"We saw eland, rhinoceroses, ostrich, hartebeest, dozens of giraffe, baboons and so many others that it's hard to remember them all. "
July 03, 2005 | Bradley Smith

The day started off like so many others: wake up early, eat a rushed breakfast and slip through the muddled traffic of an urban center toward the National Park that borders the largest city in the country. You know the usual stuff. Only in Kenya though, my friends!

Anyway, our trip. We went to Nairobi National park today with Dr. Kimwele and his daughter and four students from the University of Nairobi, some representatives from Youth for Conservation, and our guide from the Museum Rosalie. As we pulled up Dr. Kimwele told us some of the history of the park as well as some of his own adventures from the area. Our bus approached the gate with its armed guards and a hush of anticipation flowed through all of us. We were about to get our first taste of the wild Kenya. The gates opened and the big blue bus rolled on through . . .

And what an experience it was! We saw eland, rhinoceroses, ostrich, hartebeest, dozens of giraffe, baboons and so many others that it’s hard to remember them all. One of the memories that stand in my mind was when we stopped on the edge of a ravine to look out on a small valley. At this same spot last year our van broke down and we had to trudge up the road a bit and wait for our guide to get it up the hill leading there. Then, when we got to the top we were confronted by a troop of baboons! They left us alone and we left them alone so all was well. This year there were, at first, no baboons to be seen. The view was still spectacular. As we were making our way back to the bus however, lo and behold but what should we see but a huge male baboon hiding behind a stand of bushes not 20 feet from our bus! We stayed a bit longer, he called his troop to us and then we made our way back onto the bus. As unassuming as they may look in pictures, one doesn’t want to get in a tussle with a baboon.

Sadly we had to leave the park at some point. We made our way to Kitengale for a late lunch of nyama choma, which in Swahili means roasted meat. Let me tell you comrades, it was a fantastic feast of fun and friendship! Maybe not as cheesy as that but we all got a chance to sit around and talk about the park and what we thought of it.

When we got back into Nairobi we had a bit of time before we went to Dr. Kimwele’s house. A few of us walked around the city for a bit, taking in some of the sights and looking for a good place to eat if ever we should need one. After a bit of that we made our way down to the Hotel Boulevard and then to the Kimwele’s. There we had dinner and our first discussion. Pam, Dr. Kimwele’s wife, is a fantastic cook, though I did make my clumsy self known by dropping and smashing a plate. Such is the life of a klutz. Our discussion was a comparison of South African and Kenyan parks. We really didn’t come to a conclusion about which is better though it was interesting to see everyone’s perspectives on the issue.

And after that we went to bed. Laying there it was hard to believe I was back in Kenya. How many people have the great luck of being able to have a once in a lifetime experience twice?