Blogs from Central Province , Kenya, Africa - page 3

Friday morning Speck slept in until 9 am again. Caroline spent the morning packing and getting her hair done again. (it is so cheap to have your hair done that most women do not even own a blow dryer.) While Caroline was getting her hair done, Speck had become bored and took Janet and Shiro for a drink at Eden. Speck tried his first Guinness Foreign Extra and loved it. They returned to the house and had lunch at about 1:30 and were just waiting on Junior, who was to drive, to get home. At 4pm he still had not shown and Baba Junior suggested that Speck drive. Speck jokingly agreed, not believing that anyone would trust their car to someone who had never driven a right handed car, on the wrong side of the road, ... read more

We only allocated one week of our itinerary toKenya, and the Kenyans seemed a bit insulted by this. We were told that most visitors toKenyawould divide their time betweenNairobi,Mount KenyaNational Park, the Maasai Mara National Reserve, andMombasaon the coast. Our itinerary merely had us spending one night inNairobi(at the beautifulFairviewhotel, called an “oasis in the middle ofNairobi” for a reason) before being picked up for a 5-day trek upMount Kenya. Our reasoning was that we had already seen landscape and wildlife very similar to what could be found in Maasai Mara in the Serengeti, and that coastalKenyawas supposed to be very similar toZanzibar, where we had spent a week. This being said, I would love to go back and spend some more time inNairobi. We had been warned that this was one of the most dangerous ... read more

Blog 3!! I have finally made it! I left off on the morning walk at El Karama on our first morning. We walked for a good hour an a half with frequent stops to assess a track or observe an animal. It was truly amazing being out in the wild without a car. When everyone started talking all you could hear was the wind and the occasional chirp or snort of an animal. When we got back from our walk we had breakfast. The breakfast at El Karama was very interesting. All the food there was absolutely fantastic. We started off with fruit such as passion fruit, papaya and guava along with this cereal bar thing that you put milk onto and it separated. Then the nice man took your order for eggs. I got scrambled ... read more

For the story of the breakaway, how we were able to get photos of children in cells and how we become part of a gang, it is towards the end of the blog. It was like a fresh air to come back to the civilization from the Masai village. You know, small things are building up your comfortable daily life. A simple thing like a mirror – to see yourself in the mirror it wasn’t the best view we have seen but to understand what we have been through. The reflection in the shop mirror showed absolute swollen lips (or sun burnt) of Chris and Diana still was picking up the small branches from the long hair. Actually we didn’t feel really comfortable to walk dirty (without a shower or some personal care under one week’s ... read more

Good news!! We didn't have to take public transport today because a member of the kvcdp staff was able to drive Jacky and I to Karatina. Thank goodness as well because, based on the vehicles that I saw on the roads today, I definitely would have been put in a jam packed matatu!!! As i mentioned earlier these matatus are insane. The traffic is really bad in nairobi and i dont think that the matatu drivers make it much better. The seem to be no real rules of the road in nairobi. Tired of wait? No problem, simply take your car across the barrier or just off road it for a bit to pass the traffic. Is the car in front of you too slow? Tha's fine, just drive up on the sidewalk for a bit. ... read more