Safari Song

I always thought "going on safari" was a trek undertaken with ages of planning and executed with mysterious methods of communing with nature. We weren't here a week when an individual from the general expat community was impressing us with the sheer volume of safaris they had done. It turns out, you call a guy up (at least when you are car-less like us at the moment), and he comes and picks you up and takes you to see animals. It's a day trip. Or more, if you want.

Our first safari was this weekend to Lake Nakuru National Park. Holy flocks of flamingos, Batman, that was a lot of animals! As impressive as seeing them was hearing them, especially at the lake where the thousands of flamingos are softly honking, birds screech across the water, hundreds of pelican wings beat overhead, and winged critters of all kinds splash their wings against the surface.

On the way back we stopped in a downpour for some good old fashioned roadside nyama choma - grill-roasted meat. We had goat - a little tough but tasty. Our guide was impressed at how easily the 5-year old adapted to this foreign culture of eating with her hands. Yeah, she's a natural.

Big time birthday

I took the kiddo to a classmate's birthday party today. May I just say, whoa. Bounce house, clown, horse rides, bungee trampoline, puppet show, magic show, not to mention food, cake, candy, playground, presents, all in a tranquil but extremely difficult to find nursery school campus.

Pachyderms and Paintings

A colleague took us all to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust to view the morning orphan elephant feeding. The elephants and their handlers are something else. Imagine living with a pachyderm, 24/7!

We then went for a lovely lunch at the Talisman. The food was nice and the setting was peaceful. We enjoyed watching a local painter recreate the restaurant on canvas.

Travel weary tyke

So a freshly-minted 5-year old on her way to Africa just won't go to sleep on the first leg of the flight - even on the red-eye. Who knew? She valiantly explored Amsterdam with us, and then collapsed as we've never seen her do. In the middle of the busy square where we paused, her head went down, eyes closed, and she was done! Andrew lugged her dead weight back to the train, and she was appropriately alert for the leg on to Africa the next morning.