Nairobi!

 We took the red eye to Nairobi and arrived at 5am, pretty tired. Egypt Air is not impressive, but it is still better than Air Canada. We slept until like noon and then contacted Sonya's friend, Alex, who took us around. He tried to talk us into a restaurant called Carnivore, but it was clearly a tourist trap, so he took us to his favourite place: Nyama Choma at the Exit 11 Inn and club. It was.. incredibly Kenyan. a dirt lot full of food stalls all making the same dish... barbecued goat. We were definitely the only tourists and stuck out a bit. It was awesome. Couldn't walk past the stalls without people literally putting goat meat into your mouth with your fingers. (and we only eat with out right hands now.) Tried the local beer, Tusker (and they bring you 2 if you order one because they're practical like that) and got served the best damn unknown wilted greens 've ever had, a huge share platter of goat, the maize porridge that is the "spoon", unreal goat broth in a mug, and sausage that I liked but Chris did not.

Then we were gonna go dancing but the clubs here are 24 hours and don't get hopping until 2am. so to bed and a meat coma.

Woke and Alex picked us up and took us to Hell's Gate national park but first a quick stop off at a scenic overlook absolutely full of school kids who all wanted to touch my hair lol. It was gorgeous there.

Then into Hell's Gate, which is a huge gorge full of life. We rode mountain bikes 8k through fields and mountains and waterfalls and herds of zebras and goats, saw giraffes and monkeys and baboons, and wandered down to the bottom of the gorge where the river is low right now. It. Was. Awesome.

The whole area is super geothermal with vapour and hot waterfalls and sulphur and it was so, so super cool.

After that we went to Lake Naivasha. It's a huge lake outside the city full of hippos and herons and ibis (I learned that Egyptians called them the "sacred ibis" because they were the only thing that ate locusts)

and the shores were teeming with zebras and giraffe and life.

 We fed tilapia to the Fish Eagles that look a lot like a bald eagle but with a brown stripe on the wing, and saw kids net fishing off the rocks.

This is Jamal, the cutest little co captain ever.

The trees are full of comorants and herons and ibis.

hippos sound very much like sea lions.

the lake rose so much a bunch of the acacia trees died.

Alex, us, and the Captain.

The prettiest monkey I have ever seen. Colobus monkey.

Barbecued tilapia for dinner and the guys played pool while I wandered the village. I saw puppies, pet a goat, let kids take a million photos with me and touch my hair, helped a guy carry water to his hut, showed the kids that I could, in fact, ride their bicycle, chatted with farmers on the farms, got asked if I was lost a thousand times, then headed back to the boys and then home.

Until tomorrow! And Cari and Russ arrive tonight!