Dad always said that someday we would go on Safari!

We had NO IDEA what a multifaceted adventure this would be or that the biggest danger we faced wasn't from wild animals, but was from Osama Bin Laden.

Kenya, Bombing of United States Embassy

At approximately 10:30 on the morning of August 7, 1998, a yellow van approached the United States Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. When the vehicle stopped, one of the passengers exited and threw a grenade-like device at the gate-guard. The guard fled while the van went through the gate and proceeded to the underground parking garage. Moments later, an explosion ripped through the embassy, also demolishing the nearby Ufundi Coop House and the 17-story Cooperative Bank. A secretarial college was also severely damaged. Two hundred and fourteen persons were killed in the bombing, including twelve American citizens, and more than four thousand were injured. A near-simultaneous bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killed eleven more people.

We were in The Cultrual Center at the base of this building, the only thing that separated us from The Embassy building.

Most of the group, departing from European destinations arrived in Africa before, Jeff, Greg, Julie and me. We had found a two for one, first class airfare on Luftansa that required a stop in Frankfurt (where we stayed to sight see for 2 days) and then we flew into Nairobi Intl airport. We arrived in the evening and were to leave for The Serengheti in two days. The van they transported us to the hotel in had tinted windows and curtains. I had visited the State Dept's website prior to departing and Nairobi was on the "dangerous to travel to" list, so it was obvious to me that EXTRAORDINARY CARE must be taken. Upon our arrival at the hotel, we had a meal and retired for the evening.

The next morning, after breakfast and a discussion with the others, I approached the concierge and asked if there was anywhere safe we could go, since we had more than a full day there. At first he said No. With a bit of pushing he said he had a man that could take us to the Cultural Center, a few miles away. He made certain I understood that we had to do EXACTLY as directed by our driver. Period! I agreed. We were off. We traveled the short distance and couldn't help but notice the THOUSANDS of people on the streets. Nairobi had eight million people, very high unemployment and they all seemed to be on the streets.

We arrived at The Cultural Center at about 9:30. It was a building that looked much like a Very Old Mosque that was built 100 years ago. It was filled with many shops and while the bottom was wide open, full of small shops, it had a walkway around the second floor that also had shops around the perimeter. Most of the Artists were severely handicapped in one way or another. A man "adopted us to show us around. He had no legs, nothing below his waist and got around on a dirty piece of plywood that was on casters. Our driver made certain that we remained together as we walked thru this place. At about 10:15 we walked upstairs to see those shops. The openings had no glass in them, but many windows for ventilation I think.

As we approached a corner shop, something pushed me and what seemed like 100 years worth of dust flew from the walls and ceiling. Time began to go in slow motion... A second later, the force of a blast gave us all a headache and ringing in our ears. Our driver grabbed us and said, "follow me, quickly." When we exited the building, the sky had disappeared! In it's place was dust, debris and horror. We were one building away from the embassy. We ran to our car and as the driver tried to get it started, a crying man in an orange jumpsuit with a machine gun began pounding on my window. The car started and we tried to get away. The streets were full of people running away from the point of the blast. The man orange comandered a car and began to follow us. I asked the driver what he was yelling at me and he responded, "he was saying this was your fault." Our driver was not going to stop and was actually hitting people that got in the way in their haste to run. I don't think he killed anyone, but we bumped, maybe 100 out of the way and even reverted to the sidewalk at one point. We lost the car that had the man with the gun in it by driving the wrong way on the main thoroughfare and driving through the the park that was between us and our hotel.