Nairobi, Kenya, 29 December 1986:  Jambo (Swahili "Hello")!  Although I was only 10 kilometers from the equator, I had a white Christmas climbing 3 days 10,000 feet to the top of one of the peaks (16,355 feet, 5000 meters) of Mt. Kenya with a guy from Switzerland and another from Boston.  it was plenty cold (0 degrees windchill) and we were bordering on altitude sickness, but we had sunshine, interesting vegetation and animal life (monkeys, waterbuffalo, cliffspringers, marmots, storks), and spectacular panaramas!  Climbing up and down 2000 feet of "vertical bog" was a tedious process of trying to avoid twisting or spraining an ankle or falling on your face into the knee-deep mud.

Kenya is certainly one of Africa's richer countries, and Nairobi is quite a modern European-like city.  Nevertheless, there are shantytowns around Nairobi and many poor and severely handicapped people begging on the streets.

The landscape of Kenya is prettier than most countries I've visited.  Even as I first arrived and was taking the bus from the airport into Nairobi, I could see giraffes roaming about freely in Nairobi National Park.  I'm hoping to do a few day camping safari, but they are very expensive here.

Kwa Heri (Goodbye)!

Nairobi, Kenya, 9 January 1987:

"The wild dogs cry out in the night
as they grow restless
longing for some solitary company,
I know that I must do whats right
sure as Kilimanjaro rises like a leopress
above the Serengeti,
I come to cure what's deep inside,
frightened of this thing that I've become...

It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you,
there's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do,
I bless the rains down in Africa,
Gonna to take some time to do the things we never had..."

From the song "Africa", by Toto -- top 10 in 1982

I took a four day camping safari to Amboseli and Tsavo national Parks in the shadow of Kilimanjaro and had the pleasure of viewing virtually every African animal I can name (and some I can't).  It was quite a thrill to see a cheetah at very close range and a lion chowing down on his recent zebra kill.

Yesterday, I appeared as an extra (translated -- a prop) in a production for HBO called "Lion of Africa" (not to be confused with "Out of Africa") starring Brook Adams (not to be confused with Brook Shields).  They frequently make movies near Nairobi and are always in short supply of white faces.  They payed me less than U.S. minimum wage, but they fed me well and gave me something different to write home about.  I later discovered that they discriminate, paying the black locals less than half of what they payed the whites.
 

Melindi, Kenya, 16 January 1987:  I'm about to go swimming in the Indian Ocean with Brenda, the first Minnesotan I've met in 11 months of travel.  Yesterday, we went snorkeling along a reef filled with colorful coral and fish in crystal clear water of nearly bath temperature.  Aside from waunder-lust, among the things she and I share in common are guitar playing and harmonizing, lefthandedness and the same birthday -- April Fool's Day.

Zanzibar, 24 January 1987:   Jambo! Habari?  (Hello! How are you?)

"Meet Cathy, who's been most everywhere
from Zanzibar to Barclay Square..."
1963, The Patty Duke Show theme song

Zanzibar is a rather romantic place.  The Summerians, Assyrians, Indians, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Poruguese, Arabs, Chinese and Malaysians all landed at this "Spice Island" in the past.  Several of the great European explorers of Africa began their expeditions from here.  While many of the beautiful Arab-style buildings are deteriorating from neglect, the ilsand itself remains a tropical paradise, with white powder sand beaches and very warm turqoise ocean waters.

Our excursion today to the nearby Changu Island, where slaves were once imprisoned and giant tortoises still roam about freely, was marked by some moments of concern when our boat moter stopped enroute.  We were rescued by another smaller boat, luckily, about a half hour later.

All of the locals are quite friendly, and most will say "Jambo! Habari?" to us.  Sometimes, it get tiring to respond to everybody.

One of the often confusing things to deal with here is the Swahili clock.  Their twelve hour clock is numbered from what we consider to be six o'clock.

Zanzibar, 29 January 1987:

I spent the last few days beneath palm trees on a white powder sand beach bounded by turqoise waters.  Five of us rented a small house, 10 meters from the beach, which had no electricity or running water; but the locals brought us water from the well, coconuts, mangos, fresh fish, squid and lobsters.  The seafood was prepared for us by the locals, and it had great flavor and tenderness.  It was also incredibly cheap (about $1 per huge lobster).

Brenda, from Minneapolis, and I continue to travel together after nearly one month, and we're still enjoying each other's company and looking out for one another's interests.  We will likely continue until the day after our mutual birthday -- April 1st -- when she heads to London and I probably to Athens.

Kwa heri (goodbye),

Marlon Perkins (alias, Deano)

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