Time

Large herd of Grevy's on Lewa

During my last few days here in Kenya, I have been working very hard on the Hartebeest project.  I have been glued to the microscope.

Auscultating Hope, Nicky beside us 

I have also gone to see the baby rhinos again for continued monitoring.  The babies have gotten used to my scent I guess, because they are not quite as inquisitive with me as they once were.  Kilifi has gotten quite used to me auscultating him with the stethoscope, mainly because I have discovered where he likes to be scratched.  He now stands still for me to have a listen to his heart, lungs, and belly.  I know the only reason he does this is because he gets scratches and attention, but it is still an amazing experience. 

Auscultating Kilifi

On the way back from the babies, we drove past the airstrip on Lewa.  Mutinda stopped the car and starts laughing.  I look over at the airstrip and see a bull elephant just standing on the runway.  He has all of Lewa to hang out on, but he decides that the airstrip is the best.  Can you imagine being diverted from landing due to an elephant on the runway? 

Sleepy Kilifi resting on Nicky

It brought up the memory of when I almost killed Mutinda with laughter.  We were talking about how horses get hurt frequently.  I said, “You give a horse an acre by acre field to graze in.  There is nothing but lush grass in it.  But if you put one nail in the corner of the yard, the horse will find it and hurt himself.  Statistically, there is such a low probability of anyone ever finding the nail again, but the horse can.”  I thought Mutinda was going to cry he was laughing so hard. 

After lunch with Mike and Sarah Watson the other day, Mike gave me a ride back to the office.  We were walking up to the offices and Elvis, who was grazing nearby, decided that we were interesting.  Mike told me to stop; so we both stopped in our tracks.  He then said, “Run.”  A fraction of a second after he said this, Elvis picked up a trot towards us.  We bolted into headquarters with a black rhino trotting after us. 

Elvis then hung out in headquarters, making the phrase “Stuck at the office” a reality. 

Today I start my journey back to England.  I leave Lewa and head to Nanyuki.  There are a few things that I need in Nanyuki, so I will spend a few hours there.  I will then head off to Nairobi.  My flight is not until late in the evening, so I will have a long wait at the airport.   

Amazing view on Lewa

Time is different in Kenya. 

The unit of a minute is different here.  One minute in Kenya is actually 10 minutes based on the conventional time unit.  Five minutes is 20 minutes. 

During my time here, I heard the phrase, “Westerners have watches and clocks, and Kenyans have time.”  Now that my adventure is coming to an end I truly believe that.  I am amazed at how, despite how slow times seems here, it disappears just as fast.  One month, gone in a blink of an eye.  I truly believe that you must live every minute, or 10 minutes, to the fullest.