Christmas, Kenyan style

We've had a lovely, very relaxing family Christmas at our home in Nairobi. It's been much less of a consumer experience and much more about time off together than we have been used to. And Jamie very sweetly reassured me that it was his best Christmas ever, with great presents. Clearly my efforts to manage expectations weren't completely wasted.



Some things have been very similar to previous festive seasons. We've eaten lots of turkey and mince pies.

Our 3 Father Christmas refusniks were transformed, with a bit of NORAD santa tracker and some philosophical debate about how, if mum and dad are father christmas they can get to all the other childrens' homes - katie had no answer to that - into very excited children up by 6am and ripping open stocking presents. Presents that appeared straightforward took longer to set up than anticipated not least because Matthew decided that the only way to really try out his new camping plates, cutlery and scouts pen knife was to set up the tent and have a picnic - he took more of an executive role in the former.

Some things were a little different. Kenyan Christmas crackers came with morals rather than jokes - "the ballot is stronger than the bullet" seemed a very appropriate message to be sending out in advance of March elections here. On Christmas Eve, carols from Kings College accompanied our evening meal. The carols at tea time, with christmas cake and mulled wine, were a more local affair with the kids joining in happily (particularly in cake consumption) and the weather significantly sunnier than we are used to at Christmas.

And some things were very different. An afternoon swim at a local pool whilst the Turkey roasted.


A boxing day breakfast with friends in the national park.

We have had torrential rains the last few nights (which made us all glad that the kids had eventually opted out of spending Christmas night in the afore mentioned tent) so the park was pretty muddy and we were briefly stuck at a spot called lion's corner. Luckily our friends were close behind and towed us out. But that did necessitate both Tim and Steve getting out of the cars to attach ropes and issue instructions. In the midst of this activity our friends' 13 year old son pointed out a male lion slowly heading in our direction. I was a little distracted and failed to get a photo. But believe me it was very real and unlike any other Boxing Day search for fresh air and exercise we have had before.




Anne

Out and about

We have had granny visiting for the last couple of weeks and school broke up on 7 December so we have been taking the opportunity to get out and about a bit and show my mum life beyond Nairobi. We have stayed in a couple of great places and seen loads of wildlife as well as learning about the tea industry here and seeing some more of the countryside. Highlights have been a getting up close to giraffe and zebra in the garden of the lodge we stayed at in happy valley country just north of Nairobi.

Watching the boys see how close they are to Samburu manhood by trying to throw our guide's stick over a large tree - one of the traditional rites of passage which our guide demonstrated with ease - was very amusing for me although I think Tim was more interested in the arrival of Saba Douglas Hamilton (of big cat diary) and her dad in their small plane and her tales of similar efforts as a teenager to be a Samburu warrior.

Standing on the Equator and watching Lion and Rhino lounging around and wandering close by in a conservancy called Ol Pajeta was pretty special too. And for granny and Jamie, seeing cheetah in the wild and a lion catch a warthog on a night drive was up there with the top wildlife experiences so far - I had advised against taking a camera not realising there would be a massive torch to light the scene so was briefly in Jamie's bad books as he's really keen on his photography just now (and lots of the photos in this blog are by him and Matthew).

New folder View photos    Download all You are invited to view anne's album. This album has 12 files.

And for all of us, getting out of town, leaving traffic jams behind, walking (and running) in the fresh air and spending some very nice time with granny has been a lovely start to the Christmas holidays. We were all very sad to see granny go but her next trip is already being planned - the Mara for the migration and the coast because its great - and we have lots of lovely memories (plus a huge suitcase of UK goodies) to keep us going.


Anne

Christmas spirit

I have been finding it a bit tricky to get into the Christmas spirit without the nights drawing in, the Christmas tunes blaring out everywhere and the temperature dropping. Of course there are santa's grottos appearing in all the shopping malls and decorations and Christmas marketing opportunities everywhere but that just feels a bit surreal rather than festive. And Father Christmas popped into the school "stocking filler" sale, on the back of a major 4x4 -apparently he's come by helicopter in previous years. Only in Kenya!

The children, of course, are having no such difficulty and are revving up for Christmas with advent calendars thanks to granny, nativity plays, Christmas parties and lots of discussion about where to buy a Christmas tree here - most plants come from roadside nurseries and the closest i had seen to a tree was a small ornamental cyprus type bush. But after I had been told that pine trees do appear and having almost certainly spotted a couple up by the US Embassy earlier in December we set off for some Carols by candlelight last week via the roadside nurseries. And after some negotiation (both between the kids and with the trader) we settled on a local, straggly tree which smells nice but is struggling a bit with the weight of our decorations and a splodgy giraffe print pot to keep it in. And our sitting room now feels a bit more festive.

So with only five more sleeps to go till Christmas morning I am beginning to get there. Cards are written and were dispatched to the UK with my mum when she flew back on Tuesday night. We've tried to manage kids' expectations of presents - although Tim's suggestion that we would only get gifts available in Kenya led to some urgent calls to go back to the UK for Christmas after all as the boys are really hoping for a wii sky landers game which they have seen costs the equivalent of half a year's local salary here. I've ordered a turkey - we spotted some being fattened up on the side of the road when we went out of town with my mum a couple of weeks ago and whilst i doubt this is a traditional Kenyan food there are enough Americans and canadians who celebrate thanksgiving here and enough Europeans and others looking for Turkey at christmas to help the market thrive. I've made my mincemeat (with thanks to mum for some of the ingredients and with the addition of fresh mango to supplement cooking apples and quinces that I tend to use in the UK) and Matthew has asked to make a first batch of mince pies today, assuming our power comes back on. Fingers crossed its ok for Christmas day otherwise we will be working out how long a turkey takes to BBQ! At least I've restocked our drink supply so that bit of Christmas Day should be fine.


Anne

Wild weekend

Ray Mears style rather than 3am girls.....

The rains are passing and the weather is really warming up now so, with a friend staying last weekend, we thought we should make the most of the great outdoors here in Nairobi. Matthew started us off in the right mood by staying overnight on the school field with his scout troop. I'm not sure he is really getting the full camping experience as some nice blokes put up and took down their tents and built the huge fire (the tall thing higher than the tent next to it)

But he had to peel his own potatoes to make chips and provide his own marshmallows for toasting so its not completely glamping. And they apparently talked into the night, found it pretty uncomfy to sleep and woke up early with the light and birdsong so I collected a very happy but very tired 8 year old we on Saturday morning. Our day was therefore very gentle, popping in on the elephant orphanage for our dose of wildlife and having lunch at a local cafe at the flip flop factory - a place where broken flip flops are turned into all sorts of wonderful colourful things - toys, Christmas decorations, door stops.

Sunday saw us up early to get to the National Park for first light. We were hoping to be as lucky as some friends who had seen lions at this time a few weeks ago but even the smell of our bacon cooking on the camp fire didn't tempt them out. We did get a very close, brief glimpse of a black rhino and its baby and saw plenty of gazelle, birds, some buffalo and lots of giraffe. One came to check out breakfast.

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And with or without big cats, a mini safari half an hour from home is always fun so the kids are planning a re-run with granny who is visiting now. I'm not sure if its the wildlife they love or the treat of toasting marshmallows for breakfast. But either way its great to have something for everyone.

Anne