Breakfast, then checked out.

We were picked up by a driver from JT Safaris for the ride to Mombasa’s airport.

The security line-up and check-in at the airport was fairly uneventful; we didn’t even get dinged for over-weight luggage, woohoo! However, we were glad the wait for the flight wasn’t more than a few hours. The departure lounge was open on the sides; nice if there is a breeze, muggy and hot if there isn’t… on this day, the breeze was non-existent….

The flight was only about 45 minutes… oh yeah; Kilimanjaro was visible from the left side of the aircraft. Sorry Brett, we didn’t take a photo of it this time.

On the Nairobi end, our luggage was some of the first off the plane. So, we were in a cab and headed for the Upper Hill Country Lodge (http://www.countrylodge.co.ke/) in a flash.

On approaching the hotel, the one thing I noticed was a heightened level of security. The hotel property is across the street from the Israeli Embassy so the security is usually tight here. However, there were now twice the numbers of armed Kenyan Army personnel and they were physically opening trunks and checking vehicles as they came up to the roadblocks at either end of the street. There were also Israeli personnel (Mossad?) manning the street entrance to the embassy.

The hotel is a sister-property to the Fairview Lodge (which we stayed in during our first visit to Nairobi) and is located next door to it. While the Fairview was a great example of old-school opulence, the Country Lodge is clean, modern, and efficient… sort of like a Holiday Inn meets Ikea. It’s certainly nice with great staff but it just doesn’t quite have the ambiance of the Fairview. For the $45 USD/night difference, I’d have to recommend the Fairview.

We walked over to the Fairview and had dinner in one of their restaurants. It was a pleasant surprise to have some of the staff remember us from our brief stay 9 days previously.