Day 9b...best possible end to a magnificent journey

Back to Bogani for lunch and a bit of downtime before "warrior training". ;- )

A few of us decided to finish our beading from the other day, the idea being that you could get your leaf turned into a key chain at the shop in Nairobi the following day. Since I wasn't doing to rest of the itinerary in Nairobi I decided to tie a pretty beaded loop on my "key chain" and give it to James the Warrior as a thank you for saving my camera and for being an all around awesome guy! (sorry no picture and I have no idea what he thought of this)

Next we got split into groups, KPMG people, friends and family, and "kids", to discuss how we could take all that we've seen and learned in Kenya and continue the journey when we go back home to Canada. It was a pretty fruitful discussion and I for one committed to discussing with my boss all the ideas we came up with to see if there is anything we can do "officially" company-wide. Being in my new role with Community Leadership only 3 days before I left on the trip I wasn't sure of the boundaries between trip participant and CL representative. In any case, I (we) really felt changed by this experience and wanted to make a difference at home, whether locally or internationally.

As evening was approaching we were told that our medicine walk and Maasai warrior training would be just outside the fence of Bogani so we all walked over and discovered refreshments had been set up for us! I love the staff at Bogani...seriously, we could not have been treated any better in a 5* resort.

Refreshments in the Mara

 

James and Jackson took us on a walk-about (to coin my old Aussie phrase) and discussed the medicinal properties of the trees and plants nearby. For instance, the plant below that looks like a cactus (but isn't) will make you go blind if you get any sap in your eye. However, if made the right way it can be ingested for use in the after-birthing process (I think it's this one anyway).

Note: To get rid of the blindness put cow's blood in your eye (how they discovered this I don't really want to know).

Jackson and the blinding plant

 

James making toothbrushes for all of us! It tastes peppery but does the trick!



Next up was "Warrior weapons training". James told us all about using the spear and the bow and arrow but for some reason we were not allowed to practise throwing these! Lol. But we did have a friendly rungu throwing competition.

James talking about Warrior weapons

 

The idea was to hit the "Lion/shuka" for 2 points or the "Giraffe/tree" for 1point

Getting ready to throw the rungu

 

How hard could it be?

Oops, missed! But got a high 5 anyway :)

(I did better on my second attempt)

 

Sun setting over the Mara - calling an end to our Kenyan journey

 

But wait.....there's more! Nyama Choma!!

 

You can't leave Kenya without a traditional Kenyan BBQ! OMG, it was so good. And I'm happy to say the goat we ate was not the one that was given to us the other day! :)

 

Bbq

Mmmmm, how do they get their sweet potatoes to taste like potatoes??

 

And then finally it was time to say goodbye. The staff came out and sang for us. There was cake and a cake cutting song (that went roughly like kata-kata-ka-ta! which loosely translates to "cut the cake" lol). We cheered and clapped and sincerely thanked them for all they had done for us over the past week.

Staff farewell and singing

Cake cutting

 

We all went back to our tents to shower, change, and pack before lights out then reconvened for another few drinks and a "dance party" that was more like chilling out, talking, and listening to music.

 

And just like that, the epic adventure we had been waiting months and months for was over. It was definitely worth every penny and I would highly recommend this trip. Go to Kenya for safari but stay for the people.