Hi all,
The line-up for the computers here at ICIPE are quite long, so I will again have to be brief, but I'll try to give you a quick run down of my crazy two and a half weeks of camping in southern Kenya.
Our first camping stop was the Maasai Mara. We would usually get up at 6am to go on morning game drives, have class during the day, and then climb back on the trucks for an evening game drive, too! We saw some of the amazing animals in action, including a lion devouring a cape buffalo carcass, a leopard hanging out in a tree, and a huge pod of hippos popping up for air every now and then in a hippo pool. Check out my friend Sheena's blog for some great photos:
http://www.sheenainafrica.blogspot.com/
Then we headed to Lake Naivasha, where it was very cold and then was a great lounge bar (where I did not drink, of course : D). Next was Nguruman, one of the hottest places on the planet. We joked that we must be in hell, because we had to drive through a town called "Hell's Gate" to get to our camp site and we were warned to keep an eye out for scorpions that might try to crawl into our tents!
Our last camping stop was in Elangata Wuas, where the wind was crazy every night and blew beaches worth of sand into our tents. We also did our one-night homestays at E. Wuas, which was a once in a lifetime experience. Brianna, Sarah, and I went to spend the afternoon and night with a Maasai family in their hut. The hut was constructed by the wife of sticks and cow dung and very dark inside. During the afternoon, we tried to help with doing the laundry and milking the goats, but failed miserably. The washing water for the clothes came from a nearby dam, and we went with our mama to collect the water, which was brown before the dirty laundry even got in. Our mama, Jacqueline, made chapati bread especially for us since we had mentioned that we loved this African bread, which was both so considerate (it took a lot of time and work to make them) and absolutely mouth-watering! We eat around 10pm in the candlelit hut, after a delicious cup of chai (tea) with lots of milk and sugar. We crawled into bed around 11pm and within minutes were freaking out. There were bed bugs crawling everywhere! I was quite fortunate, because I had crawled into my sleeping and zipped it up right away, so not very many bed bugs managed to crawl from the cow hide we were lying on into my bag, but Bri and Sarah had a really rough night. I think I managed to get about 45 minutes of sleep, but most of the night was spent vigilantly paying attention to whether there were bugs crawling over me and squished them before they got too far into my ear canal... In the morning, we were treated to another delicious cup of chai and then spent about an hour picking the bed bugs out of the seams of our sleeping bags and brushing the cow dung-dust off our pillows!
While the experience was not perfect, it gave us such an insight into what life is like for this family. We also got to meet Jacqueline and Josepj's four beautiful children. I just fell in love with their youngest daughter, and I think Bri had a thing for their young son, Barrack Obama!
When we got back to camp, I headed straight for the shower to scrub off the cow dung and get rid of the last of the bed bugs, and then it was time to party! We all got to witness the slaughtering of two goats, their heads facing towards Mecca as is proper for our Muslim guide. They were then skinned and cooked as a special honour for us. Students, staff, and our youth guides from the homestays all feasted together and then danced and ate marshmellows into the night. Good times!!
All the best to everyone at home!
I'm off to Mpala, Laikipia in the morning.
Lots of love,
Kirsten xoxo