Off on expedition!

OK, so I'm sorry it's been such a long time since my last post, and that this post is going to be short, but I just finished my paper that's due tonight and we have to wake up really early tomorrow because WE'RE GOING CAMPING IN TSAVO FOR 6 DAYS! So I will not be in contact with the outside world during that time, but please know that I am (probably) safe and having a great time and seeing lots of lions etc. So I will write more about that afterwards, so here's a brief summary of the past few days:

Saturday we went to a town called Loitoktok and went to the market and then visited an orphanage. The kids were really sweet and friendly, they showed us around their school and then we drew pictures. I spent most of the time with a little girl named Lucy, and yesterday when a few of my classmates went back they brought me back the following note:

Dear Terah
How are you. I hope everything is okay. I enjoyed myself very much when I was with you and I miss you very much. I hope to see you again someday soon. May be I will see you in your country. From Lucy Ndura P.S. I think you are beautiful.

After reading this, I asked our SAM (advisor-type person) if we were allowed to adopt the orphans. She said no...

I am going to visit her again when we get back, but the reason I didn't go yesterday is because the other option was to take a game drive through the Kimana Sanctuary, which is really close to our camp but we'd never been to before. First, we stopped at a pool to see some hippos pretty close up, and on the path from the Land Cruiser to the pool I came across my first (live) snake in Africa! I think it was a black mamba, but I didn't really look at it for more than a fraction of a second before turning and running directly into my friend and then continuing to run...

So after the hippos we saw a lot more cool animals like giraffes and zebras and impalas and some elephants, but the highlight of the day (and possibly my life) was that we got to go to where they had 5 captive lions that they had raised since they were orphaned as cubs. There were 4 females and a male, and the only thing between us and them was a chain link fence! They were so cute and so big! They were acting just like giant kitties! We even got to see them get their dinner- pre-slaughtered goats- and they ate EVERYTHING, feet, heads, organs, bones, everything. Then after dinner they climbed into the trees and washed and napped. I will try to get some pictures up after our trip.

OK, so I bid you all goodbye for now. I will be having a blast trying not to get eaten by lions and I will be wearing my Jayson Werth shirt until it is absolutely disgustingly dirty in hopes that they can beat the Giants without me...