Everyone we met in Kenya was really nice. From the clerk in the grocery store to the Masai in the park, we never at any time felt scared or uncomfortable. We were stared at in Kenya but it was nothing like it was in Uganda. This may be because we never ventured out into the countryside of Kenya, as the people in Nairobi and the Masai Mara National Park are used to seeing white tourists.

However, I did have an interesting experience at the Kenya National Museum. There were several groups of small school children there, and they were shyly staring at me. During two different incidences, I was surrounded by them as I looked at something. A couple of the children would touch my bare arm, and then scattered off to whisper and talk.

I let them touch my arm as they were doing no harm, but I was curious as why they were doing this. I asked our driver, and he said that most likely they had heard from an older sibling that white skin is very soft. So they were playing "dare" to see for themselves! I didn't care!

I learned two interesting anecdotes about Africans. The first is that they don't like owls. Owls represent misfortune and bad luck or death (as compared to the black cat in the United States). The second was both of our travel agents (the one in Kenya and the one in Uganda) didn't like dogs. They were really afraid of them.

Most everyone we saw on the streets were dressed really nice. Men wore either a button down shirt or a polo shirt and slacks. Women mostly wore dresses. No one wore deodorant, just like we've observed many times over in Europe!


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