Eek it’s been ages since I updated this thing. Time has just flown by since the last post, and seems to be just flying generally now.
The referendum elections passed without incident. The yes campaign won with about 3:1. So my taking refuge in the ancient rain forests of Kakamega was unnecessary but that said I don’t regret it for a second. The Kakamega forest is Kenya’s last remaining part of the mighty Guineo-Congolese rain forest that used to stretch right across Africa. It was part of the same forest where the mountain gorillas of Uganda live and legend has it that the mountain gorillas used to be found there too. OF course that was all before the British arrived and turned it all into tea plantations.
The forest is spell-binding. It is like being on the land that time forget. The temperature in there is at least 10 degrees cooler than outside, and it is so old that you wouldn't be surprised to see a diplodocus stroll by. Blue monkeys, black and white colobus monkeys and red tailed monkeys swing and chatter above your head as you walk and butterflies dance around you (there are about 400 species according to John my guide). One of the walks concluded with the final mile or so through acres of guava trees. The ground was covered in a carpet of guavas so that you couldn't not step on them; the air was filled with the aroma it was heaven .
The Rondo Retreat where I stayed was half empty, but those who were there had like me taken refuge from the any potential post election violence. The place is wonderful. I had my own idyllic colonial bungalow like something from Out Of Africa which looked on to immaculately kept gardens. In the evening you dress for dinner and in the afternoon are brought tea and cake on you porch which you take under covetous gaze of the monkeys in the trees. Perfect.
Only an hour or so from Kakamega is the town of Kisumu. Kisumu is not much to wrote home about, but the lake it sits on is. Kisumu lies on Lake Victoria .. it is immense. I remember standing on the banks feeling vulnerable , frightened, alone (or was that due to the hawkers?). There is a great silence, a huge silence that disturbed me. It is size of Wales and as the source of the White Nile it is one of East Africa’s most important geographical features however according to the captain of the boat I went out on, very few visitors come to see it.
For the past 10 days we have had visitors over from the UK plus some from Uganda and a few from Nairobi. As it was the school holidays, we organised a kind of summer camp for some of the local youths who wanted to come. The programme was divided in two parts: the morning was path building at the school, and the afternoon was classes and workshops on specific topics: careers etc. So now we have shiny new paths linking the lower part of school and the boys dorm with the upper part. This also vastly reduces the mud we drag everywhere with us. I did however feel a little guilty laying the paths as recently I read the following:
- “Why do you think Europeans are so distant from Africans?”
- “Fear. They are afraid of Africa. It is too vast, too mysterious, too earthy. Many Africans walk barefooted to be in direct touch with the earth. Europeans wear shoes and cover the ground with concrete. One day Africa will be covered in concrete and the spirits which fail to escape will be entombed forever.”
Since the visitors left in the middle of this week, I have been busying myself with final preparations for Kilimanjaro. I am now all packed and in about 2 hours I leave for Nairobi, then tomorrow at the crack of dawn I go onward to Moshi where I will rdv will Ali and Ivor to begin our climb on Wednesday. Am I ready? I guess I’ll find out on Wednesday. I think it is more a case of conquering myself than the mountain.
Wish me luck and see you in a couple of weeks.
Love to all
xx
Sunday, 22 August 2010
Kilimanjaro here we come
Eek it’s been ages since I updated this thing. Time has just flown by since the last post, and seems to be just flying generally now.
The referendum elections passed without incident. The yes campaign won with about 3:1. So my taking refuge in the ancient rain forests of Kakamega was unnecessary but that said I don’t regret it for a second. The Kakamega forest is Kenya’s last remaining part of the mighty Guineo-Congolese rain forest that used to stretch right across Africa. It was part of the same forest where the mountain gorillas of Uganda live and legend has it that the mountain gorillas used to be found there too. OF course that was all before the British arrived and turned it all into tea plantations.
The forest is spell-binding. It is like being on the land that time forget. The temperature in there is at least 10 degrees cooler than outside, and it is so old that you wouldn't be surprised to see a diplodocus stroll by. Blue monkeys, black and white colobus monkeys and red tailed monkeys swing and chatter above your head as you walk and butterflies dance around you (there are about 400 species according to John my guide). One of the walks concluded with the final mile or so through acres of guava trees. The ground was covered in a carpet of guavas so that you couldn't not step on them; the air was filled with the aroma it was heaven .
The Rondo Retreat where I stayed was half empty, but those who were there had like me taken refuge from the any potential post election violence. The place is wonderful. I had my own idyllic colonial bungalow like something from Out Of Africa which looked on to immaculately kept gardens. In the evening you dress for dinner and in the afternoon are brought tea and cake on you porch which you take under covetous gaze of the monkeys in the trees. Perfect.
Only an hour or so from Kakamega is the town of Kisumu. Kisumu is not much to wrote home about, but the lake it sits on is. Kisumu lies on Lake Victoria .. it is immense. I remember standing on the banks feeling vulnerable , frightened, alone (or was that due to the hawkers?). There is a great silence, a huge silence that disturbed me. It is size of Wales and as the source of the White Nile it is one of East Africa’s most important geographical features however according to the captain of the boat I went out on, very few visitors come to see it.
For the past 10 days we have had visitors over from the UK plus some from Uganda and a few from Nairobi. As it was the school holidays, we organised a kind of summer camp for some of the local youths who wanted to come. The programme was divided in two parts: the morning was path building at the school, and the afternoon was classes and workshops on specific topics: careers etc. So now we have shiny new paths linking the lower part of school and the boys dorm with the upper part. This also vastly reduces the mud we drag everywhere with us. I did however feel a little guilty laying the paths as recently I read the following:
- “Why do you think Europeans are so distant from Africans?”
- “Fear. They are afraid of Africa. It is too vast, too mysterious, too earthy. Many Africans walk barefooted to be in direct touch with the earth. Europeans wear shoes and cover the ground with concrete. One day Africa will be covered in concrete and the spirits which fail to escape will be entombed forever.”
Since the visitors left in the middle of this week, I have been busying myself with final preparations for Kilimanjaro. I am now all packed and in about 2 hours I leave for Nairobi, then tomorrow at the crack of dawn I go onward to Moshi where I will rdv will Ali and Ivor to begin our climb on Wednesday. Am I ready? I guess I’ll find out on Wednesday. I think it is more a case of conquering myself than the mountain.
Wish me luck and see you in a couple of weeks.
Love to all
xx
The referendum elections passed without incident. The yes campaign won with about 3:1. So my taking refuge in the ancient rain forests of Kakamega was unnecessary but that said I don’t regret it for a second. The Kakamega forest is Kenya’s last remaining part of the mighty Guineo-Congolese rain forest that used to stretch right across Africa. It was part of the same forest where the mountain gorillas of Uganda live and legend has it that the mountain gorillas used to be found there too. OF course that was all before the British arrived and turned it all into tea plantations.
The forest is spell-binding. It is like being on the land that time forget. The temperature in there is at least 10 degrees cooler than outside, and it is so old that you wouldn't be surprised to see a diplodocus stroll by. Blue monkeys, black and white colobus monkeys and red tailed monkeys swing and chatter above your head as you walk and butterflies dance around you (there are about 400 species according to John my guide). One of the walks concluded with the final mile or so through acres of guava trees. The ground was covered in a carpet of guavas so that you couldn't not step on them; the air was filled with the aroma it was heaven .
The Rondo Retreat where I stayed was half empty, but those who were there had like me taken refuge from the any potential post election violence. The place is wonderful. I had my own idyllic colonial bungalow like something from Out Of Africa which looked on to immaculately kept gardens. In the evening you dress for dinner and in the afternoon are brought tea and cake on you porch which you take under covetous gaze of the monkeys in the trees. Perfect.
Only an hour or so from Kakamega is the town of Kisumu. Kisumu is not much to wrote home about, but the lake it sits on is. Kisumu lies on Lake Victoria .. it is immense. I remember standing on the banks feeling vulnerable , frightened, alone (or was that due to the hawkers?). There is a great silence, a huge silence that disturbed me. It is size of Wales and as the source of the White Nile it is one of East Africa’s most important geographical features however according to the captain of the boat I went out on, very few visitors come to see it.
For the past 10 days we have had visitors over from the UK plus some from Uganda and a few from Nairobi. As it was the school holidays, we organised a kind of summer camp for some of the local youths who wanted to come. The programme was divided in two parts: the morning was path building at the school, and the afternoon was classes and workshops on specific topics: careers etc. So now we have shiny new paths linking the lower part of school and the boys dorm with the upper part. This also vastly reduces the mud we drag everywhere with us. I did however feel a little guilty laying the paths as recently I read the following:
- “Why do you think Europeans are so distant from Africans?”
- “Fear. They are afraid of Africa. It is too vast, too mysterious, too earthy. Many Africans walk barefooted to be in direct touch with the earth. Europeans wear shoes and cover the ground with concrete. One day Africa will be covered in concrete and the spirits which fail to escape will be entombed forever.”
Since the visitors left in the middle of this week, I have been busying myself with final preparations for Kilimanjaro. I am now all packed and in about 2 hours I leave for Nairobi, then tomorrow at the crack of dawn I go onward to Moshi where I will rdv will Ali and Ivor to begin our climb on Wednesday. Am I ready? I guess I’ll find out on Wednesday. I think it is more a case of conquering myself than the mountain.
Wish me luck and see you in a couple of weeks.
Love to all
xx
Monday, 2 August 2010
Mug glorious mud!
Afternoon all,
Whereas July & August at home are traditionally the warmest driest months of the year, the reverse is true here in Kenya; unless of course you are on the coast where it seemingly remains a balmy 30+ all year round. Here in the centre the temperature is down to the low to mid teens and it rains. It rains a lot. We live in a district called Gathuki-ini: “Gathuki” comes from the latin word for mud, and “ini” meaning more mud. All this is playing havoc with my mountain training.
However I do have 3 full and free weeks ahead of me to get into peak condition (!) as last Thursday we broke up and all the children have drifted off home. I recall the days we broke up as a mix of excitement and loss. The sense of unbridled delight at the infinite expanse of freedom that stretched before you was tempered only by the sense of completion, of something coming to an end,… for me sadness at the thought of friends you wouldn't see for the summer or or indeed again. One of my best friends at school was Melissa Lloyd, I have not seen her since we left school in the 5th year. I wonder if the children here feel the same way. Is that “last day at school” feeling universal? Is it the same the world over?
Finally:
i. You may have heard we have a referendum this week…if it all kicks off, you certainly will hear of it. On the 4th August is the national vote on the proposed new constitution. We are hoping for the best but fearing the worse. Recent experience (post election violence in 2007) is still fresh in the minds and tensions are quite high. I’m off to hide in the forests of Kakamega until it all blows over.
ii. The 18th International Aids Conference in Vienna has asked countries to consider a ‘no-sex-month’. Kenya is considering it as a less inexpensive method to slow down the spread of HIV and maintain the current momentum which has seen a drop in new infections. Researchers argue that, since newly infected people have the highest transmission rates to their partners, an abstinence period would disrupt the infection chain.
iii. Kenyan firms are apparently making a killing from the piracy plaguing the Indian ocean and the seas around the horn of Africa. Kenyan law firms, security-, aviation- and shipping companies have found a lucrative business acting as the links between the pirates and the representatives of hijacked ship owners facilitating negotiations and payments.
iv. The price of tea at the Famous Cafe in Murang’a has gone up 50%! (10 to 15 shillings)
v. James’ prayer before dinner this evening was particularly memorable. It went like this: “Lord thank you for the food we are about to partake, may it feed our bodies and minds to do your bidding. Thank you for the day, thank you for taking Matt to Murang’a and back and thank you for our football match, although it ended in disarray when the opposition disputed our second goal…Amen”. I couldn’t prevent myself laughing out load.
Love to all,
M
Whereas July & August at home are traditionally the warmest driest months of the year, the reverse is true here in Kenya; unless of course you are on the coast where it seemingly remains a balmy 30+ all year round. Here in the centre the temperature is down to the low to mid teens and it rains. It rains a lot. We live in a district called Gathuki-ini: “Gathuki” comes from the latin word for mud, and “ini” meaning more mud. All this is playing havoc with my mountain training.
However I do have 3 full and free weeks ahead of me to get into peak condition (!) as last Thursday we broke up and all the children have drifted off home. I recall the days we broke up as a mix of excitement and loss. The sense of unbridled delight at the infinite expanse of freedom that stretched before you was tempered only by the sense of completion, of something coming to an end,… for me sadness at the thought of friends you wouldn't see for the summer or or indeed again. One of my best friends at school was Melissa Lloyd, I have not seen her since we left school in the 5th year. I wonder if the children here feel the same way. Is that “last day at school” feeling universal? Is it the same the world over?
Finally:
i. You may have heard we have a referendum this week…if it all kicks off, you certainly will hear of it. On the 4th August is the national vote on the proposed new constitution. We are hoping for the best but fearing the worse. Recent experience (post election violence in 2007) is still fresh in the minds and tensions are quite high. I’m off to hide in the forests of Kakamega until it all blows over.
ii. The 18th International Aids Conference in Vienna has asked countries to consider a ‘no-sex-month’. Kenya is considering it as a less inexpensive method to slow down the spread of HIV and maintain the current momentum which has seen a drop in new infections. Researchers argue that, since newly infected people have the highest transmission rates to their partners, an abstinence period would disrupt the infection chain.
iii. Kenyan firms are apparently making a killing from the piracy plaguing the Indian ocean and the seas around the horn of Africa. Kenyan law firms, security-, aviation- and shipping companies have found a lucrative business acting as the links between the pirates and the representatives of hijacked ship owners facilitating negotiations and payments.
iv. The price of tea at the Famous Cafe in Murang’a has gone up 50%! (10 to 15 shillings)
v. James’ prayer before dinner this evening was particularly memorable. It went like this: “Lord thank you for the food we are about to partake, may it feed our bodies and minds to do your bidding. Thank you for the day, thank you for taking Matt to Murang’a and back and thank you for our football match, although it ended in disarray when the opposition disputed our second goal…Amen”. I couldn’t prevent myself laughing out load.
Love to all,
M
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