Two Worlds Collide

It has been a month and more since my last entry. 31st July to 7th August was a mandated travel ban put on my Peace Corps due to the possible unrest that may have occured during the voting of the referendum on August 4th. We were informed that we could spend the time at another volunteer’s site. Along with 5 others I stayed in Lamu. We stayed at a school of a fellow volunteer. For a short time we visited Lamu Island. There was a lot of relaxing and reading books.

From Lamu I took a motor boat to another island for a flight to Nairobi to meet Mark who arrived that morning. The airstrip felt like an open pasture with paved runway. We spent the night at Milimani Backpackers in Nairobi. It was a hostel, right near town. We took a matatu from town to Kisumu 8 hours away. Then we transfered to another one to my site in Mumias. I could tell Mark was not thrilled about the long matatu ride. Sitting in a cramped seat for a long time does not feel good.

We spent 2 days and 3 nights in Mumias. We took a walk around town and met some of my friends at the local dukas (shops). On the evening of the 9th, the vocational girls at the school assisted mark and I by slaughtering a kuku (hen) for dinner. The girls did all of the work, we just watched as they cut off the head, drain the blood, plucked the feathers, cut it into pieces and fried it in a fry pan over a jiko. Tasted wonderful.

The next day we traveled to Kakamega, (45 minutes away) to watch the National competition for cultural and dance for secondary schools. Their were schools that dressed up in cultural/village attire for dance and song. It was a good experience, though we did not stay there very long.

We spent our last night at my house before taking a comfortable bus ride to Nairobi the next morning. We arrived in the afternoon and went straight to the hostel. The next morning we were picked up by Jocky Tours to take us to Amboseli National Reserve. On our way we stopped by Kenyan Wildlife Service to pickup our entry pass into the park. We arrived a little before lunch at the lodge. We had lunch then headed out for the afternoon safari ride. We saw: elephant, giraffe, cheetah, lion, hippopotamus, wildebeest, gazelles, zebra, and buffalo. Every year between July and September is the Wildebeest migration from Tanzania and western Kenya to the southern part of Kenya. The zebras also accompany the wildebeest on their migration. We left early in the morning on Friday for a game ride before heading to Loitokitok. Mark and I felt as we were being driven around to go look for animals the second day, the excitement had gone. We had seen so many animals the first day, it was old news. The primary focus this day was getting good pictures of giraffes. When we were heading to the exit, there was a heard right in front of us. They are incredible creatures. All in all it was a good time looking for the animals. I recommend it. I think next August I want to see the wildebeest migration in August.

Elephant

Zebra

Giraffe

This sign was at our lodge at Amboseli National Reserve

Mark and I standing ontop of a lookout point at Amboseli National Reserve

Wildebeest

Dhow on Lamu island

Feeding the girafe, while being kissed at the girafe center in Nairobi.

Mark and I relaxing from our dhow trip while we wait on our food being prepared.

For several days we were staying with my host family that I lived with during my pre service training nov-dec 2009. It was rally good to see the family. On Sunday we were asked to join in their massive feast along with 50 other guest. Yes, we were having mbuzi (goat). Mark got the pleasure of seeing the slaughter and skinning.

We then took a bus ride to Mombassa to spend the night before heading to Lamu. Ramadan was occurring therefore for about 30 days most shops are closed all day and only opened at night. We stayed at a lodge directly across from a mosque where the calls to prayer were very loud all night and thus hard to sleep.

We took a 7 hour bus ride to Lamu. The last 3.5 hours were on dirt, uneven roads. This section of the bus ride felt like 7 hours. There were frequent check points by the police. Normally they are looking at the registration of the bus via a sticker on the window and various other things. By the bus driver giving the officer a newspaper, there was no inspection. I remember looking over one time and noticing that the officer already had a paper when he accepted another from our bus driver.

Lamu is an island so we had to take a jetty from the mainland to the island. Wow, there were so many people on this boat. I am thinking around 30 plus cargo and goats. We arrived without sinking. Upon arrival there were a sworm of natives wanting us to follow them to a place to stay that they had selected. There was also the other bunch of people that were trying to haggle/harass you into going on their dhow trip. I am used to the behavior of Kenyans, but it was apparent Mark was perturbed. Koreans don’t mess with you, they just leave you alone. For 2 nights and 3 days we wandered around the island doing whatever suited our fancy. We took a walking tour of the island based on the information from The Lonely Planet travel book. When we were walking around with the book in hand, a kenyan stopped us and said to look at so and so page, my business is in there. They are used to their tourist and know their tour books.

Dhow trip. A dhow is a wooden boat with a canvas mast. There is a captain and a helper. The weather was very windy and thus the waves made the boat ride an adventure. They had to constantly change the direction of the mast to keep us going. We were leaning way left, then way right. It definitely was not a relaxing float in the ocean. I was glad when we stopped to fish. Mark was the lone recipient of a fish. The captain caught a few, but I was having no luck. Once on shore the two men fixed us lunch. They grilled the fish we caught plus the “just incase we did not catch any fish ” (fish he bought in town before sailing off), stew, fruit and rice. It was very satisfying.

We flew back to Nairobi from Lamu in what looked and felt like a paper airplane. There were 12 seats crammed close together. Small airplanes I suppose are not designed for comfort, this was no different. Taking off from the runway felt the same as climbing the first part of a roller coaster. In no way did it give you the feeling that this was going to be smooth ride. There was no separation from the passengers and the pilot. We landed safe and sound. Our next day we visited the Giraffe center. It is known for giving visitors the opportunity to be kissed by the giraffe. He had a long, slimy tongue. I wanted to experience the slobber, but Mark was content taking pictures.

Saying goodbye was tough, but it was nice seeing him for a short while. Hopefully we can do it again sometime in the future.