Home with Moshi

Our trip home is complete now that we've picked up Moshi and brought him home. He's getting bigger!

Back home again

Mark demonstrated his happiness of being back to the Indy airport.

We have arrived in Amsterdam and will be departing shortly for Atlanta.

Nairobi airport

Last minute shopping before departure. Itinerary: Amsterdam, Atlanta, Indianapolis.

Elephant orphanage

We also visited the elephant orphanage in Nairobi. This place cares for young orphaned elephants until they are 3 or 4 years old. They provide health care as well as feeding them by bottle (formula) and/or tree branches every 3 hours. They spend each night in their individual pen where a caretaker also has a bunk and sleeps there so that they can do the feedings as scheduled.

At 5 pm each day they are headed from the fields to go back to their pens. Each goes straight to their own pen. They really do have great memories.

They are orphaned typically due to poachers killing their moms.

After they are a few years old, they are moved to Tsavo where they live in a group and start to integrate with their wild counterparts. By the time they are in their mid-teens, they leave for good and stay in the wild.

Here at the orphanage you can "adopt" one of the elephants by making a donation. They will then give you a packet of info and email you monthly updates. Susan and I adopted one and Chuck adopted another in the names of his daughters.

Giraffe center

Chuck, Susan and I visited the Giraffe Center in Nairobi this afternoon, where you can hand-feed giraffes from the platform viewing area.

Cessna safari

On the way back to Nairobi, Mike flew us over Amboseli National Park. He flew us nice and low. We saw elephants, buffalo, ostriches, zebras, antelope, hippos , and giraffes. It was a very cool experience.

Bush pilot

This is Mike, our bush pilot who flew us from Nairobi to Grogan's Castle and back over the last few days. He's a character right out of a novel. He seems to be a bit of a hot-head with a short temper. He had a week-old shiner on his right eye. He had other recent battle scars, including obvious bite marks on an arm and a leg. Supposedly these injuries were caused by his girl friend. Anyway, he was a great pilot who flew us safely

Friday morning view of Mt. Kilimanjaro

River flowing over the road

River flowing over the road before we crossed it and mudded Mark.

Crazy day Thursday

Our excursion today was to go to Moshi town, Tanzania. We were expecting a visa fee of $50. But to our surprise the fee for Americans and Irish is $100. Why? Tit-for-tat as they say. Apparently the US charges tanzanians $100. We decided to go ahead and pay. We are glad we did. Tanzania is very different. It's more developed and cleaner. The main roads are paved, smooth, and wide. We had a nice lunch, a nice visit to The Coffee Shop, and a little walk around part of the downtown. After a few hours, it started to rain. It has rained hard late every afternoon. So we headed back to Kenya. Back to Kenya in the rain means back to dirt roads, floods, and washouts. We had one incident where the road was flooded. Vicky, our proprietor and driver, listened to some kids and went straight through the middle. The Nissan stalled. She offered the kids a bit of money to push us. They weren't getting it done so Mark jumped in the water to help. I asked Vicky to keep it in first and walk it out using the starter. With all these things, we got it out of the water and it started again. Then, on the more narrow road to the castle, we came up to a crowd of people, motorcycles and bikes. There was a place in the road where it is low and made of concrete. It is designed to have water flow over it with heavy rains. It was like a river flowing over the road. One person was helping to drive the motorcycles across. He was also helping bicycles across. We watched all this for a while and Vicky decided we should go for it. (this washout pictured.) First Mark decided to walk across, through the water, to the cheers of the locals. We made it across. Vicky slowed while ascending the other side. At that time Mark approached from behind. Charles told Vicky not to stop until she made it up the slight ascent. She accelerated. The tires spun in the mud. Mark was behind. He got splattered. (Pictured.) It was hilarious. We are again laughing about it as I write this. But we made it back safe and sound to the castle once again. We are now cleaned up and ready for another wonderful dinner.

Coffee Shop in Moshi town. This seems to be where the wazungu, or whites, hang out.  No. 1 in Moshi per Trip Advisor. 

One beer and Mark went for a Tanzania dip in the pool of the hotel we visited for lunch. 

Beers in Tanzania. 3 out of 3 Americans prefer Serengeti Lager. Unfortunately, 2 out of 3 purchased Kilimanjaro Lager. Chuck got lucky with his choice. 

Moshi town, Tanzania

Today we are hoping to cross the border and visit Moshi, Tanzania. Why? Because it's there.