Eleven Days in Kenya: Day 10 - Hungry Hungry Hippos

Today was a scheduled relaxation day.

We headed to Enashipai Resort in Naivasha for lunch with the CPA staff. This was a western-style resort that is as nice as any other resort I've seen. It was a strange juxtaposition to see so much abject poverty right outside the ten foot gates, then drive inside and see a huge infinity pool wedged between a work out center/playground and beautiful dining room.

We're just as guilty of this in Dallas, though. Drive down Walnut Hill a few miles and it goes from strip clubs and liquor stores to private schools and 10,000 square foot mansions within a couple blocks.

The menu at the restaurant had all sorts of food that we could get at home. Megan got a Hawaiian pizza that was hands down the BEST Hawaiian pizza I have ever tasted. Go figure. Anyway, I wanted something a bit more authentic. So, I sprung for the nyama choma (and no, I still can't pronounce it.) Basically, it's barbecue. On my plate, there was goat, beef, and chicken. I also ordered it with the ugali to make it even more authentic. Ugali is a maize flour mixture cooked to a doughy consistency. It had zero flavor. Not good, not bad. It was just there. I heard it's high in calories and is a staple of nearly every household because it's cheap. I'm glad I tried it, but it was just a filler. The goat wasn't bad, just tough. The chicken was really good, and the beef was meh. The presentation was nice though.

By the way, the shot glass in that picture was simple syrup for my lemonade. Just throwing that out there.

Dessert was black forest cake (eh) and coffee (yes). When I ordered the coffee, he asked me if I wanted black or white coffee. Well, I wanted it with cream so I ordered white coffee. Then, he listed a bunch of different flavors. Naturally, I chose chocolate thinking it was going to be some Coffeemate type of creamer. Wrong. So wrong. He brought me my coffee. Two minutes later he brings me a gravy boat FILLED with melted chocolate. Of course I poured all of it in my coffee. It was the absolute best mocha I have ever had.

All together, our lunch took about three hours. Yeah, they move at a different pace here. But it was relaxing and enjoyable.

After lunch, we walked down to the lake. There were a few guys about waist deep fishing with a net. A few minutes later we noticed that a couple of the CPA staff had walked out onto this small peninsula and were looking at something. We walked out to join them and HIPPOS! There were hippos swimming around out there! They would go under for a few seconds and then come up and blow air out through their nostrils. It was awesome. Their heads had to have been at least three feet long. We spotted four and they were colored pink, green, yellow, and blue. And they were eating these small, white plastic marbles. It was weird.

We headed back to a well-manicured lawn, circled up, and talked about our highs and lows for the week. It was cool to see the teachers, who we were afraid wouldn't open up at all, expressing gratitude for the time we took to work with them. In the middle of our talk, a security guard walked up and whispered something in Dedan's ear. I thought, oh man, they're going to make us get off their well-manicured lawn, but no. THE HIPPOS HAD COME OUT OF THE WATER AND WERE GRAZING ON THE BANK AND DID I WANT TO SEE THEM? Opportunity of a lifetime? Yes, please. I did a speedwalk/jog down to the lake and there they were. The hippo family was just chilling, eating the grass/plant/thing. Now, I'm pretty sure that hippos will charge if you get to close. In fact, oh dear lord, this video confirms it:

As more of our team came to see the hippos. Some people (I'm looking at you, Brittany Kulick) decided to inch forward until they were closer. You know, ONLY 30 FEET AWAY. It was at this point that the hippos started making this face:

To me, that face says, "Hey you. Back the (heck) up." But to everyone else, it said "Hey, I'm posing! Take a picture with me in the background!"

So, everyone's taking these fantastic pictures that look so natural and beautiful and I'm all like, we're going to die. But if I'm going to die, I'm getting a picture next to hippos they can show at the funeral. And this is what I got: