Should I take this as a sign?

Tuesday

We had a few things planned for today, however one of the appointments was postponed for a day. We were going to take the day off to see the city on Wednesday, but because of the postponing, we just decided to push everything back a day and do our site-seeing today.

I wasn't sure what that was going to look like, or what we were going to do. We decided to start off with a drive through town, headed to the world famous "Giraffe Centre". The Giraffe Centre was established in by some British guy who wanted to save the endangered Giraffe population in Kenya.

It was a neat place. They had a really knowledgeable staff, a clean place, and Giraffeses. Samuel lead us on this tour.

Samuel with a Giraffe's jaw...

Samuel with a Giraffe's leg. Allegedly a kick from a Giraffe can instantly kill a lion.

I kept putting the food pellets in front of my camera lens to try to get them to out it off of the lens... no luck.

On our way out, I ran into a group of tortoises... I gave them all names... but I already forgot 'em.

Also, we learned that occasionally warthogs come from the area to eat the food there, but are definitely unwanted guests at the centre. Evidently their not easy to find there at the centre. Only the lucky few get to see them... booyah:

We left there to the "Birds Paradise Shop" near Karin, where the movie "Out of Africa" was filmed to check out a Maasi owned souvenir shop. Things here are more expensive than I thought they would be, but still relatively cheap.

As we pulled up, two Maasi Warriors jumped in front of our truck. "Freakin' A!" I thought "I'm gonna get killed by two small Maasi! How lame! I'm supposed to go out BIG!" I continued..

Evidently I was right... I am to go out big, since the Maasi just wanted to do their mating dance for us. I'm not sure why, as we're all dudes... what a fruity tribe!

Anywhose... the Maasi traditionally stand in a line and jump as high as they can, which is actually VERY high. Traditionally, this is how the women pick the men to marry. Whoever jumps the highest gets the wife. Good thing we don't have to do that here... I would've NEVER got Laura then!

I dipped inside to check things out. They had a TON of awesome stuff... I found so much stuff that I wanted to get for everyone... but sadly couldn't really afford anything. I picked up a special prize for my sweet babe and headed back outside.

Steve and Dougie B were out talking with the warriors and such outside. I wanted to take more pictures possibly some video... Cost me 500 Kshs, but I finally got the pictures and video of the Maasi that I wanted to get!

From there, we headed to the Safari Walk... it's like going on a safari, except it's all enclosed in a park and you walk around it. So really it's like "Jurassic Park" but without the cars, dinosaurs, and Samuel L. Jackson. This place was GREAT! The weather was just perfect for our adventure! This will be a place that I take Laura for sure!

So, we were met by Salome, a student in Kenya who spends her summer break volunteering at the Safari Walk. This girl was awesome! Very sweet girl who was very knowledgeable and put up with my non-sense the whole time.

We started by checking out the Pygmy Hippos, some monkeys, zebra, ostrich and white rhino. It's weird, most of these I could reach out an touch. Very close up... very fun!

They have a leopard there, but it was way up in a tree, and I couldn't get close enough with either camera. Shucks.

We moved on to the lions... two females and a male. One was named Nala... I told them they were crooks and owed Disney some money... they didn't get it. We next saw some of the natural habitats... and in one spot, there were baboons! They evidently come from Nairobi National Park to the watering whole in the Walk... I couldn't get stills of the mother baboon with her baby, but I was able to get it on film. I'll have to show you sometime.

I saw this incredible spot of landscape that I thought would be AWESOME on the video so I went straight away to get it!

Now something rather expected happened next.

See, Salome was awesome! Not just as a tour guide, but as someone that was able to point out all of the weak, cracked boards along the way... well... she missed one... I found it.

As I stepped to take the film, I heard a loud crack and the next thing I knew, I was in INCREDIBLE pain! My left leg felt as if it was on fire! My leg was through the wood all the way up to my groinal region, and my right leg was twisted up under my body. Surprisingly, I was more worried about my flip-flop falling off than I was about whether or not I was injured!

I pulled myself up out of the whole, and struggled to stand up. Man, was I in pain!

This wouldn't have been quite so bad, if it weren't for the fact that the big long walk in Kibera hadn't made my right leg so sore! Now I could barely walk!

I made my way to a bench and sat for a minute... to relax for a moment. I looked down and there was a small amount of blood dripping down my leg... merely a flesh wound. Salome was so upset and just couldn't stop apologizing. "Hakuna Matata!" I exclaimed... No worries!

It took me a few minutes to get back onto my feet, but I eventually did. I had to take a picture of the whole that got me good in Africa.

We (painfully) finished the tour with some other animals that I didn't care so much about... and headed out.

We drove to downtown Nairobi for the first time. INSANE!! So many people and police and administrative police... lots of guns... cars... crazy!!

We spent some time there, just driving around seeing the sites down town. There were some really HUGE buildings there... this is where the rich people work.

It was getting late and we were all starved, so off we went to "Saim-Thai" for some Thai food. I had never eaten Thai food before. Dougie B said it was just like Chinese... I'm not sure what Chinese food he's been eating.. but it's not the same as me for sure!

I ordered a Lamb stir-fry, extra-hot.. OUT -OF-THIS-WORLD!! It was so good. I've got to find a Thai place when I get home! There was an escalator going up to the restaurant, however only stairs going back down... I couldn't seem to get either leg to work as I headed down them...

Back home we went to check the mail and go to sleep. So yeah... going to bed.

I can't wait to snuggle youse guyses sometimes one time!!

Amani,
S