Nairobi

September the 7th

Still in Nairobi. And because I don't want to miss a thing I chose to take an other day trip. This is more like a drive through, from an attraction to an other. The ride goes from David Sheldrick wildlife trust, Giraffe Centre, Kazuri beads and pottery centre and Karen Bliksen museum. All is planed in detail and though I'm the only one that chose this trip from my guest house, I am not alone. There are a lot of people like me, driven here by their guides, who are doing the best they can to get the clients first from a place to another. That ends up in a race between the guides' cars. Disregarding all this haste (I came back to the hotel like 1 hour before scheduled) it was a fun trip.

David Sheldrick wildelife trust is rescuing orphan baby elephants ages from a couple of weeks to 3 years, which otherwise will not be able to survive in the wilde. Currently, the centre is taking care of 22 baby elephants, which at a point will be released into the wild again. It was amazing to see the relationship the animals have with their caretakers, how they play with each other and with the audience.

I have to say that for the "enormous" amount of 50 dollers/year I became the proud adoptive mother of this 6 months old baby boy elephant, called Jambo (it's an adoptive name, as I can't write, pronounce and not even really remember the real name). By the way, Jambo means hello in Swahili, the common local language.

The Giraffe Centre was also wonderful, the animals come so close that you can feed them from your palm and if you're lucky you can also get a slimy kiss. The centre works to increase the population of the endangered Rothschild's giraffe, and they actually are doing a great job at that. During about 30 year they managed to more than double the population from 120 to 300 Rothschild's giraffes into the wild. They also have painting exhibitions, which are funding education for children coming from low income families.

Kazuri beads and pottery centre had the most amazing handmaid jewels and pottery and I can't resist such things. I ended up spending more money than intended. But the most interesting thing is that the workers are employed based on the fact that they are single mothers. It was actually nice to know that my tendencies to overspend are helping mothers to support their children.

We drive on to Karen Blixen museum and I get a personal guide through the house. The guide was well informed and very professional, the presentation was at European standards. The most impressive thing was the view she woke up to every morning, drinking her Kenyan coffee, right from her own plantation.

Driving from one attraction to an other, we were passing through a residential area. I can claim that I've been in a lot of places, both developed and underdeveloped countries, but I've never seen something similar to this before. House is not a term to describe the residences in that area, palaces, institutions, villages are more appropriate. I can't imagine that a single family, no matter how big, can make good use of so much space. The contrast is so huge as, only minutes ago we were passing by Kibera, Africa's second biggest slum, with it's sheds with rusty roofs.

My driver, although not as talkative as my other guide, explains to me that people living in this area are usually foreigners, politicians and Indian businessmen. After asking me about my purpose in Kenya he says his wife is also a nurse, a midwife. We talk about health insurance and how it works in Kenya. He doesn't have personal health insurance but he and the rest of his family are insured through his wife. I don't really understand how does that work and he can not explain it to me. He also says that the government hospitals are free but the service level is low, they don't have resources or specialists to be able to offer the best treatment. That is why people who can afford it are treated in the private hospitals.

I hope to learn more about that during the next 3 weeks.

In the meanwhile, tomorrow arrives the rest of my group and we all depart for Daraja, Mt. Kenya Global Platform, where we will stay for the next 10 days.