Safari Time... Charles' Moment to shine!
Hello everyone!
Well with the weekend quickly approaching once again I decided it was time I allotted some space to keep you all up to date on my crazy little life.
Since we have last talked not a lot has happened in terms of accommodations and work so I will mainly get you in the know about my weekend activities!
Last weekend I went on my very first safari to Masai Mara! It was absolutely amazing. Ever since I have been here I have been wondering where all of the animals had gone and I quickly found out after my 6 hour drive across Kenyan terrain. Due to the fact that I have actually managed to secure a faster internet line, I have decided to let the pictures do the talking. Each of these was ACTUALLY taken by me, so if you think that the quality is amazing remember who to give mad props to.
alt="Amazing" />
But the adventure didn’t end just with the animals… the driver I went with also added a little spice to the whole event. Charles was our driver and he has been at the game for about 20 years… he knew what was what in the Serengeti. Unfortunately poor Charles had absolutely no idea how to drive or fix a vehicle. I knew that the broke-down bus we were traveling in was going to be trouble when it didn’t start in the parking lot of the safari company. But it wasn’t until we were in the middle of a secluded road under +30 temperatures that the old girl decided she would really kick the bucket. So after about 20 minutes of waiting around… another bus finally came. Did Charles tell the other driver to drive us to the Mara? Hell no. Charles had the other bus tow us for about a kilometer until he could get it push started.
We arrived to the gate of the Mara to be absolutely overwhelmed with the ladies peddling their goods. When I mean overwhelmed... I am talking 12 old ladies climbing into our bus and shoving cheap little giraffe looking things in our faces and screaming “2 for 500” and after we said no.. They did what any good business person would do... the adjusted the price. “Ok for you... 2 for 500, but only because I like you.” Their skill in the art of negotiation is only topped by their beauty and intrigue.
Charles mean while was chilling with his big army dudes with AK-47’s. He was in negotiations to keep the costs low for us. But being that we had already paid 8000 shillings for the trip, I was about ready to snap when he told me it was going to be about 1200 more per day we were in the market. After some obvious fake negotiation on Charles’ part, he managed to BARGAIN them down to a mere 250 shillings per day… and apparently everyone else thought that as just great. Except me of course. Tips were dwindling fast.
After finally creeping our way through the door past 4 smiling AK toting army thugs, we were off to see some animals!
After our little picture taking spree (of which by this time I had taken a mere 200 pictures) we headed back to camp for some eats and sleep!
Charles got lost.
Lost in the area he has worked in for 20 years. Reassuring Charles… only lions, cheetahs and hyenas out there. At least I was one of the fastest on the bus that way survival of the fittest would play out to my advantage.
Charles got some directions from some of the locals and decided he knew where he was going again. He made his way towards a dried out river bed, in order to cross it to save us valuable time (we were already 2 hours late to camp).
Charles tipped the bus. TIPPED THE BUS.
In what was possibly my favorite accident of all time we had to all climb out the roof that we had opened to take pictures of the animals who were probably going to make us a midnight snack now that we were standing around our ride attempting to imagine how we were going to right ourselves.
Charles played it off like a true champ and told us to get ready to push. I could tell that Charles experience in winter driving and getting him out of snow banks really paid off here. He just kept slamming on the gas, spraying a delightful shower of stones and dust into whoever was foolish enough to be pushing from behind. Diggin’ a hole was never so appropriate. After a few minutes of fruitless efforts by our man Charles we actually managed to climb out way out of the hole and we were back on our way to eat.
We got back to picture taking, and we only stalled once out in the middle of the jungle right next to some feeding lions.
After the whole weekend was over… I realized just how awesome this story could be if it just had some theme music. The theme from “Charles in Charge” seems perfect, so I am making a PowerPoint to send back to Canada so everyone can enjoy my trip with Charles as much as I did!
This post is totally dedicated to Charles and his broken bus. Who only got a tip because other people totally made me feel bad about not giving anything more than 10 shillings. With about 7 hours of time lost due to broken and tipped buses… I thought I had a case. But you know me… a big softy at heart.
Devan
Well with the weekend quickly approaching once again I decided it was time I allotted some space to keep you all up to date on my crazy little life.
Since we have last talked not a lot has happened in terms of accommodations and work so I will mainly get you in the know about my weekend activities!
Last weekend I went on my very first safari to Masai Mara! It was absolutely amazing. Ever since I have been here I have been wondering where all of the animals had gone and I quickly found out after my 6 hour drive across Kenyan terrain. Due to the fact that I have actually managed to secure a faster internet line, I have decided to let the pictures do the talking. Each of these was ACTUALLY taken by me, so if you think that the quality is amazing remember who to give mad props to.
alt="Amazing" />But the adventure didn’t end just with the animals… the driver I went with also added a little spice to the whole event. Charles was our driver and he has been at the game for about 20 years… he knew what was what in the Serengeti. Unfortunately poor Charles had absolutely no idea how to drive or fix a vehicle. I knew that the broke-down bus we were traveling in was going to be trouble when it didn’t start in the parking lot of the safari company. But it wasn’t until we were in the middle of a secluded road under +30 temperatures that the old girl decided she would really kick the bucket. So after about 20 minutes of waiting around… another bus finally came. Did Charles tell the other driver to drive us to the Mara? Hell no. Charles had the other bus tow us for about a kilometer until he could get it push started.
We arrived to the gate of the Mara to be absolutely overwhelmed with the ladies peddling their goods. When I mean overwhelmed... I am talking 12 old ladies climbing into our bus and shoving cheap little giraffe looking things in our faces and screaming “2 for 500” and after we said no.. They did what any good business person would do... the adjusted the price. “Ok for you... 2 for 500, but only because I like you.” Their skill in the art of negotiation is only topped by their beauty and intrigue.
Charles mean while was chilling with his big army dudes with AK-47’s. He was in negotiations to keep the costs low for us. But being that we had already paid 8000 shillings for the trip, I was about ready to snap when he told me it was going to be about 1200 more per day we were in the market. After some obvious fake negotiation on Charles’ part, he managed to BARGAIN them down to a mere 250 shillings per day… and apparently everyone else thought that as just great. Except me of course. Tips were dwindling fast.
After finally creeping our way through the door past 4 smiling AK toting army thugs, we were off to see some animals!
After our little picture taking spree (of which by this time I had taken a mere 200 pictures) we headed back to camp for some eats and sleep!
Charles got lost.
Lost in the area he has worked in for 20 years. Reassuring Charles… only lions, cheetahs and hyenas out there. At least I was one of the fastest on the bus that way survival of the fittest would play out to my advantage.
Charles got some directions from some of the locals and decided he knew where he was going again. He made his way towards a dried out river bed, in order to cross it to save us valuable time (we were already 2 hours late to camp).
Charles tipped the bus. TIPPED THE BUS.
In what was possibly my favorite accident of all time we had to all climb out the roof that we had opened to take pictures of the animals who were probably going to make us a midnight snack now that we were standing around our ride attempting to imagine how we were going to right ourselves.
Charles played it off like a true champ and told us to get ready to push. I could tell that Charles experience in winter driving and getting him out of snow banks really paid off here. He just kept slamming on the gas, spraying a delightful shower of stones and dust into whoever was foolish enough to be pushing from behind. Diggin’ a hole was never so appropriate. After a few minutes of fruitless efforts by our man Charles we actually managed to climb out way out of the hole and we were back on our way to eat.
We got back to picture taking, and we only stalled once out in the middle of the jungle right next to some feeding lions.
After the whole weekend was over… I realized just how awesome this story could be if it just had some theme music. The theme from “Charles in Charge” seems perfect, so I am making a PowerPoint to send back to Canada so everyone can enjoy my trip with Charles as much as I did!
This post is totally dedicated to Charles and his broken bus. Who only got a tip because other people totally made me feel bad about not giving anything more than 10 shillings. With about 7 hours of time lost due to broken and tipped buses… I thought I had a case. But you know me… a big softy at heart.
Devan
2 Comments:
At 7:12 PM, Anonymous said…
Okay first time mom has left comments...that is too funny...and pictures to boot. Life is never boring with you son...
At 9:59 PM, Anonymous said…
At least that's better than a nickel!!
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