Mombassa Day Three

We were out of the ship by 9, trying to find a taxi. We were with another couple, so we let him do the bargaining. We were surrounded by taxi drivers. We wanted one with A/C and who spoke English. One lady insisted she could do that. We looked at her car, it was about 20 years old and her A/C was open windows! That wouldn't work! We got on the shuttle bus to downtown and were able to find a nice taxi in front of a hotel.

We headed out of town a bit to an animal park called Haller Park. It is part of the Bamburi Park. In the 50's it was a quarry that had been totally tapped out. They decided to try to rehabilitate the land and started with a few bugs and plants to build up the soil again. Now, about 50 years later, it has become almost jungle like with dense foliage. At Haller, they raise tilapia to sell to local hotels to earn money. They have several hippos, 2 that were saved from a zoo in Germany. They also have a small herd of giraffe, which was the main reason for visiting the park. We got to feed them! We were given pellets to put in our hands. The giraffe reached over the fence and with a lot of slobber, grabbed the food from us with their big, hairy lips. It was a great experience. Now we've fed kangaroos, elephants and giraffes!

We went back into town to the hotel where we had gotten the taxi. It looked like it had been one of the finer hotels years ago. I had ice cream for lunch. We crossed the street to a huge craft store which was located on the second floor of the building. The prices were a bit higher, but it was air conditioned! They had very nice wood sculptures, batik pictures and good quality T's. We spent some time there then returned to the ship.

Once at the pier, we wanted to drop off our goodies at our cabin before shopping, but the vendors just draw you in. We purchased a few things (I bought a gorgeous wood cheetah that is about 22" high) then had to return to the ship, we couldn't carry anything else. We had lunch then returned to the pier. By this time, it was almost 3 pm. We were to be back onboard by 4. The vendors knew this and were selling everything very cheaply, accepting almost any offer you gave them. Other passengers were buying HUGE wooden giraffes, some as much as 8' tall! We were requested to turn our wooden items in to the ship to go in the freezer for several days. It would kill the termites. The hall just inside the gang way was full of giraffes. Wish I'd gotten a picture of that! We took our wooden items to our room to pack them well before turning them in. A friend told her one of her pieces had been damaged last year.

Once again it was wonderful to be back on the ship, take a nice cool shower and feel normal again. I couldn't believe how hot Kenya was. Hopefully our next ports will be a bit cooler.