I don’t even know how to start this other than...I just had five of the most incredible days of my life. Now, I know I’m only 19 so how much of life have I really seen but I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around just that: I’m not even 20 and I’m in Africa...that will never get old. I suppose I should tell you what I did now...so for two days (Thursday and Friday) I went on Outreach and then Saturday, Sunday and Monday I was on Safari in Masai Mara. You’re most likely wondering what Outreach is exactly and basically, it is a two day excursion NVS sets up for volunteers to experience more of what Kenya has to offer. The cost was about $130 US that goes towards the drivers salary partly and our accommodations but also as donations for the slums we visited. I think the best way to go about describing this is going through my days...
Thursday: We left at around 8am from Nairobi and drove to Naivasha. I have one comment about the drive...the talk radio in Kenya is very entertaining. For example, for half of the ride, we were listening to why men leave the delivery room when their wives give birth, the craziest thing pregnant women do, and callers discussed the “hormonal imbalance of pregnancy”. I wish I could tell you about what I learned from these conversations, except everyone who answered spoke in Swahili...sorry Em and Charlie, can’t give ya any tips from Kenya. In Naivasha we visited KCC which stands for Kitendo Children’s Charity. It was started by a young man named Marcus from New Zealand who now lives permanently in Kenya running this charity/school. This school is for children who live in the slum which is within walking distance. On our walk from the school to the slum we crossed the main water source for the town, a river. The river is brown and mucky...and not like the Petaluma River, worse. People use this water for bathing, for cooking, for drinking, for laundry, and the animals use it as a toilet, so that gives you an image of how unsanitary it is for them. Just across the bridge is the actual slum which isn’t as terrible as Kibera (where I work) but it is not pretty. Immediately a little dusty boy came up and grabbed my hand. He didn’t leave my side for the entire tour, constantly looking up at me with his adorable toothless smile. Walking through the slum Marcus explained daily life for the men, women and children. One of the most shocking aspects was that for every hundred people, there was one squat toilet surrounded by four tin walls. At the end of the tour we visited a group of women who make jewelry out of magazines and bought some of their creations...so wonderful! Upon our return to KCC we played with the kids who climbed us like trees and we handed them out their lunch then we were off to Hell’s Gate. A little background on Hell’s Gate...it is home to Pride Rock...otherwise known as the rock Lion King is modeled after (and featured in). The bike ride was a 14k to the gorge and back. We sort of just drove up to the entrance and our drivers said “Ok, now, you cycle” and dropped us off with very beat down bikes. This means that I didn’t have time to bring my sunscreen (yes, I was burnt to a crisp...sorry Mom and Grandma...) and I was without water (I’ve never been so happy to have water in my life at the end). It was a bumpy ride with a bike that decided to switch gears on its own when it wanted to...it had a mind of its own. Maybe it was a little rough at times and maybe I was very sore the next morning but whoa, what a beautiful ride it was. Riding through the landscape flanked with zebras, giraffes, antelopes, and of course, Pumba (warthogs), I was one happy camper breathing in nothing but fresh Kenyan air. Once we arrived at the gorge it was a slippery and steep hike down (good thing it is no longer rainy season or else we all would have died in a flash flood...) but it was breathtaking. We passed a part of the gorge where Indiana Jones was filmed...check off two movies for the day! It was just overall fantastic...no camera could capture the beauty but you bet I tried and I also filmed some of the ride to hopefully bring a little landscape back home. After the ride we drove back to the hotel for the night to shower and then grab some dinner before bed. Oh, yes, our accommodations were old prison cells in a Kenyan prison that has been converted to a little hotel...very interesting. Onto day two!
Friday: We woke up early and by 7am all of the volunteers were scooping flour into bags for the families we would be visiting during the day. Once all of the bags were filled up we drove to an IDP camp. IDP stands for Inter Displaced Persons aka these people are refugees in their own country. Our guide informed us that Kenya has tens of thousands of these camps all over. Like most of the slums, the homes are small huts, these ones made of tins, supported by sticks and twigs. This camp was also in a valley so you can imagine that when it rains, it isn’t pretty. We sat in a woman’s home while she explained the background as to why they are where they are. Long story short, after the violence and political chaos in Kenya, these particular families did not register as IDP families so they will not be given land by the government although they qualify for property. We walked to the school that the kids attend and handed out toothbrushes and toothpaste we had bought for them as well as cookies. Then we gave out the bags of flour to families. I was grabbed, rather forcefully, by an elderly woman and she started singing and dancing in Swahili. Another woman came up and explained she was blessing me because she had been hungry for so long. I was a little overwhelmed especially because I didn’t even personally hand her flour and it was only a small bag but she was so excited that I couldn’t help but feel her love and happiness. Once we were finished playing with the kids, we were off to the Garbage Slum in Naivasha. There is a slum that is based at the only dump site in Naivasha. Hopefully you will see my pictures but just picture your local dump and place huts, a school, and shops on top of the garbage. Everywhere you looked there were flies swarming the garbage. We walked into a home where the children sleep on the floor, rain or shine and then we walked over to families to hand out the rest of the flour. I wish I got the chance to see more of the slum but I didn’t need to see it to understand how poor the conditions were. The man who runs the tour and feeding program in the slum explained that he began the program because he witnessed young boys feeding on the garbage despite the dead rats infesting the food. Yes, it is that bad. Finally we left and drove back to Nairobi which gave me some time to reflect but I had a quick turn around because early Saturday morning I was off to Safari in Masai Mara.
Safari Time: Our safari had three vans full of people and we got lucky with only six people in our van and the best driver: Uncle/Captain Mike. The ride to Masai was long and extremely bumpy...pretty surprised I didn’t get a concussion from that ride. My friend Liz and I sat in the back...worst seat for the bumps and dips in the road, and our seatbelts were essentially nonexistent so it is safe to say we were very happy to arrive at the “hotel”. We stayed in tents that were very nice, bathrooms and all! By 4:30 pm we were out in the game park on our first game drive. The entire safari we had music playing in our van, African songs on repeat and we saw four out of the big five in under three hours. Mike didn’t exactly give us any rules in the van, most likely because he likes to bend park rules anyways. We went off-roading quite a few times one the rangers passed and we got closer to some animals than allowed. The first night we were also out in the park until 7:30...the park closes at 6:30 but Mike is a smooth talker and is friends with the rangers and the warden. We did see the moon rise which was amazing at the park and we also saw a leopard which hasn’t been spotted in over a month. Our first game drive was filled with lions, buffalo, antelopes, elephants, and a leopard...it was already the best night of my life. The following day we started at 7:30am and ended at 4:30pm. Even if we didn’t see any animals, just the view was enough for me. I have to say though, at times, it mirrored the California scenery, nevertheless it was beautiful. We had a picnic in the middle of the game park and yes, we took bathroom breaks on the side of the van...I don’t think I sat down for longer than 10 minutes the entire day. Our final day, Monday, started at 6:30am and my ultimate dream came true: we saw the alpha male lion (along with the pride of lions and adorable lion cubs). We didn’t see any other animals and then went in for breakfast at 8:45 but seeing that lion was bliss. On the way back to Nairobi we stopped on the side of the road and stalked about 20 giraffes that were staring at us, the crazy creatures snapping ridiculous amounts of pictures of them...inching closer and closer until they started to run off...I feel I became a giraffe whisperer today. Maybe this whole “Doolittle” thing is real...I’m starting to think I can talk to the animals...possibly.
Hands down, the best couple days of my life where I learned a great deal about the culture and the wildlife. I wouldn’t trade this trip for anything and I still cannot believe how blessed I am to be here at such a young age. I’ve started to discover my compassion comes from my mother and my patience from my father...two things I sometimes struggle to have but I’m thankful when these characteristics are present. The entire time I was on safari I thought of my father because I know he would have absolutely loved the adventure, despite the bruises I developed from being rocketed through the van and, once again, my mom would have had a heart attack on the ride, but that’s why I take all the pictures :) Sorry for the novel, I tried to sum things up...sending my love to the states!
