Easter in Nairobi

Easter breakfast, isnt`t lovely?

...at the foot of Ngong hills...
In front of the house where Karen Blixen used to live

The giraff farm

Lovely dinner with Therese and Hermod

Madel and me cooking, or... Madel cooking and I`m trying to assist...

Well, Easter was a while ago, but here is what I did anywayJ

I basically spent Easter eating on a veranda in Nairobi together with Madel (Madel and me grew up together and have been best friends and neighbours ever since we were babies). Totally random we ended up in East Africa at the same time so of course I had to use the holiday and go and see her.

When ever Madel and me meet up we plan our day around food and coffee. Breakfast usually takes at least two hours, sometimes more, depending on how much breakfast we have to go through… and one can say the same about lunch, but dinner always takes longer. One of the things what’s so nice about visiting Madel is that she’s a brilliant cook! She also quite peculiar about how she wants to have the table set (and a bit of the surroundings) just to make the perfect atmosphere, and she succeeds every timeJ

It was a bit strange coming to Nairobi. Suddenly I it felt like I was in Europe again! It really hit me how Dar is more like a big village than a city.

While I was in Nairobi did I meet up with Therese and Hermod who are in the same program as me; Fredskorpset, but in different projects. Really nice to meet them againJ

The last day I had in Nairobi did we hire a taxi and did some of the tourist site, since we had been to occupied with eating and chatting the other days… We went to the giraffe centre, where we got to hand feed giraffes (the guide book says it’s quite an experience for children, but we thoughts it was quite an experience for us as well…did anyone know that the giraffe`s salvia is antiseptic?). Than we went to the house of Karen Blixen. For some reason Karen Blixen is a women my whole family have a relationship to. I was in Nairobi the first time 15 years ago and I remembered this house very well, so it was a special to be back.

Kibo

The whole group. We had about 22 porters with us

Zanzibar, it doesn`t get nicer than that

Some of us didn`t really feel that effected by the attitude...

Our guide Casper and me in the forrest of Kilimanjaro

Every day after the hike tea and popcorn was ready for us

Isn`t it beautiful?

What can you say...?

Some pictures

Roy, John Sigurd, Marie and Truls

Some wild animals in Africa

Saturday morning, snow in Africa and delicious seafood

My Saturday morning in Dar; waking up a bit earlier than I really want to, cause the guard thinks it’s always a good idea to wash the cars (or do other things that make a lot of noise) just out side my window early in the morning. A bit later the neighbour stereo shop starts playing music, so by than I’ve usually given up trying to get more sleep. In Tanzania there’s good coffee J And on Saturday mornings I finally have time to enjoy a cup of strong black coffee. Friday after work did I go to the big fruit marked in town with a college of mine, so for breakfast today I had papaya for starter (it’s really nice with a datsj of limeJ) musli and yogurt with passion fruit, mango and banana. Maybe I ll make a smoothie for dessert? Im so going to miss having access to all this delicious fresh fruits! I still don’t need to wear anything else than a light summer dress, and I get sun in my eyes when I do the washing up. For a Norwegian, or anyone else who lives in a country with little sun, is the a good thing to get sun in your eyes on the morning.

Since last update, yes, I know it’s a very long time ago… this time as well…
Anyways, I had Roy, my brother and some friends, Marie and Truls here to see me a little while ago. We had such a great time!! In spite of smaller and bigger challenges during the trip was there always a good laugh. Thanks guys!

We took the plane to Arusha, much because it’s relatively dangerous to go on a bus (and it takes aaaaages) So we had a little nervous laugh when we got of the plane and John Sigurd (my brother) told us the pilot had been sleeping much of the time… No, that is not supposed to happen, even not in Africa! (note: JS got the opportunity to sit next to the pilot. He was smiling like a 5 year old. Before we got in the plain…).

We went straight to the national park Ngorongoro (which is a big crater) for a safari that was packed with lions, slept in tents on the edge of the crater, and drove to another national park called Serengeti. Even got to see a leopard chilling in a tree. It was a looooong drive, but the spirit was highJ And it got even higher on the way home when JS started a disco in the back seat.

From the distance Kilimanjaro looks quite intimidating and it doesn’t really look like a good idea to try to climb it. But when has that stopped Norwegians? With the hand on my heart I must admit it was the hardest thing I’ve done in my whole life, and it was cold!! Oh my, it was soooooo cold! But it was a beautiful hike and really worth the struggle. We took the Machame route and with that spent 7days hiking to the top. We slept in tents, something that made the whole experience even nicer. We got simple but nice food, and for tea everyday they made us popcorn (the tea was ready prepared when we got to the camp. Really nice!) We all experienced some headache, some more than others… From day 3 did I start to be nauseas and struggled to eat, so my biggest challenge was actually to eat. One walk so slowly that your muscles doesn’t really get sore, but even so you get really short of breath. It was a strange experience to be out of breath just going from the tent to the loo.
Insanely enough did we start the hike to the summit of Kili 12 O’clock at night. It was steep, very steep so I was actually very glad I could not see anything around me except from what has lighten up by the head torches. We reached the summit at 6 in the morning, yes, we walked continuously the whole night. When we reached the summit I was totally drained for energy and I was so cold I have never been before, but it was amazing to experience the sunrise and the beautiful light over the glacier!
After the conquer of the highest mountain in Africa did we spend the rest of the time
at Zanzibar with sun, white beach, beer, lovely seafood and just chilling and enjoying doing nothing.

This time as well do I have problems with uploading photoes, sorry about that... But I ll try again later.