Day 8 in Kenya

This morning we all crammed into a little white van and headed out into the county. Our first stop was to the Giraffe Centre. I’ve seen giraffes before but never have I been able to hold my hand out and feed them! You can really see up close just how large their heads really are. Within a few minutes our hands were covered with giraffe spit. Mindy, our fearless perfusionist, decided she was going to follow the lead of one of the guides and place some feed on her lips for the giraffe slurp off with her big, long black tongue!

Our next stop was to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. Here we were to view the baby elephant orphanage and maybe get a chance to pet and feed them a bottle. The crowd was pretty thick so I wondered off to higher ground to see over the trees. About a half a mile away through the fog was the African bush. It extended for as far as I can see. That view made my experience. I could almost see Robert Redford flying his plane in the distance.

By that afternoon, a third of our team had already headed for the airport. Carissa and Peggy were on their way to Tanzania, Dr. Myers and his wife were flying to Rome then back to Memphis, and Dr. DeMoor was already in Belgium by now. Tonight we will eat at Carnivore, a restaurant outside of Nairobi. Something tells me it’s not the place for vegetarians.

So, our trip comes to an end. Mindy said it best this week when she said, “I wish I could be the kind of person all year long the way I feel the week after a mission.” It’s up to all of us to not forget.

Thanks from the whole team,
Whitney