Safari and Why I Hate Nairobi...

Jaye woke Lauren and I up around 6:30am to being our all day safari on Saturday. We had a camping breakfast of sausage, beans, and toast as well as some yummy Kenyan tea, and then the six of us piled inside our relatively trusty van with Ken. Our first site inside the park (besides the now expected herd animals) was a group of vans clustered around what we discovered were a family of 3 cheetahs. They were lounging in the morning sun, and walked right between the vehicles unperturbed. We then headed out into the center of the park, stopping briefly to take photos of a family of giraffes and for Jaye to use the toilet at a small airstrip in the middle of the grasslands. A minor mishap occurred when we ran over a very large rock. The six of us got out to push in the middle of the tall grasses, and thankfully we had gone a long way from the cheetahs we saw earlier. Crisis averted, we rounded the corner and came across the famed wildebeast migration from Tanzania. There were hundreds of thousands of wildebeast, every little black dot on the horizon was a living, breathing creature for as far as the eye could see. We drove right through the thick of them, and got to hear their incessant two-toned bleating as well as be half-heartedly threatened by a few of the males. It was crazy to think we were in the middle of something featured on Planet Earth, and the sheer magnitude of the event explains why so many people make the journey to the Mara twice a year. Our luck was about to get better, though, because as we drove over top of a hill we found four lionesses tearing apart a wildebeast they had captured. It was truly an awesome site, and hopefully I the video I took on my camera comes out. We stayed there for at least ten minutes, and when we finally drove off a ways we came across two male lions digesting after their wildebeast breakfast. They were just lounging under a bush trying to keep the flies off their faces (a male lion can sleep for up to 20 hours a day). Only one other van was near us, and when one of the males got up to find better shade, he walked straight toward their car. Both a woman and the driver rolled up their windows real fast. Afterwards, we continued south towards the Tanzanian border to have a picnic lunch. The site where we stopped was right along the Mara river and we saw a family of eight or so hippos just lounging on the bank or wading in the water. After lunch, Ken took us to another spot on the river where we had a walking tour led by an armed guard. I wondered how many times he had had to use the shotgun he was carrying, but there was no signs of lions, just hippos and crocodiles in the river below us. None of us had prepared for a shirt hike up the river embankments, but it wasn't too taxing in flip flops and a skirt. Following our excursion, we drove to a stone marking the border between Kenya and Tanzania to take pictures and joke about being in two places at one time. We then headed off pack into the savannah and saw a family of four elephants, two adults and two babies. I took at least 50 pictures even though the low battery light on my camera started flashing. Reluctantly, I agreed to leave, and we headed up a hill I wasn't sure our van could make. We all leaned forward and reached the top somehow, and a herd of female ostriches, 2 warthogs, and 3 buffalo greeted us. I was surprised at how large the buffalo were, but they seemed more concerned with the flies covering them then our car. After adequate photos were taken, we headed back into the open areas and were extremely lucky to spot a leopard up in a tree. They are extremely difficult to find, and 20 vans soon circled the tree hoping to take a picture showing some of the spots as proof. You could also see the antelope that he had caught and dragged up the tree, which was a difficult feat to imagine. We still had to see a rhino to catch all of the big five (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino, and buffalo), but he was eluding us and we decided to call it a day around 5pm. On the way out we were treated to a herd of 13 elephants in a valley below us, and that pretty much made my day. Hot showers were taken when we got back to the camp, and dinner was spaghetti, beef sauce, cabbage, carrots and green beans, potatoes, and fruit salad. Following dinner, I convinced Adrien, Sophie, and Lauren to pay 400Ksh each with me to watch the Maasai warriors from the near by village dance (it was 100Ksh to tour the village itself). We all gathered around the campfire and they danced around us, had a contest to see who could jump the highest, and then got us out of our seats to participate. We got to wear their colorful red blankets and danced in a fake little marriage ceremony. Later in the night, they explained some about their culture and what each of the dances meant and Adrien joked about having had a gay marriage. We all went to bed then because we had a 6:30am game drive before breakfast and leaving in the morning.

We were woken up at 5:45am on Sunday and headed out bleary-eyed and hungry to visit the park for the last time. Our goal was to spot a rhino (Storm guessed that Richard Branson was riding them somewhere, probably with naked women on his back). I won't deny that I nodded off a couple times driving through the sea of grasses, but we didn't see anything new from yesterday and we resigned to go home and get some breakfast. 80% isn't bad though. More sausage and eggs and toast for breakfast, and then we packed our bags and began the journey back through the dusty Rift Valley. I slept a lot in the car again, but there wasn't much to see. We stopped for lunch at another buffet style restaurant and a Maasai Village souvenier shop that was definitely meant for rich tourists. I managed to get a couple good prices though even though I am naturally against haggling. Traffic was pretty bad along the 2 lane mountain highway and we went around several semis lumbering up the road. We got back to Junction around 5pm and Lauren and I said out goodbyes to everyone and caught the #111 matatu. Of course I dropped the only thing I had bought for myself while letting someone out of the matatu, but I have since super glued the soapstone more or less back together. I unpacked, took a hot shower, and went to bed early as I was to meet Josephine at the internet cafe at 8:30am.

I woke up a bit too late and didn't make it to Cyberworld (yes, that's the name of the place) until 8:40, but of course I was still early. The internet wasn't working however, so we spent 2 and a half hours finishing the typing before going to another internet place down Ngong road to download the other tables. When we checked the NACC website, however, we found that the deadline had been extended. This was especially fortunate as we had called the District NACC manager this morning and he said he didn't know if the deadline was extended and that we should buy a newspaper and see if was in there. Glad to know that communication is key here. We were so relieved that we had another month to finish that we just checked our email and called it quits early. This was especially fortunate as Ariana and her friend Julia were coming in from GilGil to take the train to Mombasa for the week and I agreed to meet up with them at the Sarit Center (a westernized shopping mall in the Westlands part of Nairobi). Unfortunately, there was no bus or matatu that went from Ngong road to Westlands, so I took the 111 through horrible traffic into the railway station and then had to catch the 105 to Sarit. All matatus coming out of the railway station apparently charge a flat rate of 50Ksh regardless of where you are going since they know they can rip you off, but I made it to the shopping mall in an hour and a half and only got pointed in the wrong direction once. I was very happy to see Ariana, and she was very happy to see running water so we just walked around the mall. Julia, who just graduated from U of Alabama, also works at the IDP camp Shalom City, and they told me some horrible stories about misappropriation of funds (like the woman who cooks their food doesn't get paid) and threats of violence in the camp. Most of the children under ten are suffering from kwashikor (protein deficiency) and meningitis has killed a few people recently. We got gelato and I told them about the proposal I'm writing and we talked about the severe cultural differences in Africa. Thank goodness men in America are able to serve themselves food and polygamy has been outlawed. Around 4:30pm, we decided to head back before it got too late, and after asking a few people, we ended up at the matatu station where the 105 usually stops. Apparently, the 105 wasn't running at this time though, so we were ushered into another route by someone who assured us it would take us to railway. A few minutes into the trip, however, the conductor told us otherwise and we had a brief moment of panic before a good Samaritan on the matatu said he would show us how to walk there since he also needed to catch a bus. It was a very twisty walk through the crowded streets of downtown Nairobi, and thankfully our guide would turn around every once and a while and make sure we were still with him. We reached the railway station around 5:15pm and I said goodbye to Ariana and Julia and told them to enjoy the beach (It's been in the 50's and 60's here so I hope it's warmer in Mombasa for their sakes). Our helper waited for the bus with me, but apparently the 111 cost 80Ksh flat rate and we considered taking something cheaper to Junction and then catching a matatu. It looked like it was going to rain and it was getting late though, so after 15 minutes of waiting I decided to get on the next bus. I almost didn't make it on, however, because a crowd of people started shoving in the door to make sure they got a seat. I pleaded with the conductor "Moja?" (one more) and I got the very last seat behind the door and next to a young woman breast-feeding her child. It was a little worrying when we started taking side street detours to avoid the horrible traffic (an impossible feat), but we did get stopped to let the president's motorcade go by. We reached Ngong Road just as it started to pour buckets outside. With the rain, the dark, and the people we picked up standing in the aisles, I couldn't see out any window to find a landmark and know where to get off. I just told the conductor Lenana and hoped he would let me off before the forest, which even the locals don't walk by at night. I got dropped off in the middle of the downpour with no jacket and no umbrella, and the first thing I saw was a wall of trees. Panic set in, until I turned around and saw familiar sign in front of my road. I literally waded across the street, and trudged through the puddles of our dirt road until I reached our apartment building. To my dismay, the courtyard was a foot and a half underwater, but I figured it would at least wash the mud off my shoes to I dived it. It was a cold rain, let me tell you. I made it home safely though exactly at 7 and changed into the warmest clothes I had before dinner. I plan on telling Ariana of my experience when I see her next so she fully appreciates the ordeal I went through to hang out with her for an hour and a half. It was really good to see her, but next time I'm suggesting the place. Nairobi is not worth the hassle, trust me. I'll have to write about my second teaching experience and the rest of this week at another time, but I love and miss you all. Hope you don't mind reading all my run-on sentences :)