Kapiti Ranch

Papa and Nana Jensen gave the kids a book called "Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain" a few years ago. And now we have been to the actual Kapiti Plain.

In fact, ILRI owns a very large ranch there, and ILRI staff can stay in the lodge on site when it is not in use for workshops. Our neighbors, Flavio and Erika, organized a trip to the newly renovated Kapiti Ranch lodge for the new year, and we joined the group for January 3rd and 4th.

Nate and Nimona enjoying the view from the lodge across the plain

The group consisted of our ringleaders, Flavio and Erika (a couple from Italy), and their two daughters, Linda (7 years) and Tekla (4 years). Flavio's mother and sister and her husband and two kids (maybe ages 6 and 9?) were visiting from Italy; only the brother-in-law spoke English. The group also included us four Jenses plus Nimona (our dog) and our other ILRI neighbors, Josiah (Kenyan) and his wife Kana (Japanese) and their son Hans (5 years).

The activities of Kapiti Ranch are mostly self-driven safaris and relaxing around the big lodge. We did several game drives:

A kori bustard showing off his feathers

Giraffe

Driving back to the lodge at top speed with Silas at the wheel after visiting the far water hole:

While we enjoyed our first safaris outside of Nairobi -- especially the night drive where we saw a leopard and then thought a bushbaby was going to eat Kana -- our experience at Kapiti ended up being mostly a cross-cultural one. We were immersed in Italian-ness for the two-day excursion. It was a loud, food-filled, boisterous experience. Our menu contributions were examined before being gently mocked and discarded for pasta. Our kids literally needed to be closed into our bedroom for quiet hugs for a while during the evening because their little heads were ringing with the shouts and quarrels of the Italian kids. Occasionally, Kana and I would quietly raise our eyebrows at each other across the kitchen or dinner table as if to say, can you believe this? Are you ok?

I don't mean to imply that there were any negative feelings on any side; actually, there was a lot of hilarity and discussions of our differences. Do Americans REALLY eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? Clearly yes, since that is what we brought for lunch the first day. The Italian kids gingerly tasted them and only one of the four liked it. What is Jen chopping all those chilis and tomatoes and peppers for? Mexican salsa... but, they say, salsa is an Italian word. Flavio's mom asks (through a translator), "Are you going to put that on sandwiches?" Do Italians yell a lot? From our experience there - yes! - but our Northern Italian friends assured us when we returned to ILRI that that was just the Southern Italians. OK.

Guess who is in charge of the grill? The Italians, of course!
I was happy to drink wine and observe

Overall, we really enjoyed the whole trip and hope to travel with Flavio and Josiah's families again. Sadly for us, we recently learned that Flavio's family is moving back to Italy in April. They will be missed around ILRI, that is for sure! [posted Feb 14 -- Happy Valentine's Day -- but dated Jan 4]