Day 89 – Sail the Indian Ocean

As we continued to sail the Indian Ocean towards Kenya, I decided to relax a bit and only attended one lecture today.  Howard Roitman’s talk entitled “Welcome to Kenya” introduced us to the culture, history, and people of this East African country.

Welcome to Kenya

During the first millennium CE, the Bantu speaking people, who were the indigenous peoples whose heartland was the savannah and rain forest regions of southern West Africa, arrived in today’s Kenya during the Great Bantu migration. The Bantu now comprise three-quarters of Kenya's population.

Arab traders soon established settlements along the coast, but the Arab dominance was eclipsed by the arrival of the Portuguese in 1498. After decades of small-scale conflict, Arabs from Oman defeated the Portuguese in the 1600s.

After the Berlin Conference of 1885 partitioned East Africa into spheres of influence, the British government took over and established the East African Protectorate. It was at this time that the name Kenya was created. After years of struggle and armed rebellion following World War II, Kenya finally achieved its independence in 1963.

I spent the rest of the morning in the Explorers’ Lounge and saw evidence of the flock of birds that had descended on the bow of the ship yesterday. The birds had done quite a number on our beautiful windows, and the crew spent much of the afternoon trying to clean them.

The Birds Left Their Mark

Today’s special culinary event was listed as a Bunny Chow Station. I think most guests scratched their heads and wondered if we would be served rabbit food. Not to worry. We soon found out that bunny chow is an Indian South African dish consisting of a hollowed-out loaf of bread filled with curry. I’m not a big fan of curry, but the lamb wasn’t too spicy, and I enjoyed it.

Bunny Chow Station

Tim and I had dinner tonight in The Restaurant with Carol and John, the couple that Vi, our previous stateroom stewardess, had introduced us to. We enjoyed catching up with them and have agreed not to wait so long until our next meal together.