Oh, it feels good to be in Kenya. As I mentioned in a previous blog, several of us bound for the Astronomy annular eclipse 2010 trip had our journeys truncated due to bad weather in London, and got off to a late start. Thus, instead of leaving on Saturday, January 9, we flew from Chicago to London on Tuesday the 12th. We then had the good fortune of finding our London to Nairobi flight canceled. For whatever reason, about an inch of icy snow on the runways or the inability to clear it quickly enough canceled dozens of Heathrow flights. (What constituted “Frozen Britain” would have been a casual dusting in Milwaukee, I thought, and nothing whatsoever would have closed — airports included.) This brave segment of eclipse travelers consisted of Indira and Vasudeva Vadali from Chicago, Donald and Janet Klemt from Racine, Wisconsin, well-known astroimager Dennis Mammana of Borrego Springs, California, and me.
By the time we got out of a very familiar Heathrow Airport, it was half a day after we arrived, and we didn’t get to Nairobi until Thursday morning, the 14th. Most of the rest of the group of about 30 had spent two days in Nairobi and then two days on the game reserve in Samburu; by Thursday the 14th, at Lake Nakuru, we were all united, and led by Melita Thorpe of MWT Associates, Astronomy’s travel partner. Before heading out on the road, however, we did catch a breakfast at the upscale Norfolk Hotel, where Theodore Roosevelt set off for game hunts, and explored visions of Nairobi, a bustling city of four million. From afar, we saw the site of the U.S. Embassy Bombing, along with happier locales.
I say “visions” because the travel was taking its toll. By Thursday night, Dennis and I, statistical leaders (or just unable to sleep on planes), were leading the count at 50-some hours of being awake continuously, which doesn’t do much for mental acuity. To cap it off, British Airways (the canceled flight) sent us to Kenya Airlines, and between the two, the luggage failed to arrive. Just another day in paradise. But I cannot complain: temperatures are running in the high 70s and mid 80s (Fahrenheit) and the beautiful equatorial Sun is very soothing to someone who has been living in a climate akin to Antarctica for the past several weeks.
We took one game drive into the park that surrounds Lake Nakuru, excitedly spotting creatures of all types from afar, not realizing it was just a warm-up for longer, more serious explorations to come. The group stayed at the lovely and very comfortable Sarova Lion Hill Game Lodge within Lake Nakuru National Park, we enjoyed terrific food and eventually, rest. First, though, the intrepid Dennis Mammana provided a talk on photographic techniques and processing and provided the details of the eclipse that would come in the morning. After that, we simply staggered away and collapsed into a deep sleep.