Blogs from Kenya, Africa - page 228

NAIROBI (Oct 19-20) No previous life experience could have prepared us for our arrival in Nairobi. As soon as we left the baggage claim area we were bombarded by touts trying to sell us every possible service including safari packages, accommodations, city guides, taxis, and meals. Once we found one another in the sea of touts, we fought our way through the crowd to the ‘Government Tourist Bureau’ in hopes of coordinating transportation from the airport and accommodations in the city. After a quick orientation to the highlights of Kenya and a basic language lesson, it became evident that the tourist bureau was in fact a private tour company trying to make a hard sell on a safari package, which of course was leaving early the following morning. An hour later, we managed to leave the ... read more

Kenya has a diverse climate, ranging from the rich and fertile great rift valley, the Masai Mara plains, and the desert like ranges of the north. Overall, the MUST do's in Kenya are a safari. You cannot come to this part of the world and NOT experience the Big five in their true wild habitat. Also, once you have experienced true Kenyan hospitality in resorts and hotels, you will never be able to compare their services to any other part of the world. ... read more

Hello all, Hope you all had a good Easter break, and those that are allowed, plenty of chocolate! We had two small marshmallow "eggs" each, eaten while on a game drive round Lake Nakuru NP. But back to the beginning, or the last place we wrote from. Jinja was our last stop in Uganda, the source of the mighty Nile. Colin spent a day rafting the "source" of the Nile, not really the actual source as theres a big dam that you cant raft over, but more like 6km from the source. There was a mixture of grades 3, 4 and 5 rapids, and they managed to get wet on all of the them except for the one I was stood right next to with my camera. So I have photos of them casually floating over ... read more

We are waiting for our bus to take us to Tanzania to begin our safari, but the bus is running a little late. So we'll use this time to recap some events from last week. Last Thursday, we got a chance to visit a local school. They put on a spontaneous program for us which mainly consisted of the kids singing for us. We presented them with some gifts: soccer balls, a football, and a baseball and bat. WE also gave them some pencils and other school supplies. After that, some of the group mixed in with the older students to play a quick soccer game. It was a great time. Then we got to tour the school and some of the classrooms. On Sunday, we attended Celestine's church, which was mainly a roof and benches, ... read more

Last week I was in Nairobi for a Technology conference. It was pretty uneventful but nice to be able to catch up with a lot of other volunteers. This week I'm back at site busy writing funding proposals. I have a temporary roommate which is nice because I was beginning to get a little lonely living by myself. She'll only be here for nine weeks and most of that time I'll be traveling so the arrangement worked out well for both of us. Tommorrow a few other volunteers are coming to visit and we are all going out dancing. Saturday we are going to Nairobi for the 4th of July party but on by the embassy. It should be a lot of fun. They have a soccer tournament too and I think we are going to ... read more

Well tommorrow will be my first Thankgiving in Kenya and I'll be spending it at dinner with the ambassador, his family and a few other volunteers. I've never been so excited for a turkey dinner in my life. The last few weeks have been pretty tough with the problems I had with my site visit and then finding another site which I finally get to see on Friday. It sounds pretty cool but so did the other one so I'll let you know how things turn out. On Sunday a bunch of us have hired a car to take us to Lake Nakuru. There's a big park there with rhinos and flamingos that is supposed to be really cool. ... read more

Well climbing the mountain was a lot of fun. It took us about an hour to climb up it and another two hours to walk around the crater and another 45 minutes to get back down. It is actually a volcanic crater that has been dorment for some time but it was cool because you could see the the steam rising from certain parts. Our Halloween party at the center was a lot of fun. It was nice to stay there overnight and be able to use "real" bathrooms. I am covered with bug bites though I think from planning manhunt. This Friday we find out where our sites will be and I'm pretty excited to be almost done with training. Nov 9th I finally found out what my placement will be I'll be doing microfinance ... read more