Hippos and Hell's Gate

Woke up early and headed out onto Lake Naivasha in three boats to look for some hippos.
I had a great boat, (Tom, Marino, Quinn, Maggie H, and Anu,) and despite our loss in the faux race back to camp, I contend we were still the best boat. Anyway, we saw lots of birds, including the pelicans below and a couple of fish eagles, but the highlight were the hippos. We couldn't get that close (hence the lack of pics), but saw lots of fat hippo bodies, half submerged in the water. And we got a good open mouth yawn at one point.

Then it was back to Fisherman's for a good breakfast and to get ready for the ride into Hell's Gate. Tough to beat Hell's Gate on bike and foot for your first safari experience. I headed out with the first few guys, and our ride to the park entrance (3 miles) was pretty uneventful once Tom figured out how to shift his gears. The fireworks came in the middle group, when Anu took a spill trying to avoid a speed bumb in the road, and then while Q was stopped and helping her, Ted sped up on them without paying attention and the combination of a quick hard brake and the speed bump sent him flying over his handlebars. Miraculously, he was fine, and eventually everyone made it to the entrance ...

though Quinn walked the last few hundred yards.

The ride through the park was again terrific, with tons of zebra, gazelle, and baboons, with the ocasional warthog and giraffe thrown in.

The first giraffes were 50 yards or so off the road, but the guide let the group walk off the road towards them. Not suprisingly, the giraffe's wanted nothing to do with the humans, but there was a great giraffe sighting later, so it wasn't a big deal. We all arrived at the end of the road, grabbed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch (the assemble line sandwich making was definately the way to go, and not just because I didn't thave to make any), and started the hike through the gorge.

The hike was spectacular, as we walked down into a slot canyon and followed it until its bizarre and rather abrupt ending. Lots of small climbs up and down dry (or not so dry) waterfalls, and thanks to Marino and Luke for assisting some of us older, or at least less flexible folk.

Kids had a great time on the hike, running up ahead, finding the paths of greatest resistance, jumping off of things that haven't seemed fun to jump off of in 15 years, but were probably lots of fun when I was their age. We got delayed on one of those waterfalls because there was a group of Kenyan high school kids heading in the opposite direction and they not only went first, but then wanted pictures with a bunch of our Mzungu girls. But eventually we made it out and got back on the bikes to head back.

We had a great giraffe sighting on the way back, right next to the road. And try as Quinn and Scott did to chase them away so nobody else would get to see them (a low point for those two), the giraffes remained there for all of us to see.

All in all, a terrific day in the park. One more night of deliscious pizzas at Fisherman's and then off to Eli's village near Kisimu tomorrow morning.

Day 3 - Treehouse, Acrobats, and to Fishermans

The morning was spent at a place called the Treehouse, a multi-purpose and mutli-discipline art center in another of Nairobi's slums. The Treehouse provides a place for artists and musicians of all kinds to practice their craft, but it apparently also has a program for bringing in street children and training them as artists, musicians, and acrobats both to get the off the street and out of trouble and so that they have a way to support themselves in their lives.

While we were there, however, there was no sign of any street kids. Anyway, the girls spent some time making beaded bracelets while the boys, Q and me included, walked through the Gikomba second hand market with a few of the artists. The market is one of those sprawling places, with individual stalls selling anything and everything taking up acres and acres of space. Much of the market was second hand clothes and shoes sent no doubt from the US, cleaned and "reconditioned" right there in Nairobi, and then sold for cheap in the market. Zack got pickpocketed while walking through, which was a bummer. We returned to the Treehouse for an impromptu African Drum Circle, in which all of the guys managed to stay somewhat on beat. Monie got to play the part of amateur rock star, and Marino played guitar along with us.

In the late morning, we drove to a juggling workshop that was put on by ---- for Kenyan acrobats, all of whom are amazing at their Cirque de Soleil style show, bt have no idea how to juggle. So we did some juggling (some of us better than others) but the highlight was the acrobat show and then talking with some of the performers afterwards. These are guys who learned their trade by practicing in the massive garbage piles that line the streets outside of the slum. Hoping Marino will post the video he got of the show because it was terrific.

From there, we drove to Fisherman's Camp on the shores of Lave Naivasha. The drive is beautiful, especially as you look out over the Rift Valley, before dropping down into the great scar that runs from Malawi to Jordan.

We had our first purchases of the trip en route, as a few of the kids ignored our advice and bought spears and other stuff from the roadside market. Fisherman's is a beautiful spot, with amazing Aacia trees everywhere, with the Black and White Colubus monkeys overhead, and the lake shores right there ... better even than I remembered from 6 years ago when Q, Kate, Marty S. and I stayed there. An evening of great food (brick over pizza!) preceded my best night sleep of the trp to date (the absence of the Nairobi guard dogs helped). Oh, and I got this amazing picture of a bug (or two bugs?) on Monie's bag during dinner.

Naturally, the girls had better accomadations than the boys, but the boys were great about it. And the hippos kindly came up on shore to graze in the evening, so we got to see them with the use of the security guard's flashlight. I love hippos ... my favorite animal by far. Fat and lazy, but strong enough that no other animals mess with them.

Kibera

Day 2 was spent in Kibera, the largest slum in Sub Saharan Africa, where close to 1.5 million Kenyans live in crowded tin shacks, haphazardly constructed among piles of trash and rivers of sewage that line the mud streets. And yet among these apalling conditions, we visited two amazing places; the Laini Saba School and the Leo Toto AIDS clinic.

As was the case with virtually everywhere we have been, we were met with odd looks from the adults in Kibera, but with enthusiasm, interest, and a never-ending chorus of "How are you" from the kids. We arrived at the school after a short walk through the muddy streets and across the train track that splits Kibera. The school sits on high ground and thus affords a good view of the endless rusted tin roofs of Kibera. Yesterday, we learned that little Kenyan kids love seeing themselves on camera; today we learned that little Kenyan kids love to be picked up and held, swung, or even thrown in the air.

This was a lesson that Maggie H. learned better than anybody, as she spent most of the rest of the trip with a Kenyan child or baby in her arms.

Anyway, the time at the school was split between playing with the kids during their recess, helping serve lunch, and watching a few classes. Scott was again a hit with the frisbee, and Marino's basic magic tricks made him a celebrity among the kids. Ted, Q, Maggie, Quinn, Tom, Scott, and others helped serve lunch to the kids.

The school is a pretty special place, providing an education for kids who otherwise would have none. The Kenyan government supposedly provides free education to all of its citizens, but the reality is that the government's contributions pay for only a portion of the education expenses, and therefore virtually every school has school fees that a family must pay for their child to attend school. And while Laini Saba has school fees too, they are minimal, and are often waved for families who simply have nothing to pay. But the school provides kids with more than just their education; it is a safe haven from the incredible struggles that exist outside its gates, and it also provides kids with two meals (breakfast and lunch) each day. Given the poverty in which these kids live, these are often their only meals of the day.

After lunch, we split up into three groups, each with its own translator/guide and made out way across Kibera to the Leo Toto (Swahili for "to raise a child") Children's HIV Center, a clinic/organization that provides care and medicine to 500 children living with HIV/AIDS in Kibera. Along the way, each group stopped at 4-5 "homes" of Leo Toto families and had the chance to learn about and talk with the adults caring for the kids. Sometimes those adults were their parents, but often they were other family members caring for kids whose parents had died of AIDS. This was the single most memorable experience of the trip for me, as we learned aobut life and struggle from the people on the furthest fringes of society. Cramming as many as 8 people in a 1 room tin shack, utilizing the flying toilet" (when you crap in a plastic bag and literally throw it out of your door) for "sanitation," struggling to find casual work each day, hoping to make as little as $.50 just so you can buy something for you and your family to eat, praying that the rains don't turn your "street" into a see of mud and garbage. Our guide was one of three social workers at Leo Toto. She had a caseload of 168 kids, and in addition to the kids, she helped the parents (who almost always were HIV positive) find work, buy food, or simply deal with their illness. It was an amazing experience, and it was capped off by a talk from the director of the Leo Toto Center about some of the difficuties of working with the HIV positive population in Kibera.

An exhausting day overall, but a memorable one.

Kenya Day 1 - Nairobi

Arrived at Upper Hill Campsite late last night and thankfully, Jesse had kept the kitchen open for us so we were able to get somthing to eat before hitting the sack. The flights had been pretty easy, and the pickup at the airport was smooth. Amazing that we got 32 50lb bags from Blairstown to Kenya without incident. The boys and girls were each in seperate dorm rooms, with Monie in a single, self contained hut, and Q and in sharing a permanent tent. Not a bad setup, save for the late night barking of various guard dogs in the area. Shockingly, it was the girls and not the boys who got yelled at first. I think Jesse's quote was something like, "I've got 30 other guests here so you need to shut up. And stop breaking my shit!"

Anyway, breakfast was good and we got an early start heading to Muthare slum on the other side of Nairobi. Lots of Biden induced traffic, so the going was slow, really slow, but we eventually made it to the Mercy Care Primary and Secondary School. After milling around, blowing up soccer balls, and experiencing our first of millions of "How are you?" chants, we headed to an athletic complex that we had rented out for the day with the secondary school kids. The first few hours there were spent playing various games: Q, Zack, Ted, and I teamed with a Kenyan guy to play basketball against 5 other Kenyans, and Scott, Quinn, and Tom were part of this 1/2 mile race.

Also, lots of learning how to throw a frisbee with Scott and others, and of course, there were two football games, one for the girls and the other for the boys.

Our boys teamed with some club players to take on the serious Mercy Care Squad. It only took Tom about 5 minutes to ditch his sambas in favor of the african way ... barefoot. I think Luke got our first goal.

The games were a good way to start, but it wasn't until after the games, and after a few words from Q and their Headmaster that the kids started to feel comfortable with their Kenyan counterparts. After that, the ice was broken and conversation flowed.

The walk back was filled with questions and converstation, and that portion of the day ended with email address exchanges and promised of future Facebook friendships.

After lunch (a lunch that our kids had touble stomaching) we played with the elementary school kids for an hour or so. They are facinated with the digital cameras, and loved nothing more than having their pictures taken and then swarming Ally or whoever had taken the pic to see themselves on the tiny screen. In the midst of the Mzungu (White person in Swahili) inspired chaos, an amazing choral teacher rehearsed with his choir.

We headed back to Upper Hill in the late afternoon, and because of Biden's visit, the traffic was outrageous. Monie and I actually got out and walked alongside of the van for a while just to stretch. All in all though it was a great day.

Off to Kenya

Leaving here in about an hour. We've got 32 50lb bags filled with old clothes, shoes, basketballs, and soccer balls to distribute over there.
Can't wait.
Will try to update this as we go.