Today when we were walking around we started naming things we missed from the U.S. One thing that popped up was unlimited data and free/strong wifi. We took those two things for granted in the U.S. We thought we’d always have it no matter where we went. But now that we don’t have those things, we appreciate them. So the lesson learned is never to take ANYTHING for granted and to take advantage of things you have in the time you have them ESPECIALLY when they are about to go away. Always appreciate, never take for granted.

Today we stopped by a chicken place for lunch. It served greens, chicken, and Ugali. We heard some clucking behind the fence. Dad said, “Well, at least it’s fresh,”. Occasionally some chickens were thrown inside. Then a man came in with a knife. Not a single chicken survived. Later the kids looked inside and saw that they were feathering, decapitating, gutting, and cleaning the now dead chickens.

The food was yummy. And the chicken…. its death was honored enough by being cooked well, tasting yummy and ending up in our bellies. I think that if you go to that restaurant too, you’ll say the same.

It ended with a lioness outside her hole.

My family went on a game drive today. We first saw some rescued chimps. We saw all but one chimp. That was very lucky. Our luck didn’t end there. Right when we came from the chimp center, I screamed, “Elephant!”. There was an African Elephant right there. “Not so loud,” said my dad. We watched the poor thing limp to wherever it was going. The experience was still magical. Then, we moved on. We kept seeing many animals: a couple of black rhinos, many, many, many zebras and antelope. We found a couple of sleeping lions, one an adult female the other a young male. We moved on, saw some pheasants, and found a young female lion, looking for something to hunt.

Now, let’s got to the viewpoint of the warthog, which we were watching the lioness hunt..

I was merely searching for food for my babies, when this lioness crept near to me. A few seconds passed, then I forgot about the lion, even though I was staring right at it. Then, it came closer. Very close. Too close. I ran into my burrow, and the lioness came and laid down next to my burrow. About thirty minutes later, I forgot about the lioness right outside my burrow……….and……..I DIED!!! (as far as we saw – We didn’t actually see the warthog die. But I bet that warthog still died). 

My family went to Bomas of Kenya, a place where they held traditional dances. At the end of the Luo Drinking Party, where the people danced and drank and partied and drank and sung and drank till everyone got drunk and went home, some characters had a hard time getting home. One audience member was taken by the Luo but eventually came back and rejoined the audience.

Then came the acrobats for the finale. They did some stunts then “played with fire”. One guy stuck a torch in another’s pants. The guy who got “torched” became angry. The “torcher” gave him a torch. The next time the man got “torched” he got revenge on the “torcher” by doing the same. Then one extinguished the flame by putting it in his mouth. Then the other ignited a “fire limbo”. They did the limbo like you or I would, except with fire. Then they lowered it to half the height and did the limbo. Then they decreased it to only two beer bottles high. Then one. But every time, they were successful. Then they did some more stunts, and it was over.

We then saw some examples of the styles of the huts of many tribes. We had fun picking which tribes we would like best based on the huts.

The huts in the Embu and another tribe were small.

Dad and I preferred to be Kikuyu. The huts were pretty large and the boys didn’t share a hut with any adults or the sisters, but with each other.

Mom liked the Luo best of all, being the first (and only (for eternity)) wife, since she had a large house and a verandah (sort of like a patio). Dad, being the husband disliked the husband’s example hut for the Luo, because even I had to duck to get in and out of the tiny, low hut.

The last one we saw was the Mijikenda. The huts were shaggy and small, like the Embu. But mom still liked it, probably because the first wife had the biggest hut in all the tribes. We enjoyed the experience, all of it. It was great.