For my 23rd birthday, I wanted to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. My dad and I will be attempting it on a NOLS alumni trip. Afterwards, we are going on a mini safari in Kenya. These are my ramblings...
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More elle's playing at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust's Sanctuary
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Orphaned epants playing in the mud with each other. Too cute!
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Me with my incredibly tasty birthday cake! Thanks to Colin for the photo.
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Famous Last Words
Amusing quotes from our trip...
"It's a sock line." -Danny
"Water wash." -Herman
"Delicious." -Diedier
"So what is Furby's specialty in the kitchen?" -Colin
"Did you know that DFW has 800,000 employees?" -Lydia
"I have a question....why is my bag wet?" -Harlan (aka H$ or Har-Dog)
"I swear I'm hallucinating, that rock looks like a witch!" -David
"Don't wake me up, cuz I'm gonna sleep til I'm done." -Muthoni
"You made it! You're here! Is it like a dream?" -James
"After lunch we're climbing up the lava tower." -Clemence
...and the winner for most dramatic on the trail goes to:
"I think I'm gonna go down." -Ted
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Quintessential photo of Kilimanjaro as seen from Amboseli, Kenya...forever etched in my mind :)
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Group along with the guides, cooks, and our incredible porters!
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The group on the summit, with some of our guides
Florent, DGO, Me, Danny, James, Ted, Muthoni, Colin, Deidier, Clemence
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Homeward Bound - Kwa Heri, Kenya!
30 April JKIA - Jombo Kenyatta International Airport Nairobi, Kenya Today was the last day of our safari. We departed the Tortilis Camp early this morning and did a mini game drive en route to the airport. We saw a large troop of baboons at the abandoned Amboseli Lodge. There were several tiny babies in the group! See earlier post for photo! After a quick flight from Amboseli to Nairobi, we went for a little outing to the elephant orphanage run by the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. The program helps abandoned and orphaned baby ellies by nurturing them they way their own mum would. They are bottle fed a special soy-based milk formula every 3 hours! Each day they have an hour to play in which visitors are invited to observe the feeding and playtime. These little guys were SO CUTE! I've posted a few photos of them playing in the mud and am trying to put up the videos I took! They were having the absolute best time rolling around in the mud, pushing each other around, and snuggling. It was adorable! After the ellie orphanage, we had lunch near the Karen Blixen museum in the "Karen" neighborhood of Nairobi. After lunch we had a short little tour of Karen Blixen's house, which now serves as a museum. There was a wedding reception happening on the house/museum grounds, so that was fun to pass by! After the museum we did a little bit more shopping (gotta get the Christmas inventory stocked!) and then had an early dinner at a very unique Nairobi restaurant called Carnivore. They had every type of meat you can imagine! As a pseudo-vegetarian I opted only for chicken, while DGO got adventurous and tried camel, ostrich, and crocodile. It was quite the experience. I got another birthday cake! And more singing of Happy Birthday and the Jambo song. The Jambo song is what I call the traditional Swahili song that is sung to visitors - I'm not sure what it is really called. But it was sung to me and Deidier on Kili for our birthdays, and we would sometimes sing it on the trail. I had KG teach us all of the words. I tried to post an audio clip of the porters singing it to Deidier but was unsuccessful. Luckily Ted got a video of them singing for both of us, so hopefully I can post it when he sends it my way! Now we are in the Nairobi airport waiting for our flight to London, followed by a flight to JFK. Kwa heri is Swahili for farewell...we are sad to be saying kwa heri to both Kenya and Tanzania, but are excited to finally be home after an amazing trip! It has truly been memorable, and I can't wait to get all of my pictures uploaded, as well as see the ones from the rest of the group. This will be the end of my blog except for picture updates in the not so distant future. It has been an interesting way of expressing myself and I appreciate all of the emails and commentary I have received. I hope it was as enjoyable to read as it was to write!!
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A Farewell to Facial Hair
29 April Tortilis Camp Amboseli, Kenya Today began with another early morning game drive. We saw giraffes, zebras, gazelles, cape buffaloes, wildebeets, hyenas, and of course elephants! We also saw a new face - a jackal. He looked a lot like the wild foxes back home in PB. Simon took us to observe a groupf of epants as they ate and bathed in a marshy area. They got pretty muddy, especially the baby! He couldn't have been more than a few months old, and it was great fun watching him learn to swim. The adults were very protective of the little baby and didn't want us coming too close. They were all eating grass and playing in the mud, even the adults. Supposedly the mud keeps the bugs off of them, so that's why they like to take mudbaths and cover themselves in dust. (See earlier posts of pictures of the epants...) After a few hours of game viewing, we had a "bush breakfast" - basically the same as breakfast at the camp but with a fantastic view. A buffet of fresh fruit, yogurt, cereal, french toast, bacon, and even an omelette bar were set up under a huge acacia tee! We could see Kili for most of the morning, but around breakfast time is when the clouds roll in and obstruct the views of the three peaks. It was really nice to have breakfast right in the middle of Amboseli National Park and in the shadow of Mt. Kilimanjaro. When breakfast was over we saw some more animals on the way back to the camp - no cheetah though! We opted to visit a nearby Maasai village to see how they live. I studied various aspects of the Maasai culture in my anthropology classes in college, so it was interesting for me to actually be able to visit their village and talk to one of them who had learned English in school. They said we were welcome to take as many photographs as we wished, but I didn't feel right taking any pictures of people. I did however film their welcome/prayer dance that they perform daily - perhaps I will post it later. We were permitted to go inside one of the houses, which are made of all natural materials - sticks, twigs, twine made from plants, animal dung, etc. (See earlier post of exterior photo). I was surprised how much space was inside considering how small they looked from the outside. It was very rustic, but still cozy! The warriors showed us how they make fires, which I posted a video of earlier. They use friction instead of lights, which I think is great because there is no waste or plastic to dispose of. We browsed the marketplace, we had many wonderful homemade crafts and jewelry for sale. The Maasai people were all very humble and welcoming towards us. Another delicious Italian lunch followed, and then more reading and relaxation! Tonight is our last night here in Amboseli, as tomorrow morning we are off to Nairobi and then home tomorrow evening. As such, DGO is shaving his beard off...it was fun while it lasted.
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Maasai warriors making a fire out of natural materials.
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