DAY 6: Exploring Nairobi

After an amazing buffet breakfast out on the veranda at the Norfolk we headed out to meet Dave's sister-in-law who works for a company called Telecom based out of Nairobi with offices in Uganda and a few other places. She and her husband, Johnny wanted to go out to the Nairobi National Park which is just south of the city. The park itself is bigger than the city of Nairobi. You can go on mini safaris in cars through the park or go on a safari walk. We opted to go and visit the animal orphanage where you can see animals from the park up close. A lot of the animals there have been abandoned by their parents or would not be able to make it in the wild. It looked a lot like a zoo but with more African animals than any zoo I've ever seen. We saw lots of lions, cheetahs, Patas monkeys and baboons, warthogs and Ugandan cranes (the ones with hair that looks like an afro). I was struck by how strange the hyena looked to me. Like nothing I can relate it to in the states. Maybe some sort of bear, dog mixture? We met a black monkey named Barack (ha), shook hands with a small baboon, and saw 4 year old lions whose mother was killed by a snake.

Next we went to the Bomas (cultural center) at the recommendation of the driver. This place reminded me of if you went to the Polynesian cultural center in Hawaii. They perform dances, play drums, and sing songs for you. Kind of a tourist trap. We ordered some soup and eggs there and they tried to charge us three times the amount our bill should have been. That happens everywhere here. You have to check everything and have a handle on what things should cost or you will get cheated.

Next we went to the Giraffe Center, a place I'm pretty sure we went to when I was 5. They breed giraffes here and you can go up to a balcony area and a bunch of volunteers will give you pellets you can hold out and feed the giraffes. They will walk right up and eat out of your hand. They have these crazy long black tongues and the people that work there taught me to feed it one pellet at a time out of one hand while I got to pet it with my other hand. Very neat. Dave's sister mastered the giraffe kiss which involves putting a pellet between your lips and letting the giraffe lick it off of you. Cute and slobbery.

That night we went to Holly's friend Ester's apartment and she cooked us an amazing meal. She has a son named Alan who ran around pretending to be Spiderman then he would switch to being Alan. Playing pretend I suppose is pretty universal.