Date received: Fri Mar 23 2001, 10:33 AM PST
Well, I am now on a tiny island off the coast of Kenya, very near the Somali
border. We (Diana, the Argentinian) and I are still traveling together, and
we decided to head to the beach after being in the cold of the mountains.
The coast of Kenya is an interesting place, with a long history of trade
with the Arab world. As a result, there is a very strong Muslim influence.
Lamu is a wonderful, peaceful island, where nothing happens quickly,
especially internet connections. This place ranks as the hardest and most
expensive place to connect to the internet I've ever found in the world:
US$24 to send one email via yahoo! As a result, this mail is being sent
from their general account as part of a batch of mail which goes out daily.
I should be here for a couple of days, and then I will head out on my own
again, most likely heading for Nairobi.
We finally did make it to Ngorongoro crater, but it was rather a fiasco. We
managed to hook up with three people from Germany so that we could get a
cheap price on a trip, but the company we chose was a disaster, so we spent
a lot of time dealing with logistics. Even so, Ngorongoro was a beautiful
place; it is a caldera, an old collapsed volcano, and in it a
self-contained microcosm of wildlife. Inside live lions, gnus, gazelles,
rhino, elephants, etc.
Needless to say, internet connections for at least the next few days is slim
to none. I appologize if you've sent me mail and I haven't replied. I
really won't be able to even read my mail until I get back to Nairobi. I
have a bunch of new photos uploaded, but I won't be able to configure the
server until later...
peter
