Traveling in Kenya
I can safely say that the Kenya dialogue is not a place for those of you who get car sick. We have been on so many long drives over bumpy roads that I’ve lost almost all feeling in my butt and legs. Nairobi itself is a beautiful, lively city, but a lot of what Kenya has to offer is hours away by bus, so if you want to come visit and get the most out of your experience, you better buckle up and get ready. The payoff is totally worth every penny.
Mount Longonot is the most beautiful place I’ve been in my life. The hike it takes to get to the top is excruciatingly steep, the trail is dusty, and the sun is pressing down the entire way. It is not a hike for the faint of heart, but the pay off is well worth it. The mountain is an active volcano crater, so once you reach the top of the trail, you see a massive ring of mountains surrounding a green valley. I could sit right at the edge of that crater, staring out at the mountains for hours. It was such a surreal experience and I already know that I need to go back at some point in my life. The hike
The week before, we went on a long six hour hike in the Ngong Hills. This hike was even more grueling. The Ngong Hills, which are a series of four hills that overlook Nairobi. The hills are also called the Knuckles, because the four peaks look like the knuckles of a fist. The group really came together over the struggle that was getting through that hike, and I think we all came out ready for the rest of the dialogue.
On our first weekend, we went to an elephant orphanage in Karen, one of the districts in Nairobi. As elephants are my favorite animal, going to see the baby elephants was a really big reason why I wanted to come on this dialogue. It was so worth it. I got to be so close to the elephants that I could reach out and touch them, only a rope separated us from them. It was just icing on the cake that right afterwards we went to feed giraffes at another sanctuary nearby. Ever kissed a giraffe? I have. Twice.
While Nairobi is a beautiful city with tons of parks and places to go, we haven’t had a chance to see many tourist sites because of our busy schedule. After our classes at the University of Nairobi finish at 1, we spend the rest of the day with site visits. We went to the Ministry of Health, the Kenyan Primate Research Center, and the Kenyatta International Convention Center. The Convention Center is one of the tallest buildings in Nairobi. We went to the helicopter pad at the very top for one of the best views of the city. The National Museum we visited was one of the coolest museums I’ve been to. It houses the largest elephant skeleton known to man plus a ton other stuffed animals that you’d see all over Kenya.
Since our time in Nairobi is coming to a close, we’re leaving in a couple days, I’ll get to check out a bunch of landmarks and historical sites around the rest of Kenya for the next few weeks. I’m looking forward to seeing Mount Kenya, Lake Victoria, and going on a game drive to see more of what Kenya offers!
