My goodness I’ve left it so long, I barely know where to begin. I left you at Watamu, Kenya so I shall resume there.
From Watamu we had a long drive to Nairobi intersected by a night of rather decadent bush camping about 100k out of Nairobi when we dined on king prawns, okra, rice, avocado and mango.  It’s not all bad on the road.
I had visited Nairobi years ago just after finishing my placement with SPW and had distinctive highlights in mind that I wanted to revisit. The first was the Langatta Giraffe Centre. Rob hated the place saying it reminded him of a petting zoo but I absolutely adore it. Where else can you stand face to face or indeed tongue to tongue with a giraffe? I know the giraffe are only at the platform because they get fed but its still lovely. The giraffe that I remembered were all still there and I wasted no time in shoving a pellet in my mouth and lumbering towards the unsuspecting 6 year old Betty. Photos to follow on Facebook where proof of my giraffe snogging antics can be seen. When finally my face was suitably slobbery I allowed Rob to steer me away and we drove to a friend’s house a short distance away.
Now when James said that he lived on the edge of the Giraffe Sanctuary I didn’t realise that his garden IS in-fact part of the sanctuary. After a lovely lunch he took us for a walk around the garden and there was a giraffe watching us. James told her to wait and he would get her some food and she ambled away to take up position opposite his office. The pellets we fed her were the same as at the platform and we fed her out of a bucket rather than by hand and yet this encounter was all the more wonderful for the fact that she had chosen to be there. As I looked up and saliva dribbled in my eye, I couldn’t have been more happy.
The next day we revisited another old favourite in the form of the David Sheldridge Elephant and Rhino orphanage. Here they raise funds for the relocation work they perform by allowing the public in for only one hour each day when you watch the baby elephants being fed milk out of a bottle and generally getting up to naughtiness. One particularly boisterous baby decided that the rope separating elephant from audience was a mere inconvenience and spent most of the hour climbing over it and running at people to molest them with her trunk. Rob was one such lucky soul. Again the hour flew by and we ambled back to James’s house where the 25 Massai Guides we had met in Watamu began to arrive.
On thing I have found frustrating about travelling through Africa rather than working in it, has been that we never seem to have time to truly get to know the people. Here in Kenya we sat and ate dinner around a fire and talked over every topic under the sun with these Massai people. They were so open with us and so eager to exchange ideas. I have learnt so much about their eating habits (more about that later), their traditions and how education, religion and culture can combine and be accepted. I have to say I felt extremely privileged sitting there and that night has been one of the highlights of the trip.
The next night however topped it all off. Rob and I had spent a lazy day sorting out banking, getting my hair cut etc and attempting to starve ourselves for the last highlight. That evening, together with the Massai, we were to go to Carnivore the meat serving restaurant to end all BBQ’s ever. The basic set up is that you seat yourselves at the table and are gradually surrounded by sauces for all different types of meat: mint for lamb, apple for pork, garlic for chicken, BBQ for beef, chilli for the brave and so it goes on. The waiters then cunningly offer you pea soup with a role. The Massai lapped it up but Rob and I knew their game and had a plan of our own. We waited. Next to tempt us was salad and roast potatoes…again we waited. Then as if responding to an unknown signal the waiters leapt into action and we were surrounded by spit wielding men with huge sharp knives depositing beef and chicken and pork and lamb onto our plates. It was good. Then gradually in trickled the ostrich meat balls…and the crocodile. Now I actually think that crocodile tastes quite nice. There was horror on the Massai’s faces when I tucked in however. Did I not realise that I was now doomed to bear ugly children? I’ll take that risk. The Massai themselves restricted their dinner to beef and lamb with the odd man eating chicken. They can only eat meat from a hoofed animal though none of them are entirely sure why.
The end of the meal dawned and all around me cutlery was being dropped. But Rob and I battled on. I am proud to say that we beat even the largest of the Massai warriors in the meat eating stakes. (Training in South Africa paid off). Finally even I had to admit defeat and we lowered the white flag on the table. Whoosh and fruit and ice-cream was before us. Did I say I was full? Well I forgot about my pudding stomach! While I lumbered around clutching my stomach and feeling like my waters were about to break, the Massai performed a jumping dance to help metabolism. I can now officially confirm that the Massai can jump very high..even when weighed down by mountains of beef.