We were told the Narok road is better than the western access road, which was true up to a point. The track out from the park is OK, and it eventually becomes a fine tarmac road. But around Narok the tar disintegrates and is in quite poor condition. Climbing the rift escarpment before Nairobi was quite dramatic. Nairobi traffic is an absolute nightmare!
A Massive Thank You
Whilst in Nairobi, we were staying with some friends, David and Sonja, whom we cannot thank enough. Not only were we hosted royally; through David’s organisation we were able to assemble an excellent itinerary whilst in Kenya, facilitate flights back to UK (Adrian had to be in UK for the final week in July) sort Daph's growing list of minor ailments, and catch up on our emails/communications. On the day we planned to leave and head for Richard Bonham’s place in the Chuylu Hills, Daph's clutch failed. It appeared that we had lost all our clutch fluid (Daph has an hydraulic clutch), though to this day we do not know where the fluid went - as there was no evidence of it underneath Daph, and her performance was fine the previous day. Though of course this delayed us, as we eventually had to fit a new clutch, we were extremely glad it had happened at David and Sonja's rather than in some remote area. We ended up at CMC Motors (for speed), whom efficiently replaced the clutch plate, master and slave clutch cylinders (the clutch fluid had leaked into the bell housing, causing slippage on the clutch plate) and the rear half shafts were also replaced (due to 'backlash').
Nairobi
Ole Polos
We visited a local school (in the Ngong Hills), which had been built through support from the British Army and volunteers, to see how the pupils were developing and to take some supplies and gifts from British schools. 
Many of the 300 pupils walk for 2 hours to reach the school, which starts at 7.30am. They are given a meal at lunchtime, in part due to a food aid programme, but as yet there was no water supply in the village or school. The head teacher, a Maasai, explained that the community had raised some funds and had built a water tank, and they hoped the borehole would be sunk in the next few months. We were struck by how happy the pupils were and how enthusiastically they took to their lessons - even maths! Elephant Orphanage
David and Daphne Sheldrick set up an orphanage in Nairobi, mainly for elephants, though there are currently rhino there as well. It took many years to get the milk formula right, and much heartbreak. There were five baby elephants when we visited. The keepers are rotated in order to prevent any calf becoming dependent on one person (in case that person leaves) and they sleep with the babies in order to provide security. Baby elephants need emotional support just as much as physical support, and if they are not happy then they will not thrive. Those that we saw all appeared to be enjoying life, and were behaving very cheekily to their keepers. They have a successful rehabilitation programme, reintroducing young adults to the wild in Tsavo. Not only do the British Army supply milk substitutes (flown in by British Airways) to the elephants, keen observers will notice the BA cabin blanket warming the elephant in the picture! 
