KSPCA

    For the past 2 weeks I have been interning at the KSPCA (Kenyan Society for the Protection and Care of Animals - http://www.kspca-kenya.org/), which has been a truly unbelievable experience.  

     They have tons of animals including horses, donkeys, pigs, goats, dogs, and cats, and while the shelter has a nice piece of land (donated by a wealthy British family many years ago), they have many many animals (especially dogs) and are often subject to overcrowding.  Being in a developing country, there is an extreme overabundance of stray (and abused) animals seeing as pets are certainly not the norm.  While I know that issues with humans take precedence (especially in a developing country), it is still upsetting to see so many animals in such poor, abused conditions.  The KSPCA is making a remarkable effort though to help them and to change the way animals are treated in Kenya.  Here are a few pictures of some of the animals in the shelter right now waiting for homes (you can see the poor condition of the first 2 dogs that are relatively new to the shelter).

   While it was certainly difficult to see the sad conditions of so many animals, I also received SO much hands on experience while at the shelter (as you can imagine, there is not a lot of liability at a Kenyan animal shelter so they really let me do a lot).  I was able to be the veterinarian's primary surgical assistant and scrubbed in for surgery every day (on average we did about 8 spays and 8 neuters every day).  The vet let me make the incisions, stick my hands inside the animals' abdomens to search for the ovaries/uterus, snip things, do the stitches, etc.  It was really unbelievable!  I also conducted several vaccine clinics where we would administer 50+ vaccines in one day (to both animals at the shelter and animals in the surrounding towns).  After so many years of shadowing veterinarians and watching them, it was amazing to actually get to DO the procedures! 
     Here is a picture of the tiny clinic at the shelter with a very limited supply of medications and materials, poor lighting (there are frequently blackouts during surgery), and 2 shaky surgery tables (the white ones on the side) that are rusting and off balance.  While they certainly are in need of new/more materials, they still manage to accomplish so many surgeries and treatments every day.  It's really amazing.

    In addition, there's a workshop at the shelter that makes humane, comfortable harnesses for donkeys (one of the most commonly owned animals in Kenya used for farming, carrying water, etc.).  The KSPCA sells these harnesses to people in local towns, but if someone cannot afford them they are handed out for free (which is the more frequent case).  Here is the head of the workshop who started this donkey harness project about 22 years ago.

     So all in all my experience at the KSPCA has really been remarkable, and I just feel so fortunate to have been able to assist there and get so much hands on experience.  It really is something I will never forget.

     And just for the sake of showing something cute, here is one more picture of an adorable little puppy (who was being treated for worms).  Definitely wish this little guy could fly home with me... hehe

The past few days

     While the first bit of this post is a bit delayed, it deserves to be the first thing mentioned because it was just so unbelievably cute and exciting - bottle feeding baby animals.  Literally a dream come true.  The 3 babies I was assigned to feed were the giraffe, baboon, and bush baby.  Here is me feeding the baby giraffe named Theresa :)

I also fed the little bush baby and baby baboon.  At the end of this whole feeding affair I certainly gained a few more furry friends :P (food is always the way to someone's heart)

     In addition to all of this excitement, me and several other interns attended a free orchestra concert in Uhuru park in downtown Nairobi (with a famous Italian conductor, Maestro Riccardo).  The vice president of Kenya even flew in on a helicopter to see the performance!  Afterwards, we went to the Masai Market which is a huge open air market where the Masai people sell their goods (literally hundreds of stands).  It was a bit overwhelming, but there were so many beautiful handmade crafts, jewelry, carvings, etc.  Most of their crafts involve incredible bead work with vibrant colors just making the market an amazing site.

    Then today at my host family's house we made an unbelievable Sunday feast.  There are 3 other interns here at the moment (from South Africa, Austria, and Singapore) so we made a big international potluck meal.  We had pasta carbonara, pork/fish meatball soup, chapatis, potato salad, roast chicken, minced beef, tom yum kai soup, and so much more.  We were all absolutely stuffed after!  There was also an abundance of good wine (South African wine) to just top off an amazing feast. 

     Now it's siesta time and we are all about to collapse on the couches to watch a movie, and little William, my host family's 1 and 1/2 year old son is contentedly settling in with me :) What a fantastic Sunday.

Safari in Masai Mara

I just returned from a 3 day safari in Masai Mara National Reserve (on the border of Tanzania) and this was truly one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced.  It was so neat to see these animals in their natural habitat where they really just look so much more beautiful and healthy (well minus those unlucky few that were getting chomped on by a lion! haha).  The reserve was also absolutely stunning!  Here is a picture of the reserve in the evening (with some gazelle grazing) followed by an image of the sunrise.

Apart from the beautiful surroundings, we of course saw TONS of animals!  We saw a lot of buffalo (one of the most dangerous wild animals actually!), some elephants, and 3 cheetah brothers lounging underneath a tree.  I was surprised to learn that cheetahs are actually the only large cat that has true success at hunting during the day as a result of the black "tear" lines on their faces that reflect the sunlight so they can see more clearly.  Unfortunately we didn't see a cheetah make a kill, but it was still pretty amazing to be so close to these three!

The animals we probably saw in the most abundance though were the zebras and wildebeest.  They were literally EVERYWHERE.  The beginning of July is actually when the "great migration" begins so we weren't even seeing the bulk of the migration (just a few early starters) but the migration consists of over 1 million wildebeest migrating from the southern Serengeti (in Tanzania) to Masai Mara.  People generally think of this as just a wildebeest migration but about 200,000 zebras also migrate.  In fact, the wildebeest (who are fairly low on the intelligence scale...) migrate by following a path created by the zebra as the zebra graze (so it really should be known as the great zebra migration!).

We also reached the Mara River where during the peak of the migration thousands of wildebeests will be crossing at once (hopefully avoiding all the crocodiles!).  Right now though the river seemed relatively peaceful and was just inhabited by lots of hippos (which you can see behind me).

I was also surprised by the number of lions we saw on the safari (TONS)!  Here is a mom lion and her 3 cubs as well as their dad who had previously snagged a big wildebeest (the cubs were chomping on it earlier).  Definitely a good provider for the family :)

One evening we also had the opportunity to visit a Masai village (the most traditional tribe in Kenya) which was a very neat experience.  The villagers definitely put on a bit of the show (but tourism is a large part of how they make a living now), but it was still really neat to see how they live.  There was basically a circle of mud houses surrounded by prickly brambles and bushes to keep out predators and about 8 families lived in this village.  Some of the women in the village did a dance for us (shown in the picture below) and they were dressed in a beautiful array of bright clothing, beads, etc.  I have to say though, that I feel very fortunate not to be a woman growing up as a Masai seeing as it is a polygamous society (each man has about 5 or 6 wives) and the girls still undergo genital mutilation.  It was somewhat difficult to have conversations with the men in the village since my views on marriage, treatment towards women, etc. were so different, but it was a very enlightening experience.  And overall it was just a very neat culture to be exposed to.  So overall my trip to the Masai Mara was unbelievable to say the least.  Truly an unforgettable experience.