I spent most of my time in Jinja relaxing. (I never ended up going white water rafting. After seeing the video I thought it looked a bit too scary for a first timer like me!) I did go on a cool Village Walk. We got to see how the local people really live and got to met a lot of sweet children. It was pretty cool camping right by the source of the
Nile!

 

 The next day we had a 13 hour drive! Boy was that ever long! The highlight of the day was warm showers and an awesome meal in the camps bar. (We got in too late to cook our own dinners, so there is a perk to driving all day long!)

 

The next day we headed to Naivasha. We did a walking safari to
Crater Lake and it was really cool. We got to within about 15 feet of giraffes. Walking safaris are really neat because it feels like your part of nature, instead of whizzing by in the truck. We had a nice hike around the lake and a good boat ride. (The only problem was that on the boat ride back we got totally soaked and then were supposed to go straight to high tea at Joy Adamson’s house.)

 

Joy Adamson is the woman famous for “Born Free” and all of her conservation of lions and African animals. She was killed about 15 years ago by poachers but they have transformed her former house into a museum. It was pretty cool.

We went back to Nairobi for a night than it was out to the Maasai Mara. The Maasai Mara is basically the best game park in Kenya. It is known for having tons of lions. The Mara did not disappoint! We saw so many animals that it was unbelievable. We saw at least 6 different groups of lion families eating wildebeest and buffalo. Plus we were lucky enough to see both leopards and cheetahs (which are really hard to spot). We saw about 30 other animals too! It was an amazing experience!

 

Tomorrow we leave for Tanzania and the Serengeti!

I have joined my Bukima tour and things are going very well! So far we have had to do a ton of driving (and on really crappy roads, so it’s slow going). My group is really nice. Everyone is basically in their 20’s or early 30’s and most of them are from England or Austraila. There are 3 couples and the rest of us are single girls.

So far the highlights of the trip have been Lake Nakuru National Park, an amazing campsite in Eldoret, and hanging out at Lake Bunyoni in Uganda. At Lake Nakuru we saw white rhinos, black rhinos, lions, giraffes, zebras, impalas, gazelles, etc. We camped in the National Park and there was no fence around our campsite, so it was a bit scary. (She told us that lions and buffalos have been known to walk in between the tents.)

We are traveling really fast because we need to be in Rwanda for our gorilla trek on the 9th. (I’m excited that we get to go to Rwanda it wasn’t on the inital itinerary, so I’ll be going to 10 countries on this trip.)

The truck is pretty nice and comfrotable. And we have been eating really well. We have 3 huge meals everyday. Breakfast is ushually cereal, fruit, yogurt, eggs, and sausage. For Lunch we have good salads and sandwiches with tons of veggies, and for dinner we have had alot of yummy things like steak, chicken, pasta etc.

Today, we got to chill on Lake Bunyoni in the southwestern corner of Uganda. It is a beautiful lake! We took dugout canoes and paddled around to some of the islands. (The dugout is literally a tree trunk that they have carved the middle out of.)

I’m having a great time, but won’t be able to post much since the Internet is really crappy and unreliable here.

Well, my second week in Lamu basically went by like the first.  I spent most of my time resting, relaxing, sunbathing, reading, swimming, drinking fresh fruit juice, eating awesome seafood, and talking to all the locals. 

One amazing thing happened: I was able to rent a whole beach house (more like mansion)  right on the ocean in Shella (the little beach town 3 kilometers away from Lamu Town).  I stayed in a 3+ bedroom with my own personal house boy (servant) whole did all the cooking, cleaning, and laundry.  I felt like an African princess or something.  The best part about the whole house was the master bedroom and bathroom. It took up the whole 3rd floor of the house and was completely open air.  (There was a thatched roof covering most of it and some walls, but there wasn’t any glass in the windows and I had a 360 degree view of the ocean, palm trees, and sand dunes.)  I really can’t describe how beautiful the house was, you’ll have to see the pictures. 

I also got an amazing deal on it.  Ushually it cost about $30 a night just to rent the master bedroom.  But I was friendly to all the locals and chatted with them, so I ended up making quite a few friends.  (They were all really sweet people in Lamu.  It’s a small town so the main activity of the day is sitting around and chatting with everyone passing by.)  Anyways, I was able to get the whole house for only $8.50 a night!!!  Crazy huh!  (Really I was only renting the master bedroom, but there were no other guests that week so I got to keep all of my stuff in the smaller bedrooms.) It was paradise!

I got insanely lazy while I was there!  So I don’t have too many activities to report.  I did get henna painting done on my hands.  (It’s the Indain looking painting with the ink made out of plants.)  It looks really cool.  I’ve taken some pictures so you can all see it.  (I’ve never had so many people compliment me on my hands before.  All of the Lamuians kept telling me that I looked like a Swahili bride.) 

I’m now in Nairobi. I just arrived a few hours ago, and already had a meeting with my safari group.  We leave first thing tomorrow morning for Lake Nakuru National Park.  It should be great!  (The flight from Lamu was so funny.  The “airport” is just a thatched roof with benches underneath.  There aren’t even any walls.  Plus the “security” area is a folding table with one man standing behind it.  The flight went very smoothly though, so no complaints for Air Kenya.)

Everyone can stop worrying about me.  I am having a great time in Lamu!  I’m falling more and more in love with this island everyday.  (If only there was some way I could find a job here, I’d probably stay forever.)

My boat trip to Manda Toto was incredibly! It was a group of 4 girls (Clara from Holland, Anna from NYC, Rosie from London, and me) with our crew of 4 rasta boat guys (Captain Barcary, Fishbrain (Shee), Valdorama (Omari), and Freeman. (All of the men on Lamu seemed to be named either Shee or Omari so they all go by bizarre nicknames.) The boat we went in was a traditional dhau (sp?), which is a Swahili/Indian style sail boat.  It felt like we stepped back in time when we were on it.

We left Lamu at about 10:30am and sailed for 2 hours.  Manda Toto is basically a deserted island with an awesome beach.  (There are about 4 or 5 sail boats that show up there during the day, but at night we had the whole island all to ourselves.) So we swam and sunbathed all afternoon.  Then we had a late lunch of grilled kingfish, coconut rice, veggie curry, salad, and fruit.  (It is amazing what those guys can do with a tiny wood burning grill on the the boat.)  Then we spent a few relaxing hours lounging on the boat.  (They strung a few hammocks across the boat and had a few mats to lay on.)  Basically the whole day was focused on relaxing.

That evening we had another awesome meal prepared by the guys (coconut veggie spagetti, grilled fish, and of course more tropical fruit).  They didn’t have any cups or forks on board so we ate most of the meals with our fingers, which just added to the fun craziness of the trip.  After dinner, they guys built a big bonfire on the beach.  They played their makeshift bongo drums for us (empty plastic jugs) and sang swahili songs for us.  After they ran out of swahili songs, they switched to Bob Marley (they’re rastas afterall).  It was an awesome night!  The sky was so amazing. The stars seemed close enough to touch.

Since, I had my sleeping bag I slept on the beach.  (They had a 2 man tent that Anna and Clara slept in.)  It was really nice, but there was sand blowing all over me.  Plus in the middle of the night I felt something crawl over my hand, and it turned out to be a crab.  (I sort of freaked out.)  And for the rest of the night I was on the look out for crabs.  I woke up really early and watched the sunrise over the ocean.  It was heavenly!

The next day we went out to the coral reef.  We did a bit of snorkeling.  (It wasn’t anything too spectacular.  The water was a bit murky and there weren’t many fish.)  Then we went fishing for a bit.  (They didn’t have any fishing poles, you just hold on to the fishing line and try to feel when you have a fish.  A bit too tricky for me.)

After that we went back to Manda Toto and did some more swimming and relaxing.  The guys made us another delicious lunch, and then we headed back to Lamu.  (The journey back took about 4 hours, because the wind kept blowing us into the trees while we were in the channel.)  All in all it was an awesome trip!  I wish I could have stayed out there for a week or more.

Since then, I’ve been hanging out at Shella beach, the pool at Janet House, and the beach on Manda (a island close to Lamu).  As I’ve said a hundred times, I love it here!  Everyone is so friendly and I basically know all of the locals by now.  (There are only 3,000 people that live in Lamu town.)

A few nights ago, I went on a really nice dinner cruise.  (We didn’t actually leave the harbor area, but it was fun eating on the boat.)  The same 4 guys that took me on my 2 day boat trip were hosting it, so I got a special price.  It was an awesome dinner (prawns curry with coconut rice, grilled kingfish, and crab).  Yummy!  I’m starting to really love seafood, which is very surprising.  I think it’s because it’s so fresh here.

Well, I have one more week here in paradise, and then I join up with my safari.  Don’t worry if I don’t write for a while.  The electrcity goes out nearly everyday, so the Internet is obviously unreliable.  I’m having fun, and this is a really safe place with awesome people.

Friday (the last day at school) went really well. Matt brought his guitar, and the 3 of us taught sang some songs with the kindergarteners. We didn’t really have any structured classes fot the day, so we just played and read books in the library. It was great to get to bong with the kids a bit more, but it made it even sadder to leave. At the end of the day the 7th and 8th grade girls did a little dancing and singing performance for us. It was really good and super sweet of them.

In the evening, Matt, Annabel, Kirsty, and I took Grace and Ken out for dinner. (Grace was our cook and Ken is the manager of the school.) We had a pretty good time. That night I had to say goodbye to Annabel and Matt. I really enjoyed hanging out with them. I hope we can stay in touch in the future. It will be weird not having them around, especially after we spent 24/7 together for the past 3 1/2 weeks.

I am now in paradise! (Also known as Lamu.) Lamu is a really cool little Kenyan island in the Indian Ocean. It sort of feels like a cross between Jamacia and the middle east. (Jamacia because there are tons of rasta guys here. They are all super laid back, friendly, and really nice.) And the middle east because it is a very strict muslim place. Most of the women wear those full black outfits, that only show their eyes or parts of their faces. Plus the architecture is amazing! Who knew a 80 minute plane ride would bring me to a whole new world. It is nothing like Nakuru here, thank god!!

I have basically spent the first 2 days searching for a good guest house. (If you come here Do Not follow the Lonely Planets advice and stay at Casurinas Rest House. It is a piece of crap, and they really overcharge for their rooms.) I’m staying at the Lamu Archipelago Villas. It’s an awesome hotel. I get a nice room with a big bed, my own bathroom (at the Casurina I had to share), plus a full breakfast for only $7.00 a night (500 shillings). I was able to bargain with them and get it for half price since I’m staying there for a week.

Yesterday, I walked the 3 kilometers to Shella beach and it is beautiful. It is the powdery white sand. The ocean is really warm and there is 10 kilometers of nothing but awesome beach and sand dunes.

 Really the people in Lamu make the place so special. They are all super friendly and laid back. Of course they want to sell you little things, but they also seem to genually want to talk to you and make friends.

 Today I am leaving for an over night camping/fishing/snorkeling trip to Mandi Toto Island. It is about a 2 hour boat ride from Lamu. I’m going with a few girls I met last night. (Lamu is so small that everyone is inter-related like a small town. I had actually met the girls friend, and talked to their boat captain about the trip before I even met them.) I’m throughly enjoying myself here!

I was in a really bad mood for the last few days, but I’m feeling much better now. I’m so glad Matt and Annabel are here with me. They are great people, and we really get along well. It has been a blast getting to know them. (btw Kirsty decided to stay in Kissi with a different group of volunteers. She knew that we couldn’t stand her anymore. So there has been a lot less drama around the house.) Nothing much has happened in the past few days. Just typical African things, like the bank not accepting traveler’s checks, Annabel getting some eggplant stolen out of her bag, a crappy lady at the pool screaming at me for no reason. (Just the run of the mill things for Nakuru.) I’m going to be leaving Nakuru on Saturday, and will be staying in Lamu until my safari starts on September 3rd. We all sort of feel bad about leaving, but the head of LDK made it known that he never really wanted us to come in the first place, and there have been some other issues that are too long and detailed to get into. I am not leaving with any bad feelings towards the school, but I just know that I need to go to save my sanity. Grandpa asked if I would be emailing out my pictures like before, I would love to but the Internet is so SLOW and unpredictable. It takes about 1 hour to upload 3 pictures that it isn’t really even worth it. However, I’m going to try again tonight and we’ll see how it goes.

Things are continuing on as normal here in Nakuru, but it is a lot harder for all of us to maintain positive or even neutral attitudes about the whole thing. I’ve been trying to stay positive, but Africa is just wearing me down. Matt, Annabelle, and I are having a really hard time dealing with it all. I wasn’t idealistic enough to think I would come to Africa and make some huge change, but I thought that I would see a bit of progress or improvement. Kenya doesn’t seem to be improving at all over time. It’s hard enough for them just to stay where they are. I’ve been speaking to a lot of Kenyans, and they just have a horribly corrupt system. All of the people in a position of power don’t care at all about the others. They’re just looking to make a quick buck.

The area where we are living is definitely the “slum”. It is dirty and disgusting! There aren’t any garbage trucks or even landfills to dump garbage, so the whole slum basically looks like a landfill. The roads are made entirely of garbage (mainly plastic bags), cow poop, goat poop, and other nasty things I don’t even want to think of.

Today we went on home visits for prospective new students at our school. Boy, was that an eye opener! 90% of the mothers we visited lived in tiny one room “apartments” (basically a little section of a mud storage shed that animals probably wouldn’t even be kept in, in the US). Most of them were single mothers who were trying to support themselves and their kids by selling little things on the side of the road. We could tell a lot of them were sick, most likely with AIDS (since about 50% of the people in Kenya have AIDS). I really felt like we were intruding on their lives. We had to go to their homes, speak with them (through an interpreter), ask them a bunch of personal questions, and then decide who was the most “desperate case”. Obviously, it’s great that there are organizations like LDK (Learning Development Kenya, who I’m working for) around. But the hope for the future seems a bit bleak. There aren’t any jobs for the kids once they finish school. They have no resources to get out of Nakuru or go to college. Most of the mothers send their kids to our school, just so they can get the school lunch.

Sorry, for all of the negative stuff in this posting, but I realized that I was glossing over all of the problems and the poverty. I’m really glad that I’m doing this volunteer work. I have a completely different perspective on Kenya, than I would have if I’d just done the tourist thing. But this is definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life! (That’s sort of why I think I need a little break in Lamu before I begin my safari. I need to clear my head, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to enjoy it. Plus Matt and Annabelle had already made the decision to leave, and I’m not allowed to stay by myself so I really have no choice.)

After the tears from Kirsty, and the screaming fight between her and Annabelle on Friday, Matt and I decided we needed a weekend away from the drama.  So the 2 of us went to Naivasha for the weekend.  (Naivasha has basically become my weekend home while I’m in Africa.  I’ve been there for 3 weekends in a row now.)

Nothing can ever be easy in Africa.  (It is about 1000 times harder to get around here than it was in Asia.)  So of course we couldn’t have completely smooth sailing on our weekend trip.  We both woke up really early and planned to leave by 7:30am.  It turned out that our guard had left for the day and locked us into the compound.  So we had to call the manager and sit around until about 9:00am before we were finally released from our prison-like house.

Once we got to Naivasha, we stayed at this cute colonial inn, called the La Belle Inn.  It feels like you’re back in the 1920’s or something.  We set out right away, and went to Hell’s Gate National Park.  (Mom, if you remeber that Kenyan travel show we watched, it was her first stop on the show.) We had a bit more drama getting there.  At first we wanted to hire a taxi just to drive us the 10 miles to the gate and pick us up in the late afternoon.  He tried to charge us $50+ for a ride that would normally be around $4. So we decided to catch one of the local buses.  We agreed to pay more than double the normal price, so we would drive us right up to the gate.  Unfortunately, he went back on his word and we had to walk about 2 miles from the main road to the gate.  But oh well, at least we got there.

Hell’s Gate National Park is really amazing!  The landscape is breathtaking.  Matt said that it really reminded him of the South West in America.  There were huge rocky cliffs, gorges, and sort of desert like landscape.  We rented mountain bikes, so that we could see more of the park.  The roads were pretty rough.  In some parts it was basically powdery sand with huge rocks and potholes all over.  It was a bumpy ride, but how many people can say they mountain biked with giraffes, zebras, impalas, warthogs, and gazelles.  (I guess there are even leopards, cheetas, and buffalos in there.  I’m sort of glad we didn’t see any because I would have freaked having absolutely no protection between me and the scarier animals.)

We biked about 8 killometers to the gorge area and than went hiking for a few hours.  The gorge was awesome! I guess it is sort of like the Grand Canyon was, millions of years ago.  The trail was pretty hard to navigate.  At one point we had to do some serious mountain climbing.  (There was a huge vertical rock wall blocking the trail and we had to find hand and foot holds and climb about 20 feet up to get over the wall.  Luckily we met some nice Norwegians and they helped us get up.)

After the hike, we had to get back on the mountain bikes and petal uphill the whole 8 kilometeres back.  It wasn’t too bad, but everytime a Landrover went by they would cover us with the desert dirt and sand.  I think we must have looked pretty beaten up by the time we got back.

We were extremely lucky to met a nice park ranger, who was leaving at the same time as us.  (We weren’t looking forward to trying to find transportation back to town, since it was about 10 miles away.)  He said that he was going in the other direction, but he would drive us for a while.  He ended up taking us all the way back to our hotel, and when we tried to pay him he wouldn’t accept any money.  That was one of the first Africans I’ve met who doesn’t try to take advantage of white tourists.  That experience basically made our whole day.

We took super long hot showers before dinner.  (It had been about 3 weeks since Matt had been able to have a hot shower, and about 1 week for me.) So it felt like heaven.  We had a decent dinner at the La Belle Inn, and than had a few drinks in their bar.  We ended up hanging out with some 18 and 19 year old volunteers from England and Ireland.  They were really sweet, but looked at the whole situation in Africa very naively.  They were all spending a few weeks at orphanges, so it was interesting to hear about there organizations.

The next day I woke up and had yet another fantastic shower.  Then we ate a nice breakfast at our Inn, before taking a matatu back to Nakuru.  The drive went well.  We were planning on spending the day relaxing around the house, but of course nothing can ever be that easy.  Annabelle had the keys to the gate, and she wasn’t home.  So we were locked out again!  We killed about 5 hours by going to the Internet cafe and hanging out at the Summit.  Annabelle eventually turned up with the keys, and everything was fine.

I have some good news, Kirsty decided to stay in Kissi (with another group of volunteers) for the next few days.  Matt, Annabell, and I are thrilled, since none of us can get along with her.

On Monday, we had a normal school day, but during break all of the girls decided to braid my hair.  It was so cute!  There were about 15 girls swarmed around me, inspecting my hair and scalp.  I sort of felt like a moneky.  They braided my hair into all these funky chunks, twists, and I think one girl was trying to give me dreadlocks.  (I’m hoping that one will come out okay.)

I really enjoy teaching and speaking with the Kenyan teachers, but the head of the organization is really getting on all of our nerves.  The whole program might end a bit earlier than I initally expected, so I might be spending about a week in Lamu.  (Lamu is this great little laidback island off the coast of Kenya, where they don’t have any cars.  You get around by boat and donkey.  It is supposed to have amazing beaches.  I would actually really appreciate a week of relaxation and unwinding before I begin my 70 day safari.)

I just finished up my first week of normal classes. I’m really enjoying teaching here. The kids are awesome! They still swarm around me during breaks, and ask me some really funny questions. The best one today was: “Does the sun shine in America?”

There has been quite a bit of drama in the last 24 hours. First of all, we decided to go out to dinner last night. We always stay locked in our compound like prisoners. It’s beginning to feel like we are on that tv show Big Brother. (Where some people are locked in a house with no tv, computer, music etc. Then they always end up fighting.) So we went to Taidy’s restraunt. It is supposed to be the trendiest place in Nakuru. There were a bunch of white people there and the food was pretty good. But while we were eating and talking someone came up and stole Annabelle’s and Matt’s bags from under the table. It really sucked! The restraunt people wouldn’t help at all. (Even though they employ about 15 security guards, and you have to be patted down and go through a metal detecor at the door. Still none of them saw anything. Yeah right!)

They both have travel insurance so they should be fine. But it’s just a bummer. Especially for Annabelle who had her cell phone, credit card, and camera stolen.

We had a bit more drama today from Kirsty. (I wrote in a past blog that she is a drama queen, and breaks out crying almost everyday.) Well, today was her biggest breakdown yet. The 4 of us were going to go to Kisumu for the weekend and hangout at Lake Victoria. (I was never very excited about it, because I’ll be spending about 3 days there later on with my safari, but I was willing to go along with the group.) Matt and Annabelle decided, that they couldn’t deal with Kirsty for the weekend, so they both bailed. (I can’t blame them, especially Matt who she leeches on to.) Anyways, I decided I definetly don’t want to be with her either, so I backed out. This sent her into a nervous breakdown. She cried for about 3 hours, skipped out of teaching, and had a screaming fight with Annabelle. She thinks we are all against her. I seriously think she has mental problems. I’ve never met anyone so hyper-sensitive in my life. (Yesterday, she started crying because we crossed the road, without holding her hand or something crazy like that.)

Mom, asked me about the food here. It is pretty basic. They don’t seem to have any special Kenyan dishes, besides ugali (which is just ground corn cooked to a mashed potatoe consistency). We basically eat veggies, fruit, and rice for every meal. Except breakfast where we have a fried egg and toast every morning. They have awesome mango, papaya, avacoda, and other veggies here. I’m still dealing with the warm water in a bucket way of

We started our offical classes on Tuesday. The 4 of us (Me, Matt, Annabelle, and Kirsty) are teaching kindergarten, 7th, and 8th graders. It is a summer session, so it’s optional and all of the students that are here are very motivated. (One girl even asked me to make up some really hard fraction problems, so that she could slove them during recess.) Some how it turned out that I’m teaching a lot of 7th and 8th grade math plus the basic kindergarten classes. I thought I would hate teaching math, but it is actually my favorite subject to teach. Very bizarre! There are a few things that I have no idea how to do without using a calculator though, so it’s good that there is a Kenyan teacher co-teaching with me.

My roommates and I are getting along pretty well. A bit of a catfight has erupted between Annabelle and Kirsty, because Kirsty is sort of a hard person to get along with. She is either really hyper or bursting out in tears, so we have a plenty of drama in our household.

Matt and I both got a bit sick this week. I just got a cold, but Matt has been having a lot of stomach problems. He had to go to the hospital on Tuesday morning, so they could do some blood tests. He just has some bacterial infection, so he should be better in a few days.

This weekend Kirsty and I are going to go to Lake Victoria, with some of the volunteers from Kissi. It should be a fun weekend, but I’m not looking forward to the 8 hour+ roundtrip journey on the matatus.

I’ve found a good Internet cafe, so I’ll be sending some of my pictures either this week or next week to everyone that’s interested.

A few people were asking me how the kids like all of the supplies I brought, we didn’t want to come into the school like Santa Claus and disturb everything. So we are going to give the teachers some of the supplies to use in the classes, and I made up a little reward system so that they “earn” the supplies instead of just expecting them. (They get stickers for doing their homework, helping teachers, taking care of the younger children etc. Then when they get 10 stickers they earn a prize.) They were all super excited about the whole sticker thing!

I’m actually thinking about sponsoring a child from the school. It’s about $300 dollars a year, and that pays for their food, a bit of clothes, education, etc. It seems like a better way to spend the money, instead of just buying them a bunch of material things that will get trashed in a few days.