Christmas Eve day we spent on safari at the Nairobi National Park. Our Swahili tutor, Benard, came along for fun (plus he's never been there despite living in Nairobi for more than a decade).
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| At the entrance, buying our passes and maps |
We borrowed an ILRI project car from Nate's work, which meant we had a huge 4WD Landcruiser. Amazing.
At the "Hippo Pools" nature walk we didn't see any hippos, but there was an alligator sunning himself. Our guide also pointed out a bushbuck in a bush mere feet from our trail, which we would have never seen without his help.
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| Hidden bushbuck |
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| Can you see the bushbuck? |
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| Impalas |
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| Vervet monkey mama eating our leftover apple cores |
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| Huge male baboon that almost climbed on our car |
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| See the giraffes in the background? |
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| Photo credit to Benard |
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| These guys were sure they were hiding really well, about 5 feet from our car |
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The quintessential NNP photo with the Nairobi skyline in the background;
there are rhinos among the bushes too |
We stopped for lunch just outside the little-used Masaai Gate at Rolf's Place, a restaurant that our Kenyan friend Anne (remember her from
chapati lessons in Ithaca?) showed us a few weeks ago when we all met up at the
Elephant Orphanage. To approach Rolf's, you cross a huge rope bridge across a ravine, and eat on a large deck overlooking the National Park and the ravine.
Our wildlife viewing continued at lunch when a huge male buffalo munched its way along the ravine below us. Cora, without prompting, let us know that it was a Cape buffalo. No idea how she knew that.
After a long day we were pretty tired for Christmas Eve. We managed to set out cookies and carrots and Cora's letter for Santa, and went to bed early.
Christmas morning was a peaceful affair. Gigi and Babu on the West Coast were still up when we woke up, so we Skyped together while the kids opened their presents from my parents. Then, while breakfast was baking (cinnamon "egg pie," of course), we opened stocking gifts. We ate breakfast and played with our stocking gifts for a while, and opened the rest of the presents slowly throughout the morning.
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| Santa brought Kenyan coffee and toothbrushes |
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| Christmas breakfast - egg pie with mangoes and yogurt |
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| Testing Cora's tool set and Silas's Hotwheels shooter from Santa |
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| Reading new books |
We went for a walk and saw some neighbors, and later had our friends
Matt, Leigh, baby Micah and Mali the dog over for a Christmas swim at
the ILRI pool. They were also dropping off their car for us to borrow on
our
Castle Forest Lodge trip together the next day.
Merry Christmas! We are so thankful for our opportunity to have this family adventure, and for all of our family and friends around the world.
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| Our 2016 holiday card |
1 comment:
Jen, I am loving your blog. I cannot get over how big the kids are now. Silas is as big as Cora. I am on the train right now heading north to DC. Going up for Ari's second birthday and for the Women's March. I saw there is one in Nairobi also.
John is well, he did crack a rib and had stitches from a fall just before Christmas. He tripped bringing in plants. We had a second tree fall this one just took out the front yard fence. I think we are ready to cut down all the trees. Not really but we have had enough with trees falling. Kiss the kiddos for me. Keep blogging.
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