We rose at 07:30 to join Paula for breakfast before she left for the airport at 08:30. Rolf and Paula got their two sausages this morning although Ian and I were only granted one again. Oh well. I have a nervous tummy still from yesterday so there's not much room for food. We packed Paula into her taxi after filling her mind with concerns about transporting Kim's South American musical instrument home and waved off another traveller. There is now only Rolf, Ian and myself remaining although there's still a possibility that Kim is at Nairobi airport...
I spent the best part of two hours in the cyber cafe which cost TSH 364! I managed to read my e-mails and check bank balances and was flabbergasted to find that the 5 minute phone call I had made to Mum back in Arusha cost me GBP 21! Ouch!
We left Rolf at Heron Court hotel and made our final overland journey in Africa to Nairobi airport at 14:30. Rolf still had a further 6 hours to kill at the hotel by himself.
As we drove through Nairobi I was about to say to Ian how we hadn't seen any marabou stork yet, which are supposedly abundant in Nairobi, when I spotted over a dozen sat in the rain at the top of a cluster of trees on a roundabout. It was amazing! The taxi driver told us how the storks can travel 100 miles for food but they always return to those particular trees to sleep, or sit during the rain it seems. How extraordinary!
Nairobi airport is in the middle of a rehabilitation project so leaves a lot to be desired. I managed to write and send some postcards to my grandparents and wondered if they'll ever receive them...
A chap wandered past me at Nairobi airport while I had a bao game in mid play sat in front of me. He did a double take and returned to ask me where I had learned to play the game. He said he was surprised to see it being played in Kenya as they play is back in his home country, the Dominican Republic. I told him I learned to play it in Malawi but that I had seen it throughout Africa. He went on his way, smiling.
Finally we take off right on time, just as a very dark and fearsome rainstorm is brewing over Nairobi city. Our flight was 4 hours 44 minutes, arriving in Dubai at 00:14 local time. Our in flight movie choice this evening was 'The Road to Perdition' which was pretty good.
I was rather unlucky during the flight whereby the female passenger behind me insisted on violently shoving my chair into the upright position when I attempted to recline it. I was rather annoyed but, being British, I put up with it and took advantage when she paid a visit to the toilet.
I tried in vain to contact Mum and Dad by means other than my rather expensive mobile phone. In the end I resorted to phoning them using my mobile and asking them to return my call. It's probably just as expensive! [Editors Note: Yes. It was. It cost a further GBP 18 to receive a 5 minute call!] The good news is that my Federal Express package has arrived from Arusha. Yippee!
Copyright 2002 Helen Fuller. All rights reserved.