week 3

This week we said goodbye to our new friends Cheryl and Lauren from Michigan. They are an amazing mother, daughter duo who joined us the first two weeks and it was pretty sad to see them go after everything we had experienced together. So we all went out to dinner at the Bliss Hotel, where we had a few cold beers, lot’s of laughs and a few tears, as they climbed into the taxi.

On Wednesday we got up early and squeezed into a car with no seat belts and not enough seats for an hour and half bumpy ride on our way to Kopanga dispensary. We’ve grown accustom to squeezing more people and bags into a car than we ever thought possible, however this was our first experience with a LENGTHY car ride down a road that would be for ATV’s and motorcross only in the states. When we finally reached the clinic, we were dropped off on the side of the road and tramped our way through a field of cows and goats to the clinic.

Kopanga dispensary is a small mission clinic founded by the United Methodist Church in Washington state, around 1yr ago. The staff consists of a few nurses and nurse aids as well as a lab tech and an administrator. We were given the grand tour by the head nurse, who treats children under 5, the whole place consists of a labor room, a counseling/adult patient room, a Maternal Child Health room, a lab room, an observation room with four beds and a pharmacy room (the labor room and observation room are pretty large probably 15ft x 10ft, the other rooms are about 5ft x 7ft). The clinic takes 50 Kenyan shillings (ksh) for children under 5, 100ksh for children 6-13 and 200ksh for everyone 14 and older. This covers their evaluation, any lab tests and any medications prescribed. After our tour we each split off with a nurse to see some patients for a few hours and then were invited across the grounds to the guest house where we had tea and some lunch, which was prepared by a wonderful mother daughter team.

After lunch we decided since we were so close to the border of Tanzania we couldn’t possibly leave without venturing across. So we piled back into the car and journeyed down another bumpy red dirt road winding through the country side, passing small collections of mud huts with grass roofs and small children running alongside the car yelling “Msungu! Msungu!” and waving furiously. ( I just realized this is the first time I’ve mentioned this phrase and I have to apologize for this huge oversight, as this is one of the first words we learned because it means “white person” and everywhere… I mean EVERYWHERE we go, we hear it) So after about 30 minutes of driving we arrive at the border town where Mr. Barasa greeted the border guard, who looked like just everyone else except he had on a nice polo with the Kenyan flag embroidered on the upper left chest. After a few minutes Barasa got back into the car and we continued on into what Barasa called “no mans land” apparently there is a small section of land that doesn’t really belong to either country?? So after a few minutes we crossed over a small creek which we were told is the actual border, before arriving at the border town in Tanzania! We all quickly riffled through our bags to pull out our cameras to capture the moment and the signs, for proof of our entry when Mr. Barasa’s eyes bugged and “no, no, no, no.. it’s not like Kenya, no pictures”! Stunned we all shoved the cameras back in our bags and Barasa got out to speak with the border guard to see if we could enter the country. As he came back to the car smiling he says “ yes, it’s alright we can come in and we don’t have to pay to get back out” despite our mild shock and confusion at the prospect of having escaped a fee we didn’t know even existed we rolled along through the town.

On the side of the road towards the end of town a sign for the police station came into view and a stern looking gentleman in a khaki uniform with a rifle slung over his shoulder, glared at our car as we tried to turn around. He watched the car intently as the driver executed a 20 point turn, when the car was positioned exactly horizontal in the middle of the driveway he began to slowly stroll towards us. Small pangs of panic began to surge through me, Mr. Barasa jumped out of the car and greeted the man, who continued to look stern and glare at the car full of msungu’s. After only a few words exchanged the two strode up to the car and I prepared for the third degree. The guard, still stern with every step, stopped directly in front of my window, grabbed the door and busted out a wide toothy grin and in a deep booming baritone “You are welcome!” So our stay in Tanzania was brief but pleasant.

MASAI MARA!!! – Early Friday morning we left for our safari on the Masai Mara. We were told we would be taking a short cut to save time and get to the mara early, so we were all for it. It was the bumpiest most ridiculous ride, 10x worse and longer than the trip to kopanga! Thankfully we were in a van, but I really felt like I was going to rupture my spleen it was so rough. The holes and ditches on these roads are more along the lines of ravines, I seriously thought the car was going to bottom out, tip over, or break an axle! Finally we reached the Mara and before we got into the gates we saw water buffalo and zebras! Not even a mile past the gate and we saw elephants and were only a few feet from a herd of giraffe! It was amazing being so close to such magnificent animals in the wild. As our day came to a close we watched the sunset next to a pride of lionesses lazily napping next to a stand of trees.

Our accommodations in the tented camp were beyond expectation and just to put it in perspective, it was the BEST shower we’ve had since we arrived in Kenya! The food was delicious and a giant beer was only 200ksh. We were up early and out to watch the sunrise over the Mara, water buffalo, zebra, ostrich, topi, impala and tomi gazelle were all out grazing in the crisp morning air. We saw a lioness and four cubs cruise across the plains into some brush. On our way out of the park we luckily happen across a cheetah resting beneath an acacia tree. She was beautiful and smaller than I had expected. This trip was definitely a high point of the rotation, don’t get me wrong I love the medicine but this was spectacular!!!