40. Kenya Adventure Starts with German Accent!

July 9 - 17, 2016

Below are entries from our "Tagebuch" - daily journal - at the start of our 1 week Kenya vacation from 9. - 16. July. We've split the adventure into two posts -- the first half of the week was at the white sand beach resort at Diani Beach. We stayed at the Diani Sea Lodge which is owned by a German family. The second half of the week was a mix of safari in two parks and visiting friends and places in Meru to show them to Naomi and Isaac. (John and Ruth Ann have both been there with mission teams in 2015 and 2011, respectively.)

9. July, Samstag – departure from Kigali at 6:30pm

9:10pm – arrival at Mombasa airport – customs, passport check, ATM to get shillings doesn’t work. Found our taxi driver (eventually).

10:30pm arrival at Diana Sea Lodge. They allowed us to sit in the dining room and have a warm dinner. Rooms are 2 nice rooms in little “rowhouses”. J&RA’s faces the ocean. N&I’s has a double bed and a single bed in a small separate bedroom. Everything is salt water. The drinking water is in a thermos in the bathroom for brushing teeth. We are delighted with the fact that most of the guests are German and all of the staff speak German! Announcements, signs and menus are all given in English and German! Many German-esque touches pervaded the experience at Diana Sea Lodge making it an absolute joy for all four of us!

Sonntag – (10. Juli) Beautiful sunshine on the white sandy beach. Kenyan ‘friends” always join you when you go walking (like Isaac did) or running (like Ruth Ann and Naomi did). One Kenyan befriended Isaac during his beach walk and Isaac bought a carved coconut bird-feeder from him. Pool aerobics. Beach volleyball. Beach soccer. Pool swimming (especially Naomi). Walk to Diani Sea Resort on the beach – bought SIM cards – got free drink. Water polo. Kaffee u. Kuchen.(coffee and cake) Lesen u. schlafen.(reading and sleeping) Abendessen(dinner) at 7:30, and at 9:00 there was a quiz game on the terrace. Had to end punctually at 10 so that soccer fans could watch the Euro championship game – France vs. Portugal. Portugal won (upset) 1 – 0 in extra time.

Montag – (11. Juli) Running on the beach (with Kenyan friends, including a man in Masaai clothing. Maybe authentic?) Ruth Ann - water aerobics II. Then Swahili class. Family darts game.  2 – 4pm we went on an excursion in the

glass bottom boat. This was a fun way to enjoy the ocean. We walked with “captain JJ” a few hundred meters down the beach where the boat picked us up – bus-stop style. We were the last of a group of about 20 on the boat,. We all sat on the benches, one long bench on either side of the “3 screen TV” windows on the boat’s bottom. It works quite well for observing the ocean floor comfortably. I have to say, it seemed a little drab. Even when we were seeing choral, it seemed rather sandy and brown – not the bright colors one sees in some photos of choral reefs. This makes me worried that Kenya’s choral reefs are dying. One guide jumped out of the boat and swam underneath (while we were stopped) to attract bright colored fish with bits of bread. Then he brought up live starfish with their bright red beaded ridges, sea urchins of the soft prickly kind and the ones with 5 – 8’ long spikes that sting. Then we motored out to the sandbar where other tourists were already disembarking from their tourist boats. We enjoyed a windy, sunny walk on the sand bar, then donned our snorkeling equipment and had a great time snorkeling together – finding starfish, choral and other sea life “on our own”!

In the evening, after dinner, there was Maasai dancing (and selling – Isaac bought a shield). Three of us got to dance on stage with them, while John took photos. Much jumping and hooting, and we admired their sandals made of recycled tires! Isaac had a nice time talking with a young couple from Germany (in German) about travels in Africa – national parks, bungee jumping, etc. Evening, Naomi and John shopped for a souvenir at the shop on the beach. Lessons in negotiations.

Dienstag (12. Juli) Running on the beach – not so many Kenyan friends. Just one other Kenyan runner. John got a massage. A little too cool for water aerobics. Did some reading poolside instead. Took naps. Naomi was Ruth Ann’s swim coach for a short bit (improved my butterfly dramatically) then Ruth Ann took a nice swim in the ocean. Isaac played bocce ball. Family bocce ball game on the beach later in the afternoon. 3pm Naomi and Isaac both played water polo for about an hour. Naomi picked up her custom-made souvenir of a “hakuna mata” sign. Then she played ping-pong with Mom. Mom, John & Naomi played mini golf, then John went running. There was an evening cocktail party before dinner where the management described their interactions with the “beach boys” (they said they are allowed to talk to us as tourists as long as they are polite) and they described their community support projects (in English and German) – a training school for secretaries and support for desks for a primary school. After dinner, Isaac played pool.

Wed., 13 July – had to be up early – breakfast at 6:45, a quick “good-bye” walk and photos on the beach. Then we were in the red Toyota taxi with Mbaluka being whisked through the streets of Diani, Upunto, the ferry town (name) and then through the rough-and-tumble streets of Mombasa and a major construction zone on the way to the MOI Airport. Ruth Ann paid special attention to the many trucks loaded with containers, Unifreight shipyards, etc. This is the territory coffee must get through – somehow – on its way to destination ports.