Alfred's and Grace's Wedding

My first Kenyan wedding! Very fun, even though there wasn't any alcohol. :) 

An entire steer roasted.

Cornell Grad School Friend's Reunion

Meeting up with Bart (from Belgium, now living in Ethiopia) and Tebogo (from Botswana, also living in Botswana, where I visited him earlier this year), both prior classmates from Cornell, for a reunion weekend the corresponded with Alfred's (also from Cornell) and Grace's Wedding was a lot of fun.  Since I was the only one familiar with Nairobi, and I enjoyed the David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage and Giraffe Center  on my previous visit, I took them there.  

We also visited the National Art Gallery which is largely a result of the effort of  Joseph Murumbi and Nairobi National Museum which contained an impressive collection of early human archeological finds "cradle of mankind" from Kenya.  Lastly, we visited the Florida Night Club, a nightclub I visited twice before when visiting Kenya in 1985 and 1994.  Overall, there was  lots of laughing, reminiscing on old times, catching up on each other's lives, food and beer. 

Western and Northern Kenya while "overlanding" to Ethiopia

It was my first time in northern Kenya. The pictures aren’t much; hence there really isn’t much in northern Kenya. The area did remind me a lot of southern Kenya and the Masai people. Starkly different from middle Kenya near the urban centers, where the very wealthy reside, along with the burgeoning middle class and all its “trimmings” (i.e. consumer culture, shopping malls, traffic jams, street kids sniffing glue, etc.). Nevertheless, I glad I got a chance to visit northern Kenya. Another part of Kenya that I’ve never visited, but would really like too visit is Lake Turnakaka; perhaps on a future trip.

Lake Nakuru

Today I completed my 17th safari at Nakuru national park in Kenya, after having already completed 16 safaris in west, south and east Africa since January. It was okay, but not great. The park has historically been known for it’s pink flamingos. Recently though, a shift in the earth’s plates has caused the water level to rise and many of the flamingos have migrated away, but a few have remained. They were definitely the highlight of the safari. The balance of the animals, I've seen on other safaris throughout the year.

Elsamere - "Born Free"

David Shesinick Elephant Orphanage

It was the Ramadan holiday Eid. All schools were closed. This place was packed. It was only for an hour to watch the elephant being feed and listen to a speech about elephants and the orphanage. Really wasn't worth it. I left early.