31 août 2006
Crater Lake
I spent last weekend in one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to. I drove to Naivasha, a small resort town on the shores of a large lake, about 2 hours away from Nairobi.
I had a reservation at “Crater Lake camp”, a luxury tented camp by a small volcanic lake (close to 
the main lake - lake Naivasha). The hotel management had told me that I would need to drive through 5 km of dirt road before reaching the place, but that I would be fine with my little Toyota Starlet.
Well, the ride was fine until the tarmac turned into… something that wasn’t even a dirt road. It was just a sand and rock path in the bush, something that would have been hard to tackle even with a 4-wheel drive. This took me by surprise and I crashed the bottom of my car on a rock that was hidden in the sand. Still, I managed to drive all the way to the top of the crater – and there the view was really worth it.
Hundreds of flamingos were offering an interesting contrast with the green water of the lake, which was surrounded by large acacia trees. Rare Colobus monkeys were jumping from tree to tree, calling out at each other.
The camp had only 11 rooms made of large tents that had enough space to hold a four-poster bed. Each tent was linked to a stone bathroom with electricity and hot water. The rooms had their own verandahs with a great view on the lake and its flamingos. On Saturday 
night there
was a short thunderstorm and the lightning reflected on the lake in the dark.
The camp also had its own game park, and during a walk around the crater I bumped into two giraffes. It always does me something to see giraffes in the wild like this, with no fence between me and them.
A great weekend really. On the other hand, the ride back was quite a nightmare. The shock on the rock had damaged by back wheels and the car had lost its balance. It was drifting unpredictably and very difficult to control. I had to have it fixed before heading for Nairobi.
First I had wondered why nobody had bothered fixing this road, but in the end it’s probably best that way. It keeps most people away from Crater Lake and hopefully it will stay hidden and exclusive for a little longer.
16 août 2006
Stand up before the movie
I went to the movies for the first time since I got here the other day. Before that I never had the time or the energy to look up the screening times in the newspaper (there’re not on the internet) and then to drive for maybe half an hour to get to the mall where the film is playing. But apart from these downsides, movie theatres are nice and new here, very much like American theatres, and they show all the recent movies.
Anyway, I was enjoying the preview when all of a sudden the Kenyan flag appeared on the screen and the national anthem started playing. Everybody stood up. I had to stood up too or face the risk to be thrown out.
Kenya is not an authoritarian regime and I still can’t figure out exactly what purpose this fake demonstration of patriotism is supposed to serve.
13 août 2006
Eeew
Ok, I think I have enough. It’s the third time in a few weeks that Kenyan tv shows a baby born with a horrible deformity – and not the same one, it’s the THIRD BABY. One was born with his heart outside of his body. Yes, you read it well, with his heart OUTSIDE his body. He only survived a few days. The one I just saw honestly I couldn’t really describe what it looked like. It had huge eyes like a fish’s. Then there was the one that we couldn’t see because the nurses didn’t have the courage to show it to its mother. Oh and there was also that kid with half a face – he got mauled by a dog after his mother abandoned him on a dumpster. You probably heard about it in the States because an American couple paid for the surgery that would enable him to get a new face.
The parents never seem bothered about the cameras or about the idea that their deformed kid will be seen by millions of people. Amazing.
07 août 2006
First interview
I did my first interview the other day. By “first interview” I don’t mean the first interview I conducted of course, but the first interview someone did of me. It was for the BBC French Service (one of my clients) and about my book.
I have to say that it was a good thing it wasn’t live. It’s much easier to ask the questions that to answer them. Fun though to hear the editor saying “Marie Lora, whom our listeners know well because she’s our correspondent in Kenya”. They know me well really? I’m not convinced.
