Trip Report Part III (Samburu, Safari, and Swimming)

So Wednesday (6/16) I woke up again before the alarm went off (5:15am) and was wide awake, so I got up and showered. Kind of creepy side note - I had gotten up a couple of times during the night, walked around barefoot in the dark and such. So there is mosquito netting around the beds and apparently when Jessica woke up there was a HUGE spider in their net and another in their bathroom (and I saw it - BIG spider!) I'm very glad they were in her room and not mine!!
Anyway, I got up and then proceeded to watch the baboons playing in the trees by the river. This area, by the way, is one of the places that Joy Adamson (the lady who wrote Born Free) lived... and it was very surreal to sit there and watch something in real life that I had read described in such vivid detail. Also, baboons really do "bark" at each other. They are very noisy, but also fun to watch. We all met for breakfast at 7:00 (including fresh-off-the-tree pineapple... YUM!!) and then headed to the van to start our day.
The evening before, Benjamin had suggested that we visit a local village, and we were all game for that, so that was the first stop of the day. It was a very unique experience, starting with the women of the tribe welcoming us with a dance and "supa" which means "hello". Then they invited the women of our group to dance with them (which we did) they also put many necklaces on us and then men in our group. Then all of us were invited into the village. The women danced more, and then the men of our group were invited to dance with the men of the tribe. Then the men showed us how they made fire (pretty quickly!). This was followed by an introduction to their goats (herding is their livelihood - other villages we saw had cows, sheep, and camels too). They drink the milk, and often the blood of the animals, but rarely eat the meat. They gather wild vegetation for other foodstuffs as well. They were very confused when we named one of the baby goats! :) Then we got a tour of the school and one of their houses. Chili, a woman who had attended a missionary school and spoke pretty fluent English was our guide. She also helps teach in the school, and it was interesting to share perspectives with her. The children at the school were thrilled that we came to visit and sang us a couple of songs, including (oddly enough) "I'm a little teapot." Chili and I exchanged email addresses (I am assuming she walks several miles to the resort to have internet access) and I am looking forward to keeping in touch with her. As the Estes Park 3rd graders do a big Africa unit, I am hoping they will be able to send some care packages to this school. We also got to see the inside of one of their homes (very different from ours, to say the least). Chili also talked to us about the culture of the Samburu tribespeople - the roles of men and women (women do 90% of the work!) and their polygamous society. As the token single girl in our group, I received my first marriage proposal - a very good offer as I would be "first wife" but I had to decline. We ended our visit by buying some of their artwork and jewelry and then piled back in Jesus to head to another game drive. It's very hard to describe the experience that morning... I think I am still in the process of taking it all in. So while I certainly went to Africa for the animals, I am very glad to have had the experience with the Samburu people. Life sometimes is the most interesting when you least expect it :)
So then we drove to another park (I think it was called Isiolo, but that was also the name of the closest town, so I could be wrong). It was very hot, but there was also a really nice breeze. Benjamin said we were very lucky as that (breeze) was unusual for that area. We saw some zebras (both kinds), warthogs, ostriches, and more giraffes. We also found a troupe of baboons in the trees and several Grant's Gazelles and Oryxes. Benjamin stopped the van along the river when he hear a lot of birds making a racket. "They don't just make noise!" he said, and sure enough, we spotted our first lion. We got just a glimpse of him (Benjamin said it was a her, but looking at pictures, we think it was a him) and then he disappeared into the trees. We drove a little further along the way he had been headed and then Benjamin stopped the car. It took us a while to see what Benjamin had seen, but sure enough, we were being watched. Very creepy but VERY cool! I love those pictures :) Then we found a female elephant who's herd had crossed to the other side of the river, but she was quite content to entertain us for a while. We drove a bit more and found another herd of elephants including two delightful babies :) We watched them for a long time until they decided to move on down to the river. (Some of my favorite pictures are of the mom itching herself on the tree!!) Then we found a couple of giraffes (with a baby!) After a couple more hours it was VERY hot and very very dusty, so we were quite content to head back to the lodge. Many of the lodges welcome you with a cool washcloth that smells like eucalyptus - and it was disgusting to see how much dirt came off when we wiped our faces! We had another scrumptions lunch around 2:00 (a beef dish with fried bread and fresh veggies - and more "shooters" for dessert!)
That afternoon we had the option of going on a nature walk down the river, but Jess, Jordan and I chose to spend the afternoon in the pool instead. Ben and Kathryn also passed on the walk, and Tim and Susan went (but it sounded like we didn't miss much). We had a blast playing in the pool with my camera that could go underwater and laughed until we were in danger of drowning :) Then we went back to the rooms for showers and naps. In the evening Jessica and I had umbrella drinks (well, the umbrellas ended up blowing away in the wind, but we DID have umbrella drinks) and good girl-talk by the river while Jordan watched some football. Then we all went and watched the feeding of the crocodiles by the river and then had our own dinner. That night I had a pork stir fry. Yum-a-liscious! Jordan and I have great conversations/debates, so we really enjoyed dinner conversations. I was also entertained by the (cute) waiter who told Jordan that he could have free beer if he would leave one of his women (Jessica or I) for him. Jordan volunteered me, but I made him pay for the beer anyway :) After dinner we went and exchanged some money and checked emails at the hotel office. On the way back to the rooms, I unfortunately stepped on an acacia thorn. They are huge and very sharp and I had about 1/2 an inch go into my big toe. It hurt. Lots and lots of swear words. Luckily the thorns do not have any toxic chemicals on them, and we cleaned out my foot with hand sanitizer (which did NOT lessen the hurting!!) So all in all it was fine, but it certainly hurt for a couple of days. It was 11:00ish by the time I hit the pillow, but (other than the thorn) it was a really great day :) Click here to see pictures from this day.