20260807 Globus Kenya & Tanzania: The Safari Experience Day 3 of 19 - National Museum and Carnivore

Globus Kenya & Tanzania: The Safari Experience - Day #1 in Nairobi - Museum and Munching

We set an alarm, just in case, since we hadn't had much sleep on the trip to Nairobi. Good thing, because at 8:30, we were awakened by my phone sounding the wake-up. We showered, which felt great after the long travel day and night's sleep, and went downstairs for breakfast.

A very nice buffet breakfast is included with our stay, including eggs cooked to order and fresh waffles. Not being coffee or tea drinkers bit us again, as Coke Zero wasn't included in the offer. They ran 400KES (Kenyan Shilling) each, and we both had two. $1US = 128.78KES, so that meant the pops were roughly $3 each. Not life-altering. 

We just hung out and relaxed after breakfast, recovering from the journey here.  The Globus rep who met us at the airport said that there would be trip information waiting for us in our room. We didn't find any last night, but we were exhausted. We looked again this morning, and nope, nothing here. After breakfast, we went to the concierge desk and asked about it. They got a copy from the front desk, so we were all set. We now have our Tour Director's name and contact info, plus a plan for Sunday and Monday.

As for our plan today, our Travel Advisor, Lisa McKay, at LMK Luxury Travel, arranged for a driver to take us to the Nairobi National Museum this afternoon. Since 1910, the museum has been a place of preservation and learning for the cradle of humankind.

 A sign defining our hotel's exact location

The streets were empty - it was a ruse

Like in other African countries that we visited, there were lots of open-air stores

After a brief ride, we arrived at the Nairobi National Museum

A dinosaur served as a greeter

There's a face to love

The museum had several galleries. I didn't take photos in all of them. The lighting was unspectacular, so the photos would have been mediocre at best. 

This interesting pottery display was near the entry

A nice display of the locals

They had an amazing display of preserved birds. Unfortunately, they were behind somewhat dirty glass and weren't well lit. Still, it was quite interesting seeing the huge variety of avian life here.

Arlona, testing one of the locals

They had a large display of hominid skulls dating back millions of years

An archway plastered with historic currency

There were several groups of school children touring the museum. The last group we passed appeared to be perhaps middle school age. As they walked past us, several of them stared at Arlona. These weren't passing glances or sneaky glimpses. These were outright stares. I don't know if it was her white hair, pale complexion, blue eyes, tall height, or amazing good looks that did it, but for whatever reason, she was certainly fascinating for the Kenyan kids.

We purchased a dual pass that covered the museum plus the adjacent Snake Park. The museum alone was $18 per person. The combined pass was $25, so we splurged. We wandered over there, taking in the snakes, lizards, turtles, tortoises, and occasional birds.

Rock Agama

Snakes of some sort

 Rough-tailed Rock Agama

Common bulbul

Sudan plated lizard

A chameleon, dangling from a branch

Mamba

King cobra

Yup, I held a python

Arlona did too

Does it look relaxed?

African Mountain Thrush

We also held chameleons

Crocs - not the shoe kind

I think this was a sunbird

After the museum and park, our driver, Eric, drove us around for a bit so we could take in a little of metro Nairobi.

Kenyatta International Convention Centre

Kenya Parliament Buildings

Afternoon traffic was picking up, and that meant slowing down. When traffic stopped, vendors appeared with watches, hats, sunglasses, and more.

This guy was selling peanuts

Lanes are suggestions, especially for motorcycles

They split lanes, went into oncoming traffic, rode on sidewalks - you name it

With that, we returned to our hotel and relaxed a bit.  We had a 5:30 dinner reservation at the Carnivore Restaurant. We had inquired this morning with the hotel concierge about getting a driver to take us there and bring us back. She said that they do offer that service and to expect the charges to be $35-$40 each way for a total of $70-$80 for the round trip. We reserved it, but then got busy. I checked, and Uber is extremely popular here in Nairobi. I put in the destination and got quotes of $7-$10 each way, depending on surges. With that, we canceled the driver and booked an Uber.

It was a short ride to the restaurant - perhaps 20 minutes

Carnivore is exactly what you'd think it would be - a restaurant heavily focused on meat.

Yes, that is smoke rising from the building - you'll see why below

As you walk in, you see the grill, filled with skewers of different types of meat, all cooking over glowing embers

Here's a look at the choices

We enjoyed a pre-dinner drink while waiting for our table. Drink service is always interesting. Arlona asked for a vodka and cranberry. She got a glass with cranberry juice. She got another glass with the vodka. It was up to her to combine them.

I tried a Tusker - a Kenyan lager that was quite good

There are two seating areas. One is inside the main room, and the other is a tented terrace of sorts. I had requested the terrace when I made the reservation. It was a good thing, because the main room was constantly filled with smoke from the grill.

It was nice and airy on the terrace

If you have ever been to a Brazilian steakhouse, like Texas de Brazil or Fogo de Chão, then you understand the concept.

Every table gets a flag - leave it, and they bring meat; tip it over, and you're on pause; pull it out and lay it down, and you're done

They recommended their special drink, the Dawa

The story behind the drink

The simple recipe

They mixed them tableside

They were very good, and we both thoroughly enjoyed the Dawa

They start with an appetizer of fried cornmeal, chicken, and onion, plus fresh bread and vegetable soup

Then, you get salad and all the sauces for when the meat arrives

The sauces were BBQ, garlic, chilli, fruit salsa, wild berry, and mint

They drop off a heated metal plate that helps keep everything warm

Then, the meat starts arriving - these were chicken sausages

A honey pork rib with the chicken sausage

There were roaming cats all over the restaurant - this one took great pleasure in rubbing along my leg

At one point, a local monkey dashed along the top inside the tent - it was just ducking out of sight when I got the camera

This one really liked me

Arlona, getting just a little turkey

We tried chicken sausage, pork ribs, beef short ribs, carved beef rump steak, ostrich meatballs, ostrich steak, crocodile, chicken gizzards, chicken wings, chicken legs, tilapia, and turkey. Neither of us likes lamb, so we passed on the different lamb cuts as well as the ox testicles. We hit our limit and surrendered, pulling the flag. That doesn't end the meal. It just prompts the servers to ask about dessert. I had some chocolate ice cream, and Arlona had creme brulee to top off the evening.

We waddled to the parking lot and hailed an Uber for the ride back. He arrived in less than five minutes and whisked us back to the Nairobi Serena Hotel. The cost for the Ubers? $6.81 to get there and $6.31 to get back, or $13.12, with tip. That was a whole lot better than $70-$80 from the hotel driver.

And dinner? With our pre-dinner drinks, and the Dawas, plus a bottle of still water, the total was 13000KES, or $100.82.  Not bad for this type of establishment.

We were still both feeling the effects of 29 hours of travel, so that wrapped up our day. As of this writing, we have no definitive plan for tomorrow. We will do a little research and figure out something. We still want to take it a little easy because after that, every day will start early.