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Published: April 12th 2007
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Well, not quite. Last week we took friday off and headed up to Lake Naivasha which was about an hour's matatu ride from Limuru. Naivasha town is alot like Limuru except a nicer version with a better atmosphere. After buying our food for the next 3 days, we hopped onto another 45 min matatu to Fisherman's camp right on Lake Naivasha. The camp ended up being alot better than we had expected - flushing toilets, showers, boats, shops and a bar and restaurant. All of us realised that we had come totally unprepared as we all had hardly any money that we could spend. We wondered around the nearby town, bought some avocadoes, bananas, a pineapple, and our dinner - chapatis and mandazis (type of sweet bread). That night was horrible as we couldn't get to sleep due to the blaring Indian and rap music competing with each other and the screams and shouts of the people next to us having a party. We had heard that at night the hippos come out of the Lake and graze right next to us (don't worry - we were behind an electric fence), but with our rowdy neighbours (who had also brought
The water hole!
wats so great about the waterhole?! ill tell u when we get there...;) a terrified goat that bleeted throughout the night) we had little chance of seeing them. At 3am, our neighbours had finally gone to bed and Ricci excitedly came in and told us the hippos had come. The hippos were so amazing as I had never seen one out of the water. We watched them from 15 m away for about 20 minutes, until some idiot with a car turned his headlights on and started hissing and yelling at the hippos and they all ran back into the water. But I'm glad we got to see them anyway.
The next morning, with bread and honey as our breakfast (and our lunch and dinner the night before..and lunch and dinner the night after), we headed out to Hell's Gate National Park. Hell's Gate was beautiful with rocky gorges and cliffs and some really great walks. As we didnt have a car (unlike everybody else) we had to walk everywhere which took time and meant that we didn't get to see everything we wanted. But it turned out to be great as we got to see zebras, impala, elands, baboons, huge birds up close and some really beautiful scenery. After dumping our
bags at the campsite we walked for 2 hours to the Lower Gorge. The Gorge was amazing, as we walked in a narrow gully in between huge sandstone cliffs. Our guide, Joseph, was a masai, traditonally dressed, and after we explained that we didnt have any money to give him, he said "we Masai don't take money" or something like that, which was so refreshing as we are hassled everyday for money. When it rains, The gorge we were in fills up in minutes and becomes very dangerous, so he explained that we needed him. Turned out he was right. After the gorge, we walked down a creek while he showed us where we could bury an egg and in 15 minutes it would be boiled, due to the hot water and the obsidian found everywhere.
That night we feasted on 2 avocados and a few peices of bread, as our fruit, honey, peanut butter, chocolate, biscuits and chapatis had run out. The next morning (after no breakfast) we woke up at 5.30am to go to the Obsidian caves as we had to be out of the park at 10am. The sun was just starting to rise as we
started our 1 1/2 hour walk. To walk faster, we decided to stash our backpacks and the tent in some bushes, and at the last minute i threw my jacket on top. Just before we left we saw a family of baboons walking towards us. The caves ended up being just a rock with obsidian everywhere, but we did get to see some hyraxes - a sort of guinea pig who is the elephant's cloest relation. Just before we left Nicole and I pulled out a surprise birthday cake (the only cake i could find in the supermarket) and candles for Ricci (as it was her birthday - 27!) and since we were starving we almost ate the whole thing in about 15 minutes. After picking up our bags again, I noticed my jacket was missing, and then a man told me "baboon took it, went that way" and pointed to some nearby cliffs. I was too in shock to be angry and was speechless for a long time. On our way back we were stoked when we were offered a lift to the gates, and then another 2ks to the road, and THEN a 45 minute lift into Naivasha
which saved us an uncomfortable matatu ride and another fight with a matatu conductor (as they ALWAYS try to rip us off).
Since it was Easter (although you wouldn't know it with no easter eggs!) we visited the orphanage, played with the kids and watched the Wizard of Oz (which they knew ALL the words to) till it got dark.
This last week Ricci and I have been frantically painting the school as we are running out of time - we were supposed to leave Limuru tomorrow, but we have extended it till saturday to finish the painting.
On Tuesday, after been told to, Ricci and I cooked dinner for the family. Since neither of us knew how to cook, and we had very little ingredients, we were both impressed by what we made - pasta with tomotas, onions, garlic and mushrooms, and potatos with corriander..or something. It was even harder because the gas for the oven ran out so we had to cook the whole thing on a jiko (portable small stove filled with hot coals). But apparently Mama Duta wasn't impressed as, after not even trying it, she said "I don't want that" and made
her own meal, and then had the nerve to say to us "you have to eat all of that, don't waste". This behaviour and rudeness is getting pretty normal, so we're both very excited to finally be leaving!
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Jess
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hahaha well i would have eaten the whole thing... yummmmm.... ps ive given up on knitting... but mum did some