Sssssnake Park

 I fulfilled a goal today – school excursion! Roomie Sarah, plus Pip and Nyssa all work at Errat, a deeply impoverished school for kids aged 3-10 years. Most of them had never left their suburb, so a day in the Snake Park was a special occasion. Dressed in their Sunday best, we loaded 51 children into 2 dala dalas and waved goodbye to their parents. We may as well have just driven the kids around for the day – the novelty of their first car ride had us volunteers busy making sure all limbs were in the vehicle at all times!

While I wouldn’t recommend the Snake Park for tourists, the kids were beside themselves at the range of animals. Some of the girls cried at first glimpse of snakes double their size, but the baboon was an enormous hit with even the 3 year olds. The biggest challenge was to stop the kids from trying to stimulate the animals too much. Rocks and spit went flying (and some brave fingers in cages!) trying to provoke action, leading to a minor stand off with a particularly nasty eagle. We exclaimed over crocodiles, lizards and had only one child escapee into the turtle enclosure. The kids faces lit up when the park staff brought out a snake to drape around their necks, we even coaxed teacher Glory to have a hold.

Just as exciting as the snake was the lunch we packed – PB&J sandwiches thanks to the Canadians, bananas, muffins and juice boxes! We thought maybe the kids would enjoy the neighbouring Massai museum, but we probably should have factored in the scary factor of a dark enclosed warehouse filled with frightening clay statues of warriors with masks and spears. A handful actually wet themselves with fear … Pole! (Sorry!). Luckily the camels outside the museum for tourist rides lifted spirits again. We also awkwardly ran into a World Vision team filming using the decorative but fake Massai huts as a backdrop. The dala home was much calmer due to sheer exhaustion; all in all the day was a huge success. I love how such a simple outing was a massive highlight, their shining eyes = priceless.