The main attraction of Kenya that I am here to visit is Mt. Kilamanjaro. I arrived in Nairobi, Kenya at noon. I picked up my rental car that I used for my ten day stay in Kenya. This nine day rental on an economy car cost me $412. For my food in Kenya I purchased 100 euros worth of imparishable foods in France to sustain me for this trip. Since there are no flight from Kenya to Uganda I drove the rental car. My first stop along my way to Mt. Kilamanjaro was in Nairobi National Park. There I stayed in the Nairobi Safari Club. I stayed here for two nights and during my stay I spoke with the president of the Safari Club and discussed the best hunting. As I told him about Ernest Hemingway he told me about how much the laws have changed since Hemingway was around. He informed me that before everything was allowed to be hunted. Now there are every strict restrictions on what can be hunted and how much. I was given a tour of the grounds and informed on the local lifestyle and customs. My stay at Nairobi National Park costed 190$ or 19,000 schillings. From there I drove to Amboseli National Park and stayed in the Amboseli Sopa Lodge there for two nights at a cost of 20,000 schillings. During this stay I traveled to Chyulu Hills which was Ernest Hemingway's favorite hunting spot. From here you could see Mt. Kilamanjaro and the entire plains of Africa. Of all of the places I have traveled to so far this one was the most unchanged. It was simply a large hill with a few scattered trees. They were probably the same scattered trees that Hemingway saw when he stood here. There was not much to do at the hills considering it was just a mound of dirt so I continued to my main destination, Mt. Kilamanjaro. The mountain was not far from the previous place I was sleeping so I continued to sleep there during my visit.
I arrived at Mt. Kilamanjaro on 7/19/09. I met my tour gide at the base of the mountain. He would be the one to guide me throughout my two day tour. The first day we traveled half way up the mountain, which is about as far as you cn go without oxygen tanks. My guide took me to a secluded spot on the mountain that gave you the best view of the surrounding area. I did not even try to take a picture because I knew the photograph would put to shame the beautiful sight that was bestowed upon me. I could see all of the plains and the clouds molded into one beautiful sculpture with animals scattered about in packs and herds. This sight was what Africa was and what it is about... harmony.The weather on the mountain was around 20 degrees Fahrenheit and on our walk down the guide described to me in fluent english that the mountain was actually a dormant volcano with three volcano cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira. The second day we did more of the same and he showed me different views of the mountain and the things around it. After my tour of Mt. Kilamanjaro I felt like I had seen every nook and cranny of Africa and had seen all I needed to see.
My next destination was the Entebbe International Airport in Uganda. Entebbe is on the northern side of Lake Victoria. But before I reached Lake Victoria I stopped at a few places along the way. My first stopp was in Murchison Falls there a local man took me to the place where Ernest Hemingway survived his first plane crash. With broken English he described how his there was still some leftover scrapmetal from the plane crash. He even let me take apiece as a souvenir. This small piece of metal would mean little to anyone else but a true Hemingway fan. I thanked the man and payed him 1000 schillings for his services. Next, I traveled to Butiaba which was the area of the second plane crash.Finally I reached my final destination for the night. I arrived at Lake Victoria Hotel on 7/23/09 at approximately 1 p.m. This gave me enough time to tour Lake Victoria and to prepare for my flight to Cairo egypt the next day at 5:15 p.m.
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