Brief update on the happenings of the last week or so.
Last Friday we left Nairobi for Kilgoris through Monday. When you imagine Africa, this experience is probs what you think. Red dresses, gaping holes in their ears, holding hands and dancing and singing, beads all up their arms and around their necks and on their heads, the works. We drove up to the small village area then walked the rest of the way so that they could give us a ceremonial welcome. It was a little invading but so amusing regardless. The three days there were spent mingling with the Maasai people, playing with the kids at an orphanage, painting a classroom in the school, slaughtering a chicken (I got to perform this!), slaughtering a goat, drinking cow blood w/o hurting the cow, star gazing (the stars are way bigger and brighter in Africa!), home visits, church (that started over an hour late since time is meaningless here), delicious food- rice, beans, potatoes, unsanitary meat- unstable beds with two inch padding, no electricity, no toilets or mirror or showers. A wonderful experience altogether. Seriously though, it was a little more than roughing it but an extremely enjoyable weekend.
On Monday we left for the Mara, quite possibly the highlight of the trip to date. Monday afternoon and all day Tuesday was spent driving through the safari looking for animals. I had the impression that animals would be all over the place, not so much the sitch- we would see a bunch then go two hours without seeing anything. We saw zebras, giraffes, gazelles, water buffalo, elephants, hippos, crocs, cheetahs, hyenas, lions, everything but a leopard and a rhino. So many elephants that by the end of the safari we would see an elephant and think Meh, I already have 75 pictures of that, nbd. I'm at 2,300 pictures right now- eek!
Wednesday was a day of travel, making a pit stop for the night and onward to visit a World Vision team on Thursday. The first site we visited sponsored by them was an animal orphanage- wild animals that can't make it on their own. We got to walk inside the elephant barracks with the elephants, I got within inches of cheetahs with only a thin wired fence in between, and we saw rhinos! The big 5 complete.
Next they took us to another Maasai village were we stayed the night. This village is intended to help women who are more or less neglected by husbands, and also educating women about FGM. This stay involved more dancing and chanting and hugging and hand holding, high elevation so cold nights, bushes for bathrooms, dinner at 9:30p, but also great adventures like rock climbing with the baboons, bead making with the women, and being shown some of their survival traits like their herds, plants, making fire from sticks and stones.
Tomorrow morning we head to Navisha to stay at an orphanage through Monday. Monday night will be back in Nairobi and Tuesday we board to come home. Looking forward to these last few days filled with a lot of exciting things, but I'm ready for home!
Pce. & Blessings
Jess
No comments:
Post a Comment