No pictures til Thursday

Posted on October 31, 2006

The internet connection at Keekorok Lodge is extremely slow and it might cost me a fortune to post pictures to my blog from here. We return to Nairobi on Thursday and I will post them then.

Tuesday Oct 31

Posted on October 31, 2006

Happy Halloween!

Tuesday Oct 31

We woke up at 6 am for our 6:30 game drive. This morning we saw the same group of elephants and a male lion. Today we got a much closer view of the elephants. It is quite rare to see a male lion. He was with a female and there was a very large kill next to them. It is mating season for the lions. We were hoping to catch a little action, but they were aparently taking a break.

We also saw the buffalo – so we have now seen 4 of the five. We hope to see the rhino tomorrow although we hear it is quite difficult to find them.

We ate breakfast after the morning game drive and then headed off to tour a Masaai village. On our way we got to see 5 giraffes. A couple were very close to the road. While it was really neat to watch the giraffes at the reserve last week, seeing them in the wild was breathtaking. We got to watch one bend down and drink from a water hole. It was stunning.

When we arrived at the Masaai village the warriors and elders danced for us and then showed us around the village. When we walked in one of the Masaai was wearing a large hat made out of a lion mane. The Masaai used to hunt lions, in fact, it was a right of passage for a warrior to kill a lion. He then became an Elder and was able to marry. The warrior that is the first to spear the lion gets his mane. The Masaai that talked with us last night explained all of this to us. I congratulated the Elder on his kill. He was quite pleased. He was also proud to show off the scar on his leg. It is not a very big one, although I expect it was quite painful. This happened about 8 months ago. The Masaai no longer hunt lions; however, they will kill one if it is attacking their cattle.

We watched the women sing for us. Then we got a tour of a hut. Masaai huts are made out of sticks, mud and cow dung. They last for approximately ten years. At that time the village breaks them all down and then moves on to a new place. Then they led us into their market area and Janet and I did a little shopping. Janet is quite good at bargaining a good price. We found some nice things.

Then we headed back to the lodge. Janet and I went back to our room. I had been a bit worried while we were out because I realized that I left my money belt in my room. Unfortunately it was not there when I returned. It had all of my cash, one credit card and my passport. Janet and I searched the room and then headed for the front desk. The manager and security came and searched our room as well. At this point I was of course extremely upset. I can’t get home without my passport. I really was not concerned about the money or my credit card – those things can be taken care of fairly easily. The passport really freaked me out. I said multiple times to the manager – and in the company of other staff (including our room steward – that if the passport is returned all else is forgotten. I came to understand that this is really the best hope you have of getting your passport back in this situation. So, we called the tourist police (a group of police with special additional training that work only with tourist crime issues). The security guards went off with the room steward to search her room and the manager and I went to call the embassy.

Our entire trip to Kenya has been planned and organized by a group called Impact By Design. They plan conferences and large events for businesses. The owner of the company was with me the entire time helping me figure out what to do next. I am very grateful she was there. One of the Kenyan neurosurgeons, Paul, has a brother that is part of the tourist police and he was there as well. He did not say a word other than occasionally saying "tsk, tsk, tsk". I believe he was actually quite helpful in the events to follow.

I let the embassy know my passport had been stolen and they gave me the information on how to get a new one. I don’t return to Nairobi until Thursday, however they would be able to get my a replacement one by Friday afternoon. We leave Saturday night. I was relieved to find out that I would be able to go home on schedule.

I left the manager’s office to email and call Bill, my husband, to have him cancel my credit card. This all took quite a bit of time. I headed back up to the manager’s office to see if they had finished searching the steward’s room and to find out if the police had arrived yet. Then I headed back to my room. Janet had gone back shortly before me to search the bushes around our room. As I was walking down the path she came running out of the room to tell me that my money belt – with everything in its place – was sitting on the corner of the bed when she walked in. It seems that by contacting the embassy and the police the person decided it was not worth the trouble. They left all of my cash in the money belt. I was very surprised to find that. I tried to contact the embassy again to let them know that my passport was back in my possession, but they closed for the day. I don’t know if stolen passports get voided or something so I am a bit anxious to get in touch with them in the morning. I hope that I do not need a new passport now that I have reported mine stolen. The police were unable to write a police report since nothing was really stolen. They did however write up a letter of explanation in case I do need to go to the embassy for a new passport. It was really quite a mess.

Janet and I had a few Tuskers and the manager sent lunch out to the patio for us. It was nice to calm down a bit after a fairly stressful afternoon.

Every day that I have spent in Kenya has been a completely new experience for me. I have seen and done things far beyond my imagination. Because of that, this trip has been amazing and overwhelming at the same time. I feel like today’s experience was just another new thing. I am fine, my documents are fine. I know that these things happen everywhere in the world and it has not tainted my trip at all.

The neurosurgeons have been wonderful throughout this trip, but especially today. Many offered to give me cash to get home. I believe that Paul helped make things happen with the manager and the police today. If I had been alone I am not sure I would have gotten this resolved.

So, tomorrow we go on another game drive. I hope to see the rhino, hippo and of course the hyena for Helen.

Monday Oct 30

Posted on October 31, 2006

We left for the Masaai Mara on Monday morning. Instead of our usual bus tranportation we drove in Land Rovers – a much better choice. We headed out of Nairobi and through the Rift Valley. It was gorgeous. We stopped on the side of the road at the beginning of the Rift Valley and were met by some men selling African Curios and other items. These guys are some serious salesmen. It was really my first experience with this and it was very odd. I didn’t buy anything from them. I was really just trying to figure out how the barter thing worked.

We traveled on some extremely bumpy roads – much like our trip to Nyeri. Although, this time were traveling much slower. It was about half dirt and half tarmac, however the tarmac was really just potholes with a bit of road in between. These potholes were the size of dinner tables – not just dinner plates.

We stopped in a town and had some bananas and a little Tusker (beer). Then we finished our journey to the Mara. Our drive was about 5 hours. We saw many Masaai on the way.

The Masaai tribe is frequently the tribe that you see in photographs from Africa. Their signature color is red. They are somewhat nomadic and are cattle herdsmen.

The Masaai Mara is a reserve park that is actually owned by the Masaai. It is leased from them by some council or government office. Then the owners of the lodge lease it from the council. So, the Masaai receive lease payments on a regular basis.The Mara is famous for the Big Five – the five most deadly (to warriors) animals. They are (in order if I remember correctly) the Buffalo, Leopard, Rhino, Lion and Elephant.

We arrived at Keekorok lodge and had a fabulous drink with fresh fruit and fruit juices. It was delicious. After lunch we headed our for our first game drive. Game drives occur at sunrise and sunset every day. We rode in Land Rovers with the tops up so we could stand and see out. We drove around and found many zebra, antelope, gazelle, and wildebeasts. Then we found a group of elephants. There were 3 adults and 3 young ones – the youngest being about two months old. We were quite close to them.

We also watched a cheetah hunting. She walked around a bit using her nose and then headed towards some elan – kind of like an antelope. They seemed a bit big for her to catch, but we watched for quite some time to see what would happen. She slowly moved through the tall grass. At times it was very difficult to spot her. She sat and stared for a very long time. Eventually she rolled around in the grass. We decided to move on to something else. We all were kind of hoping to get to see a kill.

Then we found quite a few lions. They were all up on a large rock sunning themselves. They were enormous. I was really amazed at how large they are. We were really not that far away from them either. It is funny to watch the animals look up and notice us. Some ignore us and others sit and stare for a while. Some of the lions were very interested in watching us. The group was almost all female with some young males.

We were very lucky to find a leopard up in a tree – actually there were two of them. The leopard is very difficult to find in the Mara. They hide in trees and are quite shy. Also, many of the big trees are a ways away from the road and it is park rules that you must stay on the roads. However, our drive (and all of the others around us) headed off the road because of the leopard spotting. Whenever there is a big animal to see the drivers all let the others know and pretty much everyone heads over to see. Then we all sit and watch. We got word that the park rangers were headed our way and so we all took off for more things to see.

We were all very excited to get so close to 3 of the Big Five on our first game drive. We also saw some ostrich, many birds including a group of vultures feasting on a carcas and a warthog.

We got back to the lodge and had a sundowner – a cocktail party at sundown. It took place out on a deck that overlooks the Mara. One interesting thing about our lodge is that it is not fenced in. Many animals walk around the outskirts of the lodge. The grounds of the lodge are just beautiful. Monkeys run around on the roof tops.

Janet and I had a wonderful drink called Elephant Tears. Wow! It had orange flavored vodka, orange juice and grenadine. I expect we will be making a few of those when we return to the States.

After dinner we watched the Masaai Warriors dance. It is very cool. Lots of singing, yelling and marching around. Then they went outside to the patio and did a jumping dance. During this dance the warriors jump very high to impress girls. It was in fact impressive. Then we sat and talked with one of the Masaai after the dance. He told us a lot about the traditional culture and answered all of our questions.

A man from another tribe met us at the walkway back to our room. He lead us down the path with his spear in hand. He would occasionally shine his flashlight over the grass next to us and there were zebra and other animals just hanging out.

The room has a beautiful mosquito net system. I will have to take a picture of it. After we turned off the lights it was very dark and very quiet. I could hear the mosquitos whining above us. This is the first time we have really had any mosquitos. We both woke up bite free.

We are on safari!

Posted on October 31, 2006

We arrived in Masaai Mara yesterday and have had a great time so far. The internet connection here is extremely slow and there is only one computer for the whole lodge. So, I have a lot of posts to make and pictures to view in my room. Then I will come and post here hopefully later this afternoon.

BBQ!

Posted on October 29, 2006

Note to my friend Bonnie: You may not want to read today’s post. It involves a goat.

Today was another completely crazy day. I cannot even believe what I saw today. We started out by going shopping and bought some very nice things. Then we went over to Dr. Peter’s house for a barbeque – a goat barbeque. There is actually a really neat back story to today so I will give you that first.

Earlier this year Dr. Peter was in St. Louis for 3 months. He stayed with Dr. Smith and his wife. Because Dr. Smith took Peter into his home, Dr. Smith became Peter’s symbolic father. The tradition is that when a father comes to visit his son’s new home the father slaughters a goat. So, first we had lunch – rice dishes, salads, etc. Then it was time to deal with the goat. I will spare the gory details, but I do have a full photographic account if anyone is interested. While I have no problem with watching surgery, watching a goat be slaughtered is a totally different thing.

The children were really interesting during this whole thing. They were right down there taking part – none of them used a knife, but they held legs and such. They kept reminding the men that were working not to hurt the lungs.

So, then they began to grill the goat meat. We all sat around and waited. Then the women walked around and offered the ribs and other various parts of the goat. At this point Dr. Smith went to say thank you to Peter for the lovely day. Dr. Smith’s wife was back at the hotel not feeling well so he was anxious to get back to her. Peter said that we hadn’t had the "goat head soup" yet, but that it would be ready soon. So, we all hung out and waited.

I walked around and photographed the area. Then I was called to come and photograph the making of the soup. It was pretty awful. They boil the skull, with the head cut open to expose the brain and the spinal column and cord. (I cannot believe I am typing this.)

So, that boiled for about 20 minutes. During this time the children were having a fabulous time blowing up the lungs by blowing through the trachea. It was very freaky, but kind of cool at the same time. They all took turns passing it around. Then they filled the lungs up with water and had a water balloon fight. I swear I am not making this up.

Peter presented Dr. Smith with some wonderful items to thank him for coming. Then he served the soup. When Peter’s wife came around with the soup she said that it was fine if we did not enjoy it. I was pleased to be let off the hook a bit. So, I took a sip. Truthfully, the goat meat and the soup were really not that bad. The goat meat could have been good had I not just watched it being slaughtered. The soup was a bit odd and I cannot say that I liked it. I did have a number of sips, but I also dumped part of it out behind my chair so it looked like I drank more than I did. I really did not want to offend them.

Janet and I came home and had a bag of m&ms to get the taste out of our mouths. Then we sat and had a beer and some appetizers while we hashed out the events of the day once again.

I do have pictures and will not share anything graphic. But, once again I am still very behind in working on my images from each day. I hope to do that tomorrow.

Tomorrow we leave for safari! I am so excited. We will be leaving first thing in the morning and will arrive at Masaai Mara around 1pm. Then we will have our first game drive. I cannot wait. We will be there until Thursday morning when we will fly back to Nairobi. Janet and I will stay in our hotel for one night and then Friday morning we will fly to Mombasa to do a couple of surgeries. We will fly back to Nairobi on Saturday afternoon and then stay at the airport until our flight leaves for home.

We should have internet service while we are in Masaai Mara – wireless network out in the bush! So, hopefully I will be able to post.

Next Page »