"We got to eat a few exotic animals like crocodile, camel and ostrich."
July 04, 2005 | Matt Ransdell

Happy 4 th of July from Nairobi. This was my first 4 th of July out of the country; no fireworks, but I’d rather be here right now anyway. Today was a very academic oriented day. We went to the University of Nairobi for one workshop and three presentations. The workshop was first. Dr. Stokes did the workshop on GPS (Global Positioning System). Attending this, along with us, were five University of Nairobi students and a small group from Youth For Conservation. The purpose of this workshop was to teach the students and YFC how to use the system in their de-snaring projects. The global positioning units get signals from satellites that tell you precisely where you are, and create your path traveled so that someone else can travel the exact same path later. We donated the units to YFC as well. The three presentations were from a University of Nairobi professor and two University of Nairobi graduate students. Dr. Kimwele gave his on the illegal bushmeat market and how to identify the meat so that the trade can be stopped. Mrs. Arun did her presentation on Lake Victoria fish population, and how introduced exotic species are overtaking the indigenous species. Patrick Ogola did the last presentation. He talked about elephant conservation and transportation.

After we left the University of Nairobi we went back to the hotel to get our stuff ready for our journey to Kisumu tomorrow. After we got out bags ready to go we went out as one big group to eat an Independence Day dinner at a restaurant called Carnivore. Carnivore has been ranked as a top 50 restaurant in the world at one time. It is all you can eat meat. We got to eat a few exotic animals like crocodile, camel, and ostrich. All three are excellent by the way. My personal favorite was ostrich. We also ate lamb, pork, beef, and chicken. The food was outstanding and the atmosphere was great. The waiters came around with huge things of meat on rods and sliced it off with a giant machete—it was cool. It was an Independence Day dinner to remember.

Tomorrow morning we are off to Lake Victoria and Kisumu.