Hi
everyone!
This week
we left for KENYA!!! I am currently in this beautiful country and will be here
for about another week. Here are all of the exciting things I have done this
first week:
On Monday
we left early in the morning – 6am! – to commence the 10-hour drive from Moyo
Hill to Kilimanjaro Bush Camp in Kenya. We stopped at a fancy store/market
where I bought a huge brownie and was really tempted to buy strawberries since
I haven’t seen them in two months. I think going here was an example of reverse
culture shock! There was a nice of view of Mt. Meru from this store, and as the
drive continued, I was able to see the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro far in the
distance (and I couldn’t wipe the smile off of my face)! Around Moshi was our “swap”
location. After waiting for a little while the Kenya SFS students showed up,
and we talked to them for about a half an hour before we swapped cars and went
with the Kenya staff. There are only 11 Kenya students to our 26, and similarly
there is only 1 guy in their group to the 4 guys in my group (I guess females
are more likely to be conservationists). We (the guys) talked to Connor (the
Kenya male student) and asked him what it was like being the only dude and also
about sports – specifically the upcoming March Madness tournament. He seemed
like a really cool guy and I’m excited to hang out with him again when we
reconvene in Arusha for our free “city” weekend post-Kenya. After the swap we
drove through Moshi towards the border. It was very nice and nostalgic to see
the town where I stayed before/after my Kili hike! Once we got to the
Kenya-Tanzania border, it took FOREVER to get through customs/paperwork: about
three hours! Finally, we drove about a half hour to the camp in the dark, where
my vehicle jammed out to a ton of music. Upon arrival, we met all of the staff –
they were so warm and friendly, especially the camp director Dr. Okello! Besides
all of these new faces, we also had three of our own Tanzania staff make the trip
with us: Michael (a driver), Mansuerta (a cook) and Patricia (a cook) – all of
which I love! Dinner was also amazing, including CHEESE (man I missed cheese)
and mango juice which Dr. Okello poured for all of us himself! He called all of
us guys “the bearded ones” and said to my face that “mango juice will make your
red beard more lush” LOL!!! The bandas (rooms) that we are staying in are
different from the ones in Tanzania. Specifically, there are four beds per
banda not in bunk-bed style, meaning that the four wavulana (boys) could room
together! There is also no outlets in the bandas, but there are in the large
chumba (room) where we eat and have classes. The campus, Kilimanjaro Bush Camp,
is newly renovated since the Kenya program just reopened this year after a few
year hiatus. The actual campus is much larger than Moyo Hill, with a running
track, soccer field, volleyball court and some gazebos within the facility,
which is surrounded by an electric fence. Not to mention, it has a STUNNING
view of Mt. Kilimanjaro…a view that I missed more than I realized.
 |
| View of the bandas and gazebos at Kilimanjaro Bush Camp, Kenya |
On
Tuesday we had orientation and a tour in the morning led by Becky, followed by
a lecture on the Amboseli ecosystem by Dr. Okello. I cannot emphasize enough
how kind this man is! He was the former camp director in Tanzania, has hired
many of the current Tanzania staff, and has given lectures around the world! One
thing that is different between Tanzania and Kenya is that English is spoken
much more frequently here, as it (along with Swahili) is considered one of
Kenya’s national languages. Later in the day I played some football in the heat
(it’s much hotter here than in Tanzania) and visited the local market in Kimana
with everybody. Following this, I took a nap before dinner, and saw some bush
babies (a type of small primate) as the sun set!!! After dinner we went on a
night hike around campus with Dr. Kioko, who used to teach at Moyo Hill just
last year before switching to the Kenya program (he did what Dr. Theisinger
does).
On
Wednesday, I had cook crew so had to get up early for breakfast. Today we went to
Kimana sanctuary, a community-run conservation area, where we did some animal
counts with the picturesque view of Kili in the background. Afterwards I tried
to read before lunch to no avail (I have read maybe 30 pages of this one book since
I’ve been in Africa lol). In the afternoon I played soccer (world cup) and
football on the soccer field for at least two and a half hours before going on a
small run around campus!!! I had so much fun but was filthy and exhausted by
the end. A cold shower afterwards revealed that my skin was actually white and
not brown – that’s how dirty I was! After dinner and cook crew we watched a
documentary on the projector about elephant poaching in Tanzania and Kenya and
efforts being done to fight the poachers. Finally, before going to bed I packed
for Amboseli National Park – our first expedition/camping trip while in Kenya!
Amboseli
Expedition
Day 1:
On our
first day of the expedition we woke up early and drove to the Amboseli National
Park gate. Upon arriving, we started a game drive where we practiced identifying
birds for our field exercise tomorrow. During this I spent very little time IDing
and lots of time looking at wildlife and Mt. Kilimanjaro. We saw a herd of
elephants crossing the road, drove past a creepy abandoned lodge and saw so
many dust devils (looking out at the landscape you could see one at any given
minute). There was a spot where Kili was covered by palm trees in the foreground
and it looked like something out of Jurassic Park! One aspect of Amboseli that
I liked is that the elephants are very comfortable around people and would walk
right in front of the vehicles. One famous elephant (that I only saw from far
away) was Tim: a 49-year-old male with tusks that almost touched the ground! He
is a “Presidential animal” who is monitored by guards who provide updates every
30 minutes (the President of Kenya is also given updates regularly) - this is
in an effort to protect him from poachers. We had lunch at an observation point
on a hill followed by a long lecture on the wildlife/terrain of the area. Then,
we had a game drive around Amboseli where we saw the prevalent buffalo,
elephants and hippos that eat in the deep, swampy regions of the park. There
was also a lion that walked right up to some wildebeest but did nothing! At
camp that night we spotted a spitting cobra about 10 feet away – they can “spit/shoot”
their venom up to 10 feet!!! This added an element of fear around camp but it
was still very neat to experience. I was Mawnafunzi of the Day today so for my
presentation I taught everyone how to march like a member of the Blue Band.
Everyone seemed to have a good time and I’m glad that they liked it! Before
going to bed I played code names and bananagrams…
Day 2
Not only
does the park have nice views of Kili, but so does our camp! This morning we did
our bird identification exercise in the morning. I am personally not good when
it comes to birds but I was able to learn a lot from the other students in my
vehicle who were knowledgeable about them. We then returned to camp before
lunch and had a lecture/talk by an Amboseli warden who told us about park
initiatives and responsibilities of the staff. Amboseli is one of the only national parks that allows locals to enter to have their livestock graze due to the high
availability of water (runoff from Kili). After lunch we had a lecture on land
tenure and policy by Dr. Borona, one of the SFS Kenya professors. Her lecture
was very interesting and made me realize that people/communities are just as important
as wildlife when considering conservation. We then had another game drive. Off
in the distance Kili was completely covered by some ominous black clouds…this
combined with numerous dust devils blazing in the sun made the park look like
some unreal scene from a movie. It never did rain on us, but we were drenched
with lots of wildlife spottings! I saw a serval for the first time (a type of
cat), a dead hippo in the water, a hyena nursing her two 8-month old pups (so
cute!) and elephants eating at sunset. Speaking of sunset: it was INCREDIBLE. I
took too many pictures to count! On the way back to camp I then saw my second
serval in the same day! Because of being so far away for the sunset, we had to
speed back to camp in the dark since we were (illegally) out past 7pm. This was
so much fun and standing with the breeze in my face as darkness covered the
landscape made me feel like a little kid – I couldn’t stop smiling! Back at
camp I tried to take a shower before bed. Key word: try. The shower head didn’t
work so I took my “shower” using the faucet that was about one foot off of the
ground.
Day 3:
Today we
woke up at 5am for a sunrise hike up to the observation point where we had lunch on
day one. We raced the sun in our vehicles and I sprinted up to the top of the
observation point to get some decent pictures and a time lapse video. The
sunrise was very nice and I was able to look upon it and Mt. Kilimanjaro while
eating my packed breakfast. We then went on a small morning game drive where we
saw lions AND an oryx which is a very rare ungulate species. Some students also
saw some cheetahs but they were practically invisible in the tall grass by the
time my vehicle got to their location. We also saw a giraffe that ran
unbelievably fast (for a giraffe) when our vehicle approached it. We then
returned to camp where camp was packed up and we drove to a lodge where we were
treated to a buffet lunch and swimming! The food was once again AMAZING and I
loaded up on all of the delectable treats (and two heaping slices of chocolate
cake). At the pool I got burned pretty badly – the sun in Kenya is vicious – before
heading back to camp and relaxing.
.
.
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On Sunday,
our free day, I went on a hike in the morning. We met up with some armed
rangers and drove to this agricultural area where we started. After about 15
minutes our hike became very steep with a loose dirt trail that we basically
had to bushwhack through. This led to a stream that consisted of Kilimanjaro
runoff water! We followed this stream to a stunning waterfall and cliff area.
It was here that we all stuck our feet in the water – it was so crystal clear
and cold after all. However, things didn’t stop here. Evan and I decided to
jump into the water and go underneath the waterfall, because why not?!? The only
problem is that we did this in our regular clothes (I was wearing white cargo
shorts lol) so we had to walk back soaking wet and near-hypothermic (near-hypothermic
in Kenya is something I thought I’d never say) but it was SOOO worth it and so
much fun. We actually got everybody (including Becky) to get in the water with
us and as we all dried, we also swung on this huge vine hanging from the cliff.
Overall this morning was a 10/10. Once back at camp I mostly relaxed and got
some miscellaneous work done as well as set up one of the soccer nets at the
field on campus. During dinner there was an earthquake which was later
discovered to be 4.8 in magnitude and originated nearby!!! I spent the evening
doing my regular activities (typing this blog, calling and Nascar) and packing
for our next expedition which starts tomorrow…we’ll be in Tsavo and Chyulu Hills
National Parks before spending next weekend in the city of Arusha. It’ll be
another busy week but I am excited and grateful for all of these experiences I
am having!
Thanks for reading!
-Matt
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