Winter!!!!!

   

      Thank God the worst of winter is past us here. This winter was a very challenging one especially for pedestrians like myself. Walking to school through thick snow everyday isn't easy. It was also not easy getting up in the morning. I had to set my alarm clock about 15 minutes earlier than the usual time I woke up in case I had to snooze, which happened every single day. Thankfully, I can now wake up to the first ring:))

     The days are now longer and the sun shines well now. It's still cold but not icy cold at least I don't need to use gloves anymore.

I just want to share bunch of photos that I have accumulated this winter. ENJOY :))

 You probably can't tell where the road starts from, except for those cars.

My neighbour's car :( I'm sure she had trouble getting out the next day.

I tried to create a 'depth of field' here. I was somewhat successful. My camera is quite limited in this area. 

My boots embedded in the snow.

She must be cold....

The main building of my university.

People skating over the frozen pond in the park.

Something abandoned in the park.

Hope you enjoyed. Thanks for stopping by.

Elective Africa PART 3/3

Read Elective Africa PART 1 HERE and PART 2 HERE before you continue below.


  The next few weeks were ones that i will never forget. The people I meet, friends I made and the whole experience in general----I will never trade. I can't begin to give day to day account of my time in Kenya, That will have to be the longest blog post and you'll get bored. Luckily I already did some posts while I was in Kenya. These are the highlights.......
1. First weekend-----trip to masai mara. Check out my previous posts on the following links Rift Valley, Masai Mara National Reserve,  The Masai Tribe,  Camping site.
2. Places to visit in Mombassa Mamba Village,  Haller Park, Fort Jesus, and the beach---->>>> Definitely

   
4. Other places to visit in Kenya------->>>>> Malindi, Diani beach(pictures below)

Malindi

Malindi

Diani

Diani

    We had very good food as well. Dollars and Lilly cooked for and took care of us. Thank you, miss you.

Chapati and fried vegetables with some kind of soup. YUMM.

    Finally this post will not be complete if I don't take out time to remember "Pebbles" the cat, the official pet for the house. Unfortunately she died before we got back from Masai mara. A very confident, beautiful cat she was.

   And as the day finally came for me to leave this place I had grown to love, these people who I had come to call friends, I was very nervous. I had a cocktail of emotions running through me because I knew I would greatly miss this place, these people and that wasn't even the part that hurt the most. It was the fact that even though we had added each other on facebook, and had exchanged email addresses, promised to keep in touch and even to probably plan a reunion, I knew that distance and indeed time does separate people and that we would get busy when we got back to our normal lives and that this summer of 2011 will just be a memory we will always treasure in our hearts. If any of you guys (anyone i met in Kenya, 2011) are reading this right now, just know that in your own individual unique ways, you made Kenya very special for me and this I will treasure.

  As 6.30pm came, time to leave for the airport, everyone came out to see me off, we took last minute photos, hugged and hugged and struggled to fight off the tears. On the way to the airport, the driver (not Bernard) who could speak very little English, looked up to the centre mirror to speak to me and said "your trip, very good?" and I answered "indeed It was very good."

    Now I know that this is one of the best things I have ever done, one of the best experiences I've had. And now I say Kwaheri Mombassa, Kwaheri Kenya. (Swahili........Kwaheri----Goodbye) 

Haller Park.

   Haller Park is nature park in Bamburi, Mombasa, on the Kenyan Coast. It is the transformation of a quarry wasteland into an ecological paradise. Haller Park holds a variety of plant and animal species which serve as a recreation hot spot to tourists and locals (wikipedia).
   It was previously a barren piece of land that had been stripped of its resources through limestone mining, and was redeveloped through reforestation and conservation efforts, and is now a habitat for a large number of flora and fauna species. 

This big guy was the first to welcome us. It likes to be tickled under the neck and is not shy. They are the natural land mowers of Haller park as the green grass is kept levelled and very neat just by the act of eating the grass. So the tortoise is happy and the place looks very neat. A win win situation.   
FACT : Giant tortoises are among the world's longest-living animals, with an average lifespan of 100 years or more, some are thought to be over 200 years of age, but this is difficult to verify because they tend to outlive their human observers. They are however now categorised as an endangered species. 

Giraffes are herbivores, so the feed on their surrounding vegetation, but we had the honour of feeding them their supplements. We all had to wash our hands cos of the slimy giraffe saliva.

These Hippos are a couple called Potty and Sally. They been together for about 20 years but have no kids.

And thats about it.