Mombasa to Nakuru

The third leg of our trip wasn’t nearly as exciting as the preceding four days, but we did get to stay in a neat place called Nakuru.

The drive was like all the others and by this time I was pretty bored with looking at cows from the window so I decided to rest for much of the drive.

Lucky me, Sleeping!

I did manage to wake up for a few exciting things along the way, like big, fat zebras along the side of the highway.

ZEBRAS!

We also drove through a town named after me, perhaps they’ve been following my blog 🙂  The town was called Mtito Andei and mom made sure to get a photo of me with my sign.

It's my town: Mtito Andei!

We finally got to the town of Nakuru around 9pm, but then we had to enter a National Park called Lake Nakuru National Park.   Apparently, National Parks don’t allow dogs, which is confusing for me since there are wild animals everywhere.  Since we were so late, the National Park was already closed, but our hotel was inside, so this was a problem, or a matatizo, as we say in Swahili.  It took Mr. Marcel a lot of bargaining with the guard to even let the humans enter the park so late.  Mom had me all wrapped up in one of her scarves and so the guard asked about mom’s “rafiki ndogo“; he thought I was a human baby, I’d never been so flattered!

So eventually, the Park allowed us to enter and we drove around Lake Nakuru to the Sarova Lion Hill Lodge where we slept for the night.

Our drive from Mombasa to Nakuru

Mombasa

After two whole days in the car, I was excited to get out and start exploring Mombasa!  I was still a little sore from my accident the day before, but that wasn’t going to stop me from a day of firsts!

After a breakfast where the waitress was actually nice enough to ask me if I wanted cold or warm water, we headed south of Mombasa towards Tiwi Beach.  Aunt Amanda was playing a game called frisbee there and we were going to cheer her on.  I didn’t really want to ride in the car again, but boy, I’m glad I did!  Tiwi Beach was SO cool!  The water wasn’t the icky poopy-smelling water of Lake Victoria, but instead it was a delightful turquoise color and tasted of salty food and was as warm as the shower water mom uses to wash me when she finds a flea.  Why can’t Lake Victoria be like this wonderful water they call the Indian Ocean?

Tiwi Beach

Swimming in the ocean was super fun too.  The water held me up differently than when I was in Lake Victoria so it was easier to stay floating and concentrate on my technique.  And also, there were waves!  I got to body surf into shore a few times, WOOHOO!

Enjoying a swim in the Indian Ocean

Later on, mom bought this weird, brown, hairy thing from a man on the beach.  The man cut the top off and mom started drinking a strange liquid from inside.  My favorite food is any food that my mom eats, so I was super curious about this thing she was having.  Eventually she put in down in the sand and it was my chance to try.  It was a flavor I’d never before experienced, and boy was it yummy 🙂  Later mom told me that this new treat was a coconut.

Eating my first coconut

The frisbee team, called the Mwanza Tossers, was nice enough to make me a team t-shirt to wear while I supported them, I like to think of myself as their team mascot.  Anyway, I think I did a pretty good job of getting them excited and barking them on while they played another team from Arusha.  GO AUNT AMANDA!

Go, Mwanza Tossers!

After a day of firsts: First Ocean, First Coconut, I was tired and so was mom so we called it an early night.

The next day, we decided to check out another beach in Mombasa, called Nyali Beach, right behind where we were staying.  This beach wasn’t quite as nice as Tiwi Beach, especially since we arrived at low tide.

Nyali Beach with mom

But, just as I was thinking it was going to be just another day on the beach, another, new, giant animal strolled by.  This animal had weird long legs, and a funny humped body.  And it was wearing clothes, just like me!  Mom said we could sit on this animal while it walked around on the beach and I wondered why anyone would want to do that, but I agreed since I have to listen to my mom.  Apparently, this animal is called a camel.

Me and mom on a camel

So, as soon as I was that high up on the stinky camel I decided that I was not a fan and I let my mom know right away.  I didn’t want to sit up there while the camel walked around, I wanted to be on the ground PLAYING with the camel!  So, mom put me down and continued riding around by herself.

Afterwards, mom took me swimming again, which is great exercise for such an active little dog like me 🙂

Riding the waves

More swimming!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do we really have to go back to Mwanza??

Arusha to Mombasa

Friday morning we were up early to head the rest of the way to Mombasa.  Before we left, I made sure to get some photos of myself at the hotel for my blog.  I wanted to get one of me in the window of the hotel overlooking the gardens so I had mom put me on the windowsill, but because I’m still just a puppy I got distracted by a cool bug and leaped off the ledge and into a giant bush to catch it.  OOPS!!  Anyway, mom came to my rescue and since we were only on the first floor, I was fine.  After taking some photos, we were ready to begin the second day of our journey.

Here we go again...

The first town we passed through after Arusha was Moshi.  According to mom, they have yummy coffee there, so we stopped to get some for the humans.  I met a baby human there and we got along so well, probably because we’re both young and so we can understand each other.

My new friend

Moshi is also where I had my first exposure to an animal called an elephant.  Apparently, the elephant is the largest animal on land.  I wonder, how can an animal possibly be larger than a cow?  I must see a real-life version of this thing.  For the time being I decided to take a photo with the Nakumatt elephant.

Me and the Nakumatt elephant

Just after Moshi, we crossed the border into Kenya at a town called Taveta.  At the border, mom was being weird and forcing me to stay on the floor of the car and also telling me not to make noises.  Later, she explained that she didn’t want any trouble from the border guards and so I was actually smuggled into Kenya!  EXCITING!

It's Kenya!

From the border, we drove on a bumpy dirt road through Tsavo West National Park and the Taita Hills Wildlife Sanctuary.  This was the most exciting part of the drive because there were tons of new smells for me.  I was bouncing around, from one side of the car to the other trying to take it all in.  At one point in the wildlife sanctuary I caught a fascinating smell that I’d never experienced before.  I jumped over to Mr. Marcel’s window and saw giant creatures, maybe the elephants that mom was talking about.  I just couldn’t contain my excitement and it didn’t appear that the humans were going to stop so I decided to take matters into my own paws.

I leaped out the window, ready to land on my feet and run to investigate the elephants.  But, as I was flying through the air, my body turned and all of a sudden I landed hard on my back on the dirt and rolled head over feet at least three times.  I really screwed up this time, because the car was now ahead of me and every part of my body was hurting.  I stood up, ready to run after the car, but my hind leg was killing me and I couldn’t move.  Then, thankfully, mom appeared, running towards me.  She scooped me up and took me back to the car.  There was fear in her eyes and she was checking me everywhere.  Red gooey liquid was flowing out of my scrapes and so mom bundled me up in a towel and hugged me close to her as we continued driving.

My hurt eye and fat lip

Just after my accident

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More photos of my injuries:

My knee injury

My foot injury

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even more photos of my injuries:

Resting

Licking my wounds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rest of the drive was a blur as I dozed in mom’s lap.  We stopped briefly in a town called Voi at the junction of the dirt road and the main paved road.  At the gas station, a young Kenyan girl was nice to me, despite my obvious injuries and for that, I was thankful.

Me and the sweet girl I met

We arrived in Mombasa around 8:30pm and finally I could sleep on a real bed that was not bumpy or vibrating.  I needed rest so I could be ready to explore Mombasa in the morning.

Our route from Arusha to Mombasa

The Mombasa Road Trip, A Preview

I just returned from the coolest adventure and there’s so much to tell!  I’ve made a little map for you all to see a summary of where I’ve been, and I’ll write more about each bit of my adventure this week.  So much happened, I don’t know where to start, but I’ll try to tell my story over the next couple days, STAY TUNED!

My Adventure