May 2005 Kenya/Tanzania, Africa Trip Report Part 1 London Our 3rd trip to Africa was a visit to Kenya and Tanzania to see the Great Migration. We'd been to Morocco and South Africa before but this was probably our first "real" African experience in terms of the landscape, people and wildlife. We arranged this trip via 2 Afrika, & they contracted our trip to various safari outfitters. The Kenya land arrangements were arranged by the agent Naked Wilderness Afrika and the Tanzania portion was handled by Leopard Tours. Both did a pretty good job of organizing our events. To get to Africa via the States we decided to break up the long trip by stopping for a few days in London on the way.... They call this the tube, London, England May 20 Fri Geez, London is expensive! We really have to watch our money here as the dollar is so weak against the pound. At Heathrow Airport we take the tube to Green Park and drop our luggage off at our hotel. We are staying at the Mayfair Holiday Inn on Berkley St, it is a pretty good value (for pricey London that is!) and has a great location. For lunch we visit Moaz Falafel on Old Compton Way. We sit in the window seats and order the falafel wrap with hummus. This place has a bar at the counter with condiments & we make many trips back to it to add hot sauce to our wraps. Good stuff and cheap too. After lunch we walk over the Golden Jubilee Bridge to the artsy South Bank area of London. We visit the fabulous Saatchi Gallery. It is full of modern art with some cool paintings by Marlene Dumas (check out "Die Baba") and splatter paintings by Hermann Nitsch. We visit a room that has a ledge that seems to be high over another floor below. But it is actually a room filled with oil that reflects the ceiling. I ask the guard how they filled it up but he has no clue. Marlene Dumas "Die Baba" Martin Kippenberger's "Paris Bar Berlin" as seen @ Saatchi Museum, London, England After a morning of modern art we take an expensive ride on the London Eye observation wheel. It is also known as the Millennium Wheel & at the time it was built it was the largest/tallest observation wheel in the world. We board a capsule along with about 22 other people. You are free to walk around inside the capsule, though seating is also provided. It has some nice views of the city but the slow ride is probably not worth the money. Approaching the London Eye in London, England I have a good friend that lives in London and we meet him in the evening @ a local pub called the Star and Garter on Poland Street in the Soho District. The place is packed with workers celebrating the beginning of the weekend. After a drink there we have dinner in the basement of a Japanese place in Soho. On the way back to the hotel we visit another pub called the French House before heading back to the hotel. The streets of Soho are very crowded on the weekends! Sat May 21 A rainy & dreary day out, how English! To keep costs down we grab some sandwiches from the Pret a Manger in Piccadilly Circus. I read an interesting article in the Guardian about Mary Ellen Mark's new book "Exposure" (photos of circuses, homeless people, and Bombay street walkers) over lunch. We head back to the South Bank area to visit the Tate Modern. This place is a converted factory and is full some off-the-wall art. I admire Julian Opie's real-size wooden model of a Volvo ("You are Driving a Volvo"), Jeff Koons's "Three Ball 50/50 Tank" (consisting of three basket balls floating in water, which half-fills a glass tank in a tank) and the note for Craig Martin's 1973 "An Oak Tree" ("While this appears to be a glass of water on a shelf, the artist believes it to be an oak tree"). After the Tate we take the tube over to the Portobello Market. I eye a nice red army coat for sale that my wife says is too "British Sea Power". We enjoy a lovely falafel with rocket at Pitta The Great (272 Portobello Road), I only wish they had a hot sauce counter like Moaz Falafel. We watch some Japanese tourists inquire about the strange mushrooms for sale in the market. My wife picks up some cool homemade clothes at a stall. In the afternoon we check out the Arsenal vs. Manchester football match at a pub called the Hedgehog and Pheasant. The crowd is pretty into the game. We leave with my friend to have dinner at his flat in the suburb of Bromley. On the train ride out there we pass the Battersea Power Station (a defunct power station) that some may recognize from the cover of Pink Floyd's "Animals" record. Animals by the Pink Floyd Sun May 22nd After checking out of our hotel in the morning we visit the trendy Camden Town area of London. My wife picks up some nice trainers at a local shop and I continue my hummus trend by having a wrap at a place called Marathon Kebab on Chalk Farm Road. I've been here before and it turns into a nice nightspot after the sun goes down. After some shopping in the tiny market stalls nearby that blare techno music we head over to Tower Bridge and walk around the Tower of London for bit. See the seven ravens that are required to stay at the Tower according to tradition. If they leave the grounds both Tower and Monarchy will fall (they keep them on the grounds by feeding them raw meat and bird formula biscuits soaked in blood). Tower Bridge, London, England It is time to leave London so we take the tube to Heathrow Airport surrounded by some obnoxious English teenagers. I pick up an issue of NME paper for the plane ride to Kenya. We try to guess which of the passengers in the airport lounge will be on our safari tour but there are too many folks dressed in safari outfits so who knows! I'm gonna stick to normal clothes for the trip although I did bring some kaki pants. I sleep through most of the eight hour flight to Nairobi. The plane supplied by Kenya Airways seems pretty rundown but thankfully there are no issues and we land safely. On to Part 2 Nairobi, Kenya Trip Report Index