At first, our sleeper car was terribly hot, but it soon cooled down and we all slept well until 8:30 am. We packed up, ready to arrive at 9:00 am but at 9:08, we were still in the middle of nowhere. We checked only to discover that our arrival time would be 11:15! No great problem, as the train was clean, comfortable and one of the best ones we've been on. After arriving, we caught a cab for 500 shillings (double the price of Mombasa) to the Parkside hotel and,...

As the last stop of our safari, we asked to be dropped at the Mombasa train station so that we could book tickets to Nairobi for the following week. We arrived there at 1:30 pm. But Mombasa, like Egypt, is very Muslim. It was the last day of Ramadan, and as a result the buses weren't running on a normal schedule and the train station was closed until 2:00 pm. Joseph and David offered to drive us wherever we wanted to go, but there was a German couple waiting, as ...

Up at 6:00 am and out for a morning drive! It was a nice drive but still no rhinos. Back at camp, we packed up and headed for Tsavo East. Upon arrival, we set up camp, showered, and went on an afternoon game drive where we spotted a new type of guinea fowl, an angry 65 year old (or more) bull elephant who was not impressed with us at all, and a vast herd of buffalo at a watering hole. Red dusted elephants frolicked in another water hole; and at yet another wate...

We broke camp, ate breakfast, and picked up an armed escort all before 9:30 am. The armed escort? Oh, well, in the 80s and 90s, bandits used to attack tourists traveling in the Chyulu Hills between Amboseli and Tsavo West. Finally, the military disguised themselves as tourists, got attacked and killed 9 bandits. Ever since then, tourists have an armed escort to the gates of Tsavo West. As we left Amboseli, we were once again met by multiple Maasai salespeople, s...

It rained all night and morning came, decidedly cool and cloudy. We have seen people here with parkas on, which makes us laugh because it certainly isn't that cold! It turned out that the safari would be just the four of us, a driver/guide, and a cook. We didn't know whether to be sad or glad; sad, because it's nice to be with other people; or glad, because then we'd get more input into each day's activities. We left Nairobi at about 9:45 am and headed toward...