KYAITHANI SECONDARY SCHOOL VISITS NAIROBI SEP 20, 2012

KYAITHANI SECONDARY SCHOOL VISITS NAIROBI  - THURSDAY SEP 20, 2012

It was an early start - again!   After another shower to get rid of the dust from our trip to Kyaithani and Ndandini yesterday, we packed a bag that we could leave at the TRIBE hotel the following day when we head off on safari.  Next was the JINCA restaurant, on the ground floor looking out on to the pool, for breakfast.  A fabulous buffet, my favourite at the moment - hard to choose between the almond croissant or the fresh toast with a selection of lovely cheeses!

Ray from Gamewatchers picked us up at 9am, and our first stop was the Nakumatt supermarket in the Village Market next door to pick up 150 bottles of water and packages of cookies.  This took a little longer than we thought but we were soon off to ensure we arrived at Sheldrick Wildlife Trust to see the elephants being fed by 11am.  There was a traffic hold up and we were starting to worry a little about arriving in time. Then we received a text message from Sammy the Vice Principle at Kyaithani Secondary School - they were off on time (5am they left the school) but it took them longer than expected to reach Nairobi.  Our second  message came as we got closer to Sheldrick, they were equidistant to us coming in on another road.  Then we saw two school buses pulling out of the Nairobi National Park - sure enough - this was them and our van ended up between two of the buses.  The kids started waving at us through the back window and hanging out the windows to say Hello - we were so pleased to see them all.  However - the third bus was missing.  The Vice Principal Sammy on the missing bus, then phoned us so we put Ray, our driver, on the phone with the school bus driver and he gave the bus driver directions on how to get to Sheldrick.

KYAITHANI SECONDARY SCHOOL KIDS VISIT SHELDRICK

You may remember that there are 42 tribes in Kenya each with their own language.  As luck would have it, Ray came from an area not far from Kyaithani and he was Kamba and spoke the same language as the bus drivers - this would prove to be so helpful as the day continued!  We all pulled into Sheldrick parking lot, where we found out that the guard did not have down that these 150 kids and teachers were booked to see the elephants!  The Guard and I raced over to the entrance where all was OK'd and so back to let all the kids out of the buses and into the field where the elephants (fondly called ellies by us) would be fed - they arrived as all the elephants were being led in.

The elephants enter in two groups led by their keepers who spend 24 hours a day with them, even sleeping in their pens with the elephants (each elephant in his or her  own pen) and get up every 3 hours to give them another bottle of milk.  Yes, they are fed with bottles - a huge 2 or 3 foot long bottle with a teat and the elephants know how to grab this bottle and they empty it unbelievably fast! There are 3 keepers who explain everything about the elephants, where they came from, why they are in the Sheldrick elephant orphanage - most are poaching victims where their mother was killed, some fell down well boreholes and could not get out so the herd had to leave them behind - all very sad stories.  Elephants are very social creatures and many grieve for a long time when they arrive at the orphanage - most having been flown there in the small planes.  But the other elephants take them into the orphanage family and they start to settle down.

KIDS LINEUP FOR LUNCH BOXES

The kids were all fascinated and listened intently to the keeper who did all of his talking in Swahili so that they could easily understand everything - there were lots of questions and answers, and big smiles all around - especially from us - we were so happy to see these Kenyan kids enjoying, and learning from, a wonderful field trip. All too soon the 1 hour session was over and the kids headed back to their buses. While we had been enjoying the elephants, Gamewatchers had done a stellar job and had picked up 150 lunch boxes!  So back at the parking lot, there were two Gamewatchers vehicles with all the lunchboxes and bottles of water - and a long line of 150 kids in a very orderly fashion passing past and picking up their lunch and taking it back on the bus!  A huge Thank You to all the Gamewatchers staff, from Florence who found several suppliers to put together all the lunches, to Ray, Dennis and the other support drivers who made sure they all arrived on time - and to the owners Jake and Mohanjeet who agreed to let their staff and vehicles help us out - there is absolutely no way that this would have happened without Gamewatchers!

STUDENTS FEED GIRAFFE AT THE GIRAFFE CENTRE

Next stop was the Giraffe Centre which is also in the Karen area on the outskirts of Nairobi (remember Karen Blixen ?  The famous lady memorialized by Meryl Streep in the movie Out of Africa?).  This is a learning and conservation centre for the scarce and endangered Rothschild giraffes found only in Western Kenya.  Apart from seeing them walk peacefully around in the huge reserve, there is also a feeding platform where you climb a few stairs and are then level with the giraffes heads.   We had arranged for all the students to learn about the rare Rothschild giraffes, (along with several warthogs) and even to feed them!  It was so funny to watch the students each given a pellet of food, then walk past the giraffe and place the pellet on the giraffes' tongue - the kids would squeal and jump as the soft tongue of the giraffe delicately took each pellet from their fingers!

The kids had been split into a couple of groups and so they started to wander over to Neil, Jackie, terry and I and continue asking their questions of us, and wanting more photos taken - they were so enjoying their field trip!  Again Ray and his KAMBA language, to say nothing of his great organising and assistance skills came into play.  He did a marvelous job of keeping the three buses together and not missing any turns as we headed to the Giraffe Center.  When the kids arrived on the buses, he got the three very large buses parked on the narrow street outside the main tourist area.  Then he organised all the kids and teachers into a group so that we could have a couple of photos taken together.  Naturally the Giraffe Centre gate staff had not received the word that we were coming and were not expecting us!! but that was all eventually looked after so that the visit was a huge success.

While we were in the Giraffe centre - Ray received a phone call from Gamewatchers telling him that the University students were protesting and rioting in downtown Nairobi against the Teachers Strike which is now in its' third week.  No kids in Kenya have been to school for the last 3 weeks!  (all the teachers in the 6 Kyaithani cluster of schools were also on strike - it is mandatory to belong to the Teachers' Union but they had come along to look after the kids).  The third and last stop of the field trip was scheduled to be the Natural History Museum in downtown Nairobi - right next to where the protest was taking place!  Needless to say with the chaos going on this would simply not happen.  So while we were looking at giraffes and talking to the kids and teachers, Ray had phoned the local "Bomas of Kenya" attraction.  This is where several homes or "shambas" have been set up depicting life in different areas of Kenya, along with an auditorium presentation of singing and dancing from various tribes.  Ray arranged for the 150 kids to be able to see this then came and OK'd with us the change and the cost for everyone to go.  We were so happy to have this issue looked after and for the kids to still get a very full day of new experiences and education about their own country - its' peoples and animals.

So our time together had come to an end!  We said Kwaheri (Goodbye) to the kids and we went our separate ways - all of them asking how soon we would be back and to bring along more people for them to meet!  That night we received a text message that the day had been a huge success and they had all arrived safely home around 9pm in Kyaithani - many of the kids having left home at 3am that morning.  And of course they still had long distances to walk home after the buses getting them back to the Kyaithani School.  Thank You so much to everyone of you for your support and donations that made this day such a huge success, and that gave the Kyaithani Secondary School kids the opportunity to see Nairobi and the elephants, giraffes and Kenya Bomas which they would otherwise never have seen - you have broadened minds, and probably changed lives and futures with this experience for the kids!

You can imagine that we felt a little tired and emotionally flat after we left the Kyaithani kids, but we still had a full afternoon and evening of exciting things to do in Nairobi.  First stop was just around the corner at Matt Bronze Studio - where they create and produce beautiful bronze pieces from tiny earrings to a full grown elephant (much too big for our suitcases!).  We took a tour of the work shop and learned about the process (way more complicated and difficult than we had realised) then looked in the studio at all the fabulous pieces for sale.  Afterwards it was a late lunch and a quick shop at the UTAMADUNI Craft centre where local artists get together to offer original, and well made, Kenyan crafts for sale.  This could be a whole day of shopping but we had just 20 minutes before we were served our lunch in the beautiful and calm gardens, surrounded by tropical greenery and lots of birds.  The samosas and crab and avocado salad were to die for - washed down with an ice cold local Kenyan TUSKER beer (or glass of red wine).  A very nice respite after the frantic day so far!

Then it was back to Sheldrick to "put the ellies to bed"!  The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust relies on sponsors to keep this facility going - there are many large cooperate sponsors such as british Airways who fly down the milk product from the UK, but  most of their sponsors are those of us who pay the $50 USD annually to sponsor an orphan.  The rewards to us are huge, with updates every time a new orphan is rescued, and newsletters and original paintings every month sent to us vie email.  A  lovely bonus is that when visiting Nairobi you can sign up to attend the 5pm bed time process - when the ellies are brought back to Sheldrick and put into their pens overnight (they spend the day in Nairobi National Park with their keepers).  They all come running around the corner and race to their own pen (they know which one it is) and look for their bottle of milk!  Then they eat a few of the leaves off the branches which have been put into their pen - their trunks will go through the wooden bars to the ellie next door (their buddy) but very shortly they lay down on their mattress, and get covered by a blanket and fall asleep.  Elephants are like people - their actions very similar at the same age.  So these orphans as young as 3 weeks old require lots of comfort and support - a large grey blanket is huge from the roof in some pens to simulate their mother and they will lean against the blanket.  A recent emaciated tiny orphan was found lost and standing under a large truck - the closest thing he could find that had the size and security that his poached mother had given him.  You can get close up and personal for 1 hour when you see the ellies put to bed and talk to the keepers who work 24 hours a day 7 days a week with 3 or 4 days off each month - listening to their stories is fascinating.  Many of them are hired from areas in Kenya where there is human animal conflict - and they learn why the elephants must be protected - I could go on for ever but will stop at this point!  Do go online to access the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust to learn more!

At 6pm it was off to our last stop of the day - the Safari Park Hotel and Safari Cats show and BBQ (Nyama Choma in Swahili language).  We managed to bypass the huge traffic mess downtown resulting from the University Students demonstration by taking a longer detour around the edge of the city.  Arriving at the Safari Park Hotel where we were welcomed into the restaurant (covered but open air) - a large facility with massive spits of various meats being roasted over large and very hot braziers. At your table we were offered every meat including ostrich, crocodile, camel, along with lamb, pork, beef sausage and other mainstream meats, each accompanied by a sauce to match the meat.  Yup - I still like chicken the best but what a great dinner!

After dinner we had  a very fast, very active,and very loud 40 minute stage show performance by the Safari Cats dancers and acrobats!  The show started at 9pm and believe me - we were all very tired  after a full and successful day - the non stop action on the stage kept us awake, amazing energy and acrobatics with beautiful costumes changed every few minutes - truly a grand end to a wonderful day.  Ray drove us the 20 minute drive back to the TRIBE Hotel and we found our rooms and fell into bed.  Tomorrow we must be packed and checked out by 615am - ready for our Safarilink Flight to Amboseli National Park - our safari is about to commence!!