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The Bollywood to South Beach Voyage - Regent Seven Seas Voyager, October 29-December 18, 2009

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Eight

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November 12 (Thursday, Day 15, Mombasa, Kenya) -

In the van, on the dock

Our day started early since our trip to Tsavo East National Park left at 7:30. We boarded our non-air-conditioned van with pop-up roof for our 60-mile drive to the park. The 6 of us each got a window seat which is ideal for a game drive. We were on the main “highway” that goes from Mombasa to Nairobi. We saw some trucks, very few cars and even fewer bicycles (and basically no scooters or motorcycles). Many people were walking along the highway and half of them were barefoot. We don’t know where they were going. We would come upon a “village” every few miles or so that seemed to be made up of a few one-room “buildings” and some one-room “houses” way behind the buildings. Most were made of the red clay dirt. It was interesting to see the men and women working in the fields. They appeared to be personal farms and the workers (maybe husband and wife?) were hoeing with what looked like homemade tools.

More after the jump . . .

A roadside shop

Upscale shopping options

A big herd of cattle

Flowers along the route

A furniture shop

The corner hardware store

After a quick stop at a curio shop for a bathroom break, we were on the road again. The bathroom did have toilets and toilet paper, but they didn’t flush since there didn’t appear to be any water in the tanks. The curio shop and bathrooms were obviously for tourists and no one else. It was the only place like it we saw due to its large size and relative “prosperity”. We also encountered our first wildlife when we saw a male (grey with red stripes) and female (teal blue with an orange head) lizard. (By the way, this shore excursion wasn’t one of the complimentary ones that Regent offered and did cost $199 each. It was well worth the price.)

The rest stop

Male lizard at the rest stop

Female lizard at the rest stop

The entrance to the park

Next: Into Tsavo East National Park!