by Helen
Tuesday was a fun day for us. We started the day at the Giraffe Center – where we got to learn about different kinds of giraffes in Africa and Kenya specifically. We also got to feed them and some of us go to be “kissed” by giraffes (more like licked, but you get the idea).
Out next stop was the Elephant Orphanage, which was a truly amazing experience. The elephants that end up there have been rescued by the Center. The cause for the rescue can be poaching, drought, or natural conflict. Elephants are very tied to their mothers and need milk 3-5 years after birth, so if the babies aren’t rescued, they die. We saw the feeding of 20 elephants or so, and learned about their story. The people there clearly loved their jobs and the elephants that they take care of. There is an adoption program and a foster program so people can sponsor the elephants as well. The elephants are sent back into the wild once they are ready so it was interesting to learn about the process of reintroducing them into their natural habitat. All and all, it was very cool to see an elephant orphanage.
After that, went to Karen Blixen’s house, which was a total tourist trap but great for those who love Out of Africa. We had lunch in a very posh part of town – Karen. This was probably the first place in Kenya where the division between black people and white people really stuck out. Seeing Nairobi and being one of the few white people was what I expected, however, seeing the hidden away neighborhoods that are very exclusive and are full of white expats, old British money and the likes, is really striking to me.
Post lunch and Karen Blixen stuff, we went to the Bomas of Kenya, which is a culture center that has different tribes perform their dances and rituals. We saw four performances or so. There are 42 tribes in Kenya still. It was interesting, however, the operation of this center seems completely inefficient since they pay these dancers every day and the auditorium is not nearly filled enough to cover those costs. But that’s life in Kenya – highly inefficient with so many of its opportunities.
We then took a tour of the huts that these tribes live in. I say “live in” because 10M Kenyans still live in mud huts and work the land. I definitely thought until this week that no one lives in huts anymore. So I kept trying to talk to my tour leaders about the atrocity of that and they really couldn’t understand what my issue was since living and working on the land is what Kenyans want to do. They are not unhappy about it. However, the problem comes from the fact that all land is now assigned and its hard to get additional land. This leads the kids to leave the hut villages and go into towns to look for work so they could buy more land. However, there is no work to be found, especially for those who are not educated, which is how people end up in the slums. I definitely struggled with this and continue to, however, everyday my perspective changes and hopefully deepens a little bit so that I can see the shades of gray in this picture.
On a slightly lighter note, lots of Kenyan women carry stuff on their heads – I definitely thought that this was so 1000 years ago. But not in Nairobi!
That evening we went to the Carnivore – the famous game restaurant. I wasn’t super impressed and overall think that the Brazilian steakhouse in Seattle is better. However, I did have ostrich, camel and crocodile meat. I thought I was going to be able to try zebra, but that has been outlawed for conservation reasons. I have you can go to Tanzania and try it there though. I’m sure my parents are thrilled to know that I’m thinking of visiting other African countries.
Comments