81 – Fast food & photos

Mon 15th Feb, New Kenya Lodge, Nairobi, Kenya

For want of a catchy title, ive decided to go with Fast Food & Photos, which was as exciting as the day got. Started the day in the internet cafe (you can get cheap ones at 30 KSH per hour, but the speed deteriorates as more people use up the bandwitdth, so it makes sense to go early when there’s no one). Next up was lunch, which was another quarter chicken and chips combo (150 KSH). The “Fast Food” chip shops are in abundance around town. This i must admit is a very unhealthy option for lunch, but it is one of the cheapest and most convenient you can get besides self catering. And the locals are evidence that this diet isn’t actually the healthiest around.

Next, i set out to find a cheap camera. A second hand camera without the cables and battery was around 150000 TSH, last i checked in Mwanza, Tanzania. And here, the New Kenya staff recommended Ebrahim Centre to get a cheap camera. I headed towards the electronics shop, and after some deliberation, got myself a Sony Cybershot older model 10.2 mega pixel camera for 8350 KSH, plus a 1 GB memory card for another 1500 KSH. Pretty basic functions, but that is all i need for now.

I booked myself on the New Kenyan Lodge run safari, which sets off tomorrow for Masai Mara National Park. This was a 3 day trip (300 USD). According to the staff doing the hardsell, the travel was by one of those open top vans, and accomodation was in their own safari lodges at or near the park, which looked pretty decent in the photos. There were 5 others setting off as well, with pickups at the other hotels, apparently. With my new camera, i could at least get some shots of animals. =)

The rest of the evening was spent chatting with various travel people in the place, Peter from Switzerland who gave me helpful Dubai metro travel maps, a Polish guy who’s name i can’t recall now, Charlie the S.Korean plus the many Japanese guys. On a side, i probably got to watch my budget a bit; it is spiralling out of control with the safari and camera purchase.