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Published: August 24th 2009
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Ready to leave
Here we are ready to Leave early Saturday. I apologise that it has been a while since the last update but unfortunately I also succumbed to the err ‘health issue’ that many have already experienced so I was out of action most of Sunday and Today (Monday) has been rather busy!
So today is our day off. We started out relatively early with breakfast then it was off to Kakamega. It was ‘about an hour’ to Kakamega town where we stopped off to have a wander around the town market. A couple of us were brave enough to make purchases. Jeremy saw a hefty looking adjustable wrench he took a fancy to, he says he needed it for a plumbing job, but it was rather large and shiny so I suspect there may have been a bit more too it than that. In the same way I noticed a stall selling LED torches and knowing we were going to go into a cave I felt fully justified in buying one.
We all made it back to the coach but Elias was having the air filters on the coach cleaned whilst he was waiting for us so Jerry decided to get his phone sorted out since he wasn’t
able to add any more credit onto it. It seemed to flummox the staff in the Safaricom shop too so they ended up adding has top up to one of their phones and transferring it across. It appears this is part of a whole infrastructure they have set up where people can use mobile phones to transfer cash from one phone to another. So you can go to a local Safaricom dealer of which there are many in every village and deposit some cash with them which goes on your phone. You can then use that to top up your credit, pay for things in some shops or send it to another mobile anywhere in Kenya or just keep it on your phone!
Anyway Jerry got his phone situation sorted and we headed off to the Rondo Retreat. It was ‘about an hour’ away and we were all in high spirits so when Jerry tried to get a song going everybody joined in. We churned out many what I am told are ‘proper’ hymn’s and Christian songs (cause the new ones are harder to remember) and I can only imagine what a bizarre sight it must have been from
a Kenyans perspective to see a bunch of white men crusing past singing Amazing Grace.
We eventually arrived at the Rondo Retreat which has in interesting history. Originally built as a home in the late 40’s it was then left to the Trinity Fellowship who used it as a youth centre and an orphanage. It is now open to the public and is often used by nature lovers, as a place to stay whilst visiting Kakamega Forest, and by companies from all over the world who visit Kakamega forest to study the medicinal properties of the flora. It also provides a base for Guides who can show visitors around the forest.
The retreat itself is a very relaxing and peaceful place. Such a contrast to the grimy partial building site we have been living in for the past week. We walked around the gardens for a while and caught site of some monkeys jumping around in the trees and then it was time for dinner. It was Burger and Chips all round and given the largely tradition food we have been eating it seemed like luxury, they even had Heinz Tomato Sauce (not a fan myself but many
A Big Snail
Dave tried to eat this one! are).
After lunch we met the guides who were going to look after us. They told us our options and we decided to split into 2 groups. One group of us would do the Viewpoint tour which involved a strenuous walk and a visit to a bat cave and the other would do the River walk which was more sedate and would see more wildlife.
The River walk as you might imagine meant it mainly followed a river. It gave the opportunity to see lots of water related animals such as frogs, and snails, as well as the odd passing herd of cattle. The guides were very knowledgeable and picked out interesting plant and explained how they were used by the locals. For instance one type of tree can be used as a toothbrush; you pick a twig then snap it off and the broken end all separates into individual bristles just like a small brush. Another bush has very rough leaves that can be used as sandpaper! Dave H almost went a bit Bear Grylls and ate a large snail!
The viewpoint walk started off in the forest and gradually got steeper. The guide told us
Ants
Stewart almost got eaten again. about one of the trees that has been used to cure back pain for generations and is now being developed into an anti prostate cancer drug! He also went on at extreme length about figs!! Eventually we got to the edge of the Forest and started to climb quite a steep gradient. The rocky hill we were climbing was volcanically formed so the soil was quite thin and unsuitable for most plants other than grasses. As we reached the top we had an awesome 360 degree view of the forest. On a very clear day you can see all the way to Uganda to the west. After spending 10 minutes or so at the top we made our way down the hill a little to a man made cave. It was a former Gold mine that had been disused for many years as it had become dangerous so it was closed off at around 60 meters in. Bats had been introduced to the cave and although many of them had migrated there were still quite a few inside. It was quite unnerving to have bats flying past so close you could feel the wind as they passed.
We then
headed back down the hill and made our way towards the retreat. At one point the guide told us that we could head back to the bus which was parked about ¼ of a mile away or carry on walking back to the Rondo. A few took the easy route but most of us carried on. As we separated the two groups started to communicate via various animal noises (Jerry started it!) but the Guide was a bit of a killjoy so we had to stop
Dave B had a bit of a stumble on the way back and hurt his ankle but luckily the Bus was there so it picked him up. We were a few hundred yards from the Rondo when the rain started. This was not English rain though, this was proper monsoon rain. It started with the occasional huge drops and steadily increased to a point where you could hardly see more than 20 feet!
It showed no sign of stopping so we all made a break for the bus and piled in. The journey home through a monsoon was quite an experience. The roads were almost like rivers and at one point
we stopped because Elias was worried that the water was too strong for us to cross safely. Fortunately a pickup overtook us and after a brief pause surged through. Knowing it was safe enough we ploughed on through and continued home. To keep our spirits up we sang again although we started to run out of Christian songs and hymns so Cliff Richard, and Tom Jones songs made an appearance too.
We made it back to the Guest House around 7pm and the ever attentive staff had Dinner ready pretty soon after. It was Alistair and Dave Howe’s turn at question time which both proved to be very encouraging.
After Question time we could here lots of Girls voices singing from the Cathedral next door (Let me clarify here if you’re thinking Chester or York then your way off. It’s constructed in the same way as most buildings around here with brick built rendered walls and a corrugated tin roof). Doug told us it was Girls Christian Union night so Tim decided we should pay them a visit. Buoyed by the singing earlier on the bus most of the group sang a couple of traditional songs which was
met with tremendous applause although they were probably just being polite! We then listen to them sing a song for us before retreating back to the guest house for the night.
We sat around outside for a bit watching Charles trying to pick up the extraordinary skill Dave Howe has with the Diablo. He was definitely doing better than most of the rest of our attempts but it was getting late so we eventually retired to bed.
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Angela and Joseph
non-member comment
Hurrah...you're back!!
Glad you're better Andrew....I was beginning to think that there was something seriously wrong! Have a great day guys, work hard, have fun and make sure you don't leave that place still looking like a builders site! Love to Matt! God bless you all! Angela and Joseph xx