I spent yesterday morning sunbathing by the pool. Having slapped on the factor 40 I still managed to get a bit of colour, even though I was only in the sun for an hour or so. I guess it was another frustrating day of not talking to many people, as Tony hadn't called, but in the afternoon I decided to venture out of the house to find the local shopping centre; Well, there wasn't much there, it reminded me of the more run down precincts you find on the isle of dogs, maybe six or seven shops, one of them selling much at all. A barber's, a photocopy place, a dry cleaner's. It just seemed devoid of soul, so I turned around and came back to the hotel, past the street vendors who had a few rags on the floor for sale, past the kids who pestered me in Swahili for, well I don't really know what ewxactly, but I ignored them and continued my solitary trudge back to the hotel compound, for that is what it is - uniformed guards, high walls, security cameras. Is Nairobi really that dangerous? Baghdad, yes; Mogadishu, yes, but Nairobi?

I went to the bar in the evening to watch the football and guess what! I talked to someone! Woo hoo! His name was Benny; a Chelsea fan from Mozambique who travels all over working for Save the Children as a logistics coordinator. If there's one job guaranteed to give you high blood pressure, it's logistics in Africa, especially when people die if you can't get it right. So we nattered about football and all sorts. It was such a relief to be normal.

I also bumped into Tony who apologised for not calling as he had to go out of Nairobi for the whole day, but he'll call about ten today and take me to see the baby elephants at the orphanage; apparently 11-12 is feeding time and the most interesting part of the day. It turns out that Oasis sponsor one of the elephants, so I'll try and get a piccy.

I was sitting at breakfast by the pool this morning. A little strange me getting up at seven, but hey ho, when I can just rock up to the buffet and pile my plate high with little effort, its ok by me. So I was sitting there, on my own as usual, soaking in the atmosphere, with the smell of the breakfast mingled with the oily perfume of the paraffin heaters, reflecting on, well, nothing much, just being content, hoping that Tony will be able to round up a couple of my fellow travellers to come see the elephants with me. Apparently we're all here now, but I've yet to see ANYONE who could remotely resemble a mid 20's safari traveller, just lots of tanned middle aged women with no make up doing their relief agency stuff.

The day beckons...