41. Kenya Part 2: Nairobi, Meru, Samburu and Ol Pajeta

This post shares the log book from the second half of our week of vacation in Kenya (July 9 - 17). The first half of our travels is blog post 40.

Wed., July 13 - Landing in Nairobi’s domestic terminal was amazingly simple compared to international arrivals. It was a short walk on the tarmac from the plane to the baggage area. Soon we were met by Evelyn and Samson with Lindberg Safaris. We settled on the price, then explained we needed to have a lunch before continuing the day’s journey. This landed us at Paul’s Café at the airport where we enjoyed sandwiches and burgers. After dropping off Everlyn (she was only part of the pick-up crew), around 2:15pm we were in the van heading north of Nairobi, west of Mt. Kenya on the scenic drive across several of Kenya’s major regions and through many tiny towns and two or three large ones. Samson stopped at Africa’s Curios shop for bathroom and coffee break. Finally, around 9:15pm we arrived at Thiiri Cultural Center!

Thu., July 14 – we met with Moses Marete, principal of BLISS at his office around 9am. It was great to have Isaac and Naomi with us to hear Moses talk about the challenges of being a principal at a school like BLISS. They may have picked up on the pressures Moses has from parents, students and the government, and the service-leadership attitude Moses brings to his work, which has made the school so successful.

Our tour of BLISS included the kitchen (built since RA was there in 2011) where we deeply inhaled the aromas of cooking porridge and beans in the giant cookers. We admired the vegetables growing in the greenhouse and we saw
the cute rabbits (3) in the rabbit hutch. The cornfield had been plowed, graded and leveled to make way for athletic fields (soccer, volleyball, basketball) for BLISS students. There had been too many complaints and complexities with always borrowing the field at neighboring Kithoka Primary School. Then we saw the new wing on the science lab being built. From there to the new classroom building, including a peek at the library. We peeked in on 2 Form 1 classes. The music class was small, but math class was very crowded. The recently drilled well was the final stop on our tour. The idea is to use one well to supply water for all four schools in the immediate area.

This concluded the BLISS tour so Moses walked us over to Kithoka Primary. We met Mercy, the school’s senior teacher, but Helen, the new head teacher was not there. So Mercy showed us around to the teacher’s room, then the pre-school. Here Naomi and Ruth Ann took turns leading the adorable 3 -4 year olds’ class and 5 – 6 year olds’ class in a brief counting lesson (Ruth Ann in Swahili, Naomi in English). Then two very bright 5 – 6 year olds lead the class in a counting lesson in English!  From here we went to briefly visit a 6^th grade class, as that would be Naomi’s age. They all stood up very respectfully while we told something about ourselves and where we come from. We pointed out Rwanda on their map of Africa.

Mercy also proudly showed us their library and their water purification systems. We said good-bye.

After a quick stop at Thiiri to pick up a picnic lunch we were on our way with Samson to Samburu National Reserve. That means we headed north through Isiolo which is a very Muslim town. We ducked into a hotel restaurant there to see if they might have a suitable snack for Isaac, and I felt like I was transported to an Indiana Jones movie! The dusty room was filled with mostly men. The waiter with an Islamic hat (name?) said, “sorry, chips are finished. We have meat and rice.” And he seemed quite relieved and satisfied that we decided to leave. Samson took us to the Total gas station across the street to buy a bag of chips and a Stoney Tanglewizi (ginger ale).

DRIVING TO SAMBURU (still Thu., Jul 14)

On The drive across the desert-like prairie there was village after village constructed in what we would learn is typical of the Samburu people. They build a kind a wigwam from sticks and covered with large leather pieces mixed with plastic pieces, so that some of them even look like a desert version of an igloo. Many of the homesteads had a rectangular house built of stone that was held in place by wire mesh. Right next to it would often be a wigwam style house.

Finally we reached the Samburu gate, paid our fees, and began the safari. The landscape was beautiful with low mountains on the horizon always as a backdrop. Right away we saw elephants. Then orynx, zebra, somali ostrich, Grevy zebra, and gerenuk. Already the “Samburu Big 5”!

Then Samson was suddenly driving very fast, not even pausing when we spotted our first giraffe. Soon we saw a big group of safari vehicles including a giant bus, all stopped. Then we spotted it – a leopard lying still on a fallen tree, right above an elephant eating. Samson brought us around for a perfect view and we sat in awe (as did all the other tourists) as the leopard
started zeroing in on a dik dik (a tiny antelope-like animal). It didn’t care at all about the elephant or the dozens of safari vehicles. After the leopard left, we watched the large group of elephants a bit longer.

Continuing the drive, Samson took us back to track down the giraffe. We saw more impala, more elephants, Grants gazelles and gerenuk, too.

Naomi was getting bored, tired and hungry(plus she had to use the bathroom.) and we were happy with what we had seen so we went to the Lion King Bush Camp. Nahim was an amazing Indian-Kenyan man who has lived in the bush for 20 years. He had two helpers, one younger, one older, who appeared to be native Samburu people. His son, Nakhil, came later. They all spoke fluent Samburu and Swahili. The camp itself was a fantastic bush camp. We had two “luxury tents” with real beds and furniture inside, hammocks outside over-looking the river, and the most elegant outhouses I have ever seen! The “dining hall” was an amazingly impressive pavilion built from trunks of trees that curved up from the ground and were nicely complimented by curved sofas and low stone walls. The dining room table was the centerpiece with big wooden chairs with Samburu-looking masks carved on the top of each one. (Nahim later told us that he and made the roof the same shape as a nearby mountain. And we were all very impressed to see just how similar the two shapes were!)

We enjoyed the campfire they had lighted next to the river while we drank our Tusker beer and Fanta.

Dinner was a delicious fettuccini and tossed salad, with fruit for dessert.

Friday, July 15: In the morning, breakfast was omelets, more fruit along with toast and tea. John made a creative “cone” out of a water bottle to use with our coffee and coffee filter (since our cone was left at home). We got going around 7:20 am, only 50 minutes later than planned! (RA really wanted to "get out there"!)

Animals we saw included giraffes (2) and we were excited to see two cheetahs resting in the shade. One appeared to be just a cub. The most amazing was - two lionesses stalking waterbuck prey! We also saw many other waterbuck, two crocodiles, more gerenuk, orynx, elephant and warthogs. The birds we saw included vulturine guineafowl, spur fowl, hornbills (loved those!) and a white stork.

Just after exiting the park, Samson took us over to a village where the Samburu people welcomed visitors “for a donation.” We were invited inside, which Ruth Ann loved – the rest of the family endured. Of course, this is where the hard-sell to buy beaded goods was held. But they also gave us a brief and interesting introduction to the home and their lives. Besides the 4 of us, there were five Samburu adults and one child in that tiny hut! The bead-work was beautiful, but pricey, so we only bought one bracelet.

We got back to Meru with time to visit the Kithoka Polytechnique School. There Wilson gave us a great tour and we were impressed by many things they are teaching there: cooking, sewing and hair-styling for the women. Brick making, stone cutting (?), mechanic work and carpentry for the men. There is substantial work on agriculture there also. They are teaching how to grow food crops like cabbage, tomato and beans.

Then we stopped at Thiiri Center. We met the bishop, Florence and Marilyn there. Then Samson took us to Mwanika church. Pastor Joshua was there and showed us around the new educational wing and the sanctuary.

Sat., July 16,  three of us had a quick jog around Thiiri’s campus before we left in the morning. We headed West to Nanyuki and the Ol Pajeta Conservancy. We arrived around 11am. Within the first 15 minutes John spotted a Rhino off in the distance. That one walked quickly into the bushes. Later we saw a big Rhino just laying in the middle of a field, not too far away. We took photos for almost 20 minutes and it never moved. Samson took us to the Chimp sanctuary, which was more interesting than I thought with rescued chimpanzees from elsewhere in Africa. At the end of the drive, we saw a male lion and lioness, slumbering in the shade of a bush! Fantastic! (except for the fact that we had gone quite a ways off of the road to see them!)

So we ended the game drive at the spot where you visit Baraka, a blind, rescued rhino who you can also touch, with the help of a guide who helps you feed the big guy sugar cane.

We had our late lunch at Marinda Restaurant, which was perfectly situated with open-air tables, friendly staff, an excellent menu of burgers, wraps, salads and an espresso machine!

The five hour drive to Nairobi was full of traffic as expected. We left Ol Pajeto (which means Sweetwaters) around 4pm and arrived at the airport just after 9:30.

At the airport we had to say good-bye to Samson Lindberg who had become like a part of the family during the last three days of travel.  He did a great job enlightening us without making us feel bored or ignorant. Most of all, his personal enjoyment and knowledge of the wonders of Kenya helped each of us appreciate them, too!