First, 2 days in Nairobi (Kenya) with friends

March 16-19, 2007 - I stay with good friends Di and Quentin (“Q”) in the Karen area of Nairobi –very posh; big houses, big fences, acres of grounds, good roads - an expansive and lush suburbia, with LOTS of security.
Their house is a bit Frank Lloyd Wright - half surrounded by a lake/moat with a fountain, and with their bedroom cantilevered out over it. Two enormous Rhodesian Ridgebacks – so big and muscled that they crash into everything (walls, plants) when they run around because they can’t change direction quick enough. Luckily they don’t seem to want to eat me :-)
It's great to see Di & Q again – I last saw them in Serbia in 2004 when Di and I did the implementation there.
I didn't have any expectations about these days in Nairobi, in the end what I got was:
• My first encounter with Giraffes - feeding them – learning that they have huge think grey tongues about 10 inches long with are very slimy and dextrous (can you say dextrous about a tongue??). And the worlds worst breath.
• Visiting a wildlife orphanage and getting escorted into a cage to pat the cheetahs. Every way they behaved in that cage just said “big pussycat” – they show all the same mannerisms, purring (like chainsaws), stretching, cleaning (not smelly at all) etc. And they are BIG…1m long bodies and a tail almost as long. These orphans were so domesticated now they can never be let back into the wild, which might be a bit sad in some ways, I guess, but they certainly seemed content.
• Seeing “Blood diamond” at the local shopping mall. You know, I was debating at what point to start seeing all these recent African movies; (a) before going to Rwanda, (b) while there, or (c) afterwards. Di made the decision for me! I’d read some reviews that said this film made some good points but was overall too Hollywood (and was too focused on the main actresses cleavage). I don't agree. I was very moved by it, almost feeling sick in the first half, and quite emotional in other parts later on. I’m not sure I’d have felt the same way seeing it in London, I was here – the same continent… And there wasn’t that much cleavage!