Kenya

We arrived directly in Nairobi after the worst bus ride ever.  The window next to us wouldn’t close and it was so freezing, bumpy and uncomfortable.  I literally had my raincoat tied around my face.  We went to the hotel where the Peace Corps volunteers stay while in Nairobi and basically just attached ourselves to them for the entire trip.  In Nairobi they took us out to tons of amazing places to eat.  We had iced cappuccinos, Coronas and Ethiopian food; we were very impressed. 

We joined Andrew and Stephanie (an RPCV from Senegal) for a trip out to Lake Naivasha.  We stayed at a cool lodge along the lake which actually had to put up a fence cause the hippos come out of the water during the night. 

The first day in Naivasha we rented bikes and road over to Hell’s Gate National park.  This is now my most favourite activity, the bike safari.  We passed zebras, antelopes, warthogs & buffalo, all just grazing along the side of the road.  After riding in we hiked down into the central gorge.  This was an awesome hike into more really cool rock formations.  There was a huge boulder that our Massai guide explained had been carried a hundred feet down the gorge during a flood and left only a small space to squeeze by on the path.  We found out afterwards that last year a big group of 50 was hiking down in the gorge and they continued on despite the rain and had to get rescued from the flash flood but some of them died.  So they had just reopened the gorge. 

The next day we went on an accidental moto safari.  We set out to visit the flamingos at the crater lakes but I think the ride down ended up being more remarkable.  All along the road were giraffes, zebra, baboons etc. 

Then we got recruited to join a hike that these two British volunteers were organizing up Mt. Longonaut.  Mt. Longonaut is really a huge volcano and when it erupted this giant crater blew out the center and when all the material eventually landed it separated what had once been a giant lake into a bunch of separate ones.  You hike up the side of the mountain (and in typical African style, there are no switchback trails so you’re often scrambling directly up vertical paths covered in sandy volcanic ash.)  We started really early in the morning and everything was covered in fog as we ascended.  It finally cleared up at the top and it was an incredible view.  At the top you can walk in a giant circle around the rim of the crater.  So you can look inside at the crater and then out down the gentler slopes of the mountain to your other side.  Sometimes the trail would get really narrow and you felt like you were just walking across a bridge almost.  Meanwhile the rim itself was not just a flat walk, it had a jagged surface full of ups and downs so you don’t actually Summit until you mount up to the highest of these peaks.  The mountain totally ate my sneakers.  The rubber sole which had started to melt in the safari campfire got the volcanic dust inside and started separating from the bottom so we ended up having to slice it off with Dan’s pocket knife. 

Then we went to a few more backwater towns off the beaten track and stayed with a Peace Corps volunteer.   We arrived at Josh’s house and he was awesome; he totally just took us in, fed us  & had our laundry done.  Then he sent us out hiking to these beautiful waterfalls where, oh wait, he just casually works!  He had warned us in advance that he had no electricity or running water.  We were like no problem, we’re used to it.  Then he said something about making a fire, and we were so excited, this was going to be just like Cameroon!  Turns out his “fire” is not in a pit outside with a marmite on top, he has a FIREPLACE inside of his house!  It felt just like we were staying in a log cabin/homestead situation out in the west. 

The second night a whole bunch of volunteers came in and we played cards and roasted hot dogs and chili over the fireplace.  All the volunteers actually had to practice consolidating since there are concerns about the upcoming elections.  Apparently at the last Kenyan elections there was a lot of violence and all the PCVs had to be evacuated.  Claire and I decided not to visit Mombassa, Lamu or any coastal areas on our trip since there has been some violence already.  I can’t imagine going through your day to day service with that possibility hanging over your head.   We did bond about lots of things that it seems Peace Corps has in common Africa-wide… like the horse-sized, pink, pre-natal vitamins that we are all mysteriously taking. 

We went back to Nairobi but this time stayed at the backpackers that Charlotte and Dan had recommended.  We met up with Phossie, Emily’s friend in Nairobi.  She took us out to the craft market and then out for some fish and ugali at a local place.  (Although I don’t know if it had anything on Maroua poisson braise w/ green sauce…) 

That night we decided to go out and see the Batman Movie with Charlotte and Dan.  Anyone claiming we are squandering our readjustment allowance on traveling is mistaken.  This was a very important “readjusting” activity.  Claire and I were “high on popcorn fumes” just on the edge of our chairs.  I had to have some key plot points explained discreetly while the others were in the toilet since I no longer possess the critical thinking ability to process a fast paced thriller movie.  We returned around midnight, way too pumped to sleep, it was very exciting. 

The following day Phossie and her mom took us to a friend’s wedding.  This was a FANCY Nairobi wedding.  The church service was at a Seventh Day Adventist church and it was CONSISE (granted we did arrive late) & it did involve repeating a lot of things in series of seven.  The reception was held at this POSH botanical garden; there were tents, rose pedals and a drink selection which extended beyond Fanta (which was still available).   The delicious food and the apparently pan-afrique female wedding shriek brought us right back to Camcam though. 

               

Phossie had to go back to work on Monday so Claire and I did some last day touristy items.  First we visited the elephant orphanage.  This was totally adorable.  Most of the “orphans” had been found with poached mothers or they were simply wandering.  There were lots of cute anecdotes of how they’re found since they’re sociable they tend to seek people out.  The little baby elephants are dependent on their mother’s milk for the first 2 years of their lives. Since they can’t very well “milk a wild elephant,” the center has to feed the babies this special vegetable based formula shipped in from England.  Then we visited the giraffe center.  You walk out onto a deck and feed the giraffes pellets, touch them, pet them, it’s cute. 

Finally we carpooled with Dan and Charlotte to the airport since we all had night flights out.  (They were going back home.)  We arrived at the airport incredibly early and got sidetracked into some very critical American vs. British English debates: unibrow or monobrow?  So we ended up chugging beers at the airport bar, attempting to buy liquor at the duty free and then getting paged twice, “Claire Kelly and Claire Kihn, please report to gate 4 for boarding immediately,”  to get on our flight as we ran through the airport!  Needless to say, we passssssed out on the flight to Lusaka.