EmPOWERment Update
I figured that after a few serious blog posts and a successful week of fundraising, it would be good to take a break and concentrate on the weekend adventures that I’ve been having. But first, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! We met and exceeded our goal in the last day of fundraising, with $1450 raised ($200 over the goal!). The remaining money will be used to purchase books and learning materials for the school. I went with the electrician and bought materials for the electrical project yesterday, and today they started installation of wiring in the school. If all goes well, it will be done tomorrow, and hopefully the power can be on by Thursday or Friday. This project is really going to make a difference at the school, and your money is being used right away! Don’t worry, my next post will talk about the further development of the electricity project. But for now, it’s about other adventures.
Disclaimer: This blog had some serious length to it, so reading it in stages, maybe safari by safari, is recommended.
Although my weekdays have been spent work at Friends Secondary School – Lusui, I’ve gotten a chance to explore the natural beauty of Kenya on the weekends. Over the past three weekends I’ve had the amazing opportunity to spend time on Safari in three different Kenya national parks. And you know what, I’m exhausted. Three weekends in a row of 8 hour matatu rides, bumpy national park roads, and sleeping in tents can make a person a bit road-weary. Luckily there were some great adventures to be had in each place, and I’ve got stories for people who love animals and nature, as well as stories about almost being arrested and near-death experiences. Sound like fun? Enjoy.
Weekend 1, June 24th Lake Nakuru National Park
In our first weekend off from our usual weekend workshop, a group of 8 of my fellow FSD interns and I decided to spend the weekend in Nakuru, Kenya’s fourth largest city and home to natural wonders like Lake Nakuru National Park and the Menegai Crater.
Midnight Arrivals
Given that none of us wanted to miss work on Friday, we decided to hire a private Matatu leaving Kakamega Friday night at 7pm and arriving in Nakuru about 11:30pm on the same evening. The matatu would then drop us off at our hotel, where our rooms would be ready. Or so we thought. In reality, we arrived at our hotel around 11:45pm to find that our rooms were given away. I guess reservations don’t always mean the same thing in Kenya as they do the US. Luckily a helpful hotel guard and a new Kenyan friend named Willis led us to a nearby hotel with vacant rooms. The hotel was safe, the rooms were clean, and the cost was ridiculously cheap ($2 a night per person). And my favorite part of the hotel?
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| "So, this is where we keep the fire horse..., you know just in case" |
Day 1: Flamingos, Viewpoints, and Babboon Attacks
Our first full day in Nakuru was spent at Lake Nakuru National Park, famous for its beautiful lake and resident population of pink flamingos. Just a warning, Kenyan national park’s are not cheap for foreigners. I always laugh when I see the price difference between locals and visitors. For locals entrance is usually $2 or $3. But for foreigners, it ranges from $25 at Hell’s Gate, to $60 at Nakuru, to over $100 at Masaai Mara. Nevertheless, the price is worth the once in a lifetime experience. Tours usually take place in safari busses, which are large vans with a raisable roof so that guests can stand and see the animals.
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| Oddly enough, Rhinos are my favorite animal. And so rare! Lake Nakuru is home to some of the few rhinos still left in Kenya. |
We drove around the park with our guide John from about noon to 6pm, seeing pink flamingos standing in the water, a lion basking in the shade, a pack of giraffes searching for foliage, and water buffalo and rhinos relaxing under a simple acacia tree. And did I mention that baboons like attacking people? Well, learned that lesson at lunch. We stopped for lunch at aptly named “Baboon Lookout”. I was considering changing the sign to “Baboons, Lookout!” before leaving, but I decided it would spoil the experience for future guests. Lunch went smoothly, and we were taking a bathroom break before leaving when a group of baboons rambled out of the bushes. They ate the scraps of our lunch from the picnic tables, and not satisfied, attempted to break into the trunk of a car near our vehicle and steal food. The owner of the car defended his vehicle with a crowbar-esque device, and was able to scare the baboon away. Apparently they are known to have sharp teeth, and can easily overwhelm humans in search of food. Safari Lesson #1: Hope you can be a witness of random bad occurrences, and not the victim.
Day 2: Break-downs, Extinct Volcanoes and Bribery
On our last day in Nakuru we were determined to see the famed Menegai Crater, formed thousands of years ago when a volcano collapsed in on itself. A bit like Crater Lake in Oregon, but instead of a blue lake there lies a lush green valley. We hired a matatu for the ride, and headed out of Nakuru to climb up what remained of Menegai Mountain. Our matatu looked like it had seen better days. It was missing a working door latch, the interior was falling apart, and engine sounded a bit questionable. Safari Lesson #2 Sometimes you can tell a book by its cover. Halfway through our ascent of the crater, the Matatu stopped, and steam started pouring from the engine. Our group of 9 beat a quick path to the exit, only to find that the door was impossible to open (no handle, remember) The driver finally released us from the steamy prison, and we were able to scramble into the open fresh air, away from what we were sure was a vehicle about to explore. Turns out it had just overheated, and we walked the remaining distance to the Crater.
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| Life in Kenya. Amazing scenery, but the locals are just looking at the weird white people taking pictures. |
After returning to Nakuru, we hired a private Matatu back to Kakamega, signaling the end of our adventure. But this safari had one more surprise for us: Police Corruption. Soon after leaving Nakuru we were stopped at a Police Traffic Check. Most of us were sleeping or ready to doze, but we were quickly awakened by the words of the inspecting officer. “Oh, so you aren’t wearing your seatbelts (“matatus have seatbelts?”, we are thinking). Well, it’s either pay me $20 per person or get a ticket and spend the night in jail, with an early courtroom appearance tomorrow morning.” A collective silence greeted this unwelcomed new authority figure, followed by nervous laughter. Except he wasn’t kidding. Safari Lesson #3 :Always wear your seatbelt. Luckily with the help of a fellow intern, Lainey, or as she has been called “the beautiful one”, she was able to flirt us out of extortion.
June 28th- Lake Naivasha and Hells Gate National Park
After a short introduction, I think I’ll tell the story of this Safari just using pictures and captions. All FSD interns must take a mid-term retreat during their internship, which is basically a four day break from Kenyan life where everyone can reflect on their experience. Our group of 16 interns went to Naivasha to camp and explore the wonders of the Lake, the national park, and the local scenery.
Day 1: Walking Safaris, Viewpoints Part 2, and Hippos
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| The ivy in Kenya works together with the trees, instead of strangling them and stealing their nutrients. A nice break from the kind that grow in Forest Park in Portland. |
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| After the walking Safari it was up to a lake viewpoint for lunch. Not the cleanest water, but still nice. (Tried to take a picture of the Hippos near our campground during the night, but it didn't quite turn out. This work though, because you can use your imagination. Safari Lesson #4 Never mess with hippos. The can run at 20 mph, open their mouth 156 degrees, and kill humans for fun. Our guide said if you are attacked by a hippo, your chance of surviving is around 1%. |
Day 2: Sunrises, The World’s Most Challenging Bike Ride, Angel’s Canyon, and Ant’s Attack
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| It was definitely worth it to wake up and see the sunrise over Lake Naivasha, one the shores of which we were camped. . |
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| Hard to say what made this 30Km round trip ride so rough. Was it the terriblly bumpy road, or the bikes seats that seemed to be made of steel, or the 90 degree heat, or fact that most bikes wouldn't shift or brake properly? Still cool to be riding a bike again though, even if it hurt for a week afterward. |
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| But the destination was worth the journey. We spent the afternoon hiking through streams and the beautiful canyons that they carve in Hell's Gate Gorge. |
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| We returned to our campsite to find our tents taken over by fire-ants. Safari Lesson #5: Safari Ants may be worse than hippos. They have pincers, bite hard,and don't let go. Needless to say, we abandoned our things for the night and slept somewhere else. But we got home safe, and we all survived! |
July 7th-10th, Masaai Mara National Park
Masaai Mara is the be-all-end-all of Kenyan National Parks. You may know it by what it is called on the Tanzanian side of the border, the Serengeti. The Mara is home to the big five (buffalo, leopards, elephants, lions, and rhinos), and boast amazing cultural beauty and natural scenery. You’ll see.
Day 1: The Road In, More Overnight Travel, Lions!
We left Kakamega on a Thursday night-bus toward bound for Nairobi. We arrived around 4:30am, dazedly shuffled into seats in the bus station, and met our safari guides around 6:00am. After a quick breakfast it was off to the Mara. Now, the roads in Kenya are almost always bad. I like to say it’s either the bumps up or the bumps down that make journey a little less pleasant. What I mean is that the road is either full of potholes, or there are speed bumps on the highway every mile or so to slow down speedy travelers. But the road to the Mara was completely different. How bad was it? Well, it was 100KM of not driving on the actual “paved” road. Instead, to avoid the crater-esque potholes we drove halfway in the ditch on the side of the road for most of the ride, to take advantage of the smoother surface. Safari Lesson #6: Expect the unexpected. Except in Kenya, when it comes to roads. Then expect them to be bad.
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| Look there! In the brown! It's the rare relatively smooth Kenyan dirt road! |
But like most travel, it was worth the work. The first night we drove into the park for a sunset game drive and saw a pack of about 10 lions, large herds of zebra and wildebeests, and a couple lounging cheetahs. We had finally reached the pinnacle of safaris.
Day 2: Maasai Mara Villages, All-Day Safaris, Near Death Crashes, Elephants!
If a safari can be endlessly entertaining for eight hours, it’s definitely world class. And who could guess that the most dangerous part of the day would not come from a deadly animal, but from a fellow safari vehicle? Anyway, Masaai Mara is a dream come true. Open, grassy plains full of animals living in peace and harmony. Although the park is criss-crossed by dirt roads that are often full of safari vans, it still has a strong wild presence. I’ve never seen animals in such a real setting before, and I’m not sure if I can ever go to another zoo.
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| So this is a bit zoom-aided, but not much. These animals were very close, and very real. . |
I’ll tell stories of the three biggest encounters of the day. The first, elephants. Majestic, powerful, and graceful, we were able to be one of 2 vans with a group of 10-12 elephants. They seemed interested in our safari vehicle and we retreated as they followed us down a path in the park. One of the girls in our van was near tears, the rest of us were in stunned silence at what we were witnessing.
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| Our driver told us that if she wanted to use the road, she definitely had the right away. |
The second encounter was a brush with death. It all started innocently enough. Someone noticed that a safari vehicle coming toward us had started fishtailing on the road ahead. We all watched as the van tried to right itself, and then abruptly veered into the ditch. As the driver tried to correct, the van hit a pothole in the road and rose and titled in the air at about a 45 degree angle, to where the underside was easily visible. When it landed, it was about 40 feet away, going 40 mph, and headed directly for our vehicle. Safari Lesson #7: If you die on safari but weren’t mauled by an animal, it’s not cool. Realizing the danger that we were facing, most of our group ducked for cover inside the safari vehicle and braced for impact (we had been standing out of the roof watching the scenery). I, for some reason, didn’t react, and had my gaze fixed on the oncoming vehicle. At the last moment, the van miraculously veered back into its lane. As the driver of the out of control vehicle passed, he gave us a nonchalant wave. Yikes.
The third encounter was with another culture, the Masaai. There is a Masaai village near that park where you can enter (at a cost) and see the traditional dances, their culture, and their way of life. I loved the colors and the warmth of the people, but it felt like they were definitely putting on a show for their paying guests (and they were). Still though, dancing with Masaai warriors and learning how to make a fire without matches, even if it’s a bit fake, was definitely memorable. The Masaai are one of the few tribes in Kenya that are still strongly rooted in their traditional culture, and I have a deep respect for their ability to endure despite a hostile and ever-changing world.
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| A group of Masaai teach us how to make fire using friction. The red clothing is for them to scare animals away from their herds of cattle. |
Day 3: Sunrise Safaris, Lion Cubs, Killings
On our final day in Masaai Mara we convinced our guides to take us out on a sunrise safari. Last Safari Lesson: Always, always, always go on sunrise safaris. ! In the early morning before the heat of the day the lions, leopards, and cheetahs are out running around and finding their meal for the day. That meant we actually saw lions running, stalking prey, enjoying a recently hunted wildebeest, and wrestling in the savannah grasses. My favorite part was easily the mother lion we saw right before leaving the park. She was accompanied by her 3 cubs, age 1 month. They growled in a small-cute way, and rolled around and played in the dim early morning light. All of this happened next to a downed wildebeest corpse, which had been thoroughly enjoyed by the group. Nearby, a group of vultures was eagerly awaiting the lion’s departure to mop up the remains of the animal. Oh, nature!
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| Getting this arm in my sunrise was definitely an accident, but for some reason I really love this picture. |
So that pretty much sums up the past 3 weekend safaris. This weekend is my last living with my Kenyan family, and I’ll be spending time at home with my host family and supervising the installation of the wiring at the school. Next week is my last week working at the school, and then two weeks of travel around Kenya and Tanzania before returning home. Look forward to a blog update about the progress of the learning resource center and the electricity installation!
Much love from Kenya,
Kurt