Blogs from Central Province , Kenya, Africa - page 4

Mt. Kenya Safari Club has a grand past. Today we went to Ol Pejeta, which means fresh green grass. Inside the park was the Sweetwaters chipanzee sanctuary, funded by the Jane Goodall Institute. I am starting her autobiography tonight, it helps to know more about her work, then to see it in action. We walked the wooded grounds, it was very jungle-like. We learned from our guide that there are 41 chimps on two sides of the Nanyuki River. Chimpanzees don't swim so the factions from different parts of Africa will not intermix. There would be much violence if they ever did get together. We watched many of them and their actions are very human-like. I could have stayed longer, but there was more to see. Giraffe, impala, and finally rhinos, white rhino, which first was ... read more

So we arrived in Kenya, the land of 'no worries', only to find, quite worryingly, that our transport was not there to pick us up! After some calling around, we finally had a pick up, with the excuse of 'Kenya time'. We are starting to gather this concept now... We arrived at our accommodation during the afternoon. After all the jokes about mud huts, we were getting slightly concerned when our car slowed down and stopped in the middle of a slum. We were really starting to panic, but then we realised there was a nice big house hidden behind the slum. This was where we would spend the first 2 nights. We had bunk beds and a cold shower, and we soon found out that this would be luxury compared to what was next! So ... read more

Well there was no hiding the fact that the world cup had started in Nairobi on Friday night...... loud music was booming and people were cheering but we had an early night in preparation for our big climb the next day. We drove off to the base of mount kenya, making a stop via our drivers' family where we were given fresh fruit and the mzungu were photographed! The roads were great - no potholes and our driver had a dvd player in his car so we got to watch cheesy kenyan music videos. The base of the mountain is at the equator so we did the water experiment and it's true! - the water goes different directions down the plughole merely 20m either side of the equator and straight down when on it. The first ... read more

Geo: 0.01945, 37.0744DAY TWELVE (Tuesday, September 15, 2009)I bless the rains down in AfricaIt rained here today …the first time in more than two years. There was much celebration. It reminded me of the Toto song "Africa" … check out this acapella version:http://www.videosift.com/video/Africa-Acapella-coverWe had a late breakfast today and then headed to the Wildlife Conservancy Animal Orphanage mid-morning with Anne, Barcy, Stephanie and Carol, along with Ralph & Nancy Patterson, Sandy Mascorro and Karen Berry (all of Los Angeles county). The orphanage is on the grounds of the hotel and is funded through private donations. Stephanie Powers is an active supporter; William Holden was a founder.“The Elephant Man” was our tour guide … he is known as that because he survived being attacked by an elephant in ... read more

Today we rose early in the morning once again but this time it was to something beautiful. It was snowing outside and a white beautiful blanket had already covered the ground. This was the first time in my life that I had every since snow and this showed me the diversity and beauty of Kenya's landscape and Mt.Kenya has shown me many different types of animals the farther we have gone up it, the more diverse amount of animals we began to see. Today's trekk was probably the most dangerous, difficult, tiring, and challenging hike yet. We started to hike and we saw large hills that were covered in unstable little pebbles. We hiked up these paths and we had to watch our every step. Even while doing this the path we had to take was ... read more