Sunday - TEAM DAY!

Team Day!

Yesterday was our Team Day!  Every Operation Smile medical mission has a team day, or down day, where the team can do an activity together to bond, usually before surgery week starts.  We were lucky enough to go to Lake Nakuru National Park and take an excursion through it.  I am speechless about it…it was AMAZING!

We left the hotel at 6am.  The park was close by and we were able to see the sunrise upon arriving.  It took quite awhile to get into the park, as some had expected (the reason we had an extra early start). Everything takes time here and patience is something you must learn to have here. As soon as everything was sorted out, we were on our way!

The Park is known for its pink flamingos, however we didn’t see many at all and found out that they had recently migrated.  This was not to our dismay, as we saw hundreds of pelicans (with a pink tint), many baboons, monkeys, deer, and water buffalo.  We also saw hyenas, rhinos, zebras, giraffes and a hippo. 

The only other animal we were dying to see was a lion.  Apparently as it gets later in the day, they are much less likely to see.  I guess they are off hiding in the shade somewhere.  They come out early and a dusk (sounds similar to a shark, based around its feeding habits).  On this excursion we really lucked out…we saw a lion!  He was chilling under a tree. A few ventured out of the bus to take a photo but quickly returned.  The rest of us preferred the safety of the inside of the busy and took photos out of the window.

After seeing the lion, we made a stop to check out a waterfall.  There wasn’t exactly any water falling at the moment, just dripping, but it was still amazing to see.  There was a tree growing out of the side of the cliff and the water was murky brown.  One of the Kenyan volunteers, an extremely fun and friendly woman named ‘Ziphora,’ who goes by ‘Zippy,’ told us that the lion was likely watching us.  Ha…I’m not sure if she was kidding or not. 

On our excursion we also stopped at a spot with the most incredible view.  Incredible doesn’t even do it justice. We could look down over the park and the lake.

Afterwards, we had a team lunch at a Lions Club (like a country club), where rumor has it that Kenyan government dignitaries were also there meeting.  There were a few helicopters parked out back in the grass – that was there transportation.  Today, the dignitaries and there meeting were on the cover of the local paper.

Our Team lunch was good.  To start off, the Kenyans from Nakuru all got in the middle of the conference room and sang a song for us.  It was about a train coming through and everyone had to get on.  No matter your color, culture, customs, if you were enemies, etc.  Everyone had to get on the bus.  On the bus, everything was okay despite the differences.  There are no problems on the bus, no worries, Akuna Matata! While singing, they lined up and danced around the room in a line representing the train.  They closed with this analogy, despite all of our different backgrounds, cultures, countries, we are all on the train together and the train won’t stop until surgery week is over. 

Then we each introduced ourselves, one by one, until the entire team of more than sixty had introduced themselves, said their profession, what they volunteer with at Operation Smile, and what their hobbies were.  It was a diverse group, but most enjoyed singing, dancing, traveling, outdoors, and making new friends. 

I never realized how extremely tiring a safari ride could be.  All you do is sit on a bus or in a car for hours, but you are always on the look for the next animal.  We all called it an early night so we could get Surgery Week started on time the next morning, all well rested.