Last Day in Africa

My flight out of Nairobi leaves at 11:10 p.m. Originally I was the only person leaving today. One person is studying here for the next semester. Her studies have been postponed a week but she is going to stay here somewhere. Another person is due to go back to her volunteer work near Lake Victoria. My other companion, her mother, was going to go with her to see her work for a few days before heading back. Now they have to change their plans. One of the areas in Kenya that is not safe due to political rebellion is Kisumu - a town they must pass through to get to Lake Victoria. Kisumu is the ancestral home of the leader of the opposition party. So the two young women will stay. They have come up with a plan to go on safari in Tanzania for the next week while they wait for things to settle down. They will leave this afternoon on a bus for Tanzania and the other woman and I will fly home together. I am glad to have a companion on my flight. I am surprised how sad I am that our tight group of four is breaking up. I will miss these women. We've had almost 40 meals together now. We've shared so many wonderful experiences. I have learned so much from them. All good things must come to an end. We leave in the morning and head back through Karen to go to the Giraffe Center. Here they keep the Rothschild Giraffe which is an endangered species. These giraffe are different from the others because they have blacker fur in their spots and because their legs are white, not spotted like the other species. The giraffes that are born here will be released into the wild. I approach and am saddened to see giraffe behind fences begging for food. I am handed two handfuls of giraffe food - the naturalist calls it giraffe candy. We can feed the giraffe out of our hands. I am warned to back away from one giraffe once I am out of food because she will headbutt me if I don't keep feeding her. I watch the others feed the giraffe. Ewwww! These giraffe salivate like a St. Bernard dog awaiting his dinner. Their tongues are prehensile - adapted for grabbing or wrapping around. They are like giant black finger tongues. I put my giraffe candy back in the bucket. My companions feed the giraffe. I watch and try not to make faces in disgust. There is no way I could do this:

On the left she has her arms crossed and two giraffe are eating from her hands. Her hands are covered in saliva when they are done. On the right she has giraffe food between her lips and the giraffe - oh my, it's almost too gross to put into words - the giraffe reaches in with it's finger-like black tongue and takes the food pellet out leaving a gob of saliva dripping off her chin. I'm just a spectator here and that is fine with me. I learn a lot about giraffe in their display. The giraffe heart weights 25 pounds. In game reserves they can live 25-29 years. In the wild they live 10-12 years. Generally their eyes get scratched by the thorny acacia trees causing cataracts. When blinded with cataracts they can't see well enough to eat, get thin and die. Baby giraffe are 5 feet tall at birth. They have to be tall enough to nurse. Giraffe saliva has two medicinal properties - it acts like a sunscreen to prevent sunburned tongues and it acts like an antiseptic to quickly heal the mouth cuts caused by the thorns. Giraffes don't actually eat the thorns but they pull the leaves off around the thorns getting scratched in the process. After the giraffe center we tour a bead factory. This factory is tucked away in a residential neighborhood and it employees 300 workers. They make beads, plates and cups here. The clay is from Mount Kenya - Muthoga's home area. They press the clay into shapes for the plates and cups. The beads are shaped by many women sitting at a table. The pieces are fired, painted, and fired again. One woman spends her day painting beads white, tan and green. This seems like a nice place to work. We go into the showroom to see all the beads, necklaces, earrings and bracelets for sale. We're in a hurry so the girls won't miss their bus to Tanzania so we can't shop long. We stop at a hotel for the bus because the normal bus stop in downtown Nairobi is not open today. The President said downtown is not open for business again. As we pull up to the gate, armed guards check the bottom of our van with a mirror attached to a long pole. This hotel has extra security because it is owned by the President of Kenya. The girls say goodbye. The departure between mother and daughter is emotional. But why am I crying? I didn't know these people two weeks ago and tears are running down my face. I must be having empathy pains. Or maybe the stress of the political unrest is getting to me. As we wait I see a group of 20 Kenya riot police march by across the street. That is a concerning sight. Muthoga says that it is safe here, the police are protecting the hotel. Muthoga has everything arranged for the girls. A friend is meeting them when the bus arrives in Arusha. Muthoga calls the bus driver several times this afternoon to make sure everything is going fine and they arrive safely. Tanzania will be a safer place so if anything, I should be reassured, not worried. We say goodbye, the bus takes off and they are gone. Now there are only two of us and we had back to the Guest House to take a shower and relax. Since there is trouble today we will be brought to the airport extra early. We leave about 6:30. As we drive through Nairobi for the last time I see most yards are surrounded by stone or cement walls. Some walls are topped with razor wire. Other walls are topped with foot high shards of glass cemented in place and pointing straight up. I am told this is common in 3rd world countries where there is a big disparity between the rich and poor. The sun is going down and the streets are strangely free of traffic. Usually it's a 45-90 minute trip to the airport. We're there in 25 minutes. So we have a long time to wait for our flight. We sit in the bar area to wait. We have a discussion with some men at our table. One man is talking on and on. I strain to hear him and I strain to understand what he is saying. I am getting some of what he says. He is comparing the riots in Chicago after the Democratic convention to the Boston Tea Party to the current situation in Kenya. I am humbled. He knows so much about the USA and I know so little about Kenya. He might also be a little bit drunk and rambling too. Muthoga and Migwe help us with our luggage and take us to the customs area. I have had wonderful service from the beginning to the end of this trip. These two men have made sure that I remain safe and healthy and happy. We go to check in for our flight. After customs we go to the KLM desk. We are told we need to go to El Ar Salaam. Huh? He says it again. I don't understand. Is he speaking Swahili? He can see I'm a little slow so he hands me an explanation on paper. The flight crew is unwilling to come into Nairobi due to the political unrest so we must fly to a city in Tanzania to pick them up. This will add 2 hours to our flight time and they are sorry for the inconvenience. That is OK. We had a 5 hour layover anyway. A little safe excitement can only add the the enjoyment of a good vacation. They take my African cane away and put a luggage sticker on it. I don't think it's nice to take a cane away from a lady who is limping. What about the ADA? Oh, yeah, that wouldn't apply here in Nairobi. Ten days later I still don't have my cane. The flight crew in Amsterdam is not the same flight crew who took it in Nairobi - they got off in Tanzania. I expect my cane is still flying around the world in a KLM plane without me, tucked away in some closet. As the plane leaves the tarmack in Nairobi, I wonder how this country will fare in the fall out from the Presidential election. Everyone I have talked to about it sounds hopeful. Everyone I have talked to about it (drivers, store clerks, game wardens, hotel staff) is in the tourist industry so are they giving me their real opinion? I pray it does work out because I would like to come back someday and because I feel I have made some friends here and I want to see them thrive.