Breathing in the wild

The tarmac ended just before the Masai Mara gateway town called Narok, which is the provincial town of Masai Mara.

Apparently the tarmac hadn't reached Narok due to politics, more likely to mean the bribe wasn't paid. Oh yes, Kenya is indeed one of the most corrupted countries in the world and it has reached endemic proportions here. I remember a while ago when there was an outcry in Swedish papers claiming that Ericsson had used bribes to get an Indian contract, well hello, how else would they get it? Unfortunately bribery is the way to do business here despite laws such as the Anti Corruption law and Economics Crimes Act. The legal and institutional framework simply doesn't work to stop corruption mainly because most public officials earns a small fortune (in Kenyan terms) by acquiring and accepting bribes hence delaying different projects.

Narok seemed to be a busy little town, what I find amazing is how men and women manage to look so clean and tidy despite living in tonnes of dust. Their clothes are always immaculate, white shirts with no stains and no wrinkles. What's their secret?

We continued the bumpy journey and finally reached the park entrance and thought we didn't have long to go. We were quite wrong, even if it was just another 12km it took forever. If you have seen the movie Shrek, I'd like to quote: Are we there yet? No. Are we there yet? No. Are we there yet? No. However it didn't really matter because the plains were beautiful,speckled with thorn and acacia trees, shared by herds of zebra, giraffe, elephant and buffalo.

We arrived at Mara Serena Safari Lodge around 2.30 p.m, just before the buffet lunch closed :).





























The lunch was delicious and the surroundings were absolutely stunning! The hotel is set on a high ridge and the actual rooms are freestanding mud huts, a modern version of the traditional African domes. Each hut has a small balcony overlooking the valley and the water hole. In the night, you lie there tucked in your bed hearing the lions roar over their last prey. I woke up in the middle of the night hearing the sound and at first I thought it was Mats snoring, then I heard it again and it definitely was not him! The roar and groaning of a lion is a deep, guttural sound and it is very hard to estimate the distance between yourself and the lion. My immediate thought was: Have I closed the balcony door properly...as if a lion would climb in. Then I realized it wasn't that close but still I wasn't watching a documentary with David Attenborough either somewhere out there was a real lion.

No more Kenyan hassles

I was so tired on the way from the bank to the apartment that I actually could not take in the view of our new home town, I fell asleep. The apartment lies in a nice area and is like most apartments around here, a gated block. This means that there is a large gate with armed guards, high walls that are wired with an electric fence and 24 -hour security, many may think this would make you feel like a prisoner, but actually for some reason is doesn't. I guess it is because this part of town is safe to walk around in "outside the fence", oh how terrible did that not sound?

Of course there are areas in Nairobi where one should not walk around alone and definitely not after dark but there are also places in London, New York, Sydney or Stockholm where I would not go either. One has to remember that this is Africa and that crime is fueled by poverty, I mean what would you not do in order to feed your starving family? If a muzungu (white man in Swahili) passes by flashing his Rolex, I guess he is more than likely to loose it to someone who is in better need of it.

Thankfully, Kenya is better off than most nations in Africa. It may be an exaggeration to say that the future looks bright, let's say that the future looks more positive than ever before but it will take time for change to take place and before its benefits reaches the whole population. Having that said, I almost feel embarrassed by telling you how we live. However, I have decided not to but rather let it remind me of being grateful and try and find a way to give something back to Kenya and it's people.

Within the fortification;) you find 3 blocks of apartments surrounded by a beautifully catered garden and pool. I am still amazed at how green and lush it is here, flowers of all kinds and colors. Could green possibly be greener in Kenya than back home?

The apartment itself is large, completely new and has an outdoor area where Noah loves hanging out, saying hello to anyone happening to pass by. This is the place we will live until we receive our residency, god knows how long that will take.

First day on Kenyan soil

After months of talking it feels quite surreal to finally be here. The driver, "our" driver was waiting for us at the airport, thank god what a luxury. Mind you, having a driver is actually a safety precaution from the company, one is not prohibited to drive but it is not recommended. Those who thought crime would be the major concern here in Nairobi are wrong, it is traffic that one should really worry about. Accidents are 25% more common than in Sweden and it can be quite tricky to find your way around unless you are a local. The good thing about having a driver besides the comfort, is that we are creating work opportunities.

After packing all stuff into the car we slowly moved away from the airport, traffic is really bad here especially at this time of the day. I saw some giraffes grazing in the distance and screamed out loud in excitement, the driver gave me an odd look. Well, it is not everyday you see a giraffe.









After about half an hour the driver asked Mats if he had any cash on him..as we just flew in from Sweden we did not have any Kenyan shilling (but we will next time). Apparently we were almost out of petrol, the car came with a driver but with no petrol, how peculiar. Lesson number one, do not take things for granted here.

We managed to get to a petrol station with an ATM but Mats' Kenyan card did not work, lesson number two do not take things for granted here. In the zombie state we were in solutions did not come to us easily, we continued the slow journey towards the city and found a bank. Something that would take 5-10 minutes to solve in Sweden took over an hour here. You see, the bankcard was not activated and this could not be done before 1 pm, it was 11 am right now. The white man in the zombie state managed to get the bank to write him a cheque, well done!

Would we make it to the apartment with no other hassles?

Trip to Africa

Finally the day had come for us to leave Stockholm. We were supposed to leave on Thursday and drive down to see our family down south and then fly out from Copenhagen, however on Friday night we still had heaps to pack and organize. Waking up on Saturday I looked out the window only to see a layer of snow on the balcony, great, really great. We had a 6 hour drive down south and without winter tires it would not be a very pleasant journey. On top of that we had to be out of our apartment by 8 o´clock since our new tenant would arrive. Somehow we managed to pack everything, well not really everything, we had to run to the attic twice to leave stuff behind and drive off before 8, oh and yeah, we also had time to argue about how little time we had.

We spent a few days saying farewell, Noah made sure to leave something from him behind, he contaminated the whole family with his nasty cold, thank you and good bye! The train to Copenhagen is NEVER delayed I was told, right..we apparently managed to catch the only, delayed train in history. We got to the airport 1.5 late but we still had time to run to our flight (and argue) on empty stomachs, they forgot to attach a restaurant to the train...

Anyway, got on the flight and Noah fell a sleep like a baby only to wake up 2 hours later, some time around midnight or just before the end of the movie. He then refused to sleep for the rest of the night but decided to turn in just before landing but by then his parents were already like zombies....

Flying into Nairobi is really amazing, especially if you fly in early in the morning. The sun rises over Africa like nowhere else, being right on top of the equator. You spot the vast savanna down there in between the high mountains and you can almost hear the lion's roar stirring up the hoards of the wilder beasts. Habari Africa!