the night – if I eventually decide to sleep, the lodge lets you sign up to be woken up should a particular animal arrive. I wasn’t able to sit still at dinner and kept creeping out to see what else had arrived to drink – I have the excitement.
Prior to our arrival here we did a final game drive in Samburu Game Reserve, and the leopard made an appearance high on a ridge to send us on our way. Lions and other animals also made appearances before we returned to Larsens Camp, said goodbye to the awesome staff there, and embarked on the four hour drive to Mount Kenya. During the lengthy drive we stopped for a restroom break at a souvenir shop that we had used as a lunch stop three days ago, and the guys there immediately recognized me as the visitor who had been interested in an African mask on our prior visit. They wanted $250, which I thought was highway robbery, but like so many merchants in this part of the world were insistent that they might be able to offer me a better price. I’m not sure what the final price might have been – the mask was very cool, but I didn’t really want to buy anything – but by the time I finally exited the store and hid in the van the price looked like it would probably sink to $50 or lower; the key to successful bargaining is apparently to not care whatsoever whether or not you actually get the item in question.
It’s weird to think that tomorrow ends the Tanzania/Kenya portion of the trip, and that I’ve now been traveling for nearly six weeks. Time seems to fly, but somehow at the same time my days of working in front of a computer seem very, very distant; a lot has happened in these past weeks. The thought occurred to me today that there probably isn’t a child in America who doesn’t want to visit Africa and see elephants, but only a very small percentage will ever get the opportunity to fulfill that dream. I have been insanely lucky in many, many ways during my life, and I’m incredibly grateful to everyone and everything that has given me such an abundance of good fortune and allowed such wonderful experiences recently and throughout my 38 years.
