My Travel Adventures

My day trip to Lake Nakuru began inauspiciously. Right after we left Runda, we drove past a police car whose occupants had apparently detained the passengers of a smaller passenger vehicle. My driver slowed down with undisguised interest and rolled down his window to ask one of the detainees what was going on. In the darkness of the night – it was only half past five when we drove out – they had hit and killed two people crossing the road.

I wondered, as I snickered in my aeroplane seat, whether I was the only person listening to the pilot’s announcements during our take-off from Paris. “Remember, when you are visiting friends in Africa,” went his routine, “that if you show up empty-handed, you will be compelled to offer up your personal belongings. Save yourself the embarrassment and select some presents from our in-flight magazine.” He followed with another bon mot a few moments later: “We would like to remind you that this is a non-smoking flight. If you smoke in the lavatory, the government will have you arrested for the rest of the weekend, which will ruin your trip.”