yul at Tsavo

The yuletides is almost over!
I hope all of you had a really good time amongst loved ones!

I celebrated in Tsavo East national park with a bunch of fins and brits, we choose to do the "scandi" xmas on the 24 and the switch in to brittish xmas on the 25.

After the loong drive to Tsavo (wich my car did without complaints!) we arrived after dark in the park and had a ranger show us to the "special Campsite" we had booked. The idea of staying in the real bush seemed a lot more fun when planned in Nairobi than when we arrived in the dark to a tiny clearing in the bush where the last weeks of rains had caused vegetation to explode; the grass was chest high, there was a million bugs all over and we coudnt see anything that made the place remotely suited as a campsite.. The main attraction of the place was that it was close to a swamp.. great in the dry season as animals come to drink and leopards like to hanh out and wait for mamals, but in the rainyseason it had turned in to a mosquito breeding ground.. So we decided to go to the public campsite where the grass had been cut and there was acces to a cold shower and a real toilet..
We gor out ents up all right and managed too cook in the dark. I was put on fire duty and had to collect firewood in the pichblack bush only equipped with my head torch and my machete. Great fun! Lets just say that there are many strange sounds in the African night and that the bugs are quite alot bigger than in Denmark.

On the 24 we had a talk about our xmas celebrations and decided to do the "scandi" xmas as tradition bids it on the 24 and then let the brits take over on their xmas day the 25.¨'
We then did a 3 hours game drive and the 3 newbs (2 finnish girls and one brittish girl) was luck enough to see both giraffes, Hyena, loads of elephants, zebras + the normal score of antilopes and birds. Due to recent rains the thicket was.. well.. very very thick.. and spotting felines was practically impossible.
When we returned to camp we emidiately started cooking, I set up a tiny xmas twig and the finns decorated it and began preparing glögg for everybody.
As the finns were all vegetarians the xmas dinner was fish and loads of veggetables. we did drink quite a bit too, and after the finns had entertained us with a few of their tradtionally melancollic carrols I was asked to entertain a bit.
As I had not prepared anything and was asked for a song I opted for "nu er det jul igen" (a traditional danisk yulesong where u have to run around "train"wise") I went down fairly well with me singing and one of the brits leadinf the "train" the act was repeated later after lots more beer and Gintonics...
We had our dinner by the fire and afterwards sat by the nearby river and took in the beautifull scenery. The silent clucking of the river, a couple of more finnish xmas songs and a moment of collective silence to remember people back home made the evening a quite memorable one.
And then we got more drunk...

The next morning the local gang of baboons had raided the camp in search of food. they basically open up whatever they can get their little hands on and eat whatever they find tasty and scatters the rest around. Quite a mess to clean up.

I had quite bad hangovers.. hight humidity and 32 degrees celsius did not help my mood so I slept quite alot that day.
I did manage to get out of bed whan a young elephant male crossed the river right by out camp and loudly trupheted his intentions to do so before hed waded across..

The brits did actually do a wonderfull xmasjob, with a beutifull laid table and fantastic food, lots of singing and presents for everyone. To me the 24 was the climax and the 25 sheer bonus and all in all xmas was good!

Packing the camp up offcause took longer than anticipated and we begun our drive home by drooping off the finns by the bus station so they could cach a bus to Lamu and saying goodbye to one car of brits going too mombassa.
Arriving in Nairobi in the rains and afte dark was not really funny, and this morning my car wouldnt start.. My mom dad and brother is comming tonight and the day after tomorrow we are supposed to drive down to Masai Mara.. So I am at work trying to find a fast mechanic and planning the last things for my guests..

I am currently negotiating with the embassy whether to stay half a year more and start writing my "speciale" (final thesis) here. So any of yoyu who still feel like comming to see me and expiriencing one of Africas most beautifull countries now is the time to start planning!

Once again I hope u all had a great xmas and I hope that your new years will be great fun!
Hugs
Asger