Kenya

We camp at the border on the grounds of the police station. Katie, my southern belle, freaks out at all the cockroaches in the outhouse, called a 'drop toilet' here. Some drops are longer than others. There was a lot. We cross the border with a police guard. In fact, we have had many police/guards on the trip so far. We were in a 'no mans land' a disputed part between Ethiopia and Kenya. Don't know why, not much there. A bit further on, with no guns on board, there were guns outside. We were shot at by three gunmen, wearing shorts, which I thought was so casual. Heard a shot hit the truck, the command from Jase, the leader/driver to get down! We did just that. Before I went down, I saw one of the gunmen with this rifle. They were aiming for the tires to blow them and we would stop. They missed and Jase drove on-fast. The bullet probably hit the wheel and spun off. We were lucky, the bandits are plentiful in this area, we found out later.
We arrived at our first real animal park. Our guides were from the Samburu tribe. They are like the Maasai but not so touristy. They are beautiful people and dress a bit like the TV Maasai, red sarongs, with lots of beads and wonderful hairdo's. We saw a leopard in a tree and my favorite deer, they have long necks and big ears. Exciting. The tribe danced for us, now we know why they jump so much. The spear goes further. Simple. Many of the tribes we went to jumped while dancing.
I was standing on the edge of the Great Rift Valley, finally. It is a very big slit in the earth. While in Addis Ababa we saw the famous, Lucy. Not at all what I thought, she is very small and looks like a monkey. I guess I thought she would look like a shorter me.
Here were the first hippo's. They don't look so big in the water until they open their mouths. On land they are almost as big as a rhino.
All I saw of Nairobi was a bed and a toilet. Thank the Gods that Lynette's friend Claire took care of me in her home. What a waste of several days. At the least, I felt rested after and ready to re-join my group. One night in the fancy hotel and we were off again.
And, the first person was voted off the Dragoman reality show. Thank Clod.