Hey sister, you got a pen?

Well, Diana warned me. The Masai Market in Nairobi was quite something.

The vendors put on the hard sell as soon as you appear to think about walking in their direction. It was really difficult to look at what they were selling, because they were so busy pushing you to buy, that you couldn't actually look at what they had in their stalls.

The aim of the game was bargaining, and everyone wanted to know if you had a pen, so that you and the vendor could alternately write down your prices and haggle until you came to an agreement on the carving, necklace, knife, painting, bag, placemat of your choice. I actually would have loved to buy a few things--the Tingatinga paintings were beautiful, and very affordable . . . but I got so overwhelmed that I booked it out of there. I appreciate that they're making their living, but it was a little too much for me!

I think if I were a New Yorker, I could have managed it . . . Dunedin did not really prepare me to be a bargainer or deal with people pestering me nonstop. Plus, the knowledge that anything I buy then has to be carried or mailed has been great for curbing my already minimal purchasing impulses.

Yep. That's slobber on my hand.

Giraffes Galore.

In Nairobi I went to The Giraffe Center, the purpose of which is conservation, and education of Kenyan school children about their country's wildlife and environment. It also gives foreigners like me the chance to feed and touch giraffes.

Meet Helen and Kelly.

The staff of the Giraffe Center gave me a handful of pellets--dried vegetable matter bonded together with molasses. Giraffe candy.

I started out feeding them quite tentatively, and gradually grew to appreciate their blue tongues, antiseptic saliva, and cheeky expressions. The trick is to hold the pellets in one hand, while you steal a hug with the other. It's humbling to be so close to such a large, beautiful animal.

I believe they said that this subspecies/species (that is debated) is called the Rothschild Giraffe. It's very endangered, with only a few hundred species in the wild.

I wasn't brave/gross enough to get a giraffe kiss (by holding a pellet between my lips)--at the suggestion of the Giraffe Center's staff . . . but it was really nice to be able to touch their fur and feel the prickly softness of such an amazing animal. I'll leave the giraffe kissing to others :)

On Location: Out of Africa

The same day as we went to Hell's Canyon, we headed onwards to Lake Naivasha. Lake Naivasha is freshwater, and has hippos (you can just see the top of one and its ears in the third photo below)!!! This area is part of the Great Rift Valley in Africa, too.

 We drove to the lake, and took a boat across to Crescent Island. Crescent Island is where the film Out of Africa was shot. Originally, most of the animals you can see on the island did not live there. They were brought in for the filming, so that the film crew could be safe from the predatory/dangerous animals in the Great Rift Valley, yet still film shots of the gazelles, impala, water buck, water buffalo, antelopes, giraffes, zebra, warthog, and more.  As far as I understand it, the only cat that has been brought into this ecosystem is the spotted hyena. After filming, the animals were left there, and it has since become a flourishing reserve.

 As with the previous biking trip, this was walking--very rare in a safari experience, as it is usually too dangerous. It was amazing to wander around the island and be so close to the animals. One of my favourites were the giraffes. There was a baby giraffe that was just 10 days old (not that you'd know it), and I enjoyed watching the tower of giraffes (who knew a group of giraffes was called a "tower") amble around, eating from the beautiful yellow acacia trees.

A surprise find was a python. In fact, we saw three of them--baby Rock Pythons in a burrow. These snakes get to be 6 meters (20 feet) long. Our guide told us that they don't bother humans much, but wikipedia tells me that they are "opportunistic feeders, and will consume almost any animal that they come across and can overpower by constriction . . . adults are capable of taking very large prey, including young crocodiles, goats, gazelles, warthogs, and even humans, making them potentially very dangerous." I'm glad we didn't see the mother!

In addition to the animals, as the sun started to set, a beautiful combination of clouds, late afternoon sun and a view of rain that hadn't quite hit us, conspired to create a beautiful backdrop for the landscapes.

 The experience was just breathtaking, and my photographs don't do it justice. My camera is just a point and shoot, as I have been attempting to keep my pack weight down to less than 11 kg. If I were to go again to East Africa, or another wildlife-focused location, I think I might have to splurge on a camera with a decent zoom. However, the memories are more important, and it was a perfect day.

Hell's bells, those are zebras.

Hell's Gate is found northwest of Kenya. It is a small National Park, with a variety of animals and landscapes. I spent a half a day there with a group on an "active" safari, meaning that we biked and walked our way through the park. On a paved surface, it would have been a beautiful ride, as it was, we struggled over gravel, chunks of obsidian left over from ancient eruptions, and fluvial outwash from a prehistoric river. The bike ride there was lovely, but the bike ride back left me wondering what the heck I am thinking (re: biking across Europe). This might be more pain than I'm interested in.

We were assured that the big cats are rarely seen in this area, which was less reassuring than you would think. Chances are my biking abilities would not save me from a hungry lion, no matter how rare.

The landscape was fairly flat, thankfully, but flanked by dramatic rock outcrops. . . red volcanic cliffs and currently inactive plugs. There were some rock climbers taking advantage of these formations. Looked like fun :)

As this was my first big foray out into Africa, I got overly excited. It's funny to look back at your photographs, and see how at first you'd take a picture of a zebra so far away that it really only looks like a spec, and then further along the road, you realize that they come close enough to nearly touch. Suffice to say, I exhausted my memory card this day, and needed to do some heavy photo editing work back at Diana's.

Throughout the bike ride we saw zebras, warthogs, Thomson's Gazelles, giraffes, and monkeys. It's so amazing to be so close to such grand animals. Charismatic megafauna, that they are. There were also some birds that were in the midst of constructing some awesome nests, remniscent of Eero Arnio's Globe Chair.

We lunched above the Hell's Gate gorge, keeping an eye out for cheeky baboons. It was a fun group of people, many working for NGO's in Kenya. Amongst us were Kenyans, an American, a couple Germans, and me.

Then, deciding we had enough energy to add it into our day's plans, we took a quick walk down into the gorge, exploring the different canyons and feeling hot spring water, and cold spring waterfalls. The signs about flash floods, and the fact that this is Kenya's rainy season was a little worrying, but the strata of the canyon walls (carved by said water) were enough to distract me from this one small fact. This gorge is the result of a prehistoric tributary that fed into a lake in the Great Rift Valley, feeding early humans and animals alike.

And finally back to the start, for a drink and a rest in the shade.

Things we take for granted.

Laundry.

I will be happy to do my laundry for the rest of my life. Or at least until I get complacent and forget how wonderful a washer and dryer really is. A bucket of lukewarm water, some shampoo/soap . . . clothes detergent if I'm really lucky, and a questionably clean bathroom is where I did most of my washing in Asia. On arrival at Diana's palace in Nairobi (no, that isn't a typo), doing my laundry in an actual machine made me giggle out loud. This seems to be a theme for me. I hope that travelling by myself doesn't lead to a debilitating social disorder whereby I giggle to myself constantly.


Peanut Butter.

My first peanut butter in over a month. I don't think this has happened since I started eating peanut butter as a small child. This too led to giggling, albeit a sticky-mouthed giggling.

A full night's sleep.

After overnight buses, and hostels with winning combinations of late and early risers, construction on buildings, time changes, early flights, and power outages that led to no air conditioning, I was so excited to sleep in a wonderful clean bed in a cool, dark, quiet room, that I temporarily forgot I was in Africa, and took a Mary-Day. Slept in, did my laundry, went to the grocery store, ate my peanut butter, cooked, ate some more, read books, watched movies, and slept some more.

Then, I realized I was in Africa--what the heck was I doing! Laundry can wait. There are zebras to befriend.

TMI: Clear Snot.

The pollution and dust of Asia and Africa has given me a greater appreciation for clear snot. I could do with never having black substances in my nose ever again. Yep. I told you it was a too much information moment. Bob--are you proud of me? Although, it's not a Thursday.