Baby elephants and our lovely new friend Sam
I could not wake up this am. Not sure if it was the awakening in the middle of the night from the air compressor sound that lasted for 5 min, or the mosquitoes that were jabbing their heads into my veins. I now look like a lepper or a meth junkie (including the bites from France).
Today we met Sam for the dropoff. Sam is a Massai connection from a friend (Chrissy) of a friend (American) who almost married a Masaai. She's his adopted sister and comes to visits the family in Kenya every 1-2 years. Sam said he would arrive at our hotel around 10. Since Andy and I like to bring things to give when we travel, so we brought a duffle bag full of clothes and shoes donated by us and several friends.
We first met at the hotel. Sam is very charming and talkative. During our convo Andy asked if they have issues w/ ticks to which Sam said they do. Andy showed him the tick removers he made right before the trip and asked if they had problems with ticks. Sam said absolutely yes and was happy to take some to give to the Masaai warriors! Very cool, I hope they are able to make use of them (even if they use them on cows as well as people). Sam asked what we did yesterday in Nairobi and we told him that we walked around town all day. He was shocked that we walked around by ourselves and didn't take taxis everywhere. We headed off to lunch where we met up w/ Sam's friend David, who is from the same village called Barsaloi about 8 hours north of Nairobi. Yes, the man took an 8 hour bus ride to pick up the duffle. I hope it was worth the trip!
It's a lovely day in Nairobi, the sun's out and mild temperature. We met David in a restaurant close to the city center. It's Sunday and there are hardly any cars or people out since they are all at church. It's like a different city. The restaurant was out of camel so we had goat w/ chapati and chai lattes. Lunch for the 4 of us was $31, cheaper and way more tasty than the hotel. I suppose that's usual. We sat and chatted for a while. We talked about each other's cultures. They, of course, asked us about our stable genius president. I think they know more about American politics than Americans do. Sam talked about how upset they were when #45 referred to their homeland as a "shithole country". They talked about how their economy is improving and crimes aren't as frequent in Nairobi. They talked about their boys, we talked about not having children.
After lunch, we walked to the city market. It's an indoor smaller marker that still had some shops open on a Sunday. I found some fabric but wasn't ready to spend the $35 for 10 yards (I don't really need 30 yards), so I bought a simple bracelet and prepared myself for bargaining the next go-around.
We met Sam at 3:30 to go to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Fund and see baby elephants! If you adopt one for a year for $50, you get to go to the special viewing at 5pm, the viewings open to the public are daily at 11 and there a usually a lot of people. This group saves animals from various issues, mother's were poached so they were abandoned, injuries, etc. We adopted Enkesha who's trunk was almost ripped off in a snare, and Sattao who was likely an orphan from her mother being poached and was being attacked by hyenas. Outside the sanctuary, we saw warthogs just chilling and walking down the street. These warthogs lived there so they were used to people and not mean. When we entered the site, everyone was standing around and a little warthog, super tiny, came running through at 90 m/hr. That thing was super fast and made the craziest noise! Scared the shit out of everyone. All the visitors formed a line and the baby elephants came running back to their dens in an amazing line. The last elephant got very distracted and kept bumping into people. When he walked past me he was making a purring/grunting noise. It was adorable!
After the baby elephants were safely penned up, we could go to visit the elephants in their stalls. Sattao was super friendly, he didn't even want to eat his tree branches. He came over to the door to say hi and we got to pet his hairy, rough head. Then he scratched his back and let us get a good view of him. He was almost 2 years old. Enkesha was busy eating her branch. Then she wandered over to the door and put her tiny tusks on the half door to say hi and look for her bottle. She grabbed the bottle and her keeper took it away from her, I guess it wasn't time. We gave her a gentle pat and went to see the rhino. The rhino is blind so he will stay at the sanctuary the rest of his life, 35-40 years. This place is amazing and they obviously take really good care of the babies until they are released back into the wild. The elephants are there for 3 years, then introduced into the wild for 5, then fully released. We also saw a baby giraffe who was about to get released back to the wild because he was headbutting everyone. The first of our wildlife experiences to come was truly amazing and I can't wait for more!
We went back to Nairobi and at a restaurant Ronalo near the hotel. We washed our hands to eat the goat and coconut fish w/ ugali (cornmeal), beers, chapati, kachumbari (tomatoes and onions), and sukuma (mustard green). It was yummy and really hard to eat fish w/ your hands. Back at the hotel after a short cab ride back (even Sam doesn't want to walk around here at night) and it was time to say goodbye to Sam. His friend David joined us for one beer and we headed upstairs. It was a true pleasure meeting Sam and David today. Sam taught us a lot about his Masaai culture, we couldn't have asked for better company today.
Special thank you to the following people who donated materials, hairbrushes, clothing, & shoes:
Today we met Sam for the dropoff. Sam is a Massai connection from a friend (Chrissy) of a friend (American) who almost married a Masaai. She's his adopted sister and comes to visits the family in Kenya every 1-2 years. Sam said he would arrive at our hotel around 10. Since Andy and I like to bring things to give when we travel, so we brought a duffle bag full of clothes and shoes donated by us and several friends.We first met at the hotel. Sam is very charming and talkative. During our convo Andy asked if they have issues w/ ticks to which Sam said they do. Andy showed him the tick removers he made right before the trip and asked if they had problems with ticks. Sam said absolutely yes and was happy to take some to give to the Masaai warriors! Very cool, I hope they are able to make use of them (even if they use them on cows as well as people). Sam asked what we did yesterday in Nairobi and we told him that we walked around town all day. He was shocked that we walked around by ourselves and didn't take taxis everywhere. We headed off to lunch where we met up w/ Sam's friend David, who is from the same village called Barsaloi about 8 hours north of Nairobi. Yes, the man took an 8 hour bus ride to pick up the duffle. I hope it was worth the trip!
It's a lovely day in Nairobi, the sun's out and mild temperature. We met David in a restaurant close to the city center. It's Sunday and there are hardly any cars or people out since they are all at church. It's like a different city. The restaurant was out of camel so we had goat w/ chapati and chai lattes. Lunch for the 4 of us was $31, cheaper and way more tasty than the hotel. I suppose that's usual. We sat and chatted for a while. We talked about each other's cultures. They, of course, asked us about our stable genius president. I think they know more about American politics than Americans do. Sam talked about how upset they were when #45 referred to their homeland as a "shithole country". They talked about how their economy is improving and crimes aren't as frequent in Nairobi. They talked about their boys, we talked about not having children.
After lunch, we walked to the city market. It's an indoor smaller marker that still had some shops open on a Sunday. I found some fabric but wasn't ready to spend the $35 for 10 yards (I don't really need 30 yards), so I bought a simple bracelet and prepared myself for bargaining the next go-around.
We met Sam at 3:30 to go to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Fund and see baby elephants! If you adopt one for a year for $50, you get to go to the special viewing at 5pm, the viewings open to the public are daily at 11 and there a usually a lot of people. This group saves animals from various issues, mother's were poached so they were abandoned, injuries, etc. We adopted Enkesha who's trunk was almost ripped off in a snare, and Sattao who was likely an orphan from her mother being poached and was being attacked by hyenas. Outside the sanctuary, we saw warthogs just chilling and walking down the street. These warthogs lived there so they were used to people and not mean. When we entered the site, everyone was standing around and a little warthog, super tiny, came running through at 90 m/hr. That thing was super fast and made the craziest noise! Scared the shit out of everyone. All the visitors formed a line and the baby elephants came running back to their dens in an amazing line. The last elephant got very distracted and kept bumping into people. When he walked past me he was making a purring/grunting noise. It was adorable!After the baby elephants were safely penned up, we could go to visit the elephants in their stalls. Sattao was super friendly, he didn't even want to eat his tree branches. He came over to the door to say hi and we got to pet his hairy, rough head. Then he scratched his back and let us get a good view of him. He was almost 2 years old. Enkesha was busy eating her branch. Then she wandered over to the door and put her tiny tusks on the half door to say hi and look for her bottle. She grabbed the bottle and her keeper took it away from her, I guess it wasn't time. We gave her a gentle pat and went to see the rhino. The rhino is blind so he will stay at the sanctuary the rest of his life, 35-40 years. This place is amazing and they obviously take really good care of the babies until they are released back into the wild. The elephants are there for 3 years, then introduced into the wild for 5, then fully released. We also saw a baby giraffe who was about to get released back to the wild because he was headbutting everyone. The first of our wildlife experiences to come was truly amazing and I can't wait for more!
We went back to Nairobi and at a restaurant Ronalo near the hotel. We washed our hands to eat the goat and coconut fish w/ ugali (cornmeal), beers, chapati, kachumbari (tomatoes and onions), and sukuma (mustard green). It was yummy and really hard to eat fish w/ your hands. Back at the hotel after a short cab ride back (even Sam doesn't want to walk around here at night) and it was time to say goodbye to Sam. His friend David joined us for one beer and we headed upstairs. It was a true pleasure meeting Sam and David today. Sam taught us a lot about his Masaai culture, we couldn't have asked for better company today.
Special thank you to the following people who donated materials, hairbrushes, clothing, & shoes:
Karen
Rick
Obi & Emily
Nick & Stevie
Ken & Ninva
Laura
Milet
Gretchen
Rick
Obi & Emily
Nick & Stevie
Ken & Ninva
Laura
Milet
Gretchen