16/11
I found out that Peter actually has a bow and arrow in his house, which he has used before to hunt when he was younger or kill animals that enter the house. Luckily that has not been the case so far yet we did have to kill our second snake yesterday. This time it was considerably larger.
On Thursday we finally went on our safari. The morning before I was told that we would be 24 instead of the planned 11 and I was delighted that so many could come from the village. When we were seated in the bus, rented for the day, I did not recognize more than half. I found out that Peter had asked others such as some from the polytechnic who had nothing to do with the Kathuni Youth Development Club for which we are the volunteers. They definitely looked like they could have contributed more than the 100KSH, which the boys from the village were capable of paying and is the equivalent of driving from Kaani (the village closest to the main road) to Machakos. The two other volunteers from the area joined us on that day after we met them last Sunday. For the first time in my case, Anne knew them from Nairobi. As so many others they are having big difficulties in their project in which they have to take care of orphans and with their organization (IJGD. They lack acceptance and interest from their village. In the end the four of us had to pay 1300KSH each for a crowded bus with people I did not know. It seemed like we were subsidizing non members to see the wild life for the price of a mars bar in Germany. I felt cheated and I told Peter so especially as if he had told me we could have done some sort of exchange: you can come to the safari but have to spend a day at the demonstration garden.
The trip started African time so 2 hours late.
Once we arrived at Kapiti ranch and saw the first warthog we just forgot about all that and enjoyed the trip. The experience got much better when Patrick, another boy from the village, had the great idea to sit on the roof normally reserved for an average of 50 matrices, 2000 bananas, 100 sacks of cement and maybe 200kg of charcoal. Separated from the ones seated inside we enjoyed the trip from the roof while Mike, the one who is teaching me Spanish, used his knowledge learnt in Nairobi to explain the wild life. For everybody else it was the first time to see zebras, giraffes, gnus and antelopes and when they appeared the excitement was obvious. We were treated to a deserted ranch having all the animals to ourselves. I got the best pictures from the number one poser animal: the giraffe.
After that we continued to the next ranch called Cheru. I was told that this colossal ranch was private property of the justice minister with villa and pool included. On the property he had opened an orphanage for injured wild animals which we are about to see. The staff was amazing and we walked around to see young buffalo that we could stroke although being one of the big 5 (the 5 you should not mess with) and to lions which seemed less willing to be stroked. They have three 2 year old lions one of which repeatedly tried to snatch the little boy who came along.
Oh what I had forgotten to mention, the boys from the village had all dressed in their best clothes for the occasion. And I always say boys because no girls came on the trip or show up around me with one exception. There were girls from the polytechnic on the bus but they rather stuck to themselves and listened to their mini radio and mobiles much like the western species of the "Blackberry girl".
Next we saw the around 1000 tortoises small and big. All this time we were accompanied by the three care takers who were extremely motivated and informative. One even told me that there is a possibility to stay for a few days and I will try and do that next year experiencing what it is like to feed wild animals etc. We also saw cows that actually had meat on their ribs also property of the minister and used to feed the animals. Finally we walked to the cheetahs. This was the highlight for me as I had seen all the other animals before and a cheetah sprint once too but never this close! The tail is surprisingly bushy, the body made for accelerating from 0 to 100 in 3 seconds and the face rather squared. They were also very young and so used to humans as they lived in captivity that I could also stroke one through the wire.
I should probably mention that I spent last Tuesday night throwing up continuously after thinking on Monday that I was doing pretty well health wise after a month. That day I had spent repairing the water pipe on the hill with Peter and two others, which is a truly challenging job. However I think the reason was the dinner on Monday which included eggs. I continued feeling terrible on the Wednesday but luckily felt well enough for the safari on Thursday.
The conversations have now made a complete circle and although Peter and Anne are interested in the news all we really talk about is Afghanistan. Last night it came up again as I heard Gordon Brown's interview with the BBC but I had to repeat the same old lines how I do not think the west is imposing anything because let's face it Al Qaeda did have a safe haven in Afghanistan and nearly 3000 innocent people died on 9/11.
Over the weekend I spent more time learning Spanish from a surprisingly good language book Mike gave me. It is really becoming my free time activity of choice and as I have more than enough free time I will hopefully say sentences on new years!
Over the weekend we will be in Nairobi then I will upload pictures of the safari as well as of the people with a brief description.
Till then byebye