Uganda 9: April 24, 2004

A quick one hour flight over Lake Victoria and we arrived Friday morning in Nairobi. Nairobi, the hub of East Africa, is much more developed than Kampala. Tall buildings, lots of stores, and, most importantly, good roads. Nairobi, or "Nairobbery" has a bad reputation for crime and Liz and I took cars everywhere, avoiding walking the downtown streets. Yet, its not a bad looking city, with green parks, spacious homes (at least for the wealthy) and a large variety of restaurants. Many expats, from old British settlers to diplomats from around the world. After checking in to our hotel, Liz and I immediately went to the mall, a rare experience for Kampala residents. The large and modern mall, located near the US Embassy, hosts a Masai market every Friday, located, somewhat incongruously, in the mall's parking lot. Masai women come in from the rural areas to peddle jewelry and carvings, joined by many other Kenyan salespeople hawking bowls, cloth, stools, wall hangings and various other tourist curios. Unlike Ugandans, Kenyan storekeepers are aggressive salespeople and will plead with you over and over to check out their (identical) goods. It was a fine opportunity for Liz to provide a tutorial in how not to bargain, with one transaction actually resulting in Liz giving up a pen and receiving nothing in return. Tiring of Uganda's limited seafood offerings (Nile Perch and Tilapia), we enjoyed eating crab and prawns for the first time in many weeks. With a wealthier economy and hundreds of thousands more tourists, the Kenyan service industry is light years ahead of Uganda, and it was a welcome surprise to have a waiter actually ask if we wanted refills or to receive our food in less than 45 minutes. It's not that Ugandan waitstaff aren't welcoming, they always greet you pleasantly and you can tell they would like for you to receive good service, they just haven't yet made the connection that it's their responsibility to provide the service.

After enjoying a night in downtown Nairobi, we hired a car to take us to a game lodge on Lake Naivasha, two hours west of the city. About 20 kilometers out of Nairobi, you round a turn and are presented with a vast vista of the Eastern Rift valley opening before you. The plain is dotted with extinct volcanos, now covered in green, and huge swaths of pastureland and smallholdings. The first half of the drive was on excellent roads and we sped past Masai herdsmen tending their goats. Eventually, the roads fell to Ugandan standards, and travel went more slowly as we dodged trucks and potholes. After rounding the lake, we came to the lodge, set up with beautiful views of the valley's western escarpment. The lodge, built on an 18,000 acre game preserve, has six cottages (each with fireplaces), a dining room, and a pool. When we got to our room in the evening, the staff had put hot water bottles under the bedcovers to keep things warm. The food was excellent (passionfruit souffles) and gnus, wildebeest and warthogs ambled by the window as we ate. On our game drive, we saw giraffes, rhino, zebras, jackals, and buffalo. The reserve also hosts leopards and cheetahs and we visited with one of the cheetahs, rescued several years ago after its mother was killed. Accustomed to humans, the cheetah sniffed us as we entered its sleeping pen and then seemed disinterested and wandered off (which I suppose is better than being in a cage with a large predator taking an active interest in me). We finished our drive with a sundowner (happy hour) by a huge bonfire out in the plains with the animals all around us. As we sipped our drinks, the sun slipped behind the mountains. The next day, we boated on the lake, taking in over 30 hippos, a flock of pink flamingos, and a few napping pythons.

Passover

Ambassador Kolker hosted a passover seder, which included guests from the US, UK, Uganda, Suriname, Bolivia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Poland. We had embassy employees, USAID staffers, students, doctors, health care workers, scholars, and visitors. With help from my mom, the Ambassador put together a hagaddah heavy on the singing and light on the lengthy blessings. The food had a very Ugandan feel with gefilte fish made from Nile Perch (no jelly), and charoset made from pineapple and groundnuts. Thankfully, the matzoh balls were traditional.