So Far Safari
Yesterday was Madaraka day in Kenya!! The country attained its independence in 1963, and became a republic in 1964. On Madaraka Day, Kenyans celebrate the moment in history when the country was granted internal self-rule by the British colonialists. This is a national holiday, so we had the day off! We decided to make the long trip to Ol Pejeta Conservatory next to Mount Kenya.
Phillip, a man that drove Dan around a lot last year was our driver and tour guide! He knew everything about Kenya... and also seemed to know everyone that we ran into!
Not only did we get to see Mount Kenya and a bunch of amazing animals, we also got to see a lot of the country on our way there. We saw many different villages and a bunch of different types of plants (mango trees, pineapples, macadamia nuts, avocado trees, tea farms, coffee plantations, etc.) Del Monte has a big plantation here that we got to see as well.
Tea Farm
The journey there and back is entertaining no matter which route you take because the driving style is so different from ours. First, there are speed bumps everywhere. This is due to the fact that there are pedestrians crossing the street constantly. The speed limits in Kenya are 50 km/h in town and 110 km/h outside of towns and cities. Second, there are cars always passing you on the right hand side (they drive on the left). There were many close calls, especially on our way back in the dark!
Safari Animal List
Elephants
Buffaloes
Gazelles
Impalas
Waterbuck
Many species of birds
Chimpanzee
Cheetahs
Giraffes
Zebras
Warthogs
Rhinos
Thompson Gazelle
One other fun thing that we got to do was cross the equator - 4 times!! Twice while driving there and twice on the way back. I wish I could tell you we felt some type of difference when we crossed the line, but we did not.
We were all very tired when we got back, but all agreed it was worth the drive. Today we returned back to work for the final day of our first week.
The ROCK team had their final day of training with Shadrack (Evans was gone on a mobile clinic). We were given the opportunity to have Shadrack scan a real patient and run through the whole process. A socket is currently printing on the 3D printer and will be waiting for us on Monday!
The Clubfoot team got to hang out in the orthopedic workshop with us today. They also got to go see the braces they made on Wednesday. They are good enough to be used on patients, so I would say their first time was successful!
Here is the GoPro video from our safari. The videos do not do the animals or their proximity to us any justice. It was absolutely beautiful!!