Advertisement
Published: September 8th 2008
Photo 1
Eco lodgeGood Morning,
Lots to catch up on…
A couple of weeks ago we attempted to go on a Mara mission to see the migration. It all ended rather badly as our driver scared off the few animals we came across and then we returned to camp to find that all our things had been packed up (not necessarily in our own bags) and we were expected to move from our nice en-suite tents to a tiny dome of damp. Not an ideal situation, so we were taken back to Nairobi in the morning. So much for experiencing what is on our doorstep!
In Nairobi we ordered four 10,000 litre plastic tanks from Kentainers. This is because the soil at Sakutiek is too soft for a large stone tank, so we arranged for foundations to be laid to support the plastic tanks. The four tanks will be connected by a plumber allowing a water collection point with 3 taps and the possibility of additional piping to a trough and up the hill.
As we were waiting for the delivery we had some time to spare, so steamed off to the coast in a first class compartment on the
Photo 2
Sunny Diani Nairobi-Mombasa train. Unable to stretch our budget to bedding or food we opted to dine in our own style with take away pizza (mmm cheese…) and a carton of juice. The 16 hour journey was a dream and we were met by the heat and sunshine we had been envisaging. We finally made it to idyllic Diani where we could connect with nature in our eco-lodge (a tree house)and spend our time sat on a beach. Pete patiently taught me how to sail in a topper as we sped through the waves even though I frequently failed to navigate the right direction and ended up in the water a couple of times looking for our dinner.
After only one full day on the beach and full of fresh fish in our tummies we left the gathering grey clouds and rain behind us to make the journey back to Nairobi. We started the search for the elusive durable tap, which took longer than we would have imagined and ended only after the weekend. We were able to console and entertain ourselves with the luxury of the Stanley Hotel, while we waited for my (Pete) Mum and Sister to join us.
Photo 3
Choo-choo They had generously offered us a room there until they arrived. We met up with Leanne and had a very profitable night in one of our favorite casinos before heading across the road for a few celebratory drinks.
My Mum and Sister arrived late on the Saturday night brining a variety of treats from home. With only 4 full days in Kenya we had to cram as much as we could into each day. On Sunday we revisited the elephant orphanage and giraffe sanctuary, only this time we enjoyed it even more, not only because of the company but also because we managed to sneak a touch of the rhino in the elephant orphanage through the fence. This touching trend continued when we visited the animal orphanage at Nairobi National Park. We managed to get inside the cheetah enclosure to play with the inmates and had a hands on experience with a lion and a leopard too. In one day we touched 4 of the big 5!
Our trip back to Narok, having eventually found some taps, was met with hail and rain so torrential some boys were washed a few hundred metres away from their homes in
Photo 4
Ooo it's a rhino the flood rivers. The heavy rain meant the road to Sakutiek was worse than it had ever been in our time here. The 4 wheel drive was pushed to its limits as was the driver who spent most of the day throwing up. When we eventually arrived we met with Nicholas, the water committee’s secretary at the foundations for the tanks to alert him to the delivery of the wind pump that would be happening on the Thursday.
On the Wednesday we traveled to Endonyo Narasha and were shocked to see that the water pan had dried up. The community residents are now sharing their water with their livestock, this is also dwindling and as a result of the livestock becoming increasingly dirty.
On Thursday we said goodbye to my mum and sister after a really fun and exciting few days and awaited news of the wind pump foundation delivery, tank delivery and installation team arrival to Sakutiek to begin work on Friday morning. Things didn’t get off to a great start when we heard that not enough of the foundation materials had been delivered. However this proved insignificant as news filtered through that there were “tribal clashes”
P1020480
touching one of the 'big 5'! in the area as we were on our way there. We did as advised and turned back to Narok only to meet agnes and a car full of armed policemen, who lent us a couple of armed police to escort us to the site. We learnt that the problems were not in Sakutiek itself but down the hill in the next valley. This is the first time that problems have occurred in the area since 1993, it had even remained peaceful in January.
The clashes were between the area’s large Maasai population and the neighboring Kikuyu population. The tension started to build a couple of weeks ago when a Maasai man was murdered in a Kikuyu area and two men were also “butchered”. Then on Friday 52 sheep were stolen from the Maasai and stories of 150 armed Kikuyu marching up the hill towards Maasai territory spread. Stealing any form of livestock from a Maasai is considered worse than murder. As a result 2000 armed Maasai marched to meet the Kikuyu visitors. No fighting actually happened, the Kikuyu’s sensibly ran when they realized how many Maasai were coming to meet them. Sakutiek was like a ghost town, all the
shops and restaurants were shut up and small groups of armed men would wonder through on their way to the hill. We saw men carrying a variety of weapons; clubs, spears, axes, umbrellas, bow and arrows (with barbs) and machetes all very ready to use them.
The help that we’d arranged for the Kijito team ran to join the action as soon as they heard the stories. We managed to find a café that would open to feed the installation team. This obviously prevented any progress being made with the construction of the pump and foundations.
When we arrived in Sakutiek our borrowed vehicle and security soon left, stranding us with the Kijito team. We waited until dark for any lift to Narok but we had no luck and were treated to a very pleasant evening at Nicholas’s house.
The next morning, Saturday, we awoke to a pastor preaching peace for 2 hours from 5.30am. The day was spent trying to figure out how to get in touch with Narok to organise the rest of the materials being delivered along with the plumber who was also absent, trying to determine what was happening over the hill and
wondering how we were going to get back to Narok. We were assured that a truck would leave Narok that afternoon with the required materials. It became apparent that the situation was not going to be resolved that day as the Maasai had spent the night on the hill top and their numbers swelled to 6000. Eventually we caught a ride with a taxi heading back to Narok, leaving the Kijito team waiting for the materials in the sun. The good weather meant the roads had improved, however we still came up against a large swamp that our driver, for some reason, thought that his taxi would be able to tackle head on. He drove straight into the centre leaving us in need of assistance, as the mud was up to the doors, from the land cruiser that was also struggling to the side of us. After 3 attempts to pull us out we finally found firm ground and bumped our way home as the petrol gauge was on Empty.
Relieved to be back at Tasaru we had a good nights sleep only to hear that the materials have still not arrived. Because it is Sunday we cannot get
Photo 5
Snuggling with the cheetah hold of anyone to confirm whether the truck left or not or to sort anything out. We have heard that the tribal situation has calmed after it peaked on Saturday night as the Maasai burnt Kikuyu houses and violence broke out as their sheep were not returned. As a result of everything the wind pump installation process has stalled however, we feel that this is beyond our control. We are returning to Sakutiek on Monday (tomorrow) to try to get things moving and to encourage the Kijito team after confirming the progress of the materials and the location of the plumber in town. We will remain in Sakutiek with the Kijito team as the installation will take at least a week to (hopefully…) ensure that things go smoothly. Neither them nor us are in danger as we are not directly involved and are helping the community, so there is no reason to worry, otherwise we would not return at this stage.
We really hope that work will commence quickly after all these set backs…fingers crossed!
Lots of love.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.056s; Tpl: 0.019s; cc: 6; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0332s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
clare
non-member comment
crossing fingers
It looks like you are so near to getting it all working but the need for lots of patience for unseen circumstances. Do be careful and wishing you the very best for this next difficult phase and please keep safe