Kruger Farm

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Kruger Farm

I have been staying with Shubha and Karin here in Eldoret. Shubha works for the same project that I do, but she departs on October 14. Karin is the director of the PMTCT (prevention of mother to child transmission) component of AMPATH’s (Academic Model for the Prevention and Treatment of HIV/AIDS in Kenya) outreach programmes. Harsha one of our PI’s (principal investigators) who arrived on September 13 to do some work, see how things are going etc… He was the person who actually started our project back in 2003.

My first weekend here we spent Saturday at Kruger farm- me, Shubha, Harhsa, Karin and Ronnie (friend of Shubha and Karin’s) drove the half hour out about mid-day so despite the high altitude and comfortable climate it made for a hot afternoon. A family of white Kenyans who have been living here for years own the farm, their grandparents started it decades ago; and they own about 5,000 acres. They commercially farm wheat and barley and also are big conservationists; so the farm is also home to thirteen giraffes and the largest single concentration of oryx's (like a small antelope/deer animal) in the world, there are other populations but none as large as the one they host. We went to see both the farm and animals. It was the most peaceful place and could easily be mistaken for a farm in the Midwest states with working combines, massive tractors and grain silos - the presence of giraffes on the hillsides and oryx's darting across the fields quickly reminded you you’re actually not in Kansas anymore.

The lady of the farm took us on a walking tour of the fields where we saw some of their combines at work. Afterwards we took off on a hike ourselves to search out the giraffes. We only have to walk about ten minutes before we came encountered them hanging out on the hillside munching on leaves. We stealthily tried to get close but could only get within fifty feet before they would start walking away, they were not skittish just did not allow us to come very close. We spent some time watching them taking photos and also just sitting on the hillside taking in the landscape. I could have spent all afternoon there watching the never-ending fields of wheat dotted with the clusters of thickly packed trees, the occasional pond and framed by Kenyan mountains to one side and all around by the afternoon Carolina blue sky. It was so relaxing and peaceful it was easy to see how someone would want to settle there. I’ve attached some pictures so you can see what I am trying to describe.

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Photos

Kruger Farm
This is a view of the farm from the hillside, pretty serene...

Kruger Farm
Wheat or barley fields I cannot tell the difference...

Kruger Farm
In this picture you can see some of the mountains of Western Kenya in the background.

Combine
farming at work...