Kenya - part 3

This blog may be as confusing as any of my others because I have a number of topics to cover. I hope you can follow it.

Nairobi

I saw some of the sights of Nairobi but they all seem to focus on the wildlife of the area, which I suppose is understandable. Here are some of the highlights.

The Nairobi National Park Animal Orphanage was interesting and there were lots of animals. It was much like one of our smaller zoos and I was a bit disappointed to know that the orphans just come here and stay. They don’t seem to try and return them to the wild at all so I was trying to tell them about our orphaned bears and how we try to return them to the wild. There were lions, cheetahs, warthogs, savo cats, gazelles, buffaloes, impalas, ostriches, a silverback fox, crown cranes, hyenas and probably more that I am forgetting. After seeing most of them in the wild, they just didn’t look as nice in these cages. It was good to see some of the smaller cats though because I definitely would have thought they were just house cats. They look and act the same except for the fact that they are wild. In some cases the scientists really aren’t sure if they were house cats that went wild or if they were wild cats to start with.

The Daphne Sheldrick’s Orphanage is for baby elephants who are orphaned. Mr. Sheldrick was once the park warden in Tsavo National Park and it was his wife Daphne who started worrying about the orphaned elephants. The orphanage currently has many baby elephants up to about 5 years of age and they came from parks all over Kenya. After the age of 5 they are taken back out to Tsavo National Park and most are accepted very quickly by one of the elephant herds. Because elephants are such social animals, they have to teach the babies proper social behaviour. If they don’t have proper manners and they try to go back to the herd they will be rejected and run off by the leaders in the herd. The guide here described the process of moving them first to the orphanage and then back to the parks and it certainly sounded like tricky business. The little ones were having their milk when we were there and one baby elephant can guzzle a couple litres of milk pretty quickly. The workers just seem to be pouring it down their throats and that was fine by the elephants. Because there were so many people around I missed all the details on exactly what they feed them.

After lunch it was time for a mud bath and it was cute to watch them rolling in the mud and dirt. Cute, that is, until they decided to get just a bit too close and the humans got a little muddier than expected. There was nothing but a rope separating about 20 little ones from us and at times they would get pushing and shoving and be more on our side than on theirs so the workers would have to come and push them back. They may be cute little babies but they are still hundreds of pounds and you really don’t want them stepping on your toes or pushing you against a tree. This particular orphanage has a big area but tourists are only allowed in this one open feeding area, and only for about an hour each day around lunch time. Of course if you pay to adopt an elephant orphan, then you have the right to come back at night as well. Elephants live to be 60 or 70 years old so people like to adopt them so they can follow their history for many years.

I really should have started this blog by saying that I have now been kissed by a native Kenyan. That might have got the attention of a few curious people at least. Well, let me tell you it was quite an experience. At the Giraffe Centre you can feed and hug the giraffes and yes, they even kiss you. You hold the food in your hand, preferably one pellet at a time so it lasts longer, and the giraffes just lick it off with their big slimy tongues. Eventually you get to the point where you have your arm around one and feeding it, and then when you have your arms crossed in front of you and you are feeding two at a time. Of course you always have to be facing forward because they are snapping pictures like crazy. And the last part, for those who are brave enough, is to hold the tiny pellet between your lips and let the giraffe give you a great big sloppy kiss. Well I did it and have the picture to prove it. I should have put it on video but I didn’t think about that until later. It actually wasn’t all that bad but then maybe as I get older I’m becoming less discriminating about who kisses me and the quality of their kisses. That’s about it for the giraffe centre. They have a large area and lots of giraffes and you get to get really close and personal with them because they seem to really like people, especially people with food in their hands or mouths. The people of course are standing on a balcony about twenty feet up; otherwise you’d never be able to reach these long-necked giants. And they really do have lovely faces and pretty eyes. They are quite cute.

Following a quick wash, we went to the Karen Blixen Restaurant for lunch. It was a beautiful, cool setting out in the garden and a very enjoyable meal. There is a small guest cottage on the sight so we toured that. It is a pretty house and where they filmed some of “Out of Africa”. The main Karen Blixen Museum is just a bit further down the road. It is a larger house and very nice. Some of the original furniture and pictures are included inside and some of the original coffee grinding machines are out in the yard, which is very green and beautiful. I never did get the whole story about Karen Blixen but I think she was Danish and came to Kenya to marry Baron von Blixen. It was not a great marriage and she had several other men in her life as well. She spent a lot of her time in Kenya and wrote a number of stories about Africa under her real name and under the pen name of Isak Dinesen. “Out of Africa” is certainly the best known work and definitely the focus of the museum seems to be Meryl Streep and Robert Redford pictures from the movie.

The Nairobi Safari Walk was a great way to end the day. It is a huge park with a boardwalk throughout and there are all kinds of animals to see. They are fenced in but they have large areas to roam so it doesn’t seem too bad. The pigmy hippos were particularly cute as they waddled around and stood under the water hose to get all wet and shiny and clean looking – probably just so they could go and roll in the mud or dirt but I didn’t see that part. The tortoises moving slowly across the fields were huge. There was also a bongo so that was a real treat since we never did see one in the wild. They are beautiful animals that look like a large antelope with a very sleep brown body accented by thin white lines around its body and other white markings on its face and neck. Its horns are long and twisted and it looks like a very regal animal. There were also gazelles, oryx, dik-diks, impalas, ostriches, zebras and hyenas among other animals. I got another good close up look at a huge rhino as well, and even got to pet Milo, the resident cheetah. There was also a light browny, orange coloured animal with white stripes that looked like a zebra. I never did figure out exactly what it was. The scenery was nice and the walk was very relaxing. I would recommend it to anyone who comes to Nairobi. If you can’t afford the time or money for a safari, the walk covers just about everything. It was so big that I didn’t actually cover the whole area because I just didn’t have time. Perhaps I’ll have to go back to see the monkeys and baboons and other animals that I didn’t get to see.

The National Museum in Nairobi is currently closed for renovations but I did go to the Snake Park, which is right next door. It had lots of snakes and crocs and turtles but really wasn’t anything too exciting. The Museum is reallyk being expanded so it will be interesting to see what it includes in the future.

I went to eat at The Carnivore one night. The Canadian tour group was supposed to do this on its last night in Nairobi but it got cancelled. Everyone said it was the thing to do so I did it. The place is huge and has an indoor and outdoor eating area. In the centre is a huge circular charcoal pit area and they have large skewers or Maasai swords of food cooking all around it. They bring you soup to start and then a selection of salad stuff and a lot of sauces or dips arrive at the table to stay for the rest of the meal. They also bring you a baked potato and then they just continually bring you food until you finally admit you’ve had enough and lower the flag at your table. The food comes on the skewers and they pull off or carve off as much as you’d like to try. I tried crocodile meat but it wasn’t very exciting. There was also pork sausages, spareribs, roast beef, chicken wings / legs, lamb and venison, as well as chicken livers or kidneys which I didn’t try. I’m missing a few because I think there were 11 in total but I can’t remember what they were now. You can rest assured that there was no giraffe or elephant meat or anything like that on the menu. Only the crocodile seemed truly foreign to me. And after all that food, of course there was dessert as well. It was a great meal and very entertaining to watch all these guys in zebra aprons running around with skewers serving meat.

I also toured around Nairobi a bit and saw some of the main parks and buildings and attractions, which look just like any other big city. There are certainly very nice parts of the city and also some parts which are not so attractive. From the main highway to the north you have a view of the great slum of Nairobi where something like 800,000 people live with no running water or sewers or any kind of decent facilities. It just looks like a lot of tiny wooden or tin huts from the highway and it’s impossible to imagine what it’s really like. It’s hard to imagine such a place in any city and Nairobi is no different. The rest of life just seems to go on around it as if it doesn’t exist.

Eastern Kenya Trip

I left Nairobi on the 11th and head toward the coast with one stop in Tsavo East National Park at the Serena Lodge. It was about a four hour drive from Nairobi to Tsavo East and it was very enjoyable, especially once in the park and looking for animals once again.

Tsavo West National Park is 7,700 square kilometers and that is the park we stayed in for the one night. It is about half way between Nairobi and Mombasa. Tsavo East National Park is 11,300 square kilometers and the largest park in Kenya. The highway between Nairobi and Mombasa is the dividing line between the two parks.

Tsavo is important for one major thing and that is the man eaters. Tsavo means place of slaughter and the lions are the man eaters that caused the slaughter. Those who have seen the movies “Ghost in the Darkness” or “The Man-Eaters of Tsavo” will know all about the lions that attacked villages and people. It was a very scary movie and apparently very true. They don’t know why the lions in Tsavo became so savage but it is the only area where many humans were attacked and eaten. It is definitely better these days but I decided not to go for any late night walks anyway.

Tsavo West and the area just outside the park is also home of the Shetani lava flow. The Shetani cone is a volcano in the Chyulus mountain range and it erupted within the last 500 years. The mountain itself seems a long way away but the lava flow came down in fingers and covered a large distance. When you are in the middle of it, it definitely looks like a bleak universe with nothing but hard black porous rock everywhere. It will be a long time before any vegetation or wildlife occupies the area.

Because we were going out of the park just a short distance we had to take an armed guard with us. Apparently it’s not the dangerous wildlife but the dangerous humans they worry about so we didn’t stick around for long. His gun looked like it would take care of things but then the bad guys might have something even better than our guard’s automatic weapon. After we returned to the park I did ask what kind of weapon it was. It sounded like something I’d heard of before, like an MK40 or something, but I’ve now forgotten. Personally I just don’t like being that close to guns so I think I blocked out the details.

Tsavo West also contains the Mzima Springs, a real desert oasis. The clear water bubbles out of the volcanic rocks from an underground stream that comes from the Chyulu Mountains some 10 kilometers away. The hills were created by volcanic action within the last 500 years thus the spring is also relatively new. There is an upper pond and a lower pond and these then flow into the Mzima River.

The volcanic rock of the mountains catches all the rain and acts as a filter. The harder rock beneath won’t let the water through so it flows above the harder rock through the porous rock and comes up in the springs as pure, clear water. The water in the spring flows into the ponds at a rate of 282,000 litres per minute. The spring supplies all the water for Tsavo and surrounding areas as well as Mombasa, several hundred miles away, and all villages enroute. The pipeline to Mombasa flows simply on gradient as the land slopes down to sea level and it handles 22,000 litres per minute so the total flow from the spring is 304,000 liters per minute.

There are hippos in the upper lake and crocodiles in the lower lake. The upper lake also has a lot of fish, which were very friendly in the underwater viewing area. I think they were probably used to being fed by the tourists but they didn’t get anything from me. The hippos were very noisy at times and it was interesting to listen to them. I can’t actually describe the sound to you other than to say it was a deep grunting sound of various lengths and pitches. Hopefully I have some video that will provide the real sound. There were also lots of black-faced monkeys around and they were cute as well, especially the little ones.

Kilaguni, our Serena resort in Tsavo West, was fantastic. The room was huge with a large window overlooking the local watering hole and the Chyulu Mountains and even Mount Kilimanjaro. There were two nice comfortable chairs facing the window and the windows slid open like sliding doors so you could enjoy the view and the fresh breeze at the same time. The dining room was also open and facing in the same direction so we saw lots of animals without even leaving the resort: storks, agama lizards, warthogs, elands, impalas, water bucks, storks, squirrels, mongoose, baboons, etc. right outside the windows. Apparently larger animals normally come to the watering hole but because it’s been so wet and there are pools every where they have no reason to come at the moment.

On the drives through the park we also saw zebras, giraffes, ostriches, goshawks, monkeys, dik-diks, a leopard, Grant’s gazelles, a lot of beautiful birds and tsetse flies galore. The latter just seem to stick to the windows of the vehicle and won’t let go. It’s as if they know there is meat inside to enjoy. We finally lost them when we passed a group of baboons so I assume that meat looked even better. We also saw a rock hyrax, which was a new one to me. It looked like a lizard peeking out of the rocks to me but in fact it is like a guinea pig and lives in the rocks.

The baobab tree was also new to me. It has a very thick trunk and few branches with high fruit that the elephants eat. The natives believe that the tree cures mumps and I was almost ready to believe it might have some curative power until they said you had to run around it seven times for it to work. That type of cure I’m not too sure of.

There were beautiful white flowers all along the roadsides inside and outside of the park. They were ipomeas, which is another member of the morning glory family, and they certainly brightened up the drives even in the driest of places.

Between Nairobi and Mombasa the scenery changes regularly from dry to lush and from flat to hilly. It was a beautiful drive but long on their roads. The 500 kilometers took almost 8 hours despite the fact that the road except for about 50 kilometers is paved. It was actually one of the best roads I’ve seen in Kenya.

There were many small villages along the way. Emali was a small village but very busy. There were many small shops along the road and lots of people selling things at the roadside – onions, papayas (pawpaw), corn, etc. It is in a very green area with some parts flat and some parts rolling hills.

It was interesting to see the crews out cutting the grass along the sides of the highway. They were simply men swinging what the guide called slashers. They were just big curved knives and they just kept swinging away. When a large path of the grass was cut they would rake it and pile it up. Considering how hot and humid it was, it looked like very hard work to me and I couldn’t imagine many Canadians doing it.

I should mention that I am eating a lot of fruit these days and I’m actually starting to like passion fruit and papaya and mango. Their pineapple is also delicious and their watermelon is very refreshing. Their vegetables are also really good – beans, peas, carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, spinach, corn, potatoes, etc. It’s all great except for the corn which has kernels much larger and tougher than we are used to. Their beef also leaves a bit to be desired but their fish, pork, chicken and lamb are great. I think the Kenyans eat much more healthy food than some of us Canadians do. Luckily they like chocolate for dessert because that always makes my meal for me. And they even have an appropriately named milk supply for us milk lovers – Brookside Maziwa or Brookside Milk.

Mombasa

We went for a tour of Fort Jesus, the 1593 fort built by the Portuguese. The Portuguese actually reached Mombasa in 1498 but didn’t stay long at that stage. I guess Vasco da Gama preferred Malindi further to the north. They came back to build the fort after the Turks started building on the sight and they finally recognized the importance of protecting the local harbour. Fort Jesus was the name given to the fort since the Portuguese considered themselves to be the representatives of Christendom and sailed under the flag of Christ. And I guess I really should say that the fort was carved, not built, since it was originally made of corals that were carved on sight. I didn’t quite figure out how that worked but perhaps the area was once under water and the coral reef was left behind when the sea water lowered. Or then again, maybe they brought coral blocks up from the reef in the sea and carved them into bricks to build the fort. I may have to investigate that further at a later date.

The Arabs took over the fort in 1697 after surrounding it and starving the Portuguese – some of their skeletons were just found within the fort grounds. In 1728 the Portuguese gained the fort again but a year later the Arabs took it again and the Portuguese left for good. After that it changed hands many times. Eventually the British got involved and from 1895 to 1958 it was used by them as a government prison.

One of the original very deep cisterns is still there. It supplied water for the area and lasted for several years – luckily for those who were under siege at any time. There are Portuguese paintings on some of the walls – very basic but interesting with ships and fish and animals shown. The main gate to the fort was from the water and there was another gate to the land. There are beautifully carved ebony doors in some places and they are the originals from hundreds of years ago – too solid and hard for even termites to bother. There was a chapel at one time but it is now in ruins with just the outline of rocks for the walls. They have an exhibit of some of the artifacts that have been unearthed at the fort, everything from shoe buckles to weapons to pottery.

We had a guide when we did this tour and he also took us through the nearby old town to see Vasco da Gama’s house and the Royal or Queen’s house. Da Gama’s house has porches all around and is considered the oldest house in Mombasa. The house is three or four stories high and faces the ocean to the east so I’m sure it would probably be a beautiful place to watch the sun rise.

The Royal or Queen’s house was in the same neighbourhood as the fort and Vasco da Gama’s house. Apparently it was the official home of the monarchy when in Kenya and is still used by members of the royal family when they come to visit Kenya. We of course did not get invited in but I’m sure it is lovely inside and the views would be spectacular.

Now our guide after all this, informs us that he wants some money. We were going to give him a tip but we certainly weren’t going to give him anything near the amount he requested. After much discussion and explaining to him that he should have told us up front that he was a separate or private tour guide and wanted to be paid so much money for his tour. We thought, since he was at the entrance to the fort where we had just paid our entrance fee, that he was part of the service offered within the fort. Anyway, I don’t think he was too happy with us but that’s too bad. I think there is a definite reason that he asked for his money while we were still in the streets of the Old Town and not back at the museum where there were several tourist police standing by.

The Mamba Village is mainly just a crocodile farm with thousands of crocodiles of every size and age. Supposedly it is the largest crocodile farm in Africa. It was very hot when we were there so the very smart crocs were simply resting in the sun, probably wondering why the stupid humans were out again walking in the heat of the day. The main attraction in the park is a croc named Big Daddy. He is believed to be over 100 years old and he weighs almost 1,000 kilograms. He has been at the park since 1986 and was transferred here after eating his fifth human. I guess they figured they might as well put him in a separate area and feed him regularly instead of having him roam free and feed on more humans. The park also had snakes and spiders and you could go for camel or horse rides but the main attraction was the crocs. They feed some of them daily by suspending food from some scaffolding over the pond. Apparently things get quite active in the pond at that stage with all the crocs splashing around and trying to stretch or jump up to reach the suspended food. We missed that particular feeding frenzy so things were calm when we went by.

The Bamburi Nature Trail is a private park of 75 acres. It is mostly forest area and was very cool and shady in most spots. Out in the open it was very hot because the trees around were stopping any breeze that did exist. We had a tour guide with us as we walked around the trails. I decided after a bit that it was good that he was there because we would never have found half the sights there were to see. They had a number of giraffes who were there for feeding. The black-faced monkeys were nearby hoping for a bite to eat as well. One of them had a little baby that the guide thought was only a few days old. It was cute to see him or her hanging on under his mother’s belly as she walked along. The little tail came up and looped around the mother’s bigger tail for added support.

They actually feed the buffaloes here, which was a new one for me. It was pretty unexciting though. The feed was just thrown on the ground and two of the buffaloes came up to eat. The only funny part was watching the monkeys try to reach in and grab some of the food. They also tried to do that with the hippo food. The hippos were pretty slow getting out of the water to get to their food so the crown crane got their first. When the monkeys arrived, the crown crane took a defensive posture and spread its wings to scare away the monkeys. They eventually got some food though. And when the hippos arrived, the crane left but some of the monkeys stayed so I’m not sure who actually won that little war.

There were a couple of elands in the park and it was nice to see them up close. There were also water bucks and bush bucks but they didn’t get too close. There was a whole area for snakes and the pythons and boas were the most popular – definitely the largest too. And there were crocs in pens throughout the park. The little ones were very cute. I think they called that area croc kindergarten. There were other sizes as well and some of the largest were indeed huge. They even had some albinos amongst the group. They aren’t actually white as I would imagine an albino, but they are definitely lighter.

There were huge tortoises around the park. The one Madagascar tortoise was 120 years old and weighed 150 kilos. Mzee, as she was called, adopted a baby hippo when it was orphaned and they were faithful companions for some time. Currently they are separated and Mzee is very depressed and hides most of the day. No one told us what really happened to separate them but it may have just been the right time to do so and to get the hippo back to a normal hippo life. It would have been nice to have seen them together as I really can’t imagine it.

Mombasa itself is a large city, the second or third largest in Kenya with over a million people. It has some wide paved streets with boulevards and parking and it also has a lot of smaller dustier streets as well. The land is quite flat and dry so without pavement it is quite dusty. There are palm trees around in the nicer residential areas but much of the downtown area is treeless.

On our tour of the city we realized later that we missed the Mombasa tusks, which are a symbol of the city. The large tusks were a present to (or from) her Majesty the Queen (or perhaps his Majesty the King since I don’t exactly know the year!). There are four tusks with two crossing each side of the divided street. The effect is that of a giant stylized M, which stands for Mombasa and Majesty.

The Port of Mombasa serves not only Kenya but also Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi as those countries are all land locked. Given that piece of information I guess it really isn’t any wonder that there are so many trucks on the roads.

Mombasa itself is an island of 5 square kilometers. To get to the north coast of the mainland where the resort was located you had to cross to the island over a 400 meter bridge and then cross back again to the mainland farther to the north because there are no roads up the coast of the mainland. To the south of the island a ferry crosses between the mainland and the island.

The Sarova Whitesands Resort in Mombasa was wonderful. It was a huge resort with many pools and restaurants and lounges. We were on half board, which meant breakfast and dinner, and that was enough to last the whole day. The resort had the most wonderful powdery white sand beach that I have every experienced. The water was really shallow and clear and warm. It must have been over 35 degrees because it was refreshing in the 35 – 40 degree heat but didn’t feel cool at all. It was very humid all day long but there was always a strong breeze blowing at the beach and that kept the situation very bearable and enjoyable.

There was a reef further out in the water so you could see the waves breaking there. At shore it was just perfectly calm which was nice for just sitting in the water and cooling down when you came from touring. The beach was very flat and there was a lot of it, especially at low tide. It wasn’t very busy because it’s not high season yet so there weren’t may people on the beach. I have to say that I really enjoyed my first dip in the Indian Ocean. Mombasa was definitely a fantastic place to relax for a few days.

I joined several people at Bob’s Disco for a drink one night. It was a large outdoor facility with tables and chairs simply set on the pavement of the parking lot, a wide-screen showing a soccer game, and loud music blaring over giant speakers. It wasn’t what we would call a disco but probably more of a casual outdoor sports bar. We had a drink and then returned to the hotel. I should say that Tuskers beer isn’t bad for a local beer. However, the bottles are much larger than I need in one sitting!

Other thoughts on Kenya – mainly from last two trips

Samburu has duom palms which are really interesting trees. They are the only palms with branches and in fact they might not be branches at all as opposed to just the trunk splitting evenly because the tree is always even. It goes up and splits into two branches. Then each of those two branches can split again. And at the very top of each branch you get palm leaves. The acacia trees looked impressive wherever we went and the cactus-like euphorbia trees were huge.

More Swahili Vocabulary

Lion – Simba
Elephant – Tembo or Ndovu
Buffalo – Nyati Rhino – Kifaru
Leopard - Chui
Kwaheri – Goodbye
Lala Salama – Good night, sleep well
Mimi Nakupenda – I love you (and no, I ws not actually hearing or saying this to anyone!)

Sign on front of truck - Amini Mungo, which means Trust in God. Mungo means God.

Sheng – a slang mix of English and Swahili used by the young people when they want to talk about things without the older folks understanding them.
Sasa – Hi
Mambo – What’s up?
Poa or Fit - Cool

Jeff’s van is the sita unga, which is a small antelope found in Jeff’s home area. It is able to walk on marshy areas as it has big padded feet. It is often said to be walking on water.

Gazelles and Impalas
Thompson’s have straight horns, definite black lines on the side and brown buttocks.
Grants have curved horns, white buttocks and no black lines on the side.
Impalas are golden brown all over and have curved horns.

I was at one point on the Great North Road, which goes all the way to Cairo. It was one of the dirtier, dustier, rougher roads of the journey and only partially paved. Having seen some of the roads and dust in Egypt, I can't imagine the condition of the road gets any better to the north.

On Sundays, the roads and streets are filled with people of all ages dressed up and walking to Church. Some of the clothes are very western looking and some look very much like what I would assume to be traditional African. And then some of the ladies clothes look Western in style but the colours and accessories are definitely African. Some of the colours are so vibrant and bright, and the hats are quite incredible.

And speaking of hats or head apparel, I can't believe how easily these people carry heavy loads on their heads. Men, women and children all carry water jugs, baskets, boxes, bundles of wood, bags of charcoal and many other objects. Their posture is fantastic and they seem to carry their loads effortlessly. I've even seen several ladies with their purses on their heads and that would certainly be better for their back and shoulders than having a heavy purse slung over one shoulder all day.

If you don’t carry things on your head you move it via cart. These are simple wooden carts with two wheels and handles out front. Occasionally you see a mule or oxen hooked up to the cart but mainly it is just men pulling or pushing them. Sometimes the loads look incredibly heavy and they have to move them up and down hills on horrible roads and tracks. Not many people have cars or trucks so it really is the only way to get around. And at times, given their road conditions, I’m sure walking the carts through the fields is much faster for getting where you have to go.

The scenery is so diversified in Kenya – high mountains, flat plains, dry barren flat lands, lush green areas. I remember saying one part looked like Southwestern Ontario at one point and that it looked like the Okanagan valley in another point. And of course the mountains with glaciers and all the highlands around them add another perspective. It would take a long time to really see the whole country but at least I now know just how varied it is.

I went through Thika on my journeys. I don’t remember the story but I do remember reading the book or seeing the movie of The Flame Trees of Thika. It was a very modern town with large modern homes. Del Monte has a pineapple factory there and there are pineapple fields all around. In fact there were lots of agricultural crops all around. The area is called the highlands and they grow corn, coffee, bananas, etc. It’s a hilly area and very beautiful with lots of large trees and many of them with beautiful flowers.

Saturday is a big day for markets. Karotina is a huge market for used clothes and it was quite amazing to see all the vendors with their goods spread out on blankets on the dusty ground. There were throngs of people everywhere. There was also a Chaka market for fruit and vegetables. The produce looked delicious and that market was also very busy.

They have school on Saturdays and the students were all walking home from school around lunch time the one day. They wear uniforms. Some were burgundy and some were blue but they all looked very smart. I’ve seen many different school uniforms since then.

Some economic points:
- 50,000 shillings ($1,000) per month for teachers at public school and 80,000 shillings ($1,600) per month for lecturers at university level.
- $200-300 per month for drivers/guides plus their tips.
- $1,200 per month for police officers – results in a lot of corruption.
- 15 million shillings ($300,000) would buy a luxury house with many bedrooms and bathrooms, pool, acreage, etc.

The first president of Kenya was Kenyatta and the country was named after him. What was it called before? Nobody could actually answer that questions so I searched the internet and found that it is now the Republic of Kenya but before that it was simply called Kenya referring to the colony and Kenya the British Protectorate.

Everyone seems to have a cell phone here. They can be herding cattle or carrying jugs of water on their heads or working in the local market but they might also be talking on their cell phones. Land lines can take up to a year to get so when cell phones came in everyone started buying them. Now the land line companies are going out of business and we did see a lot of empty lines along the way.

For some reason I do very well keeping track of the animals but I have totally neglected the birds. I must have a hundred birds’ names scribbled in my book but I’ve written nothing about them. They have some incredibly beautiful birds in Kenya. The superb starling is one that we kept seeing over and over. The weaver birds with their fancy nests were everywhere. The red and yellow billed horn bills were so colourful and fun to watch. The crown cranes were very elegant and stately looking. The wido birds had really long tails. Goaways, mouse birds, chatterers, doves, kingfishers, sparrows, boubous, finches, sun birds, woodpeckers, etc. – all of them were interesting and I have sorely neglected them. Sorry birds!

Black cotton soil is extremely sticky and slippery when it rains and it’s almost like driving on ice and snow. The vehicles slide in all directions and get stuck even in a 4 X 4. They dump almost anything on the roads and pack it down to avoid the slippery soil. I was amazed at the size of stones they were throwing on to the roads.

The tribes in Kenya are very different. The Masai are very thin and tall. Jeff’s tribe, whose name I have forgotten, is shorter and stockier. The Samburu seemed to be shorter and slimmer. At one of the gates the attendant was small and had almost oriental eyes. That was apparently a Somali tribe from the north. The Kamba tribe, part of Bantu tribe, lives around Mombasa and they are a smaller size.


Okay, I’m now back in Nairobi and planning for the next few trips, which seems to be a difficult task. I have been waiting for the Vintage Africa people to come up with a proposed itinerary because they have offices in all the places I was interested in going to. However, I keep getting a different story all the time and all of their quotes are expensive so I’m not sure that’s going to work. In the meantime, I could have been booking things myself and sometimes I think that would be much easier than waiting for someone else to reply. It now appears that I will be spending a few more days in Nairobi but I will keep you posted on when that changes.

Kwaheri.

Jayne