Fun in Kisumu: Nairobi National Park

April 8, 2017

Today we are finally going to see the elephants!

Here is the entrance to Nairobi National Park.
The entrance fee for foreigner is 10X that of locals! Translate to about $45 per person. The vehicle also got charged about $10.

We rented a vehicle and a driver for a whole day, it was about $120. The vehicle reminds me of Viscom 2 Class! lol The driver was great. He knew how to find and spot animals quickly. I think it would've been hard to drive on our own since we are unfamiliar with the park.

Our first stop was at the Ivory ash pile.

In 1989, the Kenya government piled up $1 Million USD worth of ivory and lit it on bonfire. This was a powerful statement to stop ivory trading.

Me and Paul standing on the pile of ivory ashes

After this.. we drove around the park and saw tons of amazing animals!! It was not safe to get out of the car and walk around. But some animals got really close to us, and you see them crossing the road. It felt like I was in Discovery channel.

Adopting Malkia

Around 4:30pm we started driving toward the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. This is where my instructor Nathan Cooke recommended me to go. I can adopt a baby elephant and will be able to watch them get back from the field to their rooms at 5pm. The traffic was so bad that by the time we got there, it was already 5:30pm. Luckily I was still able to see and touch the baby elephants. They are so adorable and very friendly. The guests can walk around and see which elephant they want to adopt. In the end, I adopted Malkia, because she kept eating and seemed to be enjoying it a lot. I like eating too so I think we will get along very well.

The elephant wrapped her trunk around my arm! It's quite soft, but bumpy

The giraffe really likes William!

Here is the package I got from becoming Malkia's foster parent!

Dinner tonight was Ethiopian food at a restaurant. This is my first time eating out in Kenya. It was soo delicious!!! And I love the restaurant. It looked like a tropical hut with lots of trees. The place was huge with many different sections. The setup kind of reminds me of the restaurant in US ("Rainforest"). Ethiopian food is very interesting. Everyone basically order one dish (say beef stew and pan fried lamb), and all the dishes will be served on top of a giant round piece of sour dough called "Injera". And how you eat is basically tear a piece of Injera, and pick up the beef/lamb with it, and eat it together. To eat traditionally, you eat everything by hand.

We also ordered Ethiopian coffee. It's very interesting. It's served with incense and popcorn! I searched on wikipedia after, it's a tradition to have salty popcorn with the sweet coffee. And you're supposed to put tons of sugar in it. It tasted good without the sugar too. It's like expresso except more thick and has texture closer to syrup.