Back to Nairobi

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Friday, February 25th, 2011:
Everyone was pretty lethargic this morning. Partly due to us having a 9hr bus ride back to Nairobi starting at 7am and partly because we all knew what we were leaving behind. We planned a bathroom break in Kisumu and Dad (Todd) purchased grilled maize corn from the street vendors which turned out to be a bit over cooked so it wasn’t really a treat in the end.
As many of the volunteers were flying out that evening, there was a very limited opportunity for them to purchase souvenirs in Nairobi. At lunch we stopped at a huge shop that has anything and everything any tourist could ever want, for a price of course. It was extremely overpriced and the bartering was not for the faint of heart. Some were able to get a few trinkets without promising their first born but most left empty handed.
We had lunch on the bus that was pre-packed by the cooks at the hotel in Bumala. We scarfed down greasy samosa’s and stale grilled peanut butter sandwiches. Poor Heather was starting to feel a tad under the weather and there is nowhere worse than a stuffy bus with a bunch of people on a 9hr trip. We were really feeling for her.
We arrived back at the hotel in Nairobi at a decent time in the afternoon so a few of decided to go to the souvenir stands outside of the hotel gates to find a few last minute trinkets. We were able to find a few things so everyone went home happy.
We all met back at the hotel for a last meal all together. It was nice to all sit together and talk about the adventures of the past week. We did a last photo op before the first group left for the airport then one last “good evening” to everyone and off to bed.

Saturday, February 26th, 2011:
Our group has dwindled substantially and all that’s left are us Canadian’s (Todd, Heather, Jennifer, Kristina, Kamal & myself), Meryl (New York), Elizabeth (Austria) and Sue (Alaska). So, we decided to take the day and do the tourist sites. We started out at the Elephant orphanage where we were educated on their living habits and such but really we were just busy watching the little baby elephants drink their milk from big bottles and play in the mud.
Our next stop was the Animal Rescue Park. It was basically a small zoo but had taken in sick, injured or orphaned animals. We were given the option to go in and play with the lion cubs but it didn’t work out. We were beginning to tire and Heather was definitely ready to finish the day.
Our last stop was at the Karen Blixen Ranch. This is where the movie “Out of Africa” was filmed, starring Robert Redford and Meryl Streep. If you haven’t seen the movie, I would definitely recommend it. Anyways, we did the tour of the house which was decorated with beautiful Old English furniture. My favourite part was she had a red light that was strategically placed to shine through the living room window for when her “boyfriend”, Denys Finch Hatton, came to visit. He would know right away if she was in a bad mood as she would turn on the red light for him to see. I thought it to be very clever.
By the end of the tour we were all ready to get back to the hotel and just relax. We made a quick pit stop at the Sarit Centre Mall for some snacks and such and a quick meeting with Rahul, our travel agent and a good friend of dad’s to do some last minute plans for the upcoming Safari tomorrow. By the time we returned to the hotel we were all exhausted, Heather was still sick and a few were a bit short fused. It was early to bed for all as we had to pack for our very early flight to leave for safari in the morning.

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