Animules

I know, I know, I'm breaking the unspoken blog rules by posting every day...but you'll have to get over it as I have immense amounts of african stories that I want to write about!
So, today I'm going to tell you about my Kenyan-Safari-Replacement-Day. Because I was a little too poor to venture off into the bush and see some lions and such, one of the missionaries took me for a safari replacement day-oh-wonder.

First, we went to feed giraffes. Things I learned about giraffes include: they are huge (HUGE) up close! they have long black tongues...that slime ya good as you put food pellets on them! giraffes also have incredibly long eyelashes, which i realize is a random fact, but they're amazing.... one last, and important fact, is that giraffes are known to headbutt you if you neglect to feed them in a timely fashion...and since their heads are a good 2 feet long, it is wise to avoid the headbutting by continuously forking over more pellets. You too should find a place to feed giraffes someday - perhaps at the Giraffe Centre in Karen, Kenya??? Just watch out for slime galore.

The second place we went was the David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage. This is run by an english lady (Mrs. Sheldrick) who is world-renowned by earth conservation types (that would be the tree huggers - of which i must say i am a bit on the tree huggerish side). She rescues baby elephants and raises them until they can fend for themselves, finally releasing them to a herd in the wild. Since baby elephants only drink milk for the first two years of life, they're out of luck for survival if the mother dies - so Mrs. Sheldrick and her team rescue and raise these babies. Let me just tell you, baby elephants are so cute! It's kinda funny to see a huge elephant in a little baby body...and to see them play like little kids - squirting mud on each other, kicking a ball around. Very, very cute.

The third place we saw was the Safari Walk in the Nairobi National Park. This safari walk is basically a zoo...which somehow almost seems wrong when it's in Africa...but nonetheless, I loved it! I am pretty much like a 10 yr. old about zoos - I love them! I saw all kinds of animals - pygmy hippos (which are ridiculously ugly by the way), albino zebras, some kind of long-haired monkeys, a lion, fighting cheetahs (the female wasn't so fond of the male or his intentions), a rhino, about 20 different kinds of gazelles...all of which were beautiful.

After all this animal galavanting around, Rose (the missionary) and I decided we were in need of sustenance so we stopped at the Karen Tea Shoppe. This was possibly the weirdest moment of the entire month because as soon as we entered the garden for the restaurant, it was like we'd walked into some european garden. This place had a jazz band playing cheesy songs with a singer who sounded like Louis Armstrong...everybody eating was foreign (like from europe)...the entire menu did not have one african meal choice (i had cheesy pasta) aside from the drink offerings...even the waitstaff spoke with faintly british accents. The english in Kenya is full of british words (like smart, queue, torch, etc.), however not many Kenyan people actually speak with british accents....except for in this magic garden. So weird, you'd never guess you were in the middle of east africa as you sat in this tea shop.

After eating, we decided to continue on our european path to see Karen Blixen's house (which is a museum). Karen Blixen was a Danish colonial settler in Kenya for several years who became famous when she wrote "Out of Africa" under the name Isak Dinesen. You may have seen the Meryl Streep and Robert Redford movie. Anyway, her house has been preserved and it was pretty incredible. The things that the colonials took with them to Africa are unreal - like grandfather clocks and china dishes! She did have a huge lion rug in one of the bedrooms and it was pretty terrifying - there is no way I could sleep with that thing in my room! It's head was huge! and it was grimacing, like as if it should have been growling...with its eyes looking straight at you...oooh, creepy! She possibly was the one who killed that lion - so I guess it may have been like a trophy, but still...gee whiz. Outside the house is a view of her beloved Ngong hills - and they truly were spectacularly beautiful. Karen (the town, named after her) is outside the crush of Nairobi so it is a lot greener, a lot slower, lots more flowers and animals - generally a nicer place. Adding to the view was a wedding reception that was taking place on the grounds of the museum. This was a serious affair - ribbons and bows and tulle everywhere, several hundred people, a live band, even security guards that looked suspiciously like bouncers (big arm muscles, tight t-shirts, black sunglasses). Weddings are a big deal in Kenya - you decorate the cars with massive amounts of ribbons and flower bouquets and you invite the entire town - but this wedding must have been for someone very important.

The day was ended by pizza and a movie at Rose's house...pizza that was very close to american pizza, and catch me if you can (which is a very entertaining movie, by the way).

So, this has gotten way, way too long...
But, it was a pretty wonderful day - animals, views, museums, and pizza (after weeks of rice, beans, and peas in assorted variations) what more could you ask for?