Saturday December 21, 2013
With the formal meeting schedule completed, today we were able to do some tourism and take care of loose ends. The team makeup also changed, with Avnaesh departing late Friday night and Kristy and Mychael arriving Saturday afternoon.
Saturday morning, Ayesha, Henry and Steve toured the elephant orphanage at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and the Giraffe Centre. The elephant orphanage, which is only open one hour each day, is home to about 25 baby elephants (less than one year old). We observed the baby elephants being fed and heard the heart-breaking stories of how they ended up there (mostly due to poaching or human-wildlife conflict). However, it is inspiring to hear how the elephants are cared for and then released back into the wild. The Giraffe Centre is much more light hearted. Here you get a chance to hand feed adult giraffes (from a platform) and see families of boars. They also have the best gift shop in Nairobi (inexpensive and extensive).
During the evening we welcomed Kristy and Mychael to the group and continued improvising anemometers and circuits in hopes of being able to telemeter data back to the United States. More work will be required on that front.
Tomorrow the team will make our much anticipated trip to Muhuru Bay. The team will fly to Kisumu, and then drive the few hundred kilometers to Muhuru Bay. Complicating the trip is that we have about 600 pounds of luggage, with a large portion being various school supplies and toys donated to Kristy’s Cape Academy. We need to leave Rosa Mystica at 7AM to make the flight.
