August 2

The old colonial atmosphere of the Karen Blixen Tea Garden

8/2/03: "The first full day in Africa ended up being a very nice tourist day. Pindie Stephen from IOM drove us over to the nearby town of Karen (named after Karen Blixen of Out of Africa fame) and explained to us that it’s a town that is very much still in colonial Africa mode. It has lots of nice homes fenced off by shrubs and gardens where all the K.C.s ('Kenyan Cowboys' as Pindie said they are referred to) live. Despite all this, there were many poorer native Kenyans wandering on dirt paths beside the road---selling curios, herding goats and cattle, selling fruits or furniture... I saw so many things that were exactly what I expected of typical Africa that I couldn't help smiling....

We had lunch at the Karen Blixen Coffee Garden, a colonial style building with umbrella-shaded tables and palms in a large yard out back---looking exactly right out of movies set in Africa complete with a jazz band playing everything from Louis Armstrong to the Tennessee Waltz...

Feeding giraffes as the Giraffe Nature Preserve

Afterwards, we drove over to the Giraffe Center---a preserve park in which you are able to feed the giraffes right out of your hand!"


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