Kenya 2023: Chapter 1 – One Degree South
The time has come! After months of countdown, June 15th had finally arrived. I spent the morning working and by 10:00, I was headed north to Harrisburg to catch an Amtrak to Newark. After some tearful goodbyes, I waited in the train station for about an hour. The train arrived on time and a gaggle of passengers descended the stairs and into the train. My other experiences with Amtrak have led me to believe that the train is generally empty, so I was startled to see car after car mostly full. I found a spot in the third car that would provide me a window seat as we coursed along the Susquehanna River.
The train pulled out of the station and sped past the river, turning east and into Amish country. I did some work on the train as we passed through fields and forests, stopping in Lancaster, Exton, and Paoli before arriving in Philadelphia. Our stop lasted 30 minutes in Philly and then we pulled out in reverse up to Trenton and then into Newark, arriving at 16:35. Newark Penn Station was hot, muggy, and smelly, typical of Newark. I got a ticket for a transfer to the NJ Transit line and waited on the track for the train, which arrived at about 17:00. The ride to Secaucus was short, only about ten minutes, and then I was in familiar territory. I arrived at my brother’s just after six. Not a terrible ride for $57 and 5 hours of travel. I didn’t have to drive or find a place to park.
We spent the evening unpacking and repacking all of our gear: cameras, batteries, lenses, laptops, notebooks, clothes. To get us ready for a long overnight flight, we stayed up late with the goal of sleeping longer on the flight. In the morning we caught an Uber to JFK. We hit almost zero traffic: it only took us an hour to cross from NJ to JFK. A new record for sure. We were so early to the airport, the check-in desk wasn’t even open yet for the flight. We queued up and chatted with some folks from South Africa who were headed back to the homeland. Once we had our tickets and got through security (complicated by Greg’s acquisition of a film 35 mm camera), we found a place to have brunch and beer near the gate. We people-watched for a bit and took bets on who would end up being our seat-mate. The flight boarded a few minutes late, and we were off. We had booked our flights in January (LINK TO LAST BLOG) and are we glad we did. Seat prices went up $700 each before we left. We paid extra for the exit row seat. Upside: lots of leg room. Downside: no storage in front of you and the space near the bathrooms becomes a congregation area for weary travelers looking to stretch their legs.
We didn’t sleep as much as we had planned, which made the flight seemingly interminable. We watched two movies, played some games on phones, and feasted on the three meals that Kenya airways provided (the turkey sandwich for lunch was meaty and cheesy, a real delight). The flight landed in Nairobi at 10:30. We got through customs, found our bags and made our way outside. There was some confusion about how we would be transferred to the hotel, but a Gamewatchers Safaris guide named Harrison helped us out and got us a ride from the hotel. While we waited for the cab, we realized that the airport was incredibly quiet. We did not have to speak loudly to hear each other. This was my first use of Swahili with Harrison and he was, as would become the standard reaction, surprised to see me speak so well. The weather was cloudy and cool, about 65 degrees. There was no noise from planes taking off, no honking horns, no people yelling angrily at each other, and yet the airport was busy. Cars and safari trucks were jockeying through the lanes, cab drivers were milling about, people reconnecting but it was strangely quiet.
We had to wait a little bit at the hotel for a room since we were so early, but it felt good to sit in a comfortable chair. One of the things we do on trips is take notes about the travels to help define the narrative for these blogs and to help piece together the photos later. This was a skill I learned in college from my advisor: know where you are, know what you’re looking at, write it all down. I took the time to catch up my notes while we waited, Greg caught up on sleep. After nearly seven months of planning and thousands of miles of travel, we had finally arrived for another round of wild adventure in Kenya.
Stay tuned for more!