Day 3 - A new ward and lotsa crocs!

Today was much better because I found Dr. Hussein. He is the doctor in charge of ward 6 and loves to teach while doing rounds. He pimps, but I’ll gladly sign up for that if it means that I get to learn throughout the day. (For the non-medical people reading… pimp is a term used in medicine for the type of teachers that ask questions that are designed to “Put [students] In My Place”. It isn’t usually done maliciously but used as a tool to see how much you know or don’t know about a particular subject.) Plus, he has assigned me patients to take care of. I have a patient in DKA that I’ll be managing starting tomorrow. I wish it was something I was a little less familiar with, but I’m sure that even DKA management won’t be without its challenges given the setting.

Today, I got to see about 20 patients including a peritoneal tap to analysis of ascetic fluid. I’ve seen only 2 done in the US, but they were both sterile procedures with lots of draping and sterile gloves. It was a little different here, non-sterile gloves, a little alcohol rubbed on the skin and then a needle into the belly. Hooked up to a urine collection bag no less because that is the only thing that was readily available, but hey it works (assuming of course that this patient doesn’t develop SBP).

Later into the evening, Benson took me to Mamba Village which is a crocodile farm (supposedly the largest in all of Kenya). “Mamba” is the Swahili word or crocodile, so it is fitting. There were hundreds of crocodiles there of all ages. 

Sign outside of Mamba Village

Larger picture of the plaque seen in the picture above

Walking into the Mamba Centre where I bought my ticket to go in

They were separated into enclosures according to their ages. A guide took us on a tour of the crocodile farm itself, then we switched over to another guide who took us on a tour of the botanical gardens, aquarium, snake and spider house. I have to say that compared to the sheer amount and size of the crocodiles, the 2^nd part was a bit of a let down. Since I’ve been told that March and the beginning of April are an incredibly hot time in Kenya, the “botanical gardens” looked a bit wilted and well… dead for the most part. Plus the aquarium had fish that I was mostly already familiar with from helping an ex build his own aquarium. They did, however, have mud skippers. I’ve seen them in several documentaries, but it still was fascinating to see a fish that was moving along in the water just get out and hop himself over to a rock and sit. Really cool and definitely a first for me.

Crocodile!

Another big crocodile (These few pictures don't even begin to capture how many crocs there were)

Momma crocodile that would creep out of the water and growl when she heard you get close. She had little baby crocodiles all around her

Then at the very end, it was feeding time for the crocodiles. One of the guides walks out onto a platform over a pool filled with alligators and dangles goat meat over their heads. The crocodiles then jump several feet out of the water snapping their jaws (which make this sickeningly hollow clunk as they clamp together). It was a cool display and terrifying to think what these animals are capable of in the wild.

(My camera battery cut out within the first 10 minutes of being in Mamba Village so I don’t have many pictures of the crocodiles, but I have included the few that I got.)