Trip to Samburu

We left Nairobi at 8.30am to head for our first safari- Samburu National Park about 300km north of Nairobi. We travelled in a seven seater van - with no suspension! What a journey! It took eight hours and the roads were terrible. There are five in our group. Me and Margaret, Jim and Janet Smith and our driver - Felix. Felix is softly spoken and his English is not great which means that I had difficulty hearing what he was saying.

The journey passed through the Equator which was the highlight of an otherwise miserable trip. Everywhere we stopped we were beseiged with people looking for money. You daren't say "Hello" to anyone since the conversation invariably ended-up with them asking for money. We passed through some grim towns. I was surprised at the poverty.

We arrived at Samburu at 5pm - and immediately had a safari. It was fantastic. We saw a giraffe, monkeys, gazelles and lots of birds.

We're staying at Samburu Serena Lodge. It is beautiful. Really stunning. Our house (number 59) is at the very end of the camp. It's very high quality accommodation. Very clean. It was great to get a rest after the long journey to get here.

We had dinner at 8.30pm and went to bed at 10.30pm. I'm totally exhausted.