Good-bye, Kenya

Lake Naivasha
OK-after our safari we made our way to Lake Naivasha. We heard (correctly) that the national park there, Hell's Gate, is one of the few where you can just walk or cycle on your own, and after several days of eating and sitting we were more than ready to do just that. All along the lake are a few lodges and lots of campgrounds. Now, these campgrounds all had places to set up tents, but also rooms if you want. At Fisherman's Camp we rented a tent and sleeping mats and chose a spot a little way up from the electric fence. Electric fence? you ask. Yes- seems the hippos come out at night and eat the grassy field there and without the fence you run the risk of running into a hippo. We did see a few, including a mother and small baby hippo which only made the security guard nervous as mother hippos are extra protective of their babies.

The next day we woke up before dawn (again!), ate a bit of fruit, and hopped onto the bikes we rented and got into Hell's Gate around before 7:30am. We were the first ones there and did get to enjoy the quiet morning a bit, watching a herd of gazelle and some baboons in the distance. At the crossroads we had a choice- do the Buffalo Circuit (14km) or go onto the Gorge (7km). Of course, Froody wanted to do Buffalo Circuit and see some animals and I wanted to do the Gorge and see cool structures. Of course, I gave in and we did the circuit. Then, the bad times came. After 6km (note: by now we had biked 13km from camp)I got saddle sore and we hadn't seen all the wildlife Froody had hoped for. We talked for a bit an I decided I could go on, seeing as we were about halfway and that, surely, the circuit included going to the Gorge. I got into a rhythm- walk uphill, bike flat/downhill, and grit my teeth over any and all bumps. We did see some cool stuff, like a herd of hartebeest and herd of zebra. It was really something to see them face to face and not with a metal car between us. Eventually we got near the top, where the road seemed to veer away from the gorge and the rest of the park. Froody biked ahead and, as far as he could tell, the road kept going away, so we decided to bike back to the crossroads which was mostly downhill (yay!) but with lots of deep, loose sand (scary!) and bumps (ouchie!).

At the crossroads Froody could see that I was in a lot of pain (my poor butt!)and offered to just bike back to camp. That would have been the smart thing to do, so I said "let's go to the Gorge" because there was no way I was going to get on a bike tomorrow and do it again. So, through clenched teeth and some walking, we made it to the Gorge, all 7km. By now it was noon, hot, and both of us were tired, so we did the smart thing again and got a guide to take us on the "short" walk which is about an hour. It was a good walk, part of which took us through hot water falling over rocks and raining down on us and felt just like a shower! It also made us wish we could've done the longer walks. Our guide was knowledgeable and from the local Maasai village and said he was one of 6 chosen by the elders to do this job and bring money in for the village. He told us a bit about some of the plants and tribal customs. With that done, we rested a bit and biked the 15km back to camp.

Lake Nakuru
Came here to see the famous flamingos! Nakuru town abuts the Lake Nakuru national park. From the viewpoint you could see exactly where the town stops and protected area starts. Got up before dawn (again! sheesh!)for our game drive, which was difficult, as the place we stayed in was cheap but right next to all the pubs and a mosque. Peter, our guide, was very nice and knew a lot, but seemed to get a couple of things mixed up. Again, being spoiled Americans, we saw a bunch of the same animals as on safari. But we did see lots of new things, like a baby zebra only a few hours old, taking its first steps. And the water buffalo didn't seem to mind us so much. Of course, we just loved seeing all the flamingos!! Bonus birds were the pink pelicans which seemed to be more of a peachy color than pink. :-) Also yellow-billed storks, a spoonbill, and maribu storks (this one next to yellow-billed storks) which none of our guides seemed to like. We also saw white rhinos- great big grass-eating things!! They were all over and before our drive Peter pretty much guaranteed we'd see a rhino (this one is napping). We also watched a hyena chasing down the flamingos, hoping for a weak and slow one.

Back from the drive we stayed in a much quieter hotel, the Hotel Waterbuck, and got a bit more sleep and laundry done before moving to the cheaper Tas Hotel which had good, cheap food. It seemed nice and sleepy at 9am when we checked in but was really hopping at night! We met with a German student and all pitched in on a taxi ride to see Menegai Crater.

Kakamega Forest
Made our way to this last slice of tropical rainforest in Kenya. Seems that all over Kenya, people are chopping down trees in order to make charcoal, the main fuel source for cooking, so who knows how much longer this forest will last? Even though it's protected, that doesn't mean people don't come in and chop down trees. In fact, sometimes the government will displace people in the area and sends them to the forest area! I got the impression from our guide that some reserves are a community-based effort to keep something protected, so they don't get any government funding or help, eventhough it's officially a Forest Reserve. Our guide,Gabriel, asked us about (on top of many other things) how we in America protect trees and was surprised when Froody said that the government protects them. To which Gabriel asked, "What happens when a tree are mature for harvest?" and Froody answered, "Nothing. It's illegal to cut it down." Gabriel chuckled at that and was amazed that we had huge trees over a thousand years old that no one will ever chop down. Through his questions he led us to the topic of HIV and what his organization, Kakamega Environmental Education Program (KEEP) does for the community. He said he could arrange for us to see some of the homes they help and we thought this would be a good opportunity to see how people really lived, especially those who are really poor. (Gabriel was also surprised when we said we had never seen anyone with AIDS that we knew of. About 40% of the people he tested these past few months have been positive.)

So, we got up before dawn (again. why bother going to bed??) to see the sunrise over the forest. It was beautiful. And just when the sun was about to appear all the birds and monkeys started calling and singing! The mist rising over the dark green canopy was something right out of a picture, only I was right there!! Afterwards, we visited an old mine that fruits bats were living in. Back at the campsite we had our breakfast (some fruit, hardboiled eggs, and bread we brought with us) and rested before the home visits. I was full of trepidation and don't remember when I had been so scared to face anything like this. Gabriel even said we'd probably be made very sad over what we would see. Finally, the hour came and we met some of the volunteers who make the rounds with him. They added that we'd get to see a family suffering from parasitic fleas that bore into the soft flesh of your feet and hands. (?.!@#@$^&YG??)

The people were poor, in that all their money went to buy the HIV drugs so there was nothing left for school supplies, clothing for the children, tuition for secondary school, cooking oil, etc. They had land and most of them had their children farming for them. One woman said she was lucky to still be strong enough to care for her kids, but couldn't afford to send the oldest ones to school. I won't post any pictures as some of them are a bit graphic, but you can go to Froody's site and check them out if you want to.

This picture is cute, though. The little girl just ran up and held my hand for a bit while I was walking with one of the volunteers to the next home. In a way I felt like a celebrity because things like this happens to us here. You get all the small children running, just to wave at you and say "Jambo!" or "How are you?" And the loved it when we'd answer, smile, and wave back.

Nairobi
Nairobi is Kenya's largest city and is just like other big cities. Only the traffic and driving is worse. Having been in Cairo for 24hours now I'll say that while Cairenes drive aggressively, they still seem to follow some traffic rules, whereas in Nairobi it's every man for himself. (In Nakuru they have traffic lights that are not in use. We asked a taxi driver when was the last time they were used and he said in 2002, only they caused too many accidents so the city government decided it was safer just to leave them off!)

Only had one full day here and the "big thing" we did was eat at the world famous Carnivore restaurant. It was an adventure just getting there! but once there you get to eat all the meat you want. These guys walk around with lamb, beef, chicken, sausage, crocodile on meter-long sword/skewers. Then you get dessert! There's another guy who walks around making dawas, Kenya's signature mixed drink made with vodka, limes, and honey.