Jambo

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Ok so last time I left you i was still in Doha, waiting for a flight to Nairobi.
I finally got on the Nairobi flight and found myself next to a lovely Kenyan lady who talked to me and asked me lots of things about what i was doing and gave me lots of advice. She also pointed out Mt Kilamanjaro as we flew past it in the plane so i did manage a few photos of it.
After i landed and got a card from a Pakistani man who was trying to convince me to visit Pakistan and do work over there, I breezed through customs (didnt even realised I had gone through) and was picked up by Hannah, one of the group leaders.
A quick 20 min {Afrcan time} (45 min real time) drive and we were at our Nairobi accommodation, Upper Hill backpackers. Its a really lovely place with great food, dorm style accomodation and is run by an US expat (although i think shes lived in Africa for longer than she has lived in the US now)
Yesterday, after and interesting slightly jet lag influenced sleep, we went to look at some animals. First stop was to see the baby elephants. They are the cutest and cheekiest things you have ever seen. So adorable! The keepers gave a bit of a talk telling us that all the elephants were rescued and gave us the background of each of them. Some were pretty heartbreaking stories of poachers and such that i really didnt think happened as much anymore. The animals were so cute playing in the mud and some coming right up the rope fence so people could touch them. If you have never touched an elephant it is hard to describe the feeling. They are hairy and leathery yet soft and dry. Very different. Many of us ended up with mud over us from a friendly splash from a cheeky calf!
After the elephants we went to see the giraffes. The giraffe park is also a conservation park. They have a breeding program to help increase the numbers particularly of the Rothschild giraffe whose numbers dropped as low as 150 but thanks to the breeding and release program have gone back up above 500. Apparently the Ugandan president was keen on using them as target practice for his troops (*not sure of the accuracy of this story)
The giraffes were so delicate and beautiful, their eyes are stunning. We fed them grain pellets, the females one at a time as the stuck out their tongue, Jock the male demanded an entire handful! Some of the girls actually got a giraffe kiss by feeding the giraffe from their mouth. I was not that keen and didnt participate, but there are photos of the others to show what it looks like.
After the giraffes we headed home, exhausted and ready for a nap, but instead most of us decided to head to one of the local supermarkets to grab some cash and supplies for the long bus ride the next day. After the supermarket because we had a few bags it was decided we should catch cabs back.
Well wasnt that an experience!
The cabs are actually just random people with cars, who you have to barter with to work out a price. once we finally negotiated a reasonable price (about 4 cabbies later) we pilked into the three cabs only to find that our cab didnt actually start. Then we got into another cab (presumably his mate) only to find the he wasnt too sure on the way home! We did make it eventually and not too much out of pocket
Last night for tea we went to an Ethiopian restaurant. it was THE BEST FOOD I HAVE EVER TASTED! big call i know but they had this spicy dalh like stuff that was made from chick peas that was insanely good and you ate it all with a kind of pancake that just soaked up all the flavours. Brilliant!
Today we have been on the bus all day. We are in Kisumu until Tuesday for orientation before heading down to Odede to begin our work.
Not sure when my next post will be. Will try to msg you at least once, if i havent already, to give you my number and a very breif overview of what we have been doing.

xx

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