Aug. 1, 2010. Amboseli

We had a five hour rough ride from Nairobi today and finally arrived at the Sentrum Amboseli, very near the entrance to Amboseli Park.
(It should be noted how bad the roads are in Kenya. We have been on very few well-paved highways. If there is paving it is riddled with potholes and ruts. Riding in the back seat of the van can be torture- very hard on the internal organs and boobs.)
The road to the Amboseli Sentrum is the worst road. One wonders how they were even able to get the trucks in to build it. It is extremely dusty - as is the whole park. The fine dust gets everywhere. The tent camp is well manicured but very rustic. These tents have mesh walls and you can hear everyone who walks by - talking and constant bird chatter. In the evening the wind blows through the room. The lights kept going on and off in the bathroom and there is very little water pressure. The food was plain - not awful just not as good as we've been having. Other than all those things, it's fine.
There is a path out to a lookout point where a platform is built around an acacia tree - where you can view Mt. Kilamanjaro - if it is clear - but it never was while we were there. There is also a watering hole nearby where the Masai boys water their herds. I talked to one of them while I was out there and he wanted to trade something, but all I had was my camera. He asked me for a book - which of course I didn't have - Do you know how hard it is for a teacher not to be able to give a boy a book?!
At 4PM we went on an afternoon game drive where we saw: large herds of elephants, African cranes, three female lions, ostrich and zebra.
Kathy elected to stay at the hotel and rest. She treated her rash which seemed to become worse, and slept most of the afternoon.
Upon returning from the game drive we had an orientation from the hot air balloon guy, Riz. Kathy, me, Meanna and her grandson, Dillon, are going in the morning. We were disappointed to learn that this balloon ride is not really for viewing animals. It is mostly to see Mt. Kilimanjaro. We are going anyway!
After dinner we have to go to bed early because the ride to the balloon is picking us up at 5AM!