Scenes from Nairobi

At the risk of another travelogue about Nairobi, I'll give you just a few highlights of our few days away. Mark had to travel up to check references for a potential head of residential life so we all tagged along. Here you can ask for reference letters but you get very poorly written ones that don't really say anything. You need to go directly to the person (even if they are in another country) so you can sit down with them and actually talk. With no data privacy, you are free to really ask any question and people have no trouble volunteering information, opinions, impressions, etc. We had a good time but we've all agreed we can be done with Nairobi for awhile (although we did go to the movies 3 times--unfortunately kid movies--Happy Feet, Flushed Away and Eragon (the boys)--and didn't get to catch "Casino Royale" or "The Departed").
Remember way back last spring when I mentioned drought and rain and said prayers were needed? Well, you can all stop that right now and pray about something else. It just doesn't stop and it didn't in Nairobi, either. Every day and most of every night, too. Our tent flooded the first night and we escaped to a dorm room at the campground which was fine. We should have had a clue when we got there as the site had 1/2 inch of water on it already. It started to rain about 3 am and rained hard, alternating with raining harder, until 10 am. By 7 we were huddled in the center of the tent, our sleeping bags soaked. We moved to dorm rooms for the next few nights and everything was fine. This (above) is the road leading into the campground. Flooded.

We headed out to Magadi Lake, about 50 miles (but 2 hours away) out of Nairobi. It's a soda lake with a big salt processing plant and some hot springs. Soda lakes are very interesting. They tend to look very desolate and are a favorite habitat of flamingos, which we saw by the thousands! The road was pretty good, but 4-5 spots looked like this. Flooded. This one wasn't too deep, but one came up to the bottom of the car doors. No problems, but I did worry that we might not get back if it rained hard while we were gone.

Cameron was keen to get out and demonstrate that yes, we could in fact get out and push if we needed to. And yes, he is standing on the road at this point! All the kids always want us to bash through these puddles/lakes ala "Dukes of Hazzard", but we remain pretty boring and roll quietly through the water. I just figure boring is better than pushing one's car out of the ditch and waiting for the engine to dry off! We saw zebras, wildebeests, several unusual birds (gotta get a bird book!) and the ever-present cows, goats, and sheep...even a small camel herd (not wild).

We stopped by the lake to eat a bite and were approached by a young man wanting to be our guide. At first we said no, but after sharing our lunch and chatting we agreed, even though we didn't think we needed one (I figured he could always push the car if we got stuck). Good thing, too, because what looked to be the main track wasn't and we would never have found the pools. Parts of the road were marked with poles so you could tell where the crust was thick enough to support the car. As you can see, the landscape there was pretty much lunar (we're actually on thick soda crust), with a small creek running through it. Periodically, the creek would deepen and, voila! the hot pool!

The little pools were actually very hot. Much hotter than a hot tub and Ava refused to get in. My pictures don't show how very pink the boys' legs were when they got out. They loved being able to hop in and be so hot, when the rest of the area was so barren.

The thing about Africa (well, Tanzania and Kenya, at least) is that there appears to be so much empty space. Here and there you see small herds of cattle and sheep, and a boma now and then, but it really appears to be very empty. I say "appears" because the minute you stop, people materialize out of nowhere. Sometimes they have something to sell (as these Maasai did when they showed up at the pools), sometimes to ask for money (or a pen or ask you what you'll be giving them). Often, they are there just to look at you. No matter what you're doing, they just watch. Gawking has been raised to an art
form here. On one hand, I can understand--very little changes day-to-day out here and new people who look and act differently provide a break in the routine. We are used to people asking for things and us saying "no" all the time now. What really wears on me (and the kids) is having a group of people just stare and watch you. You wouldn't think it would be a big deal, but it's very awkward. On the way home we pulled off the road to eat a snack and within 10 minutes, people materialized out of nowhere to ask for money. When we said "no" they just gathered around us. Staring. Not talking or doing anything. Just staring. It drives me absolutely nuts. I wonder if that's how celebrities feel, knowing that wherever they go someone is looking at them, as if they are zoo exhibits. I wonder if other people stare so blatently (and at such close proximity) as they do here. I should be over it by now, but I'm not, and it's one of the most irritating aspects of living here (for me).

Speaking of zoo exhibits, we revisited the Sheldrick Trust which rehabs baby elephants. This little guy is only 6 weeks old (and about 300 pounds). They are wearing blankets because they have trouble keeping warm without their mothers.


This one has a cut ear. She was found by some Maasai herders who clipped her ears the way they do with their cattle to mark her as part of their herd before she was brought to this place. It's amazing how these babies, even with no adult models, take on roles that the adults would in the herd. This one was a "mother" that watched out for the youngest and took care of her. Every time they passed,
they touched each other with their trunks to make sure they were OK. The larger ones (1-3 years old) are much more independent, but still very attached to each other. One of the funnier moments was when a group of 8-10 warthogs decided to come and join the show. The older one stamped his feet, flapped his ears, trumpeted, and charged! One of the littler ones tried it, too--after scaring off the warthog, she turned around and scampered back as fast as she could to the group. I think she scared herself! Eventually all the elephants will be released into parks to rejoing herds.

This is not a hapless elephant. It's Carnivore, a very famous Kenyan restaurant (voted one of the 50 best restaurants in the world). Nyama choma (roasted meat) is the traditional dish here and in Kenya and Carnivore has raised it to an art form (this place doesn't serve anything else, including veggies, although you might get a potato--it's just meat). They used to serve lots of bush (wild game) meat, but laws now restrict them to camel, ostrich, and alligator (incidentally, foods you can get at the Great Minnesota Get-Together) in addition to pork, lamb, chicken, and beef. This cow is in honor of New Year's Eve. It's an expensive place (lunch for us would be $90 + drinks + a 25-30% mandatory tip) so we opted to eat at the Simba Saloon next door. We were seated, however, right next to the cow and got a great view of the Carnivore action--all the meat is roasted over open fires on enormous sabers! Lucky for us, we were able to order nyama choma off the menu and it actually did come from the Carnivore grill. You order by the kilo, believe it or not (common in lots of places) so we ordered over 2 pounds of mixed meat. Noah went for the spaghetti but Cameron and Ava (who loves "meat bites") are clearly avoiding any herbivore tendancies! I think I've found the perfect restaurant for my brother-in-law Jason, who likes his meat and potatoes in large quantities and not dressed up and doesn't care to waste plate space on veggies! If you are ever in Nairobi, it's definitely a place you should try. There's a great giftshop cum museum next door that displays different textiles, jewelry, carvings, and crafts from different African countries. Looks like a museum, but it's all for sale!
I'll leave you with the highlight of the trip. There is an animal orphanage (really, a somewhat tacky zoo) where animals are brought, rehabbed, and released, if they are able. It was fun to see the very large lions, as well as serval cats, which Noah is very interested in. They also have 3 cheetahs that have been there since they were 2 weeks old and you are allowed to go in and PET them! The kids were speechless. I know there are some of you who might be thinking, "Dang, loose meat-eating animals and small chewy children--not a good combo." Well, then you wouldn't have as much fun as we did. We didn't think twice! This one fell over as soon as we approached so we could reach all the good spots for scratching. The other two wandered around watching and occasionally pushing at us. We came back later in the afternoon for feeding time and saw the lions in action, and these guys looked a lot more "wild" as they tore into cow legs. The workers let Cameron help feed the smaller animals. Definitely a great great time!

Hope your Christmas and New Year's was a good one!