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Early Friday morning we drove away from Awassa towards Addis Ababa. In Mojo we stopped once again because we had to give something to the sisters there. So we ate breakfast there. As soon as we arrived in Addis, we went straight to the tourist part of the town to see if we could find some traditional clothes. After a great shopping, we wanted to drink something and eat something little, so we went to a restaurant near. As we were sited, Boniface went out to let his shoes been brushed and as I wanted to say to the waiter that he has to bring his drink outside, I touched his tablet in his hand and a coffee cup fell on the ground. The next accident happen just after as I toke some of the broken pieces from the ground, still sitting on the chair. There was some kind of a crack noise and as I stood up, the chair was broken too. So that wasn't my lucky Restaurant. After dinner around 10 o'clock I went to bed for about two hours of sleep and at exactly 5 minutes to two in the morning I checked in at the airport. But I had to wait another two hours before my airplane finally left the ground on his way to Nairobi. In the plain I got some international normal breakfast, from which I was only allowed to eat the fruit salad. At arrival in the airport, I had to apply for a Visa, which I got without any problems. More problems caused me to find the sister and brother of Boniface, which were supposed to pick me up. I went to the right side of the entrance hall, they were waiting on the left side but I luckily had the phone number of Angela, the Sister of Boniface and a friendly man was so kind to borrow me his phone. Actually, the cousin of Boniface would have stayed with Angela and me during my Kenya travelling, but because she had a motor accident a few days ago, she was laying in bed with a broken leg. So we wanted to visit her in hospital, but because it was about 8 o'clock in the morning, we weren't allowed to enter. The visiting hours are from 11.00 to 12.00 and from 14.00 to 16.00. That's why her driver brought us to Cecilia's apartment. Cecilia is that cousin of Boniface. There we met her friends and later on we went finally again to the hospital, this time we were allowed to enter. After a short visit, because there were many other friends of her too, the driver took us to the market. When I saw something I liked on the market, I told or Angela or her brother and they purchased it then for me, because if I would have bought it myself, I would have paid double or three times the original price. After a dinner where we ate chicken and chips again, we went back to the apartment. On Sunday morning Angela and I went to the bus station where the bus to Voi already waited for us. We arrived somewhere in the afternoon and were picked up by a friend of Cecilia. We left our things in the hotel and walked a bit in that town. After a quick shower, someone told us to go to a place, where we saw elephants drinking water and leaving again into the wild. It was really nice to see. Early of the 25th of February around 7 o'clock we were sitting in a car on our direction to the tsavo national park in Voi. The first animals we saw outside the gate were antelopes. In the national park itself we saw so many elephants and antelopes, they were all over. Suddenly, some cars especially from the national park passed us and told us to follow them. One of the cars saw some chitas (Wildcats) along the road and informed the others via radio. The cats were still around there and even crossed the road in between of the cars, playing and totally feeling comfortable. Because the friend of Cecilia drives taxi and often takes tourists into the park, he knew where we could find the zebras. There were so many and also two elephants at a water place somewhere in the middle of the park. On our way back we met some Giraffe and finally even some sleeping lions, so we were really lucky to see all these animals. We drove out of the park around midday so in the afternoon we went on by bus to Mombasa, where we also were picked up by another friend of Cecilia. We slept in an apartment near the beach from that friend and even went to see the beach that evening with the ocean and the coconut trees. Because it was low tide, there were a lot of small little crabs coming out of their wholes. I tried to take pictures of them and started tracking them but they were really fast. On Tuesday morning we were up early again. We drove to a beach and we were able to go out with a catamaran, a sailing boat to an island, only there when it's low tide. We saw a lot of sea animals and as we went on, we went to feed the fish with some bread. There were a lot of fishes coming to great us. After a really good Swahili lunch, something called chicken biryiani, we went on to see the mission in Mombasa. One of the priests was coming from the place where Angela grew up, so they knew each other. The mission itself was directly on the beach, a really nice place to stay. He gave us some traditional food and I ate again a bit, but I was still full from lunch. After some hours we decided to go back and because there was a huge car queue in front of the fairy, Angela and I got out of the car and walked to a fish market, which was already coming to its end. I took pictures of all the things they were selling. First as I wanted to take a picture, they told me to pay them. I told them that I don't have money with me, even my cell phone I left in the car so in the end they asked me how much money I wanted. I laughed and told them that I was totally satisfied with the pictures. We went back to the apartment, took our showers and packed our things and went for dinner in a really nice but touristic place. Even the menu was translated into German. I ate some fish. As we finished, we rushed to the bus station because we were supposed to leave at 10.30 in the evening to reach a small town near Angela's home at 4.30 in the morning. We arrived exactly at 4.30 and entered into a small bar/ restaurant where we had a cup of tea and waited for Angela's brother Steven and his friend, who picked us up with their motorbikes. I really liked to sit on the back of the motorbike and after half an hour slow driving we arrived at their home, where everyone already was waiting. But because we decided to go to that place just in the afternoon before that morning, the people were slowly dropping in to greet us, instead of already being there how it would have been as we would have told them earlier. In Kenya it is tradition that every boy has to build his own house when they are still in school so there were a lot of houses in the compound. Angela and Boniface are coming out of a family with 10 children in total, 5 boys and 5 girls. We stayed there during the whole morning till the early afternoon, meeting new people who were coming to greet us. There was one woman called Agnes coming who knows the cousin of my mother really good, as she heard that I would come she went to buy some bracelets and necklaces and she was really happy to meet me. She is a woman who is taking care of a lot of orphan children. She is building houses for them and paying their school and that's where she is working with the cousin of my mother together. She introduced me to one boy who has a house, he is about 14, maybe younger or maybe a bit older and his grandmother died some time ago, she was the last one of the family he still had. So Agnes build a house for that grandmother and is now paying the boarding school for that boy and also repairing his house from time to time, at least if she has the material. After we met a lot of people we went again, because I had to catch the plain in the next morning. Angela's brother Steven and his friend drove us back on the motorbike to the town at the main road where we took the bus to Nairobi. In Nairobi itself we had to wait for the driver, so we went to the workplace of one of the sisters of Angela. She is working as waitress in a Restaurant, while her kids are staying with their grandparents in the village. In the middle of the night from Wednesday 27th of February to Thursday 28th of February we had to get up and get to the airport, because my plane back to Addis was leaving. In Addis there was again a problem with picking me up because this time the man who was supposed to pick me up stayed at the parking station. I think he wasn't allowed to come closer, but I didn't know so I remained somewhere just in front of the airport building. He drove me to the compound of the mission where I waited until Saturday around Lunch till Abba Boniface and Abba Anthony arrived from Dhadim. During these days I didn't do much except working at the computer and sleeping and eating.
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Marlies Hoi Lisa, Klinkt als een erg indrukwekkende reis met al die dieren life. Heb zojuist een prachtige naturfilm gezien over Africa, maar jij ziet het zo maar in het echt! Vraag me alleen af hoeveel uren slaap je hebt gehad in die week! Even een paar dagen bijkomen nu zeker? Grappig om te zien dat je je verhaal 10 minuten geleden geplaatst hebt. Groeten, Marlies