5/13/19
First day in Kenya! We drove to Marsabit to do some shopping for our upcoming camping. On the way we saw some baboons, grant's gazelles, and 3 ostriches. The road went through acacia bush, desert, and past some old volcanic activity. The from Moyale to Archers Post use to be super dangerous with Somali shifta and just really bad road conditions. But the Kenyan government worked hard to get rid of the Somali shifta (part of the reason the Somalis are know to enact terror attacks on Kenya), and they recently re-paved the road to make a smooth and beautiful road, so now the road is as safe as all the rest. In previous years, dragoman had taken two armed military men with them for that road, but it is no longer needed. There were multiple police security checkpoints along the way. At one of them the policeman said, "Who are the Americans?". And I thought there might be some issue with us, or they'd want a bribe from us, but instead he said "You can thank Kenya for Obama!", and he gave us a big handshake.
We stayed the night at a Samburu tribe village. The Samburu still dress in their traditional way, and it is quite similar to what you think of when you think of the Maasai warriors. They welcomed us with some dancing and demonstrated how they start a fire with just a stick and donkey dung. We played some soccer with the kids and also tossed the frisbee around. Some in our dragoman group stayed in huts with the Samburu, but Elisha and I stayed in our tent.
This Samburu village was the village near to Samburu National Park that a Colorado State University reseacher has a wildlife ecology project it. The CSU researchers had taught the Samburu women how to make bead bracelets with the Colorado Flag. I had bought one several years ago when Elisha, Pat, Eric, and I visited while we were working at Mpala Research Centre. It last many years, but recently broke, so I was excited to find these, and I bought a few.
In the evening, the Samburu made a delicious chapati and stew meal, then we all joined in dancing. We learned that the higher you jump in the dance, the more attractive to the ladies you are. They gave us a lecture on their culture. You can have as many wives as you can afford. The dowry is usually 12 cows, but with recent droughts, it is now 8 cows. Both men and women are circumcised around the age of 15. For boys, it's a rite of passage to become a man. They circumcise the women because while the young men are out during their warrior years (20's), they found the women were having lesbian relationships to pleasure themselves while the men were out, so they started cirumcising to lower their libido. At night we sat around the fire and had Tuskers. At sunset we could see Mt. Kenya in the distance.
5/14/19
A beautiful sunrise in the village, especially with Mount Kenya lighting up.
We did a game drive, in Xara, within Samburu National Park. We saw tons of elephants, some giraffes, dik-diks, grevy's zebra, gerenuck, waterbuck, warthogs, gazelles, impala, and ostriches. During the game drive, we got to sit on the roof seats of Xara, which was fun.
We camped at a beautiful campsite along the river, under huge shade trees. During the afternoon rest time, we visited the fancy Samburu Lodge--a short walk along the river from our camp--to relax and read. In the afternoon we went on another game drive, seeing many more elephants and giraffes. Also a lion! In the evening we sat by the fire and made a tasty pasta dish, and then played Fish Bowl. We also watched elephants and giraffes across the river from us. Baboons and vervet monkeys were of course a nuisance around camp--trying to get into the vehicles and steal food.
5/15
Early morning game drive through Buffalo Springs Nature Reserve. There weren't as many animals, but still saw the usual. Quite a lot of Beisa Oryx. There were beautiful and clear views of Mt. Kenya on our way to Nanyuki. Nanyuki is the town near to Mpala Research Centre where we used to go for supplies, so as we were driving towards Nanyuki, it felt like coming home! We stopped to shop at what used to be Nakumat supermarket (where we used to do all our shopping during the Mpala Days), but now called Choppies. After being in Ethiopia, it did feel nice to have a supermarket with some familiar items. We then went to Dormann's coffee shop, a Mpala favorite, for a milkshake.
We camped at Bantu Lodge on the slopes of Mount Kenya. It's a really nice campsite with wood-heated showers. Of course there was the usual bold baboons around. There were also some really cute Syke monkeys (aka Blue Monkeys), which have owl-like faces.
For lunch, I took Elisha for a birthday lunch to Trout Tree restaurant. It's a trout farm with a lovely tree-house restaurant. It's such a cool place, and we got delicious meals. I had a filet steak and Elisha had a steak kebab. It's cheap by American standards, but expensive by Kenyan ($12 USD for the steak). Around the restaurant and the tree-house, cute little black and white colobus monkeys swing around in the trees and joined us for lunch. There were also tree hyraxes around. We then walked the 2km back to our camp.
The camp had a large model of Mountain Kenya, and we went to check it out, and to "climb" it. While we were there, Elisha put a bug in my ear about climbing. Of course I had wanted to, but this made me enquire about it. The price was higher than I wanted, but I was so excited, and did some major bartering. After much rumination, I decided to do it! I had looked at Mount Kenya almost every day from Mpala back during my 6 months there, and had always wanted to climb it. Towards the end of my stay at Mpala, when I might have been able to do it, I tore my MCL, so I wasn't able to go with the group that went. Also Mount Kenya plays a major role in my research because it creates the rain shadow that I used as one of my variables for my Master's Thesis. Dinner was a yummy beef curry that we cooked. That night we sat around the fire playing games and drinking Tuskers.
First day in Kenya! We drove to Marsabit to do some shopping for our upcoming camping. On the way we saw some baboons, grant's gazelles, and 3 ostriches. The road went through acacia bush, desert, and past some old volcanic activity. The from Moyale to Archers Post use to be super dangerous with Somali shifta and just really bad road conditions. But the Kenyan government worked hard to get rid of the Somali shifta (part of the reason the Somalis are know to enact terror attacks on Kenya), and they recently re-paved the road to make a smooth and beautiful road, so now the road is as safe as all the rest. In previous years, dragoman had taken two armed military men with them for that road, but it is no longer needed. There were multiple police security checkpoints along the way. At one of them the policeman said, "Who are the Americans?". And I thought there might be some issue with us, or they'd want a bribe from us, but instead he said "You can thank Kenya for Obama!", and he gave us a big handshake.
We stayed the night at a Samburu tribe village. The Samburu still dress in their traditional way, and it is quite similar to what you think of when you think of the Maasai warriors. They welcomed us with some dancing and demonstrated how they start a fire with just a stick and donkey dung. We played some soccer with the kids and also tossed the frisbee around. Some in our dragoman group stayed in huts with the Samburu, but Elisha and I stayed in our tent.
This Samburu village was the village near to Samburu National Park that a Colorado State University reseacher has a wildlife ecology project it. The CSU researchers had taught the Samburu women how to make bead bracelets with the Colorado Flag. I had bought one several years ago when Elisha, Pat, Eric, and I visited while we were working at Mpala Research Centre. It last many years, but recently broke, so I was excited to find these, and I bought a few.
In the evening, the Samburu made a delicious chapati and stew meal, then we all joined in dancing. We learned that the higher you jump in the dance, the more attractive to the ladies you are. They gave us a lecture on their culture. You can have as many wives as you can afford. The dowry is usually 12 cows, but with recent droughts, it is now 8 cows. Both men and women are circumcised around the age of 15. For boys, it's a rite of passage to become a man. They circumcise the women because while the young men are out during their warrior years (20's), they found the women were having lesbian relationships to pleasure themselves while the men were out, so they started cirumcising to lower their libido. At night we sat around the fire and had Tuskers. At sunset we could see Mt. Kenya in the distance.
5/14/19
A beautiful sunrise in the village, especially with Mount Kenya lighting up.
We did a game drive, in Xara, within Samburu National Park. We saw tons of elephants, some giraffes, dik-diks, grevy's zebra, gerenuck, waterbuck, warthogs, gazelles, impala, and ostriches. During the game drive, we got to sit on the roof seats of Xara, which was fun.
We camped at a beautiful campsite along the river, under huge shade trees. During the afternoon rest time, we visited the fancy Samburu Lodge--a short walk along the river from our camp--to relax and read. In the afternoon we went on another game drive, seeing many more elephants and giraffes. Also a lion! In the evening we sat by the fire and made a tasty pasta dish, and then played Fish Bowl. We also watched elephants and giraffes across the river from us. Baboons and vervet monkeys were of course a nuisance around camp--trying to get into the vehicles and steal food.
5/15
Early morning game drive through Buffalo Springs Nature Reserve. There weren't as many animals, but still saw the usual. Quite a lot of Beisa Oryx. There were beautiful and clear views of Mt. Kenya on our way to Nanyuki. Nanyuki is the town near to Mpala Research Centre where we used to go for supplies, so as we were driving towards Nanyuki, it felt like coming home! We stopped to shop at what used to be Nakumat supermarket (where we used to do all our shopping during the Mpala Days), but now called Choppies. After being in Ethiopia, it did feel nice to have a supermarket with some familiar items. We then went to Dormann's coffee shop, a Mpala favorite, for a milkshake.
We camped at Bantu Lodge on the slopes of Mount Kenya. It's a really nice campsite with wood-heated showers. Of course there was the usual bold baboons around. There were also some really cute Syke monkeys (aka Blue Monkeys), which have owl-like faces.
For lunch, I took Elisha for a birthday lunch to Trout Tree restaurant. It's a trout farm with a lovely tree-house restaurant. It's such a cool place, and we got delicious meals. I had a filet steak and Elisha had a steak kebab. It's cheap by American standards, but expensive by Kenyan ($12 USD for the steak). Around the restaurant and the tree-house, cute little black and white colobus monkeys swing around in the trees and joined us for lunch. There were also tree hyraxes around. We then walked the 2km back to our camp.
The camp had a large model of Mountain Kenya, and we went to check it out, and to "climb" it. While we were there, Elisha put a bug in my ear about climbing. Of course I had wanted to, but this made me enquire about it. The price was higher than I wanted, but I was so excited, and did some major bartering. After much rumination, I decided to do it! I had looked at Mount Kenya almost every day from Mpala back during my 6 months there, and had always wanted to climb it. Towards the end of my stay at Mpala, when I might have been able to do it, I tore my MCL, so I wasn't able to go with the group that went. Also Mount Kenya plays a major role in my research because it creates the rain shadow that I used as one of my variables for my Master's Thesis. Dinner was a yummy beef curry that we cooked. That night we sat around the fire playing games and drinking Tuskers.
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