First full day: to Naivasha

Garden outside our AirBNB cottage

     Come morning, we see that the owner of this little cottage has made the place very lovely.  There is a gorgeous garden right outside the front door, with a small table and chairs for drinking coffee and enjoying the scenery.

     Off to Naivasha!  And here Joan and I experience our first big-time culture shock.  It's 50 miles of a narrow, 2-line, bumpy highway, jam-packed most of the entire way with pedestrians, animals, carts, motorcycles, bicycles, fume-spewing trucks, buses, plus just about anything that could walk or roll.  The congestion is terrible.  There are no shoulders on the road; the side is just dirt and red clay, and garbage is everywhere.  Oh, and they drive on the LEFT here, which further added to the anxiety of us newly-arrived Americans.

     Facing the road were all the local "businesses", most of which were just ramshackle shacks made from all sorts of discarded materials; they looked as if they would collapse the next time the wind blew.  They all had hand-painted signs hawking every good or service the people needed for their subsistence.

Naivasha and surrounding area

     There were people everywhere, walking, running, either along the side or dashing across the highway carrying their wares, often darting into traffic with scant regard for safety.  I felt like I was in an episode of The Amazing Race, where the contestants had to travel to remote 3rd World nations, and the last team to check-in may be eliminated. 

     Traffic is terrifying.  There are no Rules Of The Road here, or at least nobody has ever heard of such a thing.  Everyone just drives on any part of the road they choose, and if traffic is coming straight at you, so what?  The painted stripes on the road (where they exist, which was almost never) are just suggestions, and even THAT word is stretching things a bit.  The "right of way", if such a concept existed, went to the vehicle who cared the least about getting hit.  And judging from the condition of many of the vehicles, evidently most considered themselves as having the right-of-way.

 

You can carry anything on a motorcycle

     What was hilarious was the creative ways that bikers and motor-cyclers found to transport their passengers and cargo.  Need to carry something as wide (if not wider) than the road?  No problem, as long as you have enough rope and bungee cords - just strap it on the back!  This included furniture, crates, trees, agricultural harvest, suitcases, anything.  (Note: I am NOT making this up.)

      Then there were the matatus.  These were small vans which provided much of the public transportation.  They carried about thirteen, including the driver and a conductor.  Customers boarded from roadside staging areas.  Most were packed with cargo, as viewed from the rear windows.  Their drivers were ruthless, as judging from the many dents.

 

Scenic overlook: the Rift Valley

    We stopped at a scenic overlook with a spectacular view looking down onto the Rift Valley.  9,000-ft mountains lay across the other side of the valley.  Awesome!

     It took a full hour-and-a-half to make the trip to Naivasha. 

     The town of Naivasha is about 6,800 ft above sea level.  Average temperatures there get up to about 75° F in the day and about 55° F at night, year-round, and it is very dry.  The town is near Lake Naivasha, which is about five miles across.  Nearby Mt. Longonot, at 9100 above sea level, is visible everywhere.

Emily & Kate's rent house

      Most of the perimeter of the lake is dedicated to parks and wildlife preserves.  And just a stone's throw from the lake's east bank, inside a "gated" community, Emily and her friend Kate have a very nice rent house.

      Most of Emily and Kate's friends and neighbors are wealthy retirees who have come here to settle.  The average age is about 60.  They come from all over the world, although the majority hail from Britain.   They all own beautiful homes with beautiful gardens, right on the lake, and have staff to help with house and yard work.  The typical Lake Naivasha home has a huge, airy veranda in front where residents and their guests can sit and enjoy the mild weather and lovely scenery.  (Joan and I are getting ideas for our retirement home someday; but of course, the climate along the Gulf Coast, especially in summer, is nothing like this.)

 

Kate, Emily, Joan, & Jane at High British Tea party

     That afternoon, we were all invited to a High British Tea, at the home of one of the British retirees.  This was our first opportunity to meet Emily's neighbors.  Joan and I had to pack some nice clothes to wear to this event.  I kept hearing the song "I went to a Garden Party" in my head.  One of the guests was Sarah, the bird lady, who brought along her pet owl Kai.  (More about Sarah and her birds later.)  It was all very formal and proper, but fun, and with lots of great drinks!  As we hobnobbed with the guests, noisy birds called ibises kept flying overhead, squawking loudly.

Me and Kai the owl