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