So the coast! We journeyed to the Coast for a week after being in Amboseli. While the coast is beautiful, I really was looking forward to coming back to Nairobi by the end. I was tired of being sweaty and hot all the time and really, I'm not a beach person anyways. But I really did have a nice time! The people on Biashara Street (the shopping/business street) were really quite nice; they didn't try to rip us off for being mzungus (white travellers) like most people in Kenya. Thanks Mombasa!
a look at the outside of Fort Jesus (which was owned by the Portuguese way back when and then was a prison)
a bit of the Old Mombasa Town
a view of the harbor!
and some excited friends right before we boarded the boat for our dinner cruise (I know, we're so spoiled! but in all fairness, we don't get a spring break; everything is more or less structured (but with plenty of pool time). And let me tell you, by noon, you're just a big sweat blob bouncing around Mombasa, so a shower or a dip in the pool is really appreciated! I didn't swim in the ocean because of all the seaweed, the occasional Portuguese Man of War, and the harassing Beach Boys (not the band from the sixties, let me tell you).
this is a short video I took of an elephant eating. He was so close to the vehicle!
sorry about the video quality; it looks a lot better on my computer.
So before you start.... have some great 80s music to get you in the mood to look at all my safari pictures!
some goats in front of Mt. Kilimanjaro!! It was really clear the first day, then it hid behind clouds the rest of the week.
an adorable baby giraffe in Amboseli
hup! two! three! four! Elephants on the march
giraffes coming to say hello because there are no trees for them to eat here... usually you don't see giraffes in the park for this reason. (elephants are overpopulating the park, and knock down trees, turning Amboseli into a grassland. aaaaand..... elephants are overpopulating the park because the government knows that tourists want to see elephants when they come to the park)
some elephants greeting each other!
hello ostriches!
some gray crowned cranes! these are some of my new favorite animals from Amboseli
a cape buffalo just chilling out with an egret
RAWR! a hungry, hungry hippo!
a hippo taking a stroll next to the swamp
the view from our lunch lookout. see the contrast between the lush lake and the bare soil patches (and dry grass) around the perimeter!
hey! it's Pumba! and Pumba junior!
so these are two lounging lions.... but it's really really hard to tell. Can you see the ears? We never got to see them standing up, they were just so sleepy :)
Whoa! Some wild animals trapped in a safari jeep!
mr. elephant eating anything and EVERYTHING.
we saw SO MANY ZEBRAS. here are two (and a baby, I think) out of the bazillion of them. (Zebras are overpopulated too in the park, leading to the dusty, bare patches of ground that you've seen in some of the pictures)
I've returned from my 3 week homestay and now am on my way to Amboseli and the coast for the next two weeks!
My homestay went really well: my family was really pleasant and I had a lot of fun times with them. Last sunday, I went to an outdoors concert/festival thing with my siblings which was a nice change of pace. Overall, this week has been pretty quiet because we've had a lot of coursework... so unfortunately I don't have too many stories. However, you may be amused to find out that I had so much free time due to sitting in traffic that I finished Harry Potter #3 and #6 (all in one week, too!). I had no idea traffic jams could be so fun! (I also had dance parties and sing-a-longs with my siblings during traffic jams. It's weird to think that some of my favorite moments are when I was trapped in a car surrounded by stinky, polluted air!)
I'll be sure to take lots of pictures in the next couple of weeks. I literally didn't take any pictures at my urban homestay (except of the monkeys and some cool iridescent clouds).
I took this one but had a hard time capturing the color while also keeping the brightness realistic.
I CANNOT take credit for this beautiful picture; it is by Eric, a friend of my brother.
My family said we'd take a family picture in the next couple of weeks to ensure that I'd come back to visit! :)
here's a photograph that I just snapped of my urban host family. Sorry about the quality... man, I thought I had a better camera than this! (haha)
Hello all!
This update is a bit later than I
anticipated. Our internet connection here was jeopardized when a ship’s anchor
ripped up 2 important cables…
Anyhow, here I am! I’ve been
staying in Nairobi with a host family. My family is very hospitable and I find
it to be pretty easy to integrate into their lifestyle because it’s really
quite similar to life in the US. My siblings are all older than I am, though
two of them are home for the occasion and my other sister has just arrived
today to visit. The biggest adjustment? Leaving the house at 6:30 so I can get
through the traffic in time for my 8:30 class. Traffic is a bit rough because
development hasn’t kept up with the population growth/immigration.
All is well here: classes are normal and tomorrow we’re
visiting the city market and going to the Karua forest. Last week we went to
Kibera which is the one of the largest slums in Africa, if not the largest. It
was a powerful experience but after watching the movie “Slum Dwellers” (which
is a documentary on Kibera …actually I can’t be sure that that is the name), I
was even more blown away. I’m not doing a very good job explaining but this
could be because it is late at night. (And yet, I am determined to get this
email out!) I guess all I can say is I’ve never been so thankful for clean
water and our sanitation systems/waste disposal systems.
SO anyways, one more week in our
homestays before life starts getting crazy again… next time I talk to you all,
I’ll be in Amboseli!
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