Mother’s Day Triathlon

Matt and I both participated in a sprint triathlon at TGT this morning.  I did the bike as part of a team, but Matt did the whole thing by himself – his first triathlon and he won! This despite the fact that he did two extra swim laps and went too far on the bike before turning around. (Our women’s team would have come in 2nd [passed in the final stretch] if teams were separated into men’s and women’s categories).  Fun family day as the kids cheered us on and we stayed for the lunch and festivities afterward.  Despite the cold and rainy weather we all had fun.

(And you know you are not in the US when we can tell the kids before the race that “Mommy and Daddy are both going to be racing at the same time, so make sure to stick around and cheer until we’re done”)

Sunday project

Lazy-cool-Matt-is-out-of-town-Sunday project. 

(I love pinterest)

Two girls. Two teeth gone.

Same day. It’s a “toof-fer”.

Lewa’s 2012 Safaricom Marathon

As I mentioned in the previous post, Lewa is where Matt and the other Team Nature runners will be participating in the 2012 Safaricom Marathon on June 30. The marathon is a fundraising event that, according to Lewa, has

“since its inception in 2000…has raised (over US$2,000,000) for a range of education, community development, health and wildlife conservation projects across Kenya. A few of the benefits achieved over the last ten years include:

• Supported 10 Primary Schools and 3 Secondary Schools helping over 5,000 children
• Established 4 community forestry programmes
• Supported Meru, Isiolo, Nanyuki and Timau District Hospitals
• Provided free treatment to over 300 people injured by wildlife in the region
• Supported 11 communities of diverse ethnicity across northern Kenya helping over 50,000 people
• Supported game scout operations to protect conservancy’s 100+ rhino, including the tracker dog team
• Purchased vehicle for KWS game scouts”

From TNC: 

Your Support Makes Team Nature Go

Team Nature and more than 1,000 other runners representing some 20 countries will test their mettle under the African sun. The challenging dirt course follows Lewa’s undulating hills at an average altitude of 5,500 feet. Adding to the challenge and thrill is the runners’ awareness that they share the terrain with elephants, antelopes, cheetahs and lions.

You should consider supporting Matt (or one of the other Team Nature Runners) as he runs for this great cause: 

http://www.crowdrise.com/TeamNatureLewa2012/fundraiser/mattbrown1 

 

Best of luck to the Team Nature runners as they train over the next two months.

Back to Kenya and Lewa

Matt had to be up at Kenya for a board meeting and the kids had Thursday off of school for Union Day (when Zanzibar joined Tanganyika), so we decided to join him for the weekend.  We spent a night in Nairobi (i.e. the first world) on our way up and then spent the next two nights at Lewa Wildlife Conservancy.  A fun weekend getaway.

In Nairobi, our first stop (even before heading to our hotel) was a mall for some Planet Yogurt (self-serve yogurt where you can mix flavors and then add toppings of your choice…pay by weight…brilliant).  Bookstore and healthfood store stops were next; we stocked up on some new books and fluoride-free toothpaste (our water in Arusha has extremely high levels of fluoride). 

The next morning we headed further north into Kenya to Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. On the way we stopped at Barney’s for lunch.  Not only is this a fun little food joint, but it’s also at the small regional  airport, so Anderson got to check out the fun aircraft in the hangar.  Made him a very happy little boy.

Lewa is one of TNC’s main partners in Kenya, and a it’s a beautiful place to visit.  This is also where Matt, David, and many others will be running the Safaricom half-marathon or marathon at the end of June.  Lewa is known for its resident population of endangered rhinos and grevy zebras.  Really cool. 

First stop right inside the gate was the education center.  Kids loved trying on the elephant’s foot.

Game drives were fun.  Rhinos were a highlight…as were the grevy zebras…well, we also got a kick out of the nursing elephant mom trumpeting at us. 

While Matt was in the NRT (Northern Rangelands Trust) board meetings on Saturday, I took the kids to go horseback riding at Wilderness Trails and then for a swim (sans bathing suits) at the pool afterwards.  The planned ride was cut short due to some mean ostriches at the top of the hill (we didn’t encounter them, but the manager had gotten chased by some earlier; it was an experience she didn’t want to repeat with kids). They did get to scatter a herd of impala though.

Back at Ngiri House (where we were staying) we entertained ourselves by watching the vervet monkeys from the pool while swimming.  Vervets can be cute from a distance, but really tend to liven up an afternoon when three of them get in to your room, steal some food, and then poop on the floor. 

Ash talking about the vervets sneaking into our room

And, of course, it wouldn’t be a true safari experience without sundowners. 

Family self-portraits on the top of the car

On the way home we also found the new Eastern Bypass north of Nairobi which meant we got to skirt all of the Nairobi traffic.  We made it home from Lewa in 6 1/2 hours (including border crossing)…not too bad considering the first time we went I think it took us 9 hours. 

More wildlife at TGT

Remember the “incident with a wildlife” last month at TGT?  Well, the track finally did re-open a couple of weeks later because the ‘wildlife’ wasn’t spotted again (an askari said he saw a leopard, but no one else saw it).  As you might know, we go to TGT every Friday night that we are in town.  It’s a huge meeting place for expats…the kids play on the playground and eat pizza and the grown-ups enjoy two-for-one drinks for happy hour.  It’s a scene!

Last night, when we arrived, we were warned by the staff and managers that a hyena had been spotted on the grounds, but this time it was ‘on this side’ and not trapped inside the track. They reassured us that they’d have askaris (guards) posted all around to keep an eye out.  We told the kids to not go wandering out into the coffee and along the far fence lines where it was dark.  Good precautions, but I didn’t really think it would be necessary.  I was wrong.  As soon as the sun went down we all spotted the hyena run along the fence and across the soccer fields into the darkness.  Ash saw it and totally freaked out and bee-lined straight for the car.  Everyone else was slightly freaked out and excited, but we all definitely called the kids back to the seating area.  A gentle reminder about where we are really living.  A good dose of excitement for a regular Friday night.

Dinner plans: Hasenpfeffer

Guess what’s for dinner tonight?  Hasenpfeffer!

This has been the idea for a long time, but a brutal fight between rabbits last night prompted us to implement the plan today (the fight left more of the loser’s stomach on the outside than on the inside, so we needed to put it out of it’s misery. And one didn’t seem like enough, so we went a little further and slaughtered three in total).  Anderson was so excited, but did admit that he was a “little sad” when daddy cut the bunny’s throat.  He watched it all though. 

Rabbit stew, anyone?