Kissing a Giraffe

October 14, 2012

Went to "Giraffe Manor" outside of Nairobi today. It is a private park established to protect and educate people about giraffes.

It also has a luxurious Manor House and Estate where giraffe lovers can stay for up to $1,000/night and where you can feed giraffes from you bedroom window (no discounts for multi-night stays).

A group of ex-Peace Corps Volunteers went to learn about and kiss giraffes, as well as, eating a sumptuous meal while relating the pros and con of our Peace Corps experiences.

The approach

 The warm-up

The kiss

Saliva is anti-septic

 Dining in the Manor House

Julie (Swaziland), Steve (Swaziland) , Nick (Samoa), Dan (Kenya), Jim (Mongolia)

 

 

Property "Not For Sale"

October 14, 2012

 

To understand a little about Kenya, you have to understand this sign which states this property IS NOT FOR SALE.

It seems that a big problem is that people sell things which are not theirs. You make a down payment on a piece of property or a car only to find out much later that the property  is not owned by the person selling it, but also it is not for sale at all.

The great thing about this sign is that it states "Beware of con men" amd a phone number to call to verify that this piece of land is not for sale.

Nairobi Safari

October 13, 2012

 

Just a few miles from downtown Nairobi is the huge Nairobi National Park where in just a few hours you can see the same animals in their natural setting as you could see on a regular safari.

 Downtown Nairobi in background

 

Animals seen

 

Baboon

 

Cape Buffalo

 

Giraffe

Hippo
Too boring to photgraph. Look like blobs in a pond

 Impala

 

Lion

Seen but too far away to photograph

 

Ostrich 

 

Rhino

 

Wart Hog

 

Wildebeest

 

Zebra 

 

 

Sorry, no elephants in the park. Can't be contained

Runda Walk

October 10, 2012
These are some of experiences as I walked the three miles from my house in the Runda Hills area of Nairobi to the nearest market.

 

 Leaving the house
Getting out is not an easy task.

At the exit to the outside world is a steel gate topped with razor wire. 

 Hardened steel padlocks with bolt locks secure the main gate and pedestrian door.

There is no way to leave the house without having a key to unlock the gate.

Prisons seem less secure. 

To relock the door from the outside, you need to feel the lock on the other side of the door

 and insert the key. The process needs to be reversed upon entry. 

This is what the gate looks like from the outside.

 

The neighborhood

 

This is the street where I live. 

This is one of the passersby.

 

The houses in the neighborhood are both private with a scattering of embassies. At a local realtor's office, none of the houses are under several million, the highest listing being $500 million USD.

Nairobi is not a cheap place to live.

The irony is that although the houses are expensive, they share the same unreliable and continually interrupted electric and water supply as the rest of Nairobi.

 

In the background is not a tree house for children to play, but an armored elevated bunker.

This the welcoming sign.

 Matatu is a mini-van bus.

Boda Boda is a motorcyle for hire.

Near the shopping center is a water park with screaming children,

a real delight to my ears.

 

 

 

 

 

Pizza night

October 7, 2012

One of my volunteer roommates has a wonderful tradition of making pizza on Sunday night, no matter where he may be in the world.

Jim with his pizza.

 

First Day on the Job

October 5, 2012

IFDC (International Fertilizer Development Center) offices are located on a gated campus. The main tenants on the campus are from the Kenyan Department of Agriculture. There is a nice outdoor cafeteria with cheap and nice meals. I was given a desk of a person who is on a trip to another country, shown the toilets, break room, and introduced to the staff, mainly Kenyans.

The main event of the day was an award given to the“Employee of the Year” by the Dutch director who heads up our regional office. It was very nicely done with a cake and champagne.

I met immediate supervisor for a brief chat about what I may possibly be doing. He is out of country for the next week, but given a stack of brochures and DVD’s, coupled with meeting with many of the office staff, I should be kept busy, if not be bothersome.

 

IFDC staff in Nairobi

 Presentation of award by Regional Director

Agribusiness Program Leader, my immediate supervisor

 Entrance Drive to Offices

Offices on first two floors of this building

Day at the Mall

October  6, 2012

 New Market Shopping Center

To get a feel of the area I live, I decided to take the three mile walk to the shopping center. The streets are somewhat confusing due to the hills, high walls, and all the street names starting with “Runda”.

You would think walking at mid-day would be tortuous, but being at about 6,000 ft. elevation with low humidity and a nice breeze, the walk was very pleasant.  Asking directions is always a challenge and walking an extra mile because of either not understanding or not knowing, just makes getting to your destination that much more enjoyable.

The “New Village” shopping center could be found in any upper-income American town, complete with a maze of passageways which could compete with our experiences in the medina of Fez, Morocco. The food court offered meals from about 15 different countries. I was even to buy a battery charger for my camera which I was unable to buy in the U.S.

I tried to take pictures in the shopping center, but was quickly facing a security person who said it was against the law to take pictures of the buildings or passageways. He did let me keep the one picture.

Kenya is way ahead of the U.S. when it comes to cell phone service. You put money into a cell phone account which is very easily transferred to any other account or cell phone. It is fast, easy, and very cheap.

Converting money has its own problems. No one takes $100 bills unless they have been printed after 1999, for some places after 2006. This is quite different from the black market traders of Uzbekistan.  

I decided to walk back a different way and the road I was supposed to take. I ended up in some other town exhausted. The cab ride back was not bad.