The Elephant Orphanage

After visiting the Nairobi National Park, we headed over to the Elephant Orphanage.  These babies were cute as anything.  The littlest three (about 6 months old) came walking down the hill following the keeper.

They each received two bottles of milk. After they finished eating, they roamed around and the keepers began to shovel dirt on them.  They were were trying to teach them to enjoy the mud and dirt.

A few minutes later the 6 to 12 month olds came charging down the hill.

They wasted no time in getting their milk and they weren't afraid to try and steal someone else's either.  This group definitely had some personality!

After 15-20 minutes of eating and playing they left and were replaced by elephants that were over a year old.  This group still got milk but they enjoyed chewing on branches too.

They were definitely all about the mud pit.  Basking in it and slinging it far and wide.  Good thing I didn't stand close to the mud pit!

After all the babies returned to their home, our group headed back to Mayfield to prepare to go on to Rift Valley Academy for our conference.  Here we all are together on the steps of Mayfield along with A's friend who really opened the way for our last minute adventures to take place.

Front Ends

Well, every tail end comes with a front end and we did see our fair share of those too on our trip through Nairobi National Park. But before we get to that, here's just a little perspective in regards to the closeness of this park to the city of Nairobi.

The first thing we saw as we drove into the park was a group of about 7 lions.  We didn't have to do any searching at all.  They were right in the middle of the road and they were quite content to be there.

I loved these funny looking birds.  We all agreed that surely Dr. Seuss must have drawn some inspiration from them for some of the funny creatures in his books.

We spotted this guy moving down a hill.  Interestingly, he appeared to be quite far away from any water.  He was definitely aware of us and he was moving at a very fast clip which was surprising.

Apparently it is rather rare to see rhinos in the Nairobi National Park.  So we were privileged to see four altogether both white and black.  This along with the zebras were the animals I really wanted to see.  

There were lots of deer like creatures.

I forget the name of these little guys but they loved to sit on rocks and they weren't the least bit afraid of people.  We saw them halfway through our trip when we stopped for a bathroom break.

We also took a picture of our selves from our perch where we could see all the wildlife.

Then it was on the road again where among other things we finally got to see our zebras.  They were having fun rolling in the dirt.

We get to see lots of giraffes in Niger but I had never seen any fighting.  It looked like they were trying to knock each other down by swiping the legs out from one another with their long necks.  

On our way out of the park we passed the lions in the same spot.  They had really settled in for the day and were all enjoying a mid-morning nap.

This was an amazing experience and definitely a highlight of the trip.

Tail Ends

Day two in Nairobi began around 6:15 in the morning when we headed down the road to Nairobi National Park.  It's crazy how close to the city of Nairobi this park is located.  This trip had to be the highlight.  Everyone headed out hoping to see lots of animals that we had never seen before. But in the wild, you never know what you will actually get to see.

It might just be a whole lot of ....

tail ends!

(Okay, so that last one wasn't actually in the wild.  But as it was the inspiration for this post, I couldn't not use it!)

Exploring a New Corner of Africa

Sandwiched between two cancelled flights and quite a bit of drama, I had the opportunity to explore a new corner of Africa.  Back in February, I was checking out the International Christian Educator's Conference (ICEC) which was going to be held at Rift Valley Academy in Kenya.  Just recently, travel between east and west Africa has become much easier as Ethiopian Airways now flies into Niamey.  But still travelling in Africa can be sketchy and I didn't really want to go by myself so on a lark I asked my friend A if she would like to go.  I was shocked when she got excited and started looking into the cost of travel that very day!

Before long our group of two had turned into a group of six who wanted to participate in the conference and so we tried to make plans as we did want to see some of the sights in Kenya.  In the end, for a variety of reasons, we ended up with no plan.  That turned out to be a blessing when our departing flight was cancelled and we were rescheduled to fly a day later.

We stayed in the AIM guesthouse which is a wonderful place.  They were so flexible with all the last minute changes.  We were truly blessed.

One of our colleagues had a friend in Nairobi who came to visit us.  On the spot, he was able to connect us to a travel agent with whom we had begun to negotiate before our travel plans got disrupted.  So our first afternoon in Nairobi we went to see the Karen Blixen House, made famous by the movie "Out of Africa."  It was interesting, though not my favorite part of the trip.

Our party of 6 taking the tour.

The gardens were beautiful - a sight for sore eyes especially ones that don't see very much green in our own country.  I couldn't get over how tall the cactus in the background was.

 But one of my favorite things in Kenya were the curtains-blowing-in-the-breeze-no-screen windows.  Beautiful!

From the Karen Blixen House we went on to the Kazuri Bead Factory.  

This is an NGO that employs single mothers who create all kinds of beautiful works of art out of clay.  These beads, necklaces, earings and other items are then sent to places like Ten Thousand Villages in the U.S. and Canada to be sold.

Our guide showing us how the clay is pressed to remove as much moisture as possible.

The beads are shaped,

painted,

fired,

and waiting to be strung on a necklace.

This was definitely my favorite part of our first day in Nairobi.

A Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On

The end of March brought on some early goodbyes.  For three of my students and their families it was time to close out their stay in Niger.  Especially in this place where students are frequently coming and going, it's important to acknowledge those goodbyes.  So we combined the goodbyes with our study of matter (liquids, solids and gases) and created some ice cream.

All the ingredients went into a small bag which was placed in a big bag of ice and salt and then there was a whole lot of shakin' going on while the students worked to get the liquids to mix and turn into a solid.

A whole lot of shakin' going on.

Nothing like a little ice cream to take away the sadness of saying goodbye.

The ice cream was so good this kid was covered in it by the end!

Now that's what I call a sweet goodbye.

Dress Like Your Favorite Treat Day

I let a whole month go by again without one post.  Alas, I shall have to make up for that by posting cute pictures.  We had a "Dress Like Your Favorite Treat" Day.  Everyone who dressed up earned themselves a free cupcake.  That was some good motivation for these little Firsties.  So here's what they and their creative parents came up with.

My personal favorites where the ice cream cones and the candy cane.  I'm telling you that the hat on the guy just kills me!  I love it!