Time travel, no worm holes or fast DeLoreans needed

With our driver at Kenyatta ICC

Modern Kenya is epitomised by the towering Kenyatta International Conference Centre that we visited on our last day in the city before striking out on our safari adventure.  The security man, an equally tall Masai in a smart black suit and Ray Bans, probably a extra from Men in Black, took our tickets and loftily scrutinised us in minute detail all the time during our visit to the top of the tallest building in the city.  The view from the roof of Nairobi was fabulous on a clear and sunny day with the bustling city with its melee of chaotic traffic far below us.  The majestic All Saints Cathedral, where my wife attended a magnificient five-hour installation service for the Archbishop of Kenya,  stood in minature in Uhuru Park at the bottom of the tower. 



Cool shades looking down on All Saints Cathedral

In the distance beyond the green neigbourhood of Karen where we were staying, the wide plains, hills, valleys and mountains beckoned us towards Kenya's living past that is inextricably woven into story of the birth of mankind as discovered and researched by the Leakeys.

Our interest grew as that evening the safari tour representative came to introduce the adventure that lay before us over the next week as we travelled the across this wonderful continent.



Tour guide John and his trusty Nissan Safari Van

The next morning we met our tour guide, John who brought along the converted and sturdy Nissan van, in which we could literally raise the roof, that would be our transport.  We were immensely grateful that the two chain-smoking couples with tattoos over their arms were in a different van and the four of us had John all to our selves.  And so we started off and our chats with John during the journey revealed that, despite never being educated beyond school, he had a vast knowledge of the fauna, flora, animals and generally about his country. 
 

Happy waving children all along the way

He kept 3 large volumes of encyclopedias in the van and could recite the Latin names of every species of plant, bird and animal that we encountered.  Not only was he fluent in English but also in Spanish and his gentle humour kept us entertained thoughout our travels as we discussed Kenyan society, culture, food, history and families.

As we drove northwards to our first destination past villages and numerous happy children, who never failed to wave to us, the tarmac gave way to dusty roads and eventually tracks and the time seem to peel back thousands of years to when man was just an insignificant creature in this magnificient landscape.