Packed and checked out of the hotel. Left my bags and went to take care of my final business in Zanzibar. Wandering around the maze trying to find a short cut I found an architectural store (sold pieces of old buildings - paneling, doors, pillars, etc.) they also had a large collection of old clocks - mostly manufactured around a hundred years ago in Zanzibar. I spent an hour looking and if I'd had the time to pack and ship it I'm pretty sure I would have bought one.
Now that I'm going to be spending nearly twenty six hours in Cairo the first real task of the day was to find out about a visa for Egypt. The consulate wasn't in so I had to leave my passport and tickets. The secretary couldn't tell me how much it would cost, only between 10,000 and 40,000 Tanzanian Shillings ($14 - $57). Since there was no way I was going to sit in the Cairo airport for more than a day I agreed to come back in an hour. Spent more than an hour wandering around the bazaar area but didn't buy anything. Back at the consulate I got very nervous when nobody answered the door - they had my passport and tickets and I was supposed to catch a plane in just over an hour! After several minutes of mounting anxiety someone opened the door. I filled out some forms, got my visa, and headed for the hotel to collect my bags.
At the airport chaos seemed to reign. Check-in was at a counter made of a board laid across a couple barrels. Somehow it seemed to work though. While in line a man came up and asked if I was Anthony Jones - the Egyptian consulate had called the airport because they had forgotten to get a photo! Luckily I had one - though I can't think what they could have done at that point...
The ride to Mombassa was very short. In Mombassa everyone had to get off the plane and go through customs and immigration - it was a bureaucratic nightmare since quite a few of the passengers were transiting so didn't have (or need) visas for Kenya. Since I'm going to be in Kenya six hours less than a full week I barely qualified for a transit visa - $20 instead of $50! An other short flight got us to Nairobi. Aretha was on the same flight and we had decided to go to Carnivore's for diner. She already had a room and ride arranged so I decided to stay at the same hotel since I had no other ideas. At least that would save me the $10 taxi fare into town. Unfortunately her ride ended up being nearly two hours late!
Checked into the hotel and headed for the restaurant. A rather long taxi ride got us to what is probably Kenya's most touristed spot - and it looks it. Fortunately the food was great. I was a bit disappointed that they only have five kind of game each night, but the Crocodile, Ostrich, Waterbuck, and even the Zebra were excellent. My favorite was definitely the Waterbuck followed by Ostrich. After stuffing ourselves it was back in to town. Aretha was meeting a friend at a bar so I joined her. It was more of a club, and not to bad at that, but the music was so loud it was impossible to think - much less talk. I watched Dallas win the Stanley Cup on the television then headed for bed.
