Nairobi, Week One

Greta provided some stories and pictures of our week together, but again, so that my memories (especially of all the delicious food!) get recorded, too, here’s the travelogue I kept while we were there, along with additional photos of terrific memories made!

 

Thursday, January 1: arrived to Rosslyn Valley and the Bailey front door at 9 am, to the shock and delight of Nicole, Duncan, Rex, Jack, and Kira. It was such a fun surprise!  We enjoyed a delicious mimosa brunch, and later River Cafe samosas and chips that were fries (as they say, IYKYK!).  The Karura Forest Hike with the Baileys, Ingrid, and the McVety/Van Giesen Family was just what we needed to shake out our legs after the long travel days, and we returned to a delicious Damond-made brisket with roasted sweet potatoes and haricot vert. The day was lovely, but led to a sad goodbye to Nicole and her kids as their vacation ended just as ours was starting.

            

 

Awesome example of Crown Shyness (as explained by Greta!) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday January 2: Pelle provided quiet company this morning.  Such a sweet kitty!

 

A quick trip to Wilson airport to drop off Jack and Ingrid for their vacation in Diani Beach, followed by a pleasant ride to the Karen Blixen Museum. Fascinating story about quite the can-do woman. We enjoyed the tour and I started documenting Cats of Kenya, which I thought would make a nice compilation over the coming days.  

I sadly lost one of my favorite bracelets on the grounds when I took off my sweater. Once I realized it was missing, I searched for it in vain and had just given up and was heading to meet up with the Baileys, who were enjoying coffee at the café while Greta and I took the tour.  Imagine my surprise when one of the artists who was selling prints and carvings came up and said his brother had found it! So very lucky!! I didn’t have KES yet, so tipped generously in American dollars, which I think was a surprise to him, but seemed appropriate to me! We then enjoyed a delicious lunch at Cultiva (a farm-to-table restaurant) with smoked fish (that rivaled the Girard specialty!) and guac with root crisps, followed by an onion jam, Brie, and fig pizza, and Heritage Spritz (consisting of elderflower liquor, Campari, Vermouth, Rosso, Grappa, amarena, and bubbles)! 

 

Following lunch, we voyaged to a very crowded Giraffe Center where it was thrilling to be eye level with my favorite animal. The male giraffe was HUGE--his head really is that big! Also consider that we are on a platform walkway that is ~6 feet off the ground and Greta and I are both 5'10"...

I especially enjoyed the nature walk in the forest across the street, where trees had signs describing the medicinal uses of leaves, bark, and branches. We rounded out the day with a little shopping at Village Market

 

Saturday January 3: A lovely leisurely morning with breakfast on the patio, cuddles with Pelle, and relaxation in the yard. The garden is simply exquisite, complete with a bee hive that they collect honey from!

 

The Bailey Bee Box!

 

 

The plan for today was another excursion we couldn’t take in 2024 due to the demonstrations. We headed towards Ongata Rongai to visit Kitengala Glass, which is simply a magical place. An entire blog post could be devoted to the rugged road conditions we travelled...thank goodness for the Land Rover! Greta, Kira, and I enjoyed shaping and blowing glass; so much fun and thrilling to create (Greta and Kira chose tumblers and I chose a paperweight). Damond videoed 13 minutes of my creation effort...if I can figure out how to get it added to Vimeo, I'll link to it later! Lunch at the café on site was a 1/2 a yummy burger with fries and Rose and 1/2 spinach and artichoke quiche (G and I shared). We then shopped at Mini So with Kira to pick out lip and face masks, and also popped into Zucchini to pick up some Cranberry Cinnamon bread for breakfast on Sunday. Dinner was baked chicken wings with homemade spicy fries and salad. We also started watching My Girl, which the Bailey Bunch had never seen!!

 

 Sunday January 4: Attended the Bailey’s church, Lavington Vineyard, and enjoyed a wonderful first-of-2026 Testimony Sunday service. Meaningful sharing from community and delightful hymns, including Great Is Thy Faithfulness, which really resonated with me. We walked from church to Greta’s soon-to-be apartment building at Njema Court Apts, picked up snacks for Monday’s bike ride, and returned home to enjoy lovely tuna on toasted olive tapenade bread with chips and carrot/cucumber spears. Finished My Girl and had Anneli’s saucy beef & pepper stew over rice for dinner. Very tasty…lots of butter and cream!

Monday January 5: up at 6am because of the 6:45 car pickup for a day trip to Lake Naivasha/Hells Gate National Park. A very memorable bike ride with our guide, Gadaffe (who made a fun TikTok of our morning), past zebras, giraffes, baboons, monkeys, water buffalo, birds, whistling thorns and echoing rock walls. With one minor biking mishap when I hit a pit of sand and instantly stopped and tipped over (no worries, my ego was more bruised than my body), it was a perfect ride. Of course, Rob remembers the mantra from our 20s: if Carey doesn’t crash, it wasn’t a good ride! We were fortunate to have a guide well-known by the park rangers, as the guard let us traverse the restricted gorge, which is closed to the public following flash floods that resulted in hikers being injured or killed. With a lovely forecast there was no risk from weather, and we enjoyed spectacular rock formations and foliage.  The hot and cold springs, side by side, were fascinating (the maggots in the water from a deceased giraffe in the gorge above, not so much)! I have some terrific videos of our ride, which (again) I intend to add to Vimeo!

The ride out at noontime made us very glad to have had such an early start, as many of the wild animals had retreated into cool shadows or were laying down and difficult to spot. I felt bad for tourists just starting their bike rides. As we left the park, Anneli texted to share that she had made a reservation for us to lunch at a nearby farm sanctuary, which has rescued wildlife around the property. I enjoyed Kenya’s National Dish, nyama choma (lamb) with cassava gnocchi and Greta dined on a diavola pizza (with salami). Our post-ride refreshing beverage of choice (in addition to sparkling water) was delicious dawas.

Following lunch we received a tour of the Naivasha Raptor Centre with Wisse, a Dutch intern who introduced us to 42 birds in various phases of rehabilitation. Fascinating stories of rehab and resilience combined with guilt over the knowledge that the injuries more often than not stem from the activities of humans. We had a little bonus engagement with the birds who had picked a latch and entered into a new enclosure that Wisse was building for an owl. They were very reluctant to exit, and unfortunately one injured its wing trying to get out of the space…meaning more rehab! Wisse’s persistence in getting them to relocate was very entertaining. At the end of the tour, we experienced Phil perching on our arms, which was thrilling… he’s a real charmer!

Dinner at home was pasta carbonara and tomato/basil/mozzarella salad. Awesome carb load after the day of hiking and biking!

Tuesday January 6: Another outing that was on our list for ’24 that we couldn’t do: Toi Market and a tour of the Swedish School!  But first a very leisurely morning followed by lunch at a delicious Japanese restaurant called Misono, located in The Green House in Nairobi. Katsu Don for me and spicy tuna rolls with veggie fried rice for Greta. Tempura shrimp for Kira, and a shared sushi platter for Jack, Ingrid, and Anneli. We scored the private room, with sunken table, much to Kira’s delight. 

Once complete, we endured a traffic-dodging walk to Toi Market, Nairobi’s massive thrift marketplace. With deep and dark corridors offering everything from Adidas and Uggs to Patagonia and Ralph Lauren, we were very glad to have Jack help navigate the twists and turns to get to his favorite vendors. That also helped ensure we didn’t even have to barter, since the Bailey price already saved many dollars. It was nice to see the Swedish School compound, where many Swedes (who aren’t even in Kenya) send their kids for boarding school. Jack will graduate in June and we’ll be able to perfectly picture his capping and graduation ceremony in the lovely courtyard. (Emma arrived with his cap later during our visit...here's a sneak peak!)

 Dinner featured Anna’s homemade stew with yummy chapati.

Wednesday January 7: This was one of the few days where we had to set an alarm to ensure a 5:15 am wake up to meet Alex at 6 for a morning game drive at Nairobi National Park. Spectacular viewing of babies: white rhino, crocodile, zebra, and giraffe! There were also water buffalo, impala, oryx, hippos, gazelles. We didn’t spy any cats today unfortunately—they were deep in the shade.

Following the drive, we attended the daily feeding at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, which operates the most successful orphan elephant rescue and rehabilitation program in the world. In addition to the baby elephants, they are also currently rehabbing a black rhino and a baby zebra. Amazing to see how fast they can chug 2 liter bottles of the specialty mixture designed to mimic mother’s milk! We enjoyed their recess antics for an hour then headed to MetBronze restaurant at Anneli’s recommendation for a delicious lunch with feta coriander samosas, chicken pesto ciabatta for me, chicken curry for Greta, and ottolenghi salad. Plus sparkling water and a Pimms cup. Delish!

4:30 brought Kira’s riding lesson with her horse, Pringle. Loved watching her canter and gallop and figure 8 around the ring. Pringle is pretty sassy, and she did a great job steering him as coached. I also captured some additional Cats of Kenya.

Dinner of vegetable lasagna and salad and then took Greta to her apartment and got her moved in.  A lovely three-bedroom, two-bath apartment, with a nice living room, dining area, kitchen, and laundry room. She is on the 4^th floor which is actually the 5^th floor since the first level is counted as the ground. Since she was the first to arrive, the manager put her bags into the master bedroom, which featured a full-size bed, lots of built in closet and dresser space, and her own bathroom.  Her two roommates were scheduled to arrive much later in the evening.

And that wraps week one! Week two highlights will be posted soon!