Rat attack

Ok, the title is perhaps a little dramatic.....

On Tuesday after the wedding I came home and was meant to meet a friend for a drink. Time got away from us both, and by half ten, we spoke and I decided that after a day of celebrating nuptials I was getting too sleepy to venture out. Well, 40 minutes later a confident, grey rat strutted past my bedroom door through the living room. I was already sitting on my bed (fortunately no body parts on the floor!) and it just caught my eye as it teased its way past the door, pausing for effect at various points. I was in total shock...and also panic. It was quite late at this point, so I sent out a few SOS messages but to no avail. Nairobi seemed to be asleep. I went online hoping to find some residents there, but still, nothing! The one person I knew to be awake was Dean, the guy I had meant to meet earlier. Well, Dean and I have met just once, the day after I flew back in January. He very kindly helped me with my car and changed my air filter (so already he seemed like a good Samaritan type), and we have been meaning to meet up since but not managed to. So, it was a little shyly that I rang him, and also completely desperately.

Dean seemed very calm, despite my shrieks and squeals, and offered straightway to come round with his dog. Not what I was expecting, but having not been in the situation before I was happy for him to bring any animal he likes that will remove the rat!

It took about twenty minutes for him to arrive. I did not leave my bed! The rat however, being completely fearless and out to traumatize, decided to walk back in the opposite direction, flicking its tail and definitely showing a bit of a swagger. It was then that I lamented the fact that Dean had not been here before, had no clue where to go, and I would have to leave my bed stronghold to let him in. Well, I am definitely speedy when I need to be, and with about 4 leaps had made it out the door and was calling for him to come and save the day! 4 leaps later I was back on my bed. Not going anywhere.

Dean walked in with his hands over his dog's eyes so she wouldn't bark at the (rather useless) dogs here. She was amazing, and sniffed out the rat straightaway, chasing him from the fridge. She was so obsessed with the plug socket in my room though and kept coming back to it. It was well after an hour later that I persuaded Dean to go and check it out. The wall was hollow, so out he went to see what was outside, and there found the dwelling place for the rat. So gross!!! My landlord then decided to call and join the adventure in his pjs and with serious bed hair! I had put on my trusty Japanese socks for toe protection and he thought that was quite comical. As he is supportive and charges me good rent I didn't feel it appropriate to comment on his appearance!

The dog, SuperDog as I like to call her, ran riot through my house, going through cupboards (was a bit stressed when she went into the shoe cupboard, but she was well behaved fortunately) and slobbering over the wall, but I see her through completely rose tinted lenses. She really is the best dog I have ever seen! I am a total dog lover convert.....of dogs of the SuperDog variety.

No signs of rats since, and I now walk barefoot again and even leave the front door open during daylight hours, though when dusk comes it gets locked rather abruptly and noisily. Friends have been giving me advice on keeping rats away and noise is a major one!

SuperDog

A Wedding in Kenya

Today I was privileged to go to a colleague's wedding. It was the smallest wedding I've ever been to, but def one of the nicest! I spent yesterday getting to know Chell and doing some pampering as she has recently moved over to Kenya to be with Tim. She then asked me to do her make up for the wedding, I was so nervous, barely slept! She couldn't sleep due to worrying about her cooking. Both fears were fortunately unfounded! We ate well and she looked fab! They are a v sweet couple, and today has been such a lush one!

Tim and Chell about to set off to marry!

We all traveled into town together, post make over! It was such a treat to be driven and I loved the sightseeing! The ceremony was next to the President's office so it was cool to see all the posh cars there. We kinda overestimated how bad the traffic would be so were an hour early.....but the view from the window was parliament so I was snappy happy which helped temporarily distract from my hunger. Toby and I foolishly skipped brekkie as knew the feast which lay in store (Chell's cooking is unbelievable!), but we both wanted to eat each other's arms out of insane hunger and sitting around! 

Parliament building, Nairobi

Of course, this is Africa, so expecting an on time ceremony was perhaps a little unrealistic.....the waiting continued. We were there for nearly two hours. We were put into a little waiting room which had a small section cornered off. I loved it-it was like a preening room, with a big chair and mirror! The waiting room filled up quickly, Toby amused himself with his man bag and a spinning chair. The rest of us enjoyed people watching and guessing who was getting married to who. Some of the outfits were amazing! Incredible hats that looked quite spacey, as well as proper formal attire accompanied with a baseball cap. I so wanted to take pics but didn't think it was appropriate so use your imagination and keep it random and it'll be about right!

Simple things....

When we were finally called in for the ceremony, the registrar spoke so fast it was really difficult to understand him, and he didn't even attempt to say Chell's name-he just pointed at her, was so funny! It lasted about 2 minutes, but was actually really moving. Any marriage ceremony and commitment is significant and so the location and duration I guess is irrelevant. I was surprised by how much it made me think about the enormity of marriage, and also to be filled with respect and well wishes for this new married couple. 

There was definitely an attempt at decorating the room! Love the pic of the first president-it adorns every public place.

Meeting of very different cultures and races

After the signing we had a swift photoshoot and then drove back to a friend's house for a lil reception. 

It was such a happy, relaxed afternoon. Chell had prepared an absolute feast, and we all brought various things to surprise and treat the couple. There were just six of us. In all honesty, an interesting group of six people, but the dynamics were great and it was so lovely to get to know certain colleagues better. 

Wendy pouring the champagne...one of the many drinks courses!

Mala and I

Cutting the cake

Tsavo

A few weeks ago a few friends and I went to Tsavo for the weekend. It's about halfway to Mombasa and famous for elephants, as well as the orangey soil.

Despite seeing crocodiles in January I have still been rather obsessed with them and still so keen to see them in the wild. So, got rather excited when saw this sign:

Hopefully!!

The park is beautiful. Very dry and hot, but there was a gorgeous oasis like area, called Mzima springs which really was stunning and in total contrast to the rest of the park.

It was here that I had my first croc in the wild sighting!! Woo!!! We saw one on the ground and another in the water. There were so many hippos around too, the water was rarely smooth and still!

There was a lil gazebo area set into the water which was quite cool. We went down into it and it was kinda like going snorkeling but without getting wet! 

Debs enjoying the fish who were obsessed with coming close to her window

It had been months since my last safari, so was fun to go and spot animals again, as well as enjoying sundowners and general safari fun! I did find the early game drives a bit much at times though as do still get quite tired. At one point I happily settled down for a snooze in the car and just asked to be woken up if anyone saw a leopard!

We had rented a house inside the park. It was lovely, very spacious, with gorgeous views. I took this photo late on Saturday afternoon from our veranda. About nine in the evening we were inside playing games when Becca noticed that there was a herd of elephants walking by! They came to about 15m from our veranda, it was such a beautiful sight. 

Roaming Lioness

For the last two months there have been lionesses on the loose near school. The school is opposite the National Park so animals do wander out quite often and seeing my Head teacher try to scare off a monkey or a baboon from outside his office is no rare sight! But lions tend to escape for a day or two before they are captured or killed by a speeding matatu. But these two lionesses are still alive and roaming! As time has gone on they have become more legendary and rumours and stories about them have increased, with them apparently eating humans (not true, the man in question simply changed his routine for a few days but is in fact alive and well!). They have eaten a few baby giraffe from the nearby giraffe centre and a couple of warthogs and people are concerned for their dogs as there have been definite signs of attempted catchings and eatings.

There have been various sightings-even some at the school gate, but somehow the lions have escaped capture. This pic is from a sign usually displaying the reg plates of speeding drivers around the corner from school:

They have now received international attention: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/9161212/Lions-on-the-loose-in-Nairobi.html

I feel for the askaris (local security) who have to sit outside houses throughout the night. It must be terrifying! Security cameras have taken some incredible pictures in the middle of the night of them jumping over gates and roaming around. One of the girls in my class brought in some photos last week of the two lionesses outside her neighbour's garden at 3.30am. So glad I moved to the other side of town!