13 June 2010
Let me explain the “Lyno” thing. So yesterday we went on our first “game drive” (where we drive around Nairobi National Park and write down every large mammal we see, where we see it/them, how many, and what he/she/they’re doing…exhausting but interesting) and the only animals we hadn’t really seen yet were lions and rhinos. So there I am talking without thinking (per usual) and I say (loudly) “We just need to see some lynos and rhions!” and didn’t even notice I had mixed up those words until everyone on my jeep was laughing at me.
But to the real story…yesterday morning we’re in class with Kiringe, he’s lecturing about how to write a literature citation and we hear some crazy noises-monkeys and humans going crazy making insane noises. Then Kiringe keeps lecturing, we’re all getting ansy because Erica told us all about how there were lions very close to camp this morning, and FINALLY Kiringe releases us so we can hop in the jeeps and check out what’s happening. A lion was hiding in a local corn farm (which are nowhere near the size of our corn farms) and Nixxon (one of our staffers who knows EVERYONE in Kenya) was going to help. As we drive up the hill we see several of our friends armed with spears (which was awesome by the way) and Kiringe books it. I mean seriously going fast on these treacherous roads. We circle the corn field, wait it out a bit, then out runs what appears to be an adolescent male lion. We turned the car on and gunned it! I was really bummed because I didn’t see the lion run out of the cornfield, but I saw him(?) later. Beautiful. It was amazing. I finally got to see a lion in the wild! This is my life! I can’t even begin to tell you how much I wanted to cuddle with that lion.
Today was potentially one of the very best days of my life. First I went on a run with Brenna, took an amazing outdoor shower, then we went to the Elephant Orphanage. Baby elephants. BABIES! These elephants are mostly found in Amboseli National Park and Tsavo National Park because their mothers are victims of poaching or they themselves have fallen into wells and have been abandoned by their herd. The youngest one was only a few months old, and the oldest one we saw was I believe just over 2. We got to see them play, pet them, get headbutted by them, and take many many pictures of them. Our next stop: Giraffe Center. I can’t begin to explain how excited I was to see these beautiful Rosthchild giraffes. And on top of that I get to feed and pet them? What? So I started out with that, then one of the staff members asked me if I wanted a giraffe kiss. WHAT KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT?! That’s right ladies and gentlemen, I have been kissed by not one, but two giraffes! Dream come true right there. I love them. They are such SUCH beautiful animals. Graceful, ENORMOUS. One of the giraffes was not very patient, and would bite your hand when
getting the food you have for him. This blog does not do justice to how I feel about today. Then we went to Kazuri beads, which is a bead making factory that employs over 300 single mothers (cool!) and they make really beautiful jewelry. I got a couple gifts there and enjoyed a white coffee with my friend Elise. Apparently white coffee is something no one outside of the PNW knows about. After that we got pizza and soft serve. I can’t tell you how much we loved getting pizza and soft serve. Kenyan food is okay, but it was really nice to have something familiar again.
Basically, the past few days have been amazing. I love living here.
Let me explain the “Lyno” thing. So yesterday we went on our first “game drive” (where we drive around Nairobi National Park and write down every large mammal we see, where we see it/them, how many, and what he/she/they’re doing…exhausting but interesting) and the only animals we hadn’t really seen yet were lions and rhinos. So there I am talking without thinking (per usual) and I say (loudly) “We just need to see some lynos and rhions!” and didn’t even notice I had mixed up those words until everyone on my jeep was laughing at me.
But to the real story…yesterday morning we’re in class with Kiringe, he’s lecturing about how to write a literature citation and we hear some crazy noises-monkeys and humans going crazy making insane noises. Then Kiringe keeps lecturing, we’re all getting ansy because Erica told us all about how there were lions very close to camp this morning, and FINALLY Kiringe releases us so we can hop in the jeeps and check out what’s happening. A lion was hiding in a local corn farm (which are nowhere near the size of our corn farms) and Nixxon (one of our staffers who knows EVERYONE in Kenya) was going to help. As we drive up the hill we see several of our friends armed with spears (which was awesome by the way) and Kiringe books it. I mean seriously going fast on these treacherous roads. We circle the corn field, wait it out a bit, then out runs what appears to be an adolescent male lion. We turned the car on and gunned it! I was really bummed because I didn’t see the lion run out of the cornfield, but I saw him(?) later. Beautiful. It was amazing. I finally got to see a lion in the wild! This is my life! I can’t even begin to tell you how much I wanted to cuddle with that lion.
Today was potentially one of the very best days of my life. First I went on a run with Brenna, took an amazing outdoor shower, then we went to the Elephant Orphanage. Baby elephants. BABIES! These elephants are mostly found in Amboseli National Park and Tsavo National Park because their mothers are victims of poaching or they themselves have fallen into wells and have been abandoned by their herd. The youngest one was only a few months old, and the oldest one we saw was I believe just over 2. We got to see them play, pet them, get headbutted by them, and take many many pictures of them. Our next stop: Giraffe Center. I can’t begin to explain how excited I was to see these beautiful Rosthchild giraffes. And on top of that I get to feed and pet them? What? So I started out with that, then one of the staff members asked me if I wanted a giraffe kiss. WHAT KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT?! That’s right ladies and gentlemen, I have been kissed by not one, but two giraffes! Dream come true right there. I love them. They are such SUCH beautiful animals. Graceful, ENORMOUS. One of the giraffes was not very patient, and would bite your hand when
getting the food you have for him. This blog does not do justice to how I feel about today. Then we went to Kazuri beads, which is a bead making factory that employs over 300 single mothers (cool!) and they make really beautiful jewelry. I got a couple gifts there and enjoyed a white coffee with my friend Elise. Apparently white coffee is something no one outside of the PNW knows about. After that we got pizza and soft serve. I can’t tell you how much we loved getting pizza and soft serve. Kenyan food is okay, but it was really nice to have something familiar again.Basically, the past few days have been amazing. I love living here.
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