Masai Mara (Day1)

What a day!!!

We have just got back from our first game drive, showered, and made a cup of coffee.  It is 1900 and dinner is in 1 hour.  Our driver scared us momentarily by saying the morning drive was at 0330 but hastily corrected himself with 0630!  I can deal with that.

We left home this morning just after six, when it was still dark, and the drums were already beating and Salvation Army people singing to encourage people to go to their church.  It wasn’t long before it was light: like in Australia, here it gets light and gets dark much more abruptly than in Ireland.  

An hour into our trip, as we skirted Kisumu, I said lightly to Jon “did you remember your malaria medication?” (He was diagnosed yesterday) ... surprise surprise, he did forget!  So there was a little bit of a panic while we worked out where we could find said medication at 0730 on a Sunday morning - but thankfully we found a county hospital in a place called Ahero.

After that, the drive was pretty uneventful for the next three hours or so.  We passed the equator, lots of tea plantations, tropical vegetation, and then the terrain started changing as we climbed the hills and the tea plantations turned into savannah.  Cactus and flat topped acacia began to line the roads, donkeys grazed on the side strips instead of cows and goats, and it was noticeably drier.  

The final 35km of the road to Fairmont started at a little village called Mulot.  The resort gave us a “map” which was basically an A4 page with a few random landmarks to show us how to get there from Mulot.  The first few were pretty accurate... and then it was anyone’s guess!  We passed multiple schools and villages not marked on the map, other landmarks simply weren’t there, and to add to that, the Jeep kept stalling due to the bumpiness of the road and the slowness of our pace.  Jon says it has a problem with the carburettor, in any case not being able to put it into low gears meant that the spark plugs were getting dirty and every time the engine started again we were very relieved.  The 35km took us two entire hours!

As we approached the Mara, the villages became less and less frequent (the houses were circular mud huts with grass roofs) and we began to see wild animals.  First, it was zebra, then impala and giraffes - and to our surprise, a leopard crossed the road directly in front of us!  This was especially exciting for Sarah, who has always wanted to see a leopard, and apparently out of the Big 5, the leopard is the rarest.  

At the Fairmont Mara, we were met by two staff members who took our bags and gave us damp towels to wipe our faces and hands.  We were then led into reception where we were given passion fruit juice and forms to fill in.  

Once this was done, we were told that we had thirty minutes til lunch finished and then an hour later was our first game drive!  We went straight to lunch which was a three course a la carte meal.  All meals are included in our stay - drinks are extra.  After lunch, we barely had fifteen minutes to organise ourselves to go on our game drive.

It was incredible!  We saw so much wildlife.  Let me try to list them... Thompson gazelles, impala, dikdiks (the smallest of the antelopes), topi, elands, bush bucks, water bucks, baboons, 11 giraffes, 2 hyena, leopards (again, this one a mother & cub!), 4 lions, 5 buffalo, zebra, warthogs, wildebeest... probably more but I just can’t remember them all!  

When we got back from the drive our driver wanted to know if we wanted to pay extra to visit a Masai village tomorrow.  To be honest, the answer is no!  We get plenty of time in villages and they will probably try to sell us stuff the whole time - and we don’t really want to pay more on top of what we are paying, even if we do have concession prices!  In fact, as we already have game drives (included) from 0630-0830 and 1530-1830, what we would really like to do is relax by the pool (preferably with cocktails)

Hopefully tomorrow I will get lots of really nice photos of the resort - it is pretty incredible - African but quite first world!  

At School in Kenya

Well.  Today is almost over.  At least I am now showered!  It is always a blessed relief to come home and wash off the layers of grime that cling after a day in an African school.  We had to walk home, as Jon was late in M’bale with the teachers.

 

 Having walked 50 minutes with my backpack containing my stuff plus Sarah’s laptop, a large cabbage, and 16 large bananas, I was pretty happy when Jon arrived close to the house and drove us the rest of the way!  

Manu hiding in a tea plantation 

It was a nice scenic walk back across the Kenyan countryside, with little tea plantations and mud huts (sorry, semi-permanent houses!) lining the way.

A very tidy African dwelling

Once home, I did some food prep for dinner (the aforementioned cabbage to go with leftover chilli), had a shower, and made the first batch of banana bread of the evening.  Which reminds me, I should put some water on to boil for drinking.  I am now lying on my bed in the mosquito net as one got me twice sitting on the couch and I do not like them, no I do not!

The children were... the children, today.  This morning I felt quite light headed - last night I had a terrible headache so it was probably just the tail end of that.  

Daycare kids

Spending the first half of the morning fighting to teach PP2(age5) anything at ALL was exhausting.  Especially at the beginner table that I was at!

“Write a letter n, Joshua.”

Joshua draws a P.

“No, write an n!” I demonstrate.

Joshua draws a W.

“N! N!” I take his hand holding his pencil and draw 6 ‘n’s in a row.

Joshua draws an I.

At this point I am tearing my hair out.  Finally after what seems like forever, he draws an ‘n’ correctly.

“Great!” I say.  “Now write a g!”

Joshua draws an N.

You sense my frustration?

After break, I was helping with Grades 1&2 and they were a little more responsive (the recorder lesson was hilarious!).  

Grades 1(L) and 2 (R) learning recorder

And then lunch, at which point you sit down thinking Thank The Lord A Break and five minutes after the children run into the church for their lunch (beans and rice) they all come pelting out raucously, all energy (it must be the beans) and there you go again... (with frequent calls of “Teacher!  This hit me!” And “Teacher, this will not share!”)

Alice swinging as high as she could

This afternoon, four of the African teachers went into M’bale leaving Sarah and I with the other three (Winnie, Esther and Rita)... and 100 children.  Actually maybe it was 1000 children I’m not sure, I kind of lost count.  I was assigned to PP2(age4) for art.  They had to colour a tree green (no NOT blue, Wilson!) and the trunk brown (why did you use red, Britney?) and then glue little red fruits on the tree (why did you glue the fruit below the tree, Abel?) and then draw Adam and Eve below that.  Some of the drawings vaguely looked human... most wouldn’t have been out of place in a sci-fi movie!  It is quite difficult as well when you are trying to explain something to one child while in every direction children are leaning over you, clamouring “TEACHER, TEACHER, TEACHER” at the top of their voices!

Clockwise from Top L: Gaitin, Melvin, Kent, Stephanie, two girls I’m not sure about but maybe Blessing and Precious, and Eric 

Manu climbing with Melvin watching 

Anyway, Sarah needs me to go do some more colouring reading pages, and I also need to make another batch of banana bread and finish off dinner... so that’s it, folks! 

Kenya day 1 (part 2)

Kakamega today was hot, but no hotter than I’m used to.  In fact a little cooler than recent Brisbane temps.  

Sarah looked like she was struggling a little but to be honest she doesn’t really get out walking and she is already exhausted from working so hard in the school.  All I had in my bag was Interim Dave and my water bottle so it was nice and light - until I bought a freaking massive watermelon and then it was much heavier than carrying Lily!  I took Interim Dave out for a photo on the watermelon stand and the vendor was ever so excited.  He had never seen anything like it and wanted to hold him and when I told him what it was, he kept exclaiming “Husky! Husky!  I keep!”

There is a massive funeral going on at the neighbour’s compound so it was quite interesting getting off the property.

Funerals here are massive events.  This one is running Thursday through Sunday.  They have about four marquees erected on the compound, the veggie patch has been completely destroyed to make way for charcoal fires for cooking, and the dirt road is packed with a motley assortment of vehicles, a seething mass of humanity alongside is making any travel difficult if not impossible.  The Africans will spend vast amounts of money on funerals, Jon suggested perhaps four months’ wages.  They appear to go overboard on all kinds of events such as this so no wonder the poverty is so extreme (70% unemployment).

The hardest thing in Kakamega was seeing the children.  Little boys, maybe 8 or 9, were running after us while sniffing (and even eating) glue from the glass bottles they carry.  Begging us for money that we can’t give them because they will just buy more glue.  They won’t live long, and it is terribly terribly sad.  

When the evenings come, the people just walk on the roads, or sit in front of their houses, even the children.  There is nothing for them to do, no hobbies, no toys, they just sit, they talk, and they watch the traffic go by.  

Here in the compound, the boys from Martin’s house (the pastor) come down every day hoping for food - bread, or chocolate usually.  You learn to ignore them after awhile or they will eat you out of house and home!  Today we have been visited by Kingsley (4), Vincent (K’s father, there is no mother) and Sammy and Jemo (Martin’s nephews, aka unpaid servants - the caste system here is another day’s topic entirely!)

Kenya Day 1

03/02

A rooster has been crowing since 3 this morning - it is now just after 6, and still dark, so not quite sure what planet the rooster is on.  I’m thinking winner winner chicken dinner but... 😝 you never know, it’s probably needed for a dowry or something.

Despite waking up at 3, wide awake and ready to go, I managed to go back to sleep and at least doze until now, although my back is quite stiff.  Hopefully after a couple of days of recovery from the trip it will be fine.

Sarah (and Esther) were very excited about all the stuff I brought.  Unfortunately I didn’t think to take a picture of them both sitting on the floor surrounded by the madness!  Little Kayleen (4) now has a doll, a bear and a little truck, with which I think Sarah was just trying to engage her (she is incredibly shy) but I said she could keep them.  I didn’t know she was staying here, otherwise I would have bought her a specific present!

The African culture is very different.  Kayleen is just four years old, yet her parents have sent her to live with Esther (her aunt) so that she can attend the school.  She goes to see her parents every weekend.  That, here, seems to be quite normal, while I am shocked at the idea of basically sending a four year to boarding school!  Especially one as shy and scared as this.  It reminds me of a time when my sister visited Kenya and when a family heard she couldn’t have children, they offered to gift her their two year old to take back to Ireland with her!

The house is vastly better set up than last time I was here.  What is now the living room used to be everything a year ago.  At one side there was a plastic set of table and chairs, and at the other side the fridge and stove.  That was it.  Now, they have had a couple of sofas and a real set of table and chairs built - to Jon’s specifications, and they are quite nice indeed.  Jon has built a basic kitchen in the back room, and although there aren’t any cupboard doors or anything yet, it is it’s own room with pantry, stove,benches and storage space.  

The art work in the house is all done by Sarah and Jon themselves - the picture I showed you is Jon’s contribution and on the other side of the room are two African sunsets by Sarah.  Some Masai artifacts hang in the hallway.  Although the mattresses in the bedrooms are just heavy foam, they aren’t bad to sleep on, and Jon has also now managed to build a large set of open shelves in their room so that they no longer have to live out of baskets on the floor!

Today, I really want to get a SIM card organised.  Sarah plans to sleep in as long as possible - so we probably won’t go anywhere until late morning.  The plan at this stage is to go to Kakamega which is the nearest reasonable town, and go to the markets, and Jon believes he will be able to get me a SIM there, although he may need to set it up as his not mine!  So funny.  Apparently they have very strict anti terrorism laws, or some such.  We will probably get a matatu into Kakamega which is a transit van sized bus, technically with thirteen seats but realistically crammed with over twenty people.  It gets really really tight in there!

I believe Saturday’s are also cleaning and washing days so potentially there will also be laundry etc to do.  I could do with washing my travel clothes anyway - I didn’t bring very much!  As soon as it is light outside, I will take some photos of the house and the compound.  It is a humble dwelling but very nice and clean inside, and they have made it as Western as possible - although it is amusing how crooked the doorways etc are!  Apparently Kenyans can’t build in straight lines.

Kenyan laundry

Sarah pounding the laundry - my contribution the little green bucket on the right! 

I brought Interim Dave out last night to introduce him to everyone and Esther thought he was absolutely hilarious.  I don’t think she had seen anything like it!  I kept poking his nose in her ear and she was giggling like crazy.  So funny!