First day at Karen Camp, Nairobi

Old original Blog:
Woke up with a bug inside my mosquito net – moved him to a new location afterwards! Met Brian, Grant, Gemma and other fellow travellers. Saw monkeys in the garden! Chatted a lot with Brian. Put rucksack on the truck. Spoke to an artist who   Had Swahili beans (Kenyan food). Big thunderstorm and lightning show in the late afternoon and early evening which caused a short power cut. The weather got much cooler with the storm. Felt very tired and got an early (didn't have the energy to mix with the rest of the group as I wanted to.

New updates Blog:
Once I had managed to go to sleep, I slept fairly well, despite being woken up during the night when one of my fellow Oasis Overland travellers, Vincent, arrived on a late flight and had been brought to my dorm to sleep in the bunk bed adjoining bottom of my bed. The disturbance woke me up, but Vincent quickly settled into his bunk and I fell back to sleep.
I awoke around 7am and as I opened my sleepy eyes and looked around me, I nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw a large insect on the inside of my mosquito net. I hastily jumped out of bed and raised the mosquito net to have a closer look at my sleeping companion to check that he wasn't dangerous. On closer inspection he was a harmless, large 'grasshopper' like insect with one of his long back legs missing. I carefully removed him from the inside of the mosquito net and put him several metres away from the dorm room on the grass and resolved to tuck my mosquito net up under my mattress in future to prevent future sleeping companions from crawling up the inside.
I then got up to get a shower. I had been tipped off by the barman, Michael, that the showers on the first floor of the main hostel building were hot rather than the cold showers of the very basic toilet and shower blocks near my dorm room. I somewhat sheepishly walked through the bar area and up to the shower as I thought that these showers were most likely reserved for those in the first floor rooms. I had a welcome hot shower in the basic but large shower room.
After getting dressed, I went to the bar to order some beans on toast for breakfast. There I met my first fellow traveller on this long trip across the African continent, Brian. He was a friendly and kindly Irishman, approaching his 70s, with a stutter. We quickly established that we would both be travelling all the way to Johannesburg. We also discovered that we both worked as therapists and therefore had quite a lot in common. Brian quickly demonstrated a good sense of humour coupled with an easy and enjoyable Irish wit. I immediately felt pleased and relieved that I would be travelling with someone whose company I would enjoy. I then noticed a woman walking busily through the bar who looked like she might be our Oasis tour leader. When I stopped her to ask, I was right in my assumption. Jemma was an English woman in her late thirties who had worked for Oasis Overland in Africa for a number of trips and was well experienced in such travel. She was very friendly, informative and organised about our trip ahead and I again felt relief that she would be a friendly and competent leader for our journey. Another fellow traveller, Grant, then entered the bar. He was a very friendly, talkative and gregarious New Zealander in his late forties who was an experienced overland traveller. He was also joining our trip all the way to Johannesburg. Meeting Brian, Grant and Jemma had put my mind at rest that I was going to have some nice and friendly travelling companions on the long trip ahead.
I had breakfast with Brian, while Jemma and Grant headed off to buy provisions for the truck to keep us fed on our long journey. I later learned that Grant and Jemma were a couple, but didn't know that at this stage. Brian and I talked about our work, life, and our thoughts and plans for the future. I could see that we were going to get along very well.
After breakfast, I returned to my dorm room to organise my things. There I introduced myself to Vincent who was a Canadian in his mid-twenties, and was already an experienced traveller. He would be travelling with us as far as Cape town and, again, he would be a friendly and positive character on our trip ahead.
I re-joined Brian who was sitting at a picnic table in the hostel back porch, typing his blog on his laptop. We had more pleasant conversation on various topics, when there was a rustle in a nearby tree and, to my delight, there were two vervet monkeys picking small fruit from the tree. These were the first African wild animals that I had seen and it was amazing to me that I could see such wild animals in an more urban setting like a hostel garden. I later learned that I would see troops of vervet monkeys regularly passing through campsites and hostel gardens mischievously taking food where they could. The two vervet monkeys in the tree then chased each other across the corrugated roof of the nearby toilet block and around the garden. One sat long enough on the grass in front of me for me to take a photo before the monkeys were themselves chased off by the two barking hostel dogs. I was delighted to have seen these playful, wild animals so close by.
Brian and I continued to chat through the afternoon as a heavy rainstorm passed over. After Jemma and Grant returned from buying provisions, Jemma showed us the inside of the big yellow truck that we would be travelling on, and calling 'home', for our long journey across Africa. Here I met 'Often' our driver for the journey. Often was a Kenyan born and bred man in his fifties with a wife and children, now of adult age, living in Nairobi. He was a friendly, humorous and positive character with a passion for wildlife that I was very pleased would be our driver and all around helpful person to guide us along our great journey. We were delighted to find that Often had fitted the inside of the truck with electric plugs so that we could charge our phones and electrical goods while we travelled. The truck was named 'Chui' which is Swahili for Leopard and was clearly dear to Often and later became known by us as Often's second wife. The seating in the truck faced each other across the middle floor which would allow us to talk to each other during the trip. The clear plastic tarpaulin sides of the truck could be rolled up so that we could kneel on the seats and look out over the landscapes that we travelled through. There were large storage areas under the seats where I stored my large rucksack alongside Brian's rucksack for the journey ahead. There were also large storage areas under the central floor of the truck where much of the food provisions were stored.
There was an arist selling his accomplished artwork of African animals in the hostel garden and I went to have a chat with him about his artwork and my own interest in making art of animals and wildlife. As I returned to the hostel, Jemma and Grant, invited me to join them in a card game of 'Gin Rummy'. I had never played this type of Rummy before and so they taught me as we played. I then had 'beginner's luck' and somehow managed to win the first two games. I decided to quit while I was ahead and retired undefeated. Later in the afternoon, Jemma invited me to show my travel insurance papers and a copy of my passport, and give her the local payment of $1600 for the journey ahead.
As the evening approached and the light dimmed, I ordered some dinner of Swahili beans and ate and chatted with Brian on the back porch area. As the darkness if the night descended a torrential, dramatic thunder and lightning storm came over the hostel and flooded the garden area.The electricity cut out at one point for several minutes which would become a common feature of our travels through Africa. Many of our fellow Oasis Overland travellers were arriving ahead of our departure the following day. They all sat together chatting in another seated area of the back porch. I began to feel quite tired and wasn't sure if I could summon the energy to go and socialise with my new fellow travellers. However, Brian headed off to his room for night and I did go over to introduce myself to my fellow travellers.
I met Linda and Heather who were a friendly mother and daughter from Scotland who would be travelling with us around Lake Victoria and back to Nairobi before departing. Linda was a retired GP and Heather was working in London. I also met Sam, who later became known as 'English Sam' to distinguish his name from the other Sam on our trip who was living in Dubai. Sam was a friendly young man who was living and working in England and had previously done an Oasis Overland trip several years previously. I met Jesse and Alick who were two young, friendly and sociable New Zealanders who were doing the Oasis Overland trip having won it after visiting an Oasis Overland stall at some event. They were also doing the trip as part of their further travels around the world. As we were talking in the newly met group of fellow Oasis Overland travellers, an American, Kristen, arrived. Kristen was in her early thirties, originally from Chicago, and worked as a teacher but had quit her job to go travelling for a year. She was another experienced traveller, although she hadn't done an overland tour before and was a little nervous about the camping aspect of the trip. I later learned that she had a strong academic interest in rock/cave paintings and ancient human ancestors which I also shared. She also taught religious studies so had an academic interest in religious history. I also met Steph (Stephanie) who was an English woman from Coventry. She was a friendly person with a humorous, outgoing and slightly mischievous character which became apparent during our journey. Earlier in the day I had met James and Gabby (Gabriella) who were a young Brazilian couple who were doing the trip from Nairobi around Lake Victoria and back to Nairobi. They were also doing the Oasis Overland trip as part of more extensive travels around the world. They were a lovely, good humoured and friendly couple who brought a nice South American flavour to the trip.
As I chatted to my fellow travellers, i was aware how tired I was feeling, and decided to return to my dorm room for a fairly early night ahead of the start of our journey the following day. There was another disturbance during the night when another of our fellow travellers, Luke, arrived in the early hours having been delayed on his flight. Vincent had to get up to let him into the dorm room which we had locked from the inside. I later learned that Luke was originally from Northern Ireland, but now worked in Scotland as a doctor working in peadiatrics. He was another experienced traveller with a gregarious, outgoing and humourous character.Read more