Jet lag, baby elephants, and crocs

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The past 3 weeks have been a whirlwind; it’s amazing to think that I am writing this entry from my desk in Nairobi. Since the first email about Mali from my South African SE on Dec 22nd to the last hours in Houston, life has moved at a frantic pace. It’s been a mix of excitement, trepidation and frustration. At times the ADP process moved at a breakneck pace but on the other hand, the approval process was as slow as molasses.

This city is absolutely spectacular. The weather is perfect, the people are friendly, and the scenery is beautiful. The temperature stays constant all day. We spent the day yesterday at the client site getting to understand their business model and meet the office staff. Jetlag hit severely around 3 pm Nairobi time and we limped through our last meetings. After we got back to the hotel, we walked to get dinner at our sister hotel, the Fairview, and promptly went to bed.

We’ve had an eventful and surprising morning that could only happen in Kenya. As good consultants, we got to the client site this morning at 9 ready to tackle a slew of meetings but the client had other plans for us. Betty, our client, suggested we take the morning to explore Nairobi. So off we went in our suits.

Peter, our driver, took us to the elephant orphanage this morning, where we got to pet the baby elephants, learn about the plight of the wild elephants and see a black rhinoceros. The orphanage was established by a conservator to save baby elephants that were orphaned in the wild. After the orphanage, we visited the mamba (crocodile) village, where we got to learn about the crocodiles and I carried a baby croc. At the mamba village, they also kept ostriches and a baby giraffe. We fed the giraffe carrots and Peter got lucky with a giraffe kiss. On our way back for the afternoon meetings, I had my first KFC in 3 years. It’s amazing how identical the KFC in Nairobi is to American KFCs. The only major difference is there is a hand washing sink at the Nairobi restaurant.

We’re now back at the office and we have a full slate of meetings this afternoon. I'll post pictures this evening when I get back to the hotel.

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