Home is where the heart is

Off we headed towards Arusha, leaving with some great memories of Serengeti & Ngorongoro in our minds.  One memory that will definately not leave us anytime soon was when we were packing up our camp the morning we left Ngorongoro.  All of a sudden Xan said quite casually to Alex - "Elephant", and pointed just past the Truck.  Sure enough, about 20 meters from us and gracefully trundling through the campsite was a huge elephant!!!

Wow!  I rushed for the camera and took the best photo's & video I could with the time I had before it walked off.  Quite stunning, and a huge wakeup call to us camping on "their" land.  We also had to empty the second fuel tank because it had jolted loose from all the bumpy roads.  Luckily Reg (Alex's dad) was there to help out with that - quite a messy job - thanks Reg!  It took most of the morning to empty it and pour as much of it into the main tank as possible, and to secure the spare tank enough to make it to Nairobi.  I'm quite impressed with Alex's newly aquired bush mechanic skills.  Reluctantly we left, but to be honest we were really looking forward to hitting some smoother roads ahead of us to Arusha.

We spent the night in Arusha and collected our Carnet de Passage that had been delivered by DHL - very impressed with their service & price!  Thanks Bjorn for collecting it and delivering it to our campsite.  We then headed off to Kenya the next morning.

The road from Arusha to Nairobi (270km) took us the whole day.  Another terrible road in Africa, but because this was our last stretch of road heading to our final destination we were in pretty good spirits.  The traffic in Nairobi was hectic.  It seems there are no rules at all.  Traffic circles were the worst.  Luckily being in a big truck seemed to be OK, I wouldn't like to be traveling on a motorbike though.  At times I had to close my eyes and just trust that Alex was taking the right gaps - traffic lights seem to be just for decoration.  After a few scenic tours through the not so nice areas of town, we finally found our way to Jungle Junction.  Aaaaaah, paradise in Nairobi.... Anyone traveling through the area really must pop in there. We felt totally at home. What a great place. There are travelers there on motorbikes, LandRovers, Trucks etc. Most doing a whole "Long Way Down/Up" experience, or some just doing a bit like us. We were so impressed with the place. The service was great, great food, great atmosphere & great stories to share amongst the other travelers. We stayed there 2 nights, while making arrangements for Max to be stored there safely until we collect and carry on with the "Part 2" of our trip in the middle of the year.

  

On our last day we thought we should end off on a good note and head off to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in the Nairobi National Park.  They look after orphan baby elephants.  They only open for 1 hour in the morning for visiting which was all the time we had because we still had to pack and clean the truck before leaving.  This was a great experience.  Kaylin especially liked it and got quite muddy when one of the baby elephants came up close to her at the fence.
We headed back to Jungle Junction to clean Max and pack.  We then got a Taxi (a real authentic one too! a minibus because that was the biggest and cheapest for all 5 of us and our luggage), and they took us to a guest house close to the airport so we could catch our flight very early the next morning.
We arrived back home today, and as I type this I am sitting back here at my kitchen table, in my lovely home with all my luxuries around me.  I have electricity at the flick of a switch, a deep hot bath at the turn of a tap, and exhausted kiddies tucked up in their own separate bedrooms.  I am quite sad to be back home, because right now this doesn't feel like home at all.  I feel like I am dreaming because 24 hours ago we were in our "home on wheels" and after 6 weeks of traveling, it seems strange that it took just 6 hours in the air to get back here.  I am sure it will hit me in a few days time, when the kids are back in the school routine and Alex gets into the swing of things at the office, but for now our hearts are still with Max in Africa.  Our plan is to fly back up to Nairobi around June to continue with our trip.  We haven't decided exactly which route we'll be heading home, possibly passing through Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia.
So that's it from us for now. Hope you enjoyed reading & looking at the pics as much as we enjoyed being there.
To be continued.....