Day Sixteen

We were awoken this morning at 8:30 am by a child yelling outside, but we felt very rested and started to get up for our day. We convened at breakfast and enjoyed a relaxing day at the pool, and the beach! Some of us even got massages for 800-1800 KES, around $5-11. A very nice price!

After a relaxing morning by the beach and pool, we had our lunch before heading out in air-conditioned vans to Bamburi Haller Park, a nature park in Mombasa. On the way, we got stuck briefly in the middle of a herd of cows walking down the road. After an hour-long drive, which felt longer because of construction traffic and off-road driving, we finally arrived. Our first encounter was with a monkey sitting near one of many signs warning visitors against sitting on the tortoises. Soon after we entered, we encountered a very large tortoise that must be quite old. We guessed the sign was at the gate, because it was large enough that children and even adults could sit on top to try for a ride. We scratched the tortoise’s shell and took selfies with it as it stared at us and ate grass. 

Next we walked toward the giraffe platform for a scheduled feeding beginning promptly at 3:00pm. We fed them with our hands, and their tongues slobbered all over us. We made sure to wash our hands to get rid of the slippery saliva that coated our hands. 

Moving on, we explored the biodiversity area. We encountered lots of monkeys and their families along the way. They were everywhere in the park. Good thing is they were minding their own business unlike some people who were needlessly trying to play with them. We also saw yellow crocodiles, a unique encounter compared to the usual greenish-gray ones. We then went inside a butterfly pavilion where we observed colorful flowers and different butterflies feeding on skewed fruits hanging from the net ceiling. Hippo feeding began at 4:00 pm, but, because they are one of the most deadly animals on earth, we did not hand-feed them.. There were two hippos eating, and the male hippo eventually meandered over to eat some of the female hippo’s food. It was such a fascinating experience to observe their size from a safe distance. On the way back to the front, we took pictures with a big Banyan tree admiring its shade and long aerial roots. It was a very beautiful 2 hours spent gaining knowledge about nature. 

Most of the group went on this nature adventure, but Charlie and Celeste decided to stay back to relax at the beach, where they encountered different forms of animal life. They got in the water and met a few new crab, slug, and snail friends. One was dubbed Miguel Bradley. Charlie also found an insect that was drowning and saved it (not before accidentally dropping it back into the water when scared by a crab). As he got closer to the shore, they noticed a bunch of red dots starting to appear on the leg, some sort of allergic reaction. Instead of panicking, Charlie remembered something that one of the sea safari tour guides said— to put the ocean mud onto burns or wounds as a pain relieving and healing agent. So, Charlie put the sand on the red spots, and after about 30 minutes, the redness was gone, and the skin was back to normal! (Shout out to Johnson and Omar, who saved Charlie!)

Before heading back to the hotel from Haller Park, the other group treated ourselves and our drivers to one last coffee at the nearest mall. As it was 5:00 pm already, we headed back to avoid rush hour traffic. Several of us took note of the avocado tree orchard growing at an organic farm along the road back to Northcoast Beach Hotel. Although we have eaten avocados all our lives, we’d never seen them growing fresh in clumps on the tree.

Our evening at the hotel was celebratory, as it was our final night together. After a brief rest, we ate dinner together and chatted about all of the new experiences and stories of the day. The table raved about the pork chops and beef biryani, and of course the fruit was as juicy as ever. Early in the meal, a group performed traditional tribal dances and songs, selling some of us handled drums at the end.

The night concluded with a very touching ceremony of sorts led by Drs. Nawiri and Kingori. They presented each of us with beautiful red wraps and tied them around us as we cheered our time in Kenya. We will miss them so much, and we are so touched by their thoughtfulness and care for us. After hugs and goodbyes, we left for our rooms to pack for the coming days of travel back to Hollins and the United States.

By Sandipa and Charlie