As we had so much fun rafting the Nile, we left Uganda promising to see each other soon, and we pulled it off -- this time, in only 12 emails :) Kristin and Anne, our Fogarty Nairobi rockstars, rented a house on Lake Naivasha in Kenya, northwest of Nairobi in the Rift Valley. They boasted of flamingoes, hippoes, and giraffes in the yard of the house (after all, it is named Twiga House, or Giraffe House in Swahili), but I was a bit skeptical and decided to go mainly to see my favorite Fogarty East Africa friends.
After a late night Mexican potluck at my house the night before I left, for which I made 30 tortillas from scratch, and some later night packing, Andy and I left at 545 in the morning to catch a shuttle to Nairobi, a taxi to the dala dala stand in Nairobi, then a dala dala from Nairobi to Naivasha town, then a mysterious ride from Naivasha town to the house.... easy, right? The 8+ hour bus ride to Nairobi was definitely grueling, with the roughest roads I've been on in a long time... especially on the Tanzania side. At least the Kenya side it looks like they are trying to pave a road right next to the dirt diversion. Good thing I was so tired from the night before I slept practically the entire way to Nairobi!
Waiting for the matatu in Nairobi... corruption IS evil!The journey was looking up, as our dala dala (or matatu in Kenyan kiswahili) to Naivasha had an LCD screen -- I kid you not!
AND, in Kenya, you can't pack more than 14 people in a matatu!!! A real upgrade from Tanzanian dala dalas :) Apparently the favored form of matatu entertainment is music videos of kiswahili songs, alternating between seemingly activist songs about hunger and/or poverty and random artists dancing in their yards. We were pretty convinced it was Kenyan President Kibaki in propaganda videos for a while...
We had Mexican night with chapati, beans, cheese, guacamole (my new fav food in Africa), and some awesome mole as we awaited for the Samar's arrival... all told, the Fogarty count was 10: Me and Maria from Tanzania, Anne and Kristin from Nairobi, Gerry and Todd from Eldoret, Kenya, Lisa from Kisumu, Kenya, Miriam and Samar from Kampala, and Miriam's Ugandan twin Teddy and her two boys!
Gorgeous sandstone!
We scaled this at the end! (just kidding... )
PB&J sandwiches, apples, and carrots later, we came home to start the Thanksgiving dinner process... an 18lb turkey, stuffing (even veggie stuffing for us vegetarians, thanks Anne!), beans, mashed potatoes, pumpkin soup, oh and did I mention pies?!?! Anne and Kristin stepped up to the task with 2 apple pies (in addition to all the other cooking they did), but Todd was the unexpected hero! He make 2 pumpkin pies, chocolate chip and snickerdoodle cookies, and brought the supplies for pina coladas on top of it all.... and managed to keep the pies flat on the matatu + motorcycle transport he required to get to Naivasha!!!
After some time admiring the giraffes, we moved on to the zebras... although we had a bit more fun with them, as Gerry, Miriam, Damien, Anne, and I charged them making bird sounds to see their reaction. I don't think they've ever met some mzungu kicha (crazy foreigners) quite like us, as they scampered away... of course, I'm sure it was the sound of birds, their most feared predator, that drove them way..... ???!???!
AND, in Kenya, you can't pack more than 14 people in a matatu!!! A real upgrade from Tanzanian dala dalas :) Apparently the favored form of matatu entertainment is music videos of kiswahili songs, alternating between seemingly activist songs about hunger and/or poverty and random artists dancing in their yards. We were pretty convinced it was Kenyan President Kibaki in propaganda videos for a while...Anyway, we finally made it to Naivasha town AND finally found Lisa, a fellow from Kisumu, Kenya, who picked us up and took us to the house... and 14 hours after our journey had begun, we were in Twiga House!
Some pictures of the beautiful house and grounds...
We had Mexican night with chapati, beans, cheese, guacamole (my new fav food in Africa), and some awesome mole as we awaited for the Samar's arrival... all told, the Fogarty count was 10: Me and Maria from Tanzania, Anne and Kristin from Nairobi, Gerry and Todd from Eldoret, Kenya, Lisa from Kisumu, Kenya, Miriam and Samar from Kampala, and Miriam's Ugandan twin Teddy and her two boys!
We woke up the next morning energized to go hiking a gorge in Hell's Gate... I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, except to say that it was one of the most amazing hikes I've been on! Some might even say 'gorge'-ous.... :) Especially the parts where we were either scaling rock walls or hugging a cliff wall walking on a 1 foot wide pathway next an albeit-shallow river with a 1-year-old and 4-year-old.
Gorgeous sandstone!
We scaled this at the end! (just kidding... )
Dinner was simply amazing -- I love my Fogarties! Hanging out in the house and catching up was awesome, as some of us *ahem Gerry, Miriam, and Todd* made some slightly inappropriate jokes about wild natives.
We got to watch our Nile rafting adventure video -- where we caught our happy-go-lucky guide Taabani Taabani purposefully flipping us on the last rapid!!!! It was definitely hilarious to see how we were always the only boat to have its passengers crouching, fearing the worst at every rapid!
We got to watch our Nile rafting adventure video -- where we caught our happy-go-lucky guide Taabani Taabani purposefully flipping us on the last rapid!!!! It was definitely hilarious to see how we were always the only boat to have its passengers crouching, fearing the worst at every rapid! 
Sunday, post a leftover-pie breakfast, we set out to "Crescent" "Island" (Crescent Island seems to be neither a Crescent nor an Island... talk amongst yourselves... :)) on Lake Naivasha, to walk among the wildlife. 
It turns out Out of Africa was filmed there, by the way! When we got to Crescent Island, after some amazing haggling by Anne's husband Damien, a true pro at negotiating in Kenya, we found out the giraffes had just had babies!!!! There was a 4-day old and a 5-day old! How cute -- although (1) they sure are big for days old, and (2) the mama and papa giraffe were none-too-pleased to have these crazy mzungu tourists encroaching on their space.
It turns out Out of Africa was filmed there, by the way! When we got to Crescent Island, after some amazing haggling by Anne's husband Damien, a true pro at negotiating in Kenya, we found out the giraffes had just had babies!!!! There was a 4-day old and a 5-day old! How cute -- although (1) they sure are big for days old, and (2) the mama and papa giraffe were none-too-pleased to have these crazy mzungu tourists encroaching on their space. 
After some time admiring the giraffes, we moved on to the zebras... although we had a bit more fun with them, as Gerry, Miriam, Damien, Anne, and I charged them making bird sounds to see their reaction. I don't think they've ever met some mzungu kicha (crazy foreigners) quite like us, as they scampered away... of course, I'm sure it was the sound of birds, their most feared predator, that drove them way..... ???!???!
Aaaand just like that, our weekend get away was "finished" (a Kenyan English classic, apparently -- things are just 'finished' and one has no idea what that means)... with plans for a beach weekend next and some Fogarty t-shirts...
View from our house at dusk 
The Rift Valley
View from our house at dusk 
The Rift Valley
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