Bye Africa, hello Switzerland!

From Zanzibar back to Nairobi, we spent the last day at Karen Blixens museum and at a jewellery factory in Nairobi. Back "home" around midnight( 24.11.), a short visit to a birthday party and to bed :)

The next challenge is called Switzerland! This journey beginns tomorrow, until then ahead just packing and moving my stuff to my moms place. And a little going away (again) dinner tonight with my girls :) Tomorrow I´ll take the evening ferry from Turku to Stockholm. The next day I´ll drive through Sweden, ferry to Denmark and futher to Germany, around evening I´ll hopefully reach Lübeck, where I´ll stay the night at a friends place. On friday then to Berlin and from there in the afternoon for the weekend to Marburg/ near Frankfurt am Main. The association of finnish med students in Germany is gathering in Marburg this weekend, great to see these friends again, also partying ahead! On sunday, the last part of the road trip to Lucerne! To work on monday, 7.45- 18.30, aaargh.. Quite a difference to Lohja hospital and even less paid! But, I hope the alps and nice locals compensate the shock ;)

Hakuna matata on Zanzibar!

A paradise, at least what comes to the beach resort we stayed at on the east coast :) Otherwise the island was quite dirty, it seemed to be more corrupted than Kenya and the people were much more pushing. But well, it did not bother! The stay in Zanzibar was really relaxing, the sun was shining all the time, the water was warm! I went diving five times, first a short refreshment, which really was necessary! Diving was perfect, clear sight, many colourful fishes, turtles, beautiful coral reefs! We went down to 18-20 m, there were few more experienced divers in the group, they went down to 30 m, but for me it was definetly exiting enough in 18 m! I lost my snorkel on the last trip, I didn´t know it belonged to one of the instructors, awkward.. Besides the snorkel I also lost a reef shoe, just one... But still, can´t wait to go diving again ;) Year off after uni wouldn´t sound bad.. ;) Food at the resort was great, african+ indian style+ fish( barracuda, red snapper, calamari), also bbq one evening! Always plenty of food, every time I ate far too much and regretted ;)

Dolphin tour was also great, we saw plenty of dolphins and swimmed with them, I almost touched one :) We spent the last day in the capital of Zanzibar (the island belongs to Tanzania), in Stone town on the west coast. Again the hotel was luxurious, I could have stayed much longer.. Africans really are soccer fans, actual results were written on a board in the street, in the middle of the town, the day after: Portugal- Finland 0-0. The food was great, again, we ate at a local fish restaurant: lobster, prawns, calamari... Delicious!

... continues

Day 3: Safari in Nakuru, the highlight of this trip were propably three leopards, mom and two kids. Besides these many more of the animals already seen the day before, also monkey babies, learning to climb, funny, they weren´t that balanced yet ;) Posing with hundreds of flamingos, being surrounded by many buffalos... Nice!

Day 4-5: To Masai Mara National Park, again a drive of at least 6 h on bumpy roads, but somehow at least I got used to the roads and felt almost comfortable, weird if it was smooth.. Our lodge was situated in the middle of the park and the animals, no fences! This time the backyard was manned by vervet monkeys, in the evening also by zeebras and impala gazelles, in the night even an elephant had been seen! Again, incredible safaris, the definite highlight were lion babies, they were so cute :) We also saw cheetahs and many elephants more, with various aged babies!

Day 6: To Lake Naivasha, boat ride, many of my favorites, hippos :) No crocos in this lake, quite a birdlife! End of the unforgettable safari, to Zanzibar :)!!!

Jambo!

Back from Africa, it was awesome! The people were very friendly and happy and we saw loads of animals on the safari :) But, from the beginning...

The journey didn´t start too well. Our flight from Helsinki to Amsterdam had 1 hour delay and at that point it seemed impossible to be able to get the next connection from Amsterdam to Nairobi, since we had 20 min time to run from a gate to another and Schipol airport is huge! Well, luckily everything turned out well, we weren´t the only ones late and after an exhausting marathon from gate C12 to F7 there were still 50 other passangers missing.. But it was crazy, the moment the plane arrived at the gate in Amsterdam, everyone stood up immediately to get their stuff form the lockers and started hurrying out of the plane. Never seen such a mess ;) The flight with Kenya airways to Nairobi was very good, great service and food(!), arrived in Nairobi 7 am.

Our safari driver Moffat was already waiting for us at the airport, the safari begun! Incredible views, Nairobi is situated on the top of a rift valley and the way to Lake Baringo went on the edge of this valley. The roads were sometimes quite good (sponsored by EU), but mostly not, so the 200km journey took 6h... After a late lunch we got in to the van again and headed to Lake Bogoria, to see some animals and geysirs. Luckily this trip wasn´t that long, since everyone was very tired after a day of travelling.

Excitement of the evening were hippos, they were having supper at our backyard, right outside of the lodges. This hotel was directly at Lake Baringo, so next morning propably these same Hippos were swimming in the lake and observing us at breakfast.

Day 2: Boat ride at Baringo, many hippos and two crocodiles, many birds, to mention a fish eagle catching a fish.
After the boat ride the trip continued towards Lake Nakuru. Afternoon safari ride, as a starter, right outside to hotel gate, two lions :) Further: zeebras, giraffes, rhinos, flamingos, buffalos, monkeys, a leopard taking a nap, gazelles, antilopes...

Heading to Africa :)

So, had my last day at work at Lohja. Sad but true :( Thanks to everyone, I had a great time, hope you enjoyed the cooperation too! I´d like to get back ASAP, but sadly they do not need a summer dr next year in the anesthesiology/ ER, so my comeback will not happen next summer, yet.. Please, keep me informed about all the huge parties coming ;D

Now I have a few hours left and then I and 6 other people are heading to Nairobi via Amsterdam, tonight, yes! Awesome, especially since the weather in Finland has gotten really ugly and dark... Blaah. The best time to get out of here ;) Two weeks holiday ahead, first a week of safari and afterwards another on Zanzibar. A colleague of mine just spent two weeks in Tanzania/ Serengeti and then snorkled the other week on Zanzibar between some dolphins, unbelievable! I hope I´ll catch some animal friends too..

On the road, again...

Hello mates!

Since it´s time to leave soon again, I thought about starting to write a blog too, to keep you guys updated! This next mission called Switzerland is beginning on november 28th. Still there´s much to come before that.. One week left to work in Finland, at Lohja hospital (which has been a great and funny place!). After that I´m heading with my family and some friends to Africa for two weeks!!! After a weeks safari in Masai Mara national park we´re flying to Zanzibar for another week. Quite exiting, I´m supposed to go scuba diving too for the first time, haven´t had a possibility yet, although the course in Umeå is already 2years behind...