All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy... (and Jill a wealthy widow)

Week one - complete! As a reward for our terrific first week of teaching, the team went out to celebrate at a local landmark restaurant, Carnivore. It's exactly as it sounds: a restaurant with a prix fixe menu of a variety of different meats, featuring one exotic specialty per evening. We lucked out with ostrich meatballs, which interestingly tasted like beef with a hint of chicken. The decor was kitsch but the food was great, and the bill spoke volumes of just how well we treated ourselves. Consensus: well deserved.

Our weekend of celebration, however, didn't start with our meat-eating binge. Friday afternoon, Kathleen invited us to a free concert at the local Alliance Francaise: the annual event was called Spotlight on Kenyan Music, and was absolutely terrific. Featuring a veritable cabaret of female vocalists, jazz bands, traditional Masai chanting and even a blind self-taught guitarist/floutist/singer, we really were treated to exceptional talent that was clearly very popular among the local youth in attendance. We certainly didn't hesitate to buy a CD of this year's featured musicians, and Jessie even had the good fortune to have hers autographed by her personal favourite - the young Masai activist who combined traditional chanting with modern beats and political messages.

Not yet ready to call it a night (and happily enjoying the 100 shilling beer), some of the team decided to take on the local wildlife and headed to Tacos, a hopping joint with a knock-off Taco Bell logo for a sign. We met up with Stephen, one of our Daystar students at Kibera, and spent the evening enjoying more of the local brew (Tusker, fyi), the company, and even a song or two on the dance floor. It seems to be the case that in Kenya, dancing brings people together; thus, thanks to his smooth moves, Kevin met a few members and even the coach of the National Kenyan Cricket team. Alvina and Stephen were met with less success, but nonetheless enjoyed the occasion to "shake what their mamas gave them", as the local expression goes. Tragically, Brent and Jim were not to be found getting their grove on, but we
think it likely they'll be dragged into it by the end of the trip.

Our weekend of festivities was dominated by trips to various animal-viewing grounds. First stop: the Nairobi Giraffe Centre, where one could entertain him/herself by feeding giraffes from raised verandahs, and (secondarily, of course) learn all about the histories and habits of African giraffes. Some of the more adventurous deigned to hold a piece of giraffe food between their lips, and as the rest of us looked on with a combination of gleeful disgust and horrified captivation, both young and old (and mostly American) stepped up to undergo the touristy rite of passage. We happily resigned ourselves to the traditional hand-to-mouth technique, even sneaking in a timid yet affectionate pat now and again. And for everyone's information, a giraffe's tongue is dark, leathery, and unsurprisingly slimy.

Our next adventure took us to the Nairobi Animal Orphanage, where a greater variety of animals could be appreciated. Although not nearly as exciting as fauna in the wild, it was nice to at least be guaranteed that we'd see them, seeing as you can't get far behind a chain-link fence. Speaking of getting behind chain-link fences, Art, Alvina and Jessie managed to sweet-talk their way into the cheetah cage, so under the extremely tight observation of a barrage of groundskeepers, they managed to score a picture. When it is up, you will notice a pained look of control on Art's face, thinly veiling an expression of sheer terror.

Last stop on our African safari: Lake Nakuru National Park. Known as an ornithological paradise, it boasts one of the highest number of different species of bird of any national park in the world. Within metres into the park, it was easy to see how it got its reputation: we saw a whack of funky looking birds (none of whose names we caught), and turning the bend towards the lake, we were immediately greeted by a sea full - or more like an entire lake full - of bright pink cheerfully squawking flamingos. I kid you not: at best estimate, there were probably several thousand of them stretching in a warbling colour mass from shore to shore, right down to the horizon. It was like the world's fair of flamingos was being held at Lake Nakuru that very day, and we just happened to stumble upon it. Very cool.

In other news, we saw the usual horde of zebras, buffalo, and even a couple of impalas fighting for domination, but other than a brief sighting of a black rhino, the flamingos were definitely the highlight. We also spotted a bunch of park visitors who were dumb enough to leave food lying around for baboons (and then panicked when the baboons came after them), but such guests unfortunately don't seem to be a rare species. Judge not lest ye be judged, though: a particularly cheeky monkey found its way into our van when we weren't looking, and managed to sneak away with one of Alvina's granola bars, which it unwrapped and consumed from a nearby treetop. We'll know better for next time.

The evening wrapped up with a bright orange Kenyan sunset just as we arrived back in Nairobi, all sufficiently safari-ed out, pleasantly tired, and looking forward to another eventful week of teaching, business plans, and the adventure that has been our trip thus far.

With Love,
The SE101: Kenya Team.

Posted by Kevin Keystone