One the way we stopped at to see the Rift Valley. What an amazing view!! We continued on to the park for our day safari. It started out exciting and captured everyone's attention right off the bat. We pulled into the parking lot and got out of our van so that we could buy tickets for park entry. Scattered throughout the parking were small monkeys. These guys are the essence of trouble.
A group of school children were playing with them...a game similar to tag...they would try to see how close they could get to the monkey and then run away. However, these monkeys are very comfortable around humans, so they would run after the kids. At one point, one jump on a girls back and stole her lollipop and stuck it in its own mouth!Then we started our safari. We drove out to the lake and then followed it for a distance. In this short span of distance we saw Zebra, Water buffalo, Flamingos, gazelles and other birds.
The Zebra stripping pattern is absolutely beautiful to see up close. At the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, the Zebra are always on the top of a far off hill. It was cool to see these animals co-exist in a relatively open environment. Throughout the rest of the safari, we were able to see some Giraffes, Hyenas, and Rhinos! We drove up right next to the Hyenas and were able to see then so close. 
They are used to the constant flow of safari vans, so they just stared at us, but did not react beyond that. A van pulled up behind us and someone from their van suggested that someone get out so that we could get an action shot...we laughed pretty hard :)There was a Rhino was right next to the road munching away at some grass, so we got to see him pretty close as well. Rhinos are endangered, so Kenya has put a lot of effort into keeping them alive. It was a treat to see one so close.
Sadly, we did not see any lions or elephants.Then the second part of playing tourist for the day was dining at Carnivore. This restaurant serves all kinds of meat. Basically if it is not endangered, you can eat it. So I tried some Crocodile and Ostrich along with the usual chicken, beef, pork, and turkey meat - all cooked in varying varieties. It was an all you can eat buffet, so our goal was to "stick it to the man" and eat pounds and pounds of meat. The guys really got their monies worth out of the meal.
Carnivore is probably the biggest tourist trap in Nairobi that I have seen so far. We walked in and a first comment was "Did we leave Kenya and go back to the United States?" Most of the people at the restaurant were white tourists. It is quite a contrast from spending a lot of time with Kenyans and walking around Nairobi. We all of a sudden found where all the white people are in Kenya...the tourist attractions. It makes me kinda sad to realize that all tourists see of Kenya is the wildlife and the restaurants designed to entertain them, but don't represent Kenya in its truest capacities.
Carnivore was quite the experience...one to put on the shelf of things I did in Kenya.
It was enjoyable to see a national park that Kenyans are so proud of and to eat at such a memorable place.
I will say that we all wanted to watch the Lion King afterward...
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