Blogs from Nairobi, Nairobi Province, Kenya, Africa - page 5

This will be my 5th day in Nairobi. I woke for an early morning meeting over breakfast just a minute or two from the West Gate mall where the tragedies occurred just a few weeks ago. Typical of the time of year it was a pleasant 16C/60F when I woke and will get to a high of about 32C/90F today. I have spent my days getting into the swing of life here, going to the office, shops, and restaurants. Learning about what work I will be doing and the practicalities of going about your daily ritual in a developing country. Not far from me is a shopping centre called The Junction that has all the things you might require like a grocery store called the Nakumat (actually its more than a grocery store as it sells ... read more

'It began in Africa' so the saying goes, however this trip began one summer’s evening in Balham after a superbly cooked Shepherd’s pie (if I say so myself) and a modest splash of wine a plan the idea of seeing the so called 'real Africa' was born. Fast forward a couple of months, a few injections, a lot of dollars and the tough decision whether to pack hair straighteners or not and it was time for myself and fellow African beginner, Sabrina, to board the plane to Nairobi. Having only travelled to the northern African counties before I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from Kenya and Tanzania and the sadly on the Saturday before we departed the terrible events at the Westgate mall in Nairobi took place so it didn’t seem the best time to ... read more

Geo: -1.27975, 36.8126We woke to a beautiful cool morning at the mobile camp. After breakfast, we headed out to do one last safari drive on the way to the airport.The rain from the previous day caused the roads to be full of water and very muddy. It was better than any ride at Kings Dominion. In fact, our guide stopped to pull another Toyota out of a ditch.We were pleasantly surprised to see 2 male lions and a female lion along the rode to say goodbye. One of the male lions came so close to our truck that I could have probably touched him. It is a little scary being so close to these massive predators but they seem to completely disregard the trucks as prey.Arriving at the dirt airstrip in the Mara, we boarded a ... read more

Geo: -1.27975, 36.8126Where do I start? What an incredible day. We began the day with a safari through Nairobi National Park via a open roofed Toyota Land Cruiser. We came incredibly close to White rhinos, hundreds of zebras, ostriches, hartebeests, giraffes, warthogs, thompson's and grants's gazelles, impalas and ilams, cape buffalo, crocodile, baboons, vervet monkeys, and others that we probably forgot.After lunch, we headed to the giraffe center where everyone but me thought is was a great idea to let the giraffes eat out of their mouths. (Not pretty) Then, we visited Karen Blixen's plantation, who is the author of Out of Africa. From there, we went to the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage where they rescue baby elephants that are orphaned due to poachers or the death of the mother as a result of other unfortunate means. ... read more

I recently returned from a wonderful trip to Kenya. Wonderful is such a small word that cannot encompass the time spent there. It was wonderful because I had the opportunity to introduce the people with whom we partner in Kenya, to some supporters with whom we partner in the USA. It was like introducing long lost family members…a family working towards the same goal of relieving the pain of the suffering, enhancing the lives of the little ones, and creating opportunities to rise above the desperation of poverty. The best part...this family love each other and accomplishes much through unity. It was an inspiring trip as we met with people that were out of hope that are now living with great hope and renewed vision and dreams sparked into a fire by people that extended a ... read more