Twiga na Tembo

Water, Toilets, Refrigerators

Thanks to all who answered my survey! I was wondering if anyone was really checking the blog so now I know at least 17 of you are :) Our clear winner was running water and on that note, my water randomly started working on Monday! I had gotten pretty used to not having it so now I feel like I'm living in the lap of luxury. Although the water in the kitchen only lasted for 2 days and is now mysteriously not working, I still have water in the bathroom! This is very convenient for washing hands, flushing the toilet, and you might think bathing but the water is straight from a mountain river and is ice cold so I'm still on the 2-3 times/week shower schedule.

As much as I appreciate having water I've decided what I miss the most is a refrigerator. Just imagine life with no cheese, no ice cream, and no leftovers. Since I have to make every meal from scratch it is a big pain that I can't make a large dish and eat it for 2 or 3 meals. I guess this choice should come as no surprise as I think most of you know food is more important to me than hygiene :)

*If you have written a comment I have responded so be sure to check the comments section.

Giraffe Sanctuary

I had to go to Nairobi last weekend for a Saturday meeting with other volunteers. The meeting itself was a bit dull but seeing the other volunteers was fabulous! We went out to dinner and I ate cheese and ice cream...other things too but those were the highlights for me as they comprise 2 of my major food groups back home and are both unavailable in Gatura.

Since you are not supposed to travel after dark we all stayed over Saturday night and had all Sunday to entertain ourselves. Having been in Kenya 3 weeks at that point I was itching to see some animals so we went to the Giraffe Sanctuary and the Elephant Orphanage. Both are just outside of town and the Giraffe Sanctuary is at the base of the Ngong Hills (Out of Africa).

The giraffes were beautiful and we were allowed to feed them which was interesting. I think Mark and Andrea will remember from their trip to Phoenix that they are quite slimy :) They had 7 giraffes in the sanctuary and they are all Rothschild giraffes (there are 3 types in Kenya: Rothschild, Reticulated, and Masai). This type of giraffe is endangered so they breed them here and then release them into the wild. The park is big but we got lucky and were able to see 6 of the 7 and 3 of them of close.

An added bonus were all the random animals actually living wild in the area. We saw baboons and a whole family of warthogs. Warthogs are ugly but so much fun to watch because of the way they shuffle around with their front legs bent so their mouths can reach the ground.


Elephant Orphanage

From there we went to the Elephant Orphanage where they rescue and rehabilitate baby elephants before reintroducing them into the wild. Most of these elephants are orphans whose mothers were killed by poachers. Visitors are only allowed in the park during one hour of the day and it is feeding time so we got to see quite a few and even touch one. Even the babies are hairy and look like dinosaurs...but so cute in their own way!

Fun Facts:

• A giraffe can kill a lion by kicking it. We got to hold a femur bone and it is HEAVY!
• Giraffes only sleep a total of 30 minutes a day.
• Giraffes are most liking to be killed by a predator while drinking because they have to stand with their legs spread to get their faces to the water.
• Giraffes are pregnant for 15 months and can hold the baby up to 3 additional months if the environment isn't hospitable to babies.
• Elephants are continually losing and replacing teeth. When they get very old their teeth don't grow back in anymore and they die of starvation.
• Elephants can "hear" with there trunks and feet by detecting very small vibrations when placed on the ground. Their sight is terrible.
• An elephant's temporal lobes (which are associated with memory) are more developed and have more foldage than humans' lobes so their memories are much better than ours.

White Girls in the Sun

Rebecca-London, Me, Frances-Ireland, Lizzie-London