Day 26 (9/30)
This morning we had class, not to exciting. After lunch we shuttled into the land cruisers once again, went off into the bush and did a field exercise. This involved driving about 45 minutes into the middle of absolutely nowhere. We split up into small 4-person groups and each had a local guide (our group had Daniel as a guide…wahooo.) We all went either north, south, east, or west and then went 100m away from the road, and staked out a plot of 2m x 2m and then evaluated how vegetated the area, what kinds of plants were there (this is where the guides came in, because they know things better than use.) Finally each one of us walked 4 different directions for 20 meters so that we made a circle, then we looked at the vegetation inside the bigger circle and took down observations. Then we walked 200 m (our direction was north) to the next plot. We did this 8 times. We had a compass, tape measure (for the 2 m measurement) and a GPS that really only told us the longer distances (not direction).
Surprisingly, we had a really good time. So much better than sitting in class.
Saw some cool things and Daniel taught us a Swahili song. Out of nowhere (we were in the middle of nowhere to begin with) we saw this man without a shirt walking...just walking. Chris had the compass and I had the GPS so we were infront of the other people and I go "oh look at the size of that giraffe print!" and he goes "uh..look at shirtless man over there."
Daniel stopped to talk to him and then asked if we were scared..haha we just kinda wanted to know where he was trying to walk too. Becuase there was literally nothing for miles.
We saw 2 very dead Zebra carcasses I had to walk right by it when we walked out 20 m., a huge termite mound, ginormous elephant tracks (I could fit 2 of my shoes in one print), and then saw some baby elephant prints, ostrich prints (you know because of their killing toe), and ostrich poop.
Not to mention Daniel is a gypsy. He led us back to the car perfectly without a compass or GPS, and we weren’t following our foot prints because we took detours to go look at cool things(note we went over 1700 meters, which is about a mile off the road.) And when we were driving on the way back, we had to drop off 2 other guides from other groups and Daniel went so far off the road (roads here are more like tire tracks on the ground) and then somehow out of nowhere we ended up back in Kimana, which is the town that our bush camp is in. He continues to surprise me.
We just had RAP (every day after dinner, someone comes up to have a reflection, then people do announcements, and then there is a presentation.) Tonight was Cecily and her quote/reflection was about how people without an education are undervalued by people with an education (which is a lot of what we are learning about, these big-to-do people will come in and try to help the locals somehow but if they don’t talk to them and see what they need or gain their knowledge about the land, the project either fails or makes everything worse.)
Anyway she compared this to how people sometimes look at children, and an amazing quote from an 11 year old boy from Canada is “fear is like a goldfish, if it gets too big you can’t flush it down the toilet” it’s such a deep quote that is a good thing to think about.
My day for RAP is Friday, and I need to think about something good to do.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
lesson of the day:Vervet monkeys are always watching you.
Day 25 (9/29)
Around 8 AM we headed off to Amboseli for the 3rd time in 3 weeks. Amazing as usual. We went on a mini-game drive, sung some awesome sing-a-long songs and then went to the Maasai Boma meant for tourism. This one was way different than the neighboring Boma we visited a couple weeks ago or so. We were greeted by their welcome song which was very similar to the one we were sung before only this time there were men and women. The guys jumped with the Maasai men and the girls all jumped with the women (warrior men jump as high as possible and women more like hop around.) One of the Mamas took my hand and gave me a necklace to wear. They all took a bunch of our hands and led us to jump with them. It was a lot of fun but the emotion wasn’t the same compared to our neighboring Boma that sung for us.
We then were led around and they told us about how their Boma works, the socio/economic/cultural aspects of their culture. They were telling us about how their customs are changing (they don’t just live off milk, blood and meat and have moved onto more agricultural means of eating.) This Boma mainly makes their living off of the tourists that come into their homes and completely invade their space (granted, they are invited but most people don’t understand that this is all highly organized and planned out, even the language that they use is critical. They are expected to create this perception of what their life is like based on notions that they believe tourists have and/or want to see.)
There were “250 people, but only 4 families because they are polygamists” and whether or not they all live there or spend the day there it is a very well organized event, almost like a living exhibit in a museum or something like that. They showed us how they make fire and the plants they use for their medicines.
The last thing we did was see what the Mamas were selling. Only this time you were escorted (almost expected to buy something) and then if you expressed interest in an item, the man who was escorting you would lead you out of the circle to barter for price, instead of bartering with the Mama. And if you were both satisfied you gave the money to him. Not the Mama who made it. No one was impressed with this system because it was a very touristy way to deal with us, and they were trying to completely rip us off compared to the prices we knew we could get in the Markets (because we’ve been so many times, and dealt with pushy Mamas).
Anyway, after we left we went to the (5 star beautiful) lodge, had a short discussion on what we saw. And not to mention we had African teachers with us (as opposed to the tourists whose tour drivers will drop them off and not talk to them about their experience.) so they knew what was an act and what was real. Not to mention Daniel (our Swahili teacher) is a Maasai and could give us a better idea on what his views on their representation of their culture was.
What was a little disheartening was when we were being shown how they make fire/use plants another group of tourists came up and most of the people who were relaxing within the Boma got up and ran to greet them and did the exact same dance that was done with us. It was just apparent that this was a rehearsed lifestyle. They weren’t doing it because they were happy to see the new people, they were doing it because it was their job. Their culture somehow has turned into a livelihood.
But either way, it was a lot of fun and this group of Maasai makes serious money off tourists who come to visit them. They all speak English and have gone to school, and seem to live a generally good lifestyle compared to some who have been severely suffering from the drought, it still just makes me think about tourism and ways that people have chosen to exploit such a sacred culture.
BUFFET was amazing, end of story. After that we spent a few hours by the pool, swimming and laying around and more swimming. The view is amazing and ironically enough the chlorine made me feel really clean and sanitized.
Haha, we got some fruit drinks and Lauren (the same girl who got her lunch and orange stolen a week ago) got hers stolen by a Vervet monkey. It came up to the little table and grabbed the fruit pieces on the top of the cup, spilled the drink and ran off. Hilarious. Then an askari was assigned to our area again and Cecily and I talked to him, he thought my Ipod was really cool so were trying to explain to him how it works and I let him listen to some songs.
On the way back we did a game drive and saw a Zebra ATTACK another Zebra. So cool.
P.S. About 10 people have gotten sick with a stomach bug thing, supposedly this happens every semester, everyone gets sick and then in a couple days it’s over. People are dropping like flies, everyday more and more people are getting sick and I’ve heard its not enjoyable in any way, shape or form.
Around 8 AM we headed off to Amboseli for the 3rd time in 3 weeks. Amazing as usual. We went on a mini-game drive, sung some awesome sing-a-long songs and then went to the Maasai Boma meant for tourism. This one was way different than the neighboring Boma we visited a couple weeks ago or so. We were greeted by their welcome song which was very similar to the one we were sung before only this time there were men and women. The guys jumped with the Maasai men and the girls all jumped with the women (warrior men jump as high as possible and women more like hop around.) One of the Mamas took my hand and gave me a necklace to wear. They all took a bunch of our hands and led us to jump with them. It was a lot of fun but the emotion wasn’t the same compared to our neighboring Boma that sung for us.
We then were led around and they told us about how their Boma works, the socio/economic/cultural aspects of their culture. They were telling us about how their customs are changing (they don’t just live off milk, blood and meat and have moved onto more agricultural means of eating.) This Boma mainly makes their living off of the tourists that come into their homes and completely invade their space (granted, they are invited but most people don’t understand that this is all highly organized and planned out, even the language that they use is critical. They are expected to create this perception of what their life is like based on notions that they believe tourists have and/or want to see.)
There were “250 people, but only 4 families because they are polygamists” and whether or not they all live there or spend the day there it is a very well organized event, almost like a living exhibit in a museum or something like that. They showed us how they make fire and the plants they use for their medicines.
The last thing we did was see what the Mamas were selling. Only this time you were escorted (almost expected to buy something) and then if you expressed interest in an item, the man who was escorting you would lead you out of the circle to barter for price, instead of bartering with the Mama. And if you were both satisfied you gave the money to him. Not the Mama who made it. No one was impressed with this system because it was a very touristy way to deal with us, and they were trying to completely rip us off compared to the prices we knew we could get in the Markets (because we’ve been so many times, and dealt with pushy Mamas).
Anyway, after we left we went to the (5 star beautiful) lodge, had a short discussion on what we saw. And not to mention we had African teachers with us (as opposed to the tourists whose tour drivers will drop them off and not talk to them about their experience.) so they knew what was an act and what was real. Not to mention Daniel (our Swahili teacher) is a Maasai and could give us a better idea on what his views on their representation of their culture was.
What was a little disheartening was when we were being shown how they make fire/use plants another group of tourists came up and most of the people who were relaxing within the Boma got up and ran to greet them and did the exact same dance that was done with us. It was just apparent that this was a rehearsed lifestyle. They weren’t doing it because they were happy to see the new people, they were doing it because it was their job. Their culture somehow has turned into a livelihood.
But either way, it was a lot of fun and this group of Maasai makes serious money off tourists who come to visit them. They all speak English and have gone to school, and seem to live a generally good lifestyle compared to some who have been severely suffering from the drought, it still just makes me think about tourism and ways that people have chosen to exploit such a sacred culture.
BUFFET was amazing, end of story. After that we spent a few hours by the pool, swimming and laying around and more swimming. The view is amazing and ironically enough the chlorine made me feel really clean and sanitized.
Haha, we got some fruit drinks and Lauren (the same girl who got her lunch and orange stolen a week ago) got hers stolen by a Vervet monkey. It came up to the little table and grabbed the fruit pieces on the top of the cup, spilled the drink and ran off. Hilarious. Then an askari was assigned to our area again and Cecily and I talked to him, he thought my Ipod was really cool so were trying to explain to him how it works and I let him listen to some songs.
On the way back we did a game drive and saw a Zebra ATTACK another Zebra. So cool.
P.S. About 10 people have gotten sick with a stomach bug thing, supposedly this happens every semester, everyone gets sick and then in a couple days it’s over. People are dropping like flies, everyday more and more people are getting sick and I’ve heard its not enjoyable in any way, shape or form.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Day 24 (9/28)
Yesterday blogger wasn’t working, we spent a lot of time in class, and had a painfully long 4 hour lab with excel its all just a blur.
This morning, bright and early, we went out on a traveling field lecture. We all climbed into the Land Cruisers and popped out of the hatches and had about 5 stops, 2 of which we got out and the others we listened to the professors talk for 15-30 minutes per stop. We were shown the swamps versus the rangeland and the differences between them. The last stop I was sitting in the land cruiser because it was cooler than standing. So out of nowhere this Maasai man came up to the open window to say hi to me…in the middle of the lecture. I was trying to take notes and talk to the man, at one point he wanted to trade a bracelet he had for my watch. Everyone here loves watches. For a while he stayed by my window and it was a little awkward taking notes while he was hanging out at my window but Kenyans don’t have the same boundaries that Americans do.
We had another lab in the afternoon with excel but it wasn’t bad, really quick. We hung out for the rest of the day and tomorrow we are going to jump with the Maasai at Amboseli (basically a lecture on tourism and how it affects the modernization of culture) I will expand later. AND then we are going to an amazing 5-star lodge’s hotel. With CHEESE and CRACKERS! And desserts galore and chicken and tons of amazing food and I am SO excited!
Chessy found a baby black mamba on the path tonight. An askari chopped it in half though so everything is good again. Its about 1/50th of how small I thought it would be. It is maybe 1/2 cm wide and 5 inches long, silvery/gray and just extremely tiny. I was keeping an eye out for a massive cobra sized snake but its good to know they can be so small...and the smallest ones are the deadliest because young snakes can't control the venom they release. wonderful.
Yesterday blogger wasn’t working, we spent a lot of time in class, and had a painfully long 4 hour lab with excel its all just a blur.
This morning, bright and early, we went out on a traveling field lecture. We all climbed into the Land Cruisers and popped out of the hatches and had about 5 stops, 2 of which we got out and the others we listened to the professors talk for 15-30 minutes per stop. We were shown the swamps versus the rangeland and the differences between them. The last stop I was sitting in the land cruiser because it was cooler than standing. So out of nowhere this Maasai man came up to the open window to say hi to me…in the middle of the lecture. I was trying to take notes and talk to the man, at one point he wanted to trade a bracelet he had for my watch. Everyone here loves watches. For a while he stayed by my window and it was a little awkward taking notes while he was hanging out at my window but Kenyans don’t have the same boundaries that Americans do.
We had another lab in the afternoon with excel but it wasn’t bad, really quick. We hung out for the rest of the day and tomorrow we are going to jump with the Maasai at Amboseli (basically a lecture on tourism and how it affects the modernization of culture) I will expand later. AND then we are going to an amazing 5-star lodge’s hotel. With CHEESE and CRACKERS! And desserts galore and chicken and tons of amazing food and I am SO excited!
Chessy found a baby black mamba on the path tonight. An askari chopped it in half though so everything is good again. Its about 1/50th of how small I thought it would be. It is maybe 1/2 cm wide and 5 inches long, silvery/gray and just extremely tiny. I was keeping an eye out for a massive cobra sized snake but its good to know they can be so small...and the smallest ones are the deadliest because young snakes can't control the venom they release. wonderful.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
kenya just can't getting old. today there was an earthquake.
Day 22 (9/26)
This morning at 6:30 there was an earthquake! My first earthquake…that I remember anyway in KENYA! http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2009maa2.php
Don’t worry, what we felt was not 5.3, I was laying in bed and pretty much awake listening to the birds and monkeys and bugs. Well then all of a sudden the ground started to tremble for about a second, and then it shook a little harder for another second or 2 and then it was over. At first I (seriously) thought it was a train, but then I had to think about how trains are miles and miles away. So I ruled that out. Then I immediately was like, oh damn, earthquake…then I thought about what could land on me and while I’m in my mosquito net I’m more or less completely safe. It was pretty exciting though!
Today was a non-program day. I touched Tanzania.
Anyway, we left camp around 8:30 this morning and drove to Loitoktok, which is more or less the next town over, even closer to the base of Kili. On the way over we could see Kili so clearly and it really never gets old. To make it even better, Harrison was our driver and he has little short cuts to get away from the dusty/pot-hole ridden road. Which by the way I swear gets exponentially worse as the weeks go on.
The first activity of the day was hiking through some farmland (which apparently is normal, and farmers don’t really care if you are on their land) and then down into a gorge, and that was when we touched Tanzania. Then we walked along a dry riverbed with huge boulders and gravel and the beautifully lush trees making the whole riverbed look like a tunnel. We hiked a little way down the riverbed and had lunch. After that we hiked back up out of the gorge, which I then realized how incredibly steep the entire climb was. But it was a lot of fun.
Oh ya..we had armed guards from KWS (Kenya Wildlife Service), as in they had AK47’s and one had to be in the front of the group, and one had to be behind us, basically because there can be buffalo and snakes and things that wouldn’t be too much fun to run into by ourselves.
After the hike, we went to the local AIDS/HIV testing and counseling facility. We met with some people who were AIDS positive and they told us their stories. And then they showed us around, it basically was like a 3-4 roomed clinic where they do in-house blood tests to test people and give them information on it. They also have a support group that does bead work and makes clothing and things like that, and they have a shop they sell it at. I got some great things. But it’s all a surprise so I can’t go into detail.
The Loitoktok market was next, it’s a lot like the Kimana market but at least twice the size and people are about half as pushy. I think it’s basically because there are a lot fewer Mama’s that surround you, and usually everyone is very nice. And I think I’ve been getting a lot more comfortable with using the Swahili that I know and understanding basic things has also gotten a lot easier. We met this one man who wanted us to teach him English (even though he was completely fluent) and he would teach us Swahili.
Haha and at one point when someone in my small group was buying tea, an older Mama grabbed me and pulled me over to her shop to look at her tea, and she was speaking in Swahili and we were all laughing just because she was so old and adorable . Then, out of nowhere a man grabbed the Mama and (in Swahili) told her not to bother me. It was only after he asked if I remembered him that I found out that he was one of our KWS guards that hiked with us (he was wearing different clothing so I didn’t even recognize him). It was hilarious. His name was Adam and he saved me from the crazy Mama.
I feel like the drive back is always 10x dustier and 20x longer.
This morning at 6:30 there was an earthquake! My first earthquake…that I remember anyway in KENYA! http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2009maa2.php
Don’t worry, what we felt was not 5.3, I was laying in bed and pretty much awake listening to the birds and monkeys and bugs. Well then all of a sudden the ground started to tremble for about a second, and then it shook a little harder for another second or 2 and then it was over. At first I (seriously) thought it was a train, but then I had to think about how trains are miles and miles away. So I ruled that out. Then I immediately was like, oh damn, earthquake…then I thought about what could land on me and while I’m in my mosquito net I’m more or less completely safe. It was pretty exciting though!
Today was a non-program day. I touched Tanzania.
Anyway, we left camp around 8:30 this morning and drove to Loitoktok, which is more or less the next town over, even closer to the base of Kili. On the way over we could see Kili so clearly and it really never gets old. To make it even better, Harrison was our driver and he has little short cuts to get away from the dusty/pot-hole ridden road. Which by the way I swear gets exponentially worse as the weeks go on.
The first activity of the day was hiking through some farmland (which apparently is normal, and farmers don’t really care if you are on their land) and then down into a gorge, and that was when we touched Tanzania. Then we walked along a dry riverbed with huge boulders and gravel and the beautifully lush trees making the whole riverbed look like a tunnel. We hiked a little way down the riverbed and had lunch. After that we hiked back up out of the gorge, which I then realized how incredibly steep the entire climb was. But it was a lot of fun.
Oh ya..we had armed guards from KWS (Kenya Wildlife Service), as in they had AK47’s and one had to be in the front of the group, and one had to be behind us, basically because there can be buffalo and snakes and things that wouldn’t be too much fun to run into by ourselves.
After the hike, we went to the local AIDS/HIV testing and counseling facility. We met with some people who were AIDS positive and they told us their stories. And then they showed us around, it basically was like a 3-4 roomed clinic where they do in-house blood tests to test people and give them information on it. They also have a support group that does bead work and makes clothing and things like that, and they have a shop they sell it at. I got some great things. But it’s all a surprise so I can’t go into detail.
The Loitoktok market was next, it’s a lot like the Kimana market but at least twice the size and people are about half as pushy. I think it’s basically because there are a lot fewer Mama’s that surround you, and usually everyone is very nice. And I think I’ve been getting a lot more comfortable with using the Swahili that I know and understanding basic things has also gotten a lot easier. We met this one man who wanted us to teach him English (even though he was completely fluent) and he would teach us Swahili.
Haha and at one point when someone in my small group was buying tea, an older Mama grabbed me and pulled me over to her shop to look at her tea, and she was speaking in Swahili and we were all laughing just because she was so old and adorable . Then, out of nowhere a man grabbed the Mama and (in Swahili) told her not to bother me. It was only after he asked if I remembered him that I found out that he was one of our KWS guards that hiked with us (he was wearing different clothing so I didn’t even recognize him). It was hilarious. His name was Adam and he saved me from the crazy Mama.
I feel like the drive back is always 10x dustier and 20x longer.
Friday, September 25, 2009
cake for breakfast!
Day 21 (9/25)
Last night around 9, we all smelled a cake being cooked. So I went to go check out the kitchen. Arthur was in there (love him!) and I caught him checking the cake in the oven. I asked him what he was doing so he laughed and told me not to tell. He tries to trick us all the times and he told us some ridiculous stories about it being his birthday. Then finally he said it’s for breakfast tomorrow and I didn’t believe him. We ended up betting on it. If it was really for breakfast, then I owe him a pack of my gummy fruit snacks and if it isn’t for breakfast then owes me extra milk for my cereal. Haha funniest thing ever, I accused him of lying (or fibbing) and he said he could never because he is Christian.
…We had cake for breakfast (plus the usual homemade crepes and donuts, along with eggs, toast, cereal, and oatmeal). So he made sure to see me and ask if I believed him now. Haha so I gave him a pack of gummy fruit snacks. He was pretty excited.
Now he wants to keep betting with me "so I can loose some more of those delicious snacks"
After breakfast we went out into the field, split up into groups of 4 and interviewed farmers. In 3 hours we interviewed 12 farmers, and we trekked (and I mean trekked) through farmland and the bush. But it was really interesting and again, kind of fun in a weird way. We got to see the differences between wealthy farmers and ones that are poorer, and there are shear differences in the amount of land, number of animals and just how they live. We had an interpreter so there wasn’t too much of a language barrier. We basically just wanted to know how much land they had, how long they have been there, what they grew, their biggest problems, and things like that.
Their biggest problem was always wildlife ruining or eating their crops, elephants in particular because they are able to basically bowl over anything in their path and just go and eat the crops. Fortunately the farmers keep watch and scare them away the best they can. However…nobody likes them and hence there are so many issues with the locals and conservation. We learned a lot too about the lack of water and how it is sanctioned off (each farm gets a certain amount of hours to use the water).
We came across a few little kids that were completely alone in their house, because their mother went to go get water. They came out and talked to the interpreter and she said they didn’t know when their mom was going to come back. It really is amazing the age of kids here and what they do compared to American kids. Here it’s not uncommon to see a 5-7 year old boy by himself watching 20 sheep and goats in the middle of nowhere. In the States, if you saw a little kid by themselves anywhere, immediately you subconsciously look to see if parents are nearby and almost always they are. Here, 80% of the time there aren’t even older kids with them, never mind parents.
Another thing with kids here is the stigma that comes with seeing a white person, a lot of the time they want money or candy. I have mixed feelings about it because you know they are extremely poor compared to you but at the same time, they obviously have been given things by foreigners before and now they expect it. Part of it isn’t their fault because they don’t understand how it can be perceived as rude but it’s just another example of culture differences.
I learned later that the other group that was doing the same interviewing project as our group only encountered 7 farmers instead of our 12. However, they were invited into farmer's houses, offered tea and things and talked with them for a while. Our group went out to the field where the farmer was and interviewed them right there. The only difference between their group and ours is that our group had a female interpretor and they had a male interpretor. That shows the cultural gender differences because all the farms were in the same area and so the same cultural norms applied.
Cornelia just came back from a run, she saw a Black Mamba on the running trail. The askaris are all over it though, hakuna matata.
Last night around 9, we all smelled a cake being cooked. So I went to go check out the kitchen. Arthur was in there (love him!) and I caught him checking the cake in the oven. I asked him what he was doing so he laughed and told me not to tell. He tries to trick us all the times and he told us some ridiculous stories about it being his birthday. Then finally he said it’s for breakfast tomorrow and I didn’t believe him. We ended up betting on it. If it was really for breakfast, then I owe him a pack of my gummy fruit snacks and if it isn’t for breakfast then owes me extra milk for my cereal. Haha funniest thing ever, I accused him of lying (or fibbing) and he said he could never because he is Christian.
…We had cake for breakfast (plus the usual homemade crepes and donuts, along with eggs, toast, cereal, and oatmeal). So he made sure to see me and ask if I believed him now. Haha so I gave him a pack of gummy fruit snacks. He was pretty excited.
Now he wants to keep betting with me "so I can loose some more of those delicious snacks"
After breakfast we went out into the field, split up into groups of 4 and interviewed farmers. In 3 hours we interviewed 12 farmers, and we trekked (and I mean trekked) through farmland and the bush. But it was really interesting and again, kind of fun in a weird way. We got to see the differences between wealthy farmers and ones that are poorer, and there are shear differences in the amount of land, number of animals and just how they live. We had an interpreter so there wasn’t too much of a language barrier. We basically just wanted to know how much land they had, how long they have been there, what they grew, their biggest problems, and things like that.
Their biggest problem was always wildlife ruining or eating their crops, elephants in particular because they are able to basically bowl over anything in their path and just go and eat the crops. Fortunately the farmers keep watch and scare them away the best they can. However…nobody likes them and hence there are so many issues with the locals and conservation. We learned a lot too about the lack of water and how it is sanctioned off (each farm gets a certain amount of hours to use the water).
We came across a few little kids that were completely alone in their house, because their mother went to go get water. They came out and talked to the interpreter and she said they didn’t know when their mom was going to come back. It really is amazing the age of kids here and what they do compared to American kids. Here it’s not uncommon to see a 5-7 year old boy by himself watching 20 sheep and goats in the middle of nowhere. In the States, if you saw a little kid by themselves anywhere, immediately you subconsciously look to see if parents are nearby and almost always they are. Here, 80% of the time there aren’t even older kids with them, never mind parents.
Another thing with kids here is the stigma that comes with seeing a white person, a lot of the time they want money or candy. I have mixed feelings about it because you know they are extremely poor compared to you but at the same time, they obviously have been given things by foreigners before and now they expect it. Part of it isn’t their fault because they don’t understand how it can be perceived as rude but it’s just another example of culture differences.
I learned later that the other group that was doing the same interviewing project as our group only encountered 7 farmers instead of our 12. However, they were invited into farmer's houses, offered tea and things and talked with them for a while. Our group went out to the field where the farmer was and interviewed them right there. The only difference between their group and ours is that our group had a female interpretor and they had a male interpretor. That shows the cultural gender differences because all the farms were in the same area and so the same cultural norms applied.
Cornelia just came back from a run, she saw a Black Mamba on the running trail. The askaris are all over it though, hakuna matata.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
this is from yesterday cause the internet failed.
Day 19 (9/23)
This morning, bright and early we left for Amboseli again! We went there to do some research, animal counting. Each car/group was assigned a section of the park and we had to count the number of animals within 500 m of either side of the road. Call me an environmental science nerd but counting animals was SO much fun. We had the first section so it wasn’t too far into the park so no watering holes but we saw lots of Thomson’s Gaselle, Grant’s Gaselle, Impala, Ostriches, Elephant, Oryx, Giraffe, some wildebeests and zebra. It literally took 3 hours to count the whole thing but it was a great time.
After we finished with our counting we went to a lodge in Amboseli and it was gorgeous. But at the same time, the difference between the lodge and the park was night and day. Everything was lush, beautiful, flowering, and utterly magnificent. However within 5 feet of the boundary nearly everything is desolate (except around the watering hole) and literally there are carcasses strewn across the plains that are clearly visible from the back porch. At first, my reaction was completely and utterly negative to the entire lodge because they are using up valuable resources and clearly the environment is going through the worst drought in living history. So why have a place like this when all the animals around are suffering and dying right in front of our eyes? Then, after I thought about it a little bit more, the money that tourists bring into this region is essential and without lodges that make tourists happy the income for the park is highly diminished. Also, the lodges are running off an aquifer that is pumped solely for their use, and if not tapped it would not make it to the surface. And to be fair, they do seem to use water sparingly…for the most part.
Anyway…we ate our lunch on the porch of a church, a little bit out of the main resort area. (I missed this because Kim, Lia and I went to go see if they ice cream…a rare thing in Kenya) While everyone else was finishing their lunches, a Baboon came up and ran in the middle of the group to search for food. Lauren held up her Tupperware while she was sitting down to keep it away from the Baboon. Before she could stand up the Baboon jumped up, grabbed the Tupperware and ran off. It didn’t go very far and threw the Tupperware. So at least she got the Tupperware back, but it ate her entire lunch. After lunch we relaxed in the lodge until 2. I have to say the view is incredible, especially by the peanut shaped beautiful sparkling blue pool. We all sat in the grass (a luxury in Kenya because there are usually thorns EVERYWHERE, and there isn’t a lot of grass left) and had a guest lecturer come to talk to us from the Elephant Trust, Amboseli Elephant Research Project. If you’re interested visit http://www.elephanttrust.org she went over all of the things they do and how they do it. The program is something like 37 years old and they know each and every Elephant in the park (1000+). The work that they do is beyond amazing.
After the lecture, we went back to the Land Cruisers to find some Vervet Monkeys checking us out. One thing led to another and all of a sudden one of the Monkeys was up on the windshield/top of the Land Cruiser (remember, the panels of the roof pop out, so everyone was standing up, limo style) and Lauren was starting to peel her orange (same girl that got her lunch stolen by the Baboons), the Vervet jumped at her and she threw her orange at it. Hilarious. The Monkey darted off the car and into the tree, orange in hand. So after seeing this about 3 more tried (unsuccessfully) to get more food. Finally we left and on the way back we went on a mini-game drive. Did you know tourists think there are actually tigers in Kenya? True story.
Day 20
..not too much happened.
This morning, bright and early we left for Amboseli again! We went there to do some research, animal counting. Each car/group was assigned a section of the park and we had to count the number of animals within 500 m of either side of the road. Call me an environmental science nerd but counting animals was SO much fun. We had the first section so it wasn’t too far into the park so no watering holes but we saw lots of Thomson’s Gaselle, Grant’s Gaselle, Impala, Ostriches, Elephant, Oryx, Giraffe, some wildebeests and zebra. It literally took 3 hours to count the whole thing but it was a great time.
After we finished with our counting we went to a lodge in Amboseli and it was gorgeous. But at the same time, the difference between the lodge and the park was night and day. Everything was lush, beautiful, flowering, and utterly magnificent. However within 5 feet of the boundary nearly everything is desolate (except around the watering hole) and literally there are carcasses strewn across the plains that are clearly visible from the back porch. At first, my reaction was completely and utterly negative to the entire lodge because they are using up valuable resources and clearly the environment is going through the worst drought in living history. So why have a place like this when all the animals around are suffering and dying right in front of our eyes? Then, after I thought about it a little bit more, the money that tourists bring into this region is essential and without lodges that make tourists happy the income for the park is highly diminished. Also, the lodges are running off an aquifer that is pumped solely for their use, and if not tapped it would not make it to the surface. And to be fair, they do seem to use water sparingly…for the most part.
Anyway…we ate our lunch on the porch of a church, a little bit out of the main resort area. (I missed this because Kim, Lia and I went to go see if they ice cream…a rare thing in Kenya) While everyone else was finishing their lunches, a Baboon came up and ran in the middle of the group to search for food. Lauren held up her Tupperware while she was sitting down to keep it away from the Baboon. Before she could stand up the Baboon jumped up, grabbed the Tupperware and ran off. It didn’t go very far and threw the Tupperware. So at least she got the Tupperware back, but it ate her entire lunch. After lunch we relaxed in the lodge until 2. I have to say the view is incredible, especially by the peanut shaped beautiful sparkling blue pool. We all sat in the grass (a luxury in Kenya because there are usually thorns EVERYWHERE, and there isn’t a lot of grass left) and had a guest lecturer come to talk to us from the Elephant Trust, Amboseli Elephant Research Project. If you’re interested visit http://www.elephanttrust.org she went over all of the things they do and how they do it. The program is something like 37 years old and they know each and every Elephant in the park (1000+). The work that they do is beyond amazing.
After the lecture, we went back to the Land Cruisers to find some Vervet Monkeys checking us out. One thing led to another and all of a sudden one of the Monkeys was up on the windshield/top of the Land Cruiser (remember, the panels of the roof pop out, so everyone was standing up, limo style) and Lauren was starting to peel her orange (same girl that got her lunch stolen by the Baboons), the Vervet jumped at her and she threw her orange at it. Hilarious. The Monkey darted off the car and into the tree, orange in hand. So after seeing this about 3 more tried (unsuccessfully) to get more food. Finally we left and on the way back we went on a mini-game drive. Did you know tourists think there are actually tigers in Kenya? True story.
Day 20
..not too much happened.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
kiboko...hippo.
Day 18 (9/22)
Cook crew this morning! Only this morning it was a normal breakfast time so cook crew was 6:30AM Arthur was the head cook again, it’s always a good time with him. He plays the greatest music, all from America and such a wide range of things to jam out to. Haha, we had some old school Brittany Spears, Taylor Swift, 50 Cent, Black Eyed Peas. It was awesome, they even do contests to give things away like in the States!
The first class, Kiringe started out singing “somebody somebody somebody”, not sure what message he was trying to get across. And I’ve finally realized instead of staying “um” he will roll his R’s. And for some reason its just so funny.
The second class was followed by Shem telling us about how he took a 65 person bus to go on a safari, and they got stuck in the mud…for two days.
The last class of the day was more Swahili. Daniel is the bomb, his pronunciation is hilarious. Let me start out by saying that hat/hut/heat/hurt all sound exactly the same when he says it. Same thing with source/sauce and sometimes it takes a second to understand which one he is talking about based on the context. Well in Africa they have these people called “hawkers”, and they sell things to people. Turns out hawker sound exactly like hooker when Daniel says it and he didn’t know what a hooker was, and nobody knew what a hawker was. So long story short, after about 5 minutes of confusion and shock we finally figured it out. Ha sometimes language barriers are a hilarious thing.
We played volleyball for a while. Kenyans are amazing at volleyball too. Damn.
For our RAP after dinner Kelly did a cool pirate story that had to do with light and then we ate the life savers that spark in the dark..can’t complain.
Cook crew this morning! Only this morning it was a normal breakfast time so cook crew was 6:30AM Arthur was the head cook again, it’s always a good time with him. He plays the greatest music, all from America and such a wide range of things to jam out to. Haha, we had some old school Brittany Spears, Taylor Swift, 50 Cent, Black Eyed Peas. It was awesome, they even do contests to give things away like in the States!
The first class, Kiringe started out singing “somebody somebody somebody”, not sure what message he was trying to get across. And I’ve finally realized instead of staying “um” he will roll his R’s. And for some reason its just so funny.
The second class was followed by Shem telling us about how he took a 65 person bus to go on a safari, and they got stuck in the mud…for two days.
The last class of the day was more Swahili. Daniel is the bomb, his pronunciation is hilarious. Let me start out by saying that hat/hut/heat/hurt all sound exactly the same when he says it. Same thing with source/sauce and sometimes it takes a second to understand which one he is talking about based on the context. Well in Africa they have these people called “hawkers”, and they sell things to people. Turns out hawker sound exactly like hooker when Daniel says it and he didn’t know what a hooker was, and nobody knew what a hawker was. So long story short, after about 5 minutes of confusion and shock we finally figured it out. Ha sometimes language barriers are a hilarious thing.
We played volleyball for a while. Kenyans are amazing at volleyball too. Damn.
For our RAP after dinner Kelly did a cool pirate story that had to do with light and then we ate the life savers that spark in the dark..can’t complain.
Monday, September 21, 2009
80s and sunny. Again.
Day 17 (9/21)
Today…we learned about culture and more Swahili. And we just played the greatest game of musical chairs ever, completely non-Kenyan/environmental related but still a lot of fun. There were about 25-30 of us in a small room and there were people falling out of chairs, getting pushed out of the way, and puppy-guarding chairs and Erika, our intern won (she’s about 5 foot 2, and she beat all the boys that were left who are 5 9 to 6 5) It was hilarious.
Other than that, we basically hung out most of the day. I was in our hammock that Lauren brought for so LONG watching people play soccer. Haha, it’s what I do best.
Today…we learned about culture and more Swahili. And we just played the greatest game of musical chairs ever, completely non-Kenyan/environmental related but still a lot of fun. There were about 25-30 of us in a small room and there were people falling out of chairs, getting pushed out of the way, and puppy-guarding chairs and Erika, our intern won (she’s about 5 foot 2, and she beat all the boys that were left who are 5 9 to 6 5) It was hilarious.
Other than that, we basically hung out most of the day. I was in our hammock that Lauren brought for so LONG watching people play soccer. Haha, it’s what I do best.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
mzungo
Day 16 (9/19)
This morning we went to church, I decided to go to the Catholic one (vs. Protestant) and it was actually a lot of fun. There was a lot of singing and Swahili. They translated the general message to us in English, but mostly it was singing and some preaching; lots and lots of dancing. Cecily and I just did what the people in front of us did and the people around us loved that we were dancing. The service lasted 2 hours (vs. the Protestant that turned into a 3 hour service) and at the end we all went out of the church, everyone wanted to shake our hands and talk to us. We played with a ton of children and spoke to them in Swahili (again everyone was very amused that we knew some Swahili), we also taught them how to high-five. They LOVED it. We must have had about 30 kids circled around us trying to high-five us all.
After church we headed to Club Kimana and ate lunch, had some drinks; then around 1:30 I decided to go back to camp and get some things done. I literally got all of my laundry done, even my sheets. I’m not sure if anyone has ever tried to wash sheets by hand…I suggest everyone try it at least once. It’s a barrel of monkeys.
Okello just made an announcement about how the drought it affecting all of the animals behavior. Snakes especially because they go towards wet areas and the drought is drying up the rivers where they usually reside. Well, it turns out our camp is a great new habitat because we have water and in our banda it is warmer then outside. I think it was a friendly reminder to check our beds before we get in, and be aware about what is around you because every snake here is deadly enough to kill you. Yay!
This morning we went to church, I decided to go to the Catholic one (vs. Protestant) and it was actually a lot of fun. There was a lot of singing and Swahili. They translated the general message to us in English, but mostly it was singing and some preaching; lots and lots of dancing. Cecily and I just did what the people in front of us did and the people around us loved that we were dancing. The service lasted 2 hours (vs. the Protestant that turned into a 3 hour service) and at the end we all went out of the church, everyone wanted to shake our hands and talk to us. We played with a ton of children and spoke to them in Swahili (again everyone was very amused that we knew some Swahili), we also taught them how to high-five. They LOVED it. We must have had about 30 kids circled around us trying to high-five us all.
After church we headed to Club Kimana and ate lunch, had some drinks; then around 1:30 I decided to go back to camp and get some things done. I literally got all of my laundry done, even my sheets. I’m not sure if anyone has ever tried to wash sheets by hand…I suggest everyone try it at least once. It’s a barrel of monkeys.
Okello just made an announcement about how the drought it affecting all of the animals behavior. Snakes especially because they go towards wet areas and the drought is drying up the rivers where they usually reside. Well, it turns out our camp is a great new habitat because we have water and in our banda it is warmer then outside. I think it was a friendly reminder to check our beds before we get in, and be aware about what is around you because every snake here is deadly enough to kill you. Yay!
Saturday, September 19, 2009
kumi na nane (18)
Day 15 (9/19)
I don’t even remember what hour breakfast was at. All I remember is it was way before 7. Anyway, after the breakfast that I might have been subconsciously sleeping though we went on a field lecture with Kiringe (the Prof that fell in the aardvark hole). This morning was a bird field lecture and we saw birds, some swallows, sparrows, ibises. After walking around outside the fence we went back in and had Swahili class again. We learned to count and tell time (which comes in handy later on in the day.)
Around 10:30 AM we headed off to do our community service project. We helped the local community build trenches that allow them to get water to their farms. This included carrying wheelbarrows full of dirt, and then bags of cement that were 80+ pounds to an area. At the same time other people were carrying water, bucket by bucket to the same area. We would make a little hole in the dirt/cement mixture and mix it on the ground and then shovel it into the place where the trench was going. Haha it was insane. They said that we got done about 3 day’s worth of work in a few hours because there were so many of us. We did that from 11 to 4. It actually was a lot of fun because the locals were helping us learn Swahili and I was counting the wheelbarrow loads that people were bringing in, and they loved that I knew the Swahili words. Most people speak English really well (especially the kids) and it’s so funny to watch their reactions when you can hold a simple conversation because I feel like they don’t expect us to know any Swahili.
I found the community service project a little ironic because we are helping people build these trenches that steal water from streams and cause rivers to dry up and it makes all the wildlife, flora and fauna, and people downstream suffer. For the last 2 weeks we have basically been learning about how bad they are and the destruction they cause…and then we turn around and help people to build them. But at the same time it puts names to faces, instead of just being farmers they turn into human beings who are trying to make a living too. They become people instead of a statistic and that is really heartwarming that we got to see the other side of it. Not to mention the trenches are much more environmentally friendly because without a trench, 50 people could use the water that will serve 150 people with a trench, so it helps to keep water use down and runoff low. Overall it was great learning experience and God, those locals know how to work. I have never seen someone work so hard for so many hours and not take a break or even break a sweat.
And I love to go places because every single time you pass a little kid they yell and run towards the car waving and laughing. And when there are a ton of school kids it’s the best (because school just got out it’s a mass of little kids in adorable uniforms screaming and laughing just at the sight of Americans in cars.)
Today is national talk like a pirate day and tonight we are gunna watch Muppet Treasure Island in celebration…haha perfect Saturday night with the gang.
Tomorrow is another non-program day and because it’s Sunday (and the only Sunday-non-program day, therefore our only chance) we are going to church! And it’s all in Swahili, definitely more cultural than spiritual but we get to dress up a little bit and meet the locals! After church we are heading to Club Kimana. Haha it will be grand.
I don’t even remember what hour breakfast was at. All I remember is it was way before 7. Anyway, after the breakfast that I might have been subconsciously sleeping though we went on a field lecture with Kiringe (the Prof that fell in the aardvark hole). This morning was a bird field lecture and we saw birds, some swallows, sparrows, ibises. After walking around outside the fence we went back in and had Swahili class again. We learned to count and tell time (which comes in handy later on in the day.)
Around 10:30 AM we headed off to do our community service project. We helped the local community build trenches that allow them to get water to their farms. This included carrying wheelbarrows full of dirt, and then bags of cement that were 80+ pounds to an area. At the same time other people were carrying water, bucket by bucket to the same area. We would make a little hole in the dirt/cement mixture and mix it on the ground and then shovel it into the place where the trench was going. Haha it was insane. They said that we got done about 3 day’s worth of work in a few hours because there were so many of us. We did that from 11 to 4. It actually was a lot of fun because the locals were helping us learn Swahili and I was counting the wheelbarrow loads that people were bringing in, and they loved that I knew the Swahili words. Most people speak English really well (especially the kids) and it’s so funny to watch their reactions when you can hold a simple conversation because I feel like they don’t expect us to know any Swahili.
I found the community service project a little ironic because we are helping people build these trenches that steal water from streams and cause rivers to dry up and it makes all the wildlife, flora and fauna, and people downstream suffer. For the last 2 weeks we have basically been learning about how bad they are and the destruction they cause…and then we turn around and help people to build them. But at the same time it puts names to faces, instead of just being farmers they turn into human beings who are trying to make a living too. They become people instead of a statistic and that is really heartwarming that we got to see the other side of it. Not to mention the trenches are much more environmentally friendly because without a trench, 50 people could use the water that will serve 150 people with a trench, so it helps to keep water use down and runoff low. Overall it was great learning experience and God, those locals know how to work. I have never seen someone work so hard for so many hours and not take a break or even break a sweat.
And I love to go places because every single time you pass a little kid they yell and run towards the car waving and laughing. And when there are a ton of school kids it’s the best (because school just got out it’s a mass of little kids in adorable uniforms screaming and laughing just at the sight of Americans in cars.)
Today is national talk like a pirate day and tonight we are gunna watch Muppet Treasure Island in celebration…haha perfect Saturday night with the gang.
Tomorrow is another non-program day and because it’s Sunday (and the only Sunday-non-program day, therefore our only chance) we are going to church! And it’s all in Swahili, definitely more cultural than spiritual but we get to dress up a little bit and meet the locals! After church we are heading to Club Kimana. Haha it will be grand.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Now. I can believe that I'm in Kenya.
Day 14 (9/18)
Today. Was the best day of my life. We went to Amboseli National Park and drove around for about 5 hours in the land cruisers. And we opened the hatches and stood and saw so so soooo many animals. Giraffes, Zebra, Impala, Grants gazelle, Thomson’s gazelles, Warthogs, Wildebeests, HIPPOS, ELEPHANTTTTTS, LIONSSSSSS, Cape Buffalo, Eagles, tons of Ostriches, Oryx, Reedbucks, . It was totally and completely insane. I loved every second of it. One lion was about 5 feet from our Land Cruiser, and there were 8-10 more about 50 feet away. And some elephants were in the marsh but others were feeding on vegetation literally right next to the road, others were crossing and we saw the littlest baby Elephant I could have even imagined.
The zebra and wildebeests got ridiculously close to us. There were quite a few dead zebras and wildebeests unfortunately and it made you think about how there really isn’t enough food to go around and hopefully the drought ends soon! We didn’t see really anything else that was dead, no dead Elephants, but plenty of babies and sub adults, which is a good sign. Amboseli has the largest population of Elephants in Kenya and even though I see Elephants weekly at the zoo (and I do love Kate, Alice, and Ginny), seeing them in the wild just makes you feel so complete, on the way back there were about 3 medium sized herds crossing the road right in front of us each time and we got to see one baby without a tail, as in it just had a stump? Interesting.
The lions were amazing too. To see a lion is awesome but to see one laying around 5 feet from the road (a young male) makes me feel so lucky. On the other side of the road, about 50-60 feet out was a large male with about 8 females, halfway in a swamp, just hanging out. I love my life. The one that was super close to us was gorgeous, and it was around 2 so he was lying around and stretching out, yawning, and grooming himself. I could have watched him for hours.
Two words. Cape Buffalo. Possibly the biggest cow-like mammal I have ever seen in my life, short, stocky, and mean. Their skull cap is massive too. Everything about them is just robust. They kill people here, they are at the top of the list NOT to mess with. Seriously.
AND hippos are much bigger than I imagined. Haha they were all so goofy looking in the water and there were a few on the shore, from a distance they look like squishy rocks. They open their mouth and their tusks looked like the size of my arm. They basically just open their mouth, and chomp down while birds try to get the algae and stuff left on their lips.
Some of the land there has a good amount of vegetation, but I would assume most of it isn’t actually able to be eaten because it is still there. Other parts are just desolate. And there seems to be a decent amount of water, however it’s been taken over by invasive species so its slowly disappearing, even more-so with the drought. Pray for rain. Do a rain dance. Hopefully something happens soon.
P.S. In our Land Cruiser, there are 4 rows of seats, first one for the driver and passenger. And the last 3 are for the students, I was in the 2nd row and had the first hatch to stand up in (there are 3 for each student row). Anyway, Cecily, Tiffany and I sang Disney songs, and then when we ran out of disney songs we sang classics like Celine Dion and Backstreet Boys for HOURSSS. It was karoke and we were amazing. Haha sometimes I wish we had a camera crew following us around.
I can now die happy.
Today. Was the best day of my life. We went to Amboseli National Park and drove around for about 5 hours in the land cruisers. And we opened the hatches and stood and saw so so soooo many animals. Giraffes, Zebra, Impala, Grants gazelle, Thomson’s gazelles, Warthogs, Wildebeests, HIPPOS, ELEPHANTTTTTS, LIONSSSSSS, Cape Buffalo, Eagles, tons of Ostriches, Oryx, Reedbucks, . It was totally and completely insane. I loved every second of it. One lion was about 5 feet from our Land Cruiser, and there were 8-10 more about 50 feet away. And some elephants were in the marsh but others were feeding on vegetation literally right next to the road, others were crossing and we saw the littlest baby Elephant I could have even imagined.
The zebra and wildebeests got ridiculously close to us. There were quite a few dead zebras and wildebeests unfortunately and it made you think about how there really isn’t enough food to go around and hopefully the drought ends soon! We didn’t see really anything else that was dead, no dead Elephants, but plenty of babies and sub adults, which is a good sign. Amboseli has the largest population of Elephants in Kenya and even though I see Elephants weekly at the zoo (and I do love Kate, Alice, and Ginny), seeing them in the wild just makes you feel so complete, on the way back there were about 3 medium sized herds crossing the road right in front of us each time and we got to see one baby without a tail, as in it just had a stump? Interesting.
The lions were amazing too. To see a lion is awesome but to see one laying around 5 feet from the road (a young male) makes me feel so lucky. On the other side of the road, about 50-60 feet out was a large male with about 8 females, halfway in a swamp, just hanging out. I love my life. The one that was super close to us was gorgeous, and it was around 2 so he was lying around and stretching out, yawning, and grooming himself. I could have watched him for hours.
Two words. Cape Buffalo. Possibly the biggest cow-like mammal I have ever seen in my life, short, stocky, and mean. Their skull cap is massive too. Everything about them is just robust. They kill people here, they are at the top of the list NOT to mess with. Seriously.
AND hippos are much bigger than I imagined. Haha they were all so goofy looking in the water and there were a few on the shore, from a distance they look like squishy rocks. They open their mouth and their tusks looked like the size of my arm. They basically just open their mouth, and chomp down while birds try to get the algae and stuff left on their lips.
Some of the land there has a good amount of vegetation, but I would assume most of it isn’t actually able to be eaten because it is still there. Other parts are just desolate. And there seems to be a decent amount of water, however it’s been taken over by invasive species so its slowly disappearing, even more-so with the drought. Pray for rain. Do a rain dance. Hopefully something happens soon.
P.S. In our Land Cruiser, there are 4 rows of seats, first one for the driver and passenger. And the last 3 are for the students, I was in the 2nd row and had the first hatch to stand up in (there are 3 for each student row). Anyway, Cecily, Tiffany and I sang Disney songs, and then when we ran out of disney songs we sang classics like Celine Dion and Backstreet Boys for HOURSSS. It was karoke and we were amazing. Haha sometimes I wish we had a camera crew following us around.
I can now die happy.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
bottom line. don't be wasteful
Day 13 (9/17)
Not much happened today, we just found a scorpion and one of the askaris killed it, small but deadly. I had class all day today, nothing too exciting. We learned more Swahili, mostly just how to write sentences and stuff.
But I just thought I should reflect a little bit on how the drought affects everyone here, and in America we don’t usually think about the resources we use and abuse. Kilimanjaro’s glacier is 90% gone and that is the main supply for most if not all of the people to the region, especially in a time of drought. By the year 2015 it will be completely gone. Thank you global warming.
Most have to walk long distances to wash their clothes, just rinse off, and get drinking water. Which they believe to be clean, but in reality livestock could be right upstream urinating in the water, someone could be washing their children’s diapers in the same stream and no one thinks about how deadly water could be. What do we have to do? Turn a facet? How long do you let it run while you brush your teeth? How long is your shower? What if you had to walk miles to get every drop of water you had…would you be so wasteful still? What would people do if there was a drought and all the rivers dried up like they have here?
Not to mention people can barely farm and all their livestock is slowly dying. In Kenya livestock equals wealth. Most Kenyans live on less than an American dollar a day
Just thought people should think about how lucky we are to live in America and be showered with resources day after day and not even give a second to what we would do if all of a sudden all of that was taken away. It’s not a right. It’s a privilege.
Not much happened today, we just found a scorpion and one of the askaris killed it, small but deadly. I had class all day today, nothing too exciting. We learned more Swahili, mostly just how to write sentences and stuff.
But I just thought I should reflect a little bit on how the drought affects everyone here, and in America we don’t usually think about the resources we use and abuse. Kilimanjaro’s glacier is 90% gone and that is the main supply for most if not all of the people to the region, especially in a time of drought. By the year 2015 it will be completely gone. Thank you global warming.
Most have to walk long distances to wash their clothes, just rinse off, and get drinking water. Which they believe to be clean, but in reality livestock could be right upstream urinating in the water, someone could be washing their children’s diapers in the same stream and no one thinks about how deadly water could be. What do we have to do? Turn a facet? How long do you let it run while you brush your teeth? How long is your shower? What if you had to walk miles to get every drop of water you had…would you be so wasteful still? What would people do if there was a drought and all the rivers dried up like they have here?
Not to mention people can barely farm and all their livestock is slowly dying. In Kenya livestock equals wealth. Most Kenyans live on less than an American dollar a day
Just thought people should think about how lucky we are to live in America and be showered with resources day after day and not even give a second to what we would do if all of a sudden all of that was taken away. It’s not a right. It’s a privilege.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
morning moonlight
Day 12 (9/16)
This morning I learned that at 5:30AM here it is still completely dark, the stars are still out and this morning the moon was out too. This morning was the first time I saw the moon, you could see the whole circle, and only a small sliver was white. I went into the kitchen and Arthur was there instead of Susan. I think he is my favorite. Last night he gave me cold milk for my cornflakes...which is hard to come by at 7pm. This morning he was so cute, I walked into the kitchen, and he goes “you’ve done cook crew before, yes?” (I nodded and said I wasn’t very good at it though). He laughed and said “oh good today is my day one and we can learn together”. Then I got started putting dough into a pot of boiling oil and waited until it was like a doughnut. Then he wanted me to peel potatoes with a steak knife and I laughed at him. So he let me wash the apples instead.
We all loaded into the Land Cruisers, drove about a half hour. Got to a medium sized abrupt hill and climbed it. About a 12th of the size of the climb we did a few days ago. Then we spent 2 hours up there for our field lecture. It was pretty up there, but not much to see, mainly farmland and open rangeland. We could see Kili extremely clearly in the early morning, and as the morning went on the clouds started to kiss the top of the mountain again. The Chyulu Hills were in the far distance; you could see the small mountain we climbed before…even from far away it looks huge. Kiringe had the coolest lab coat ever on today (he wears lab coats to teach in) but the one he had on today had these amazing drawings of birds that students made him last year, flamingos, and a peacock, and some others.
It’s amazing how the sun affects temperature completely. From 8-10 while we were up on the hill, there were no clouds in the sky and the sun was intense but it was totally comfortable because the air was still slightly cool. By 2 it’s decently hot but the air doesn’t hold any heat. And by 6 when the sun goes down again it will start to cool off and get down to 50 at night. Zero humidity is an amazing thing.
P.S. I did some of my laundry today. It wasn’t as big of a failure as I expected. Different, really different but not a disaster.
This morning I learned that at 5:30AM here it is still completely dark, the stars are still out and this morning the moon was out too. This morning was the first time I saw the moon, you could see the whole circle, and only a small sliver was white. I went into the kitchen and Arthur was there instead of Susan. I think he is my favorite. Last night he gave me cold milk for my cornflakes...which is hard to come by at 7pm. This morning he was so cute, I walked into the kitchen, and he goes “you’ve done cook crew before, yes?” (I nodded and said I wasn’t very good at it though). He laughed and said “oh good today is my day one and we can learn together”. Then I got started putting dough into a pot of boiling oil and waited until it was like a doughnut. Then he wanted me to peel potatoes with a steak knife and I laughed at him. So he let me wash the apples instead.
We all loaded into the Land Cruisers, drove about a half hour. Got to a medium sized abrupt hill and climbed it. About a 12th of the size of the climb we did a few days ago. Then we spent 2 hours up there for our field lecture. It was pretty up there, but not much to see, mainly farmland and open rangeland. We could see Kili extremely clearly in the early morning, and as the morning went on the clouds started to kiss the top of the mountain again. The Chyulu Hills were in the far distance; you could see the small mountain we climbed before…even from far away it looks huge. Kiringe had the coolest lab coat ever on today (he wears lab coats to teach in) but the one he had on today had these amazing drawings of birds that students made him last year, flamingos, and a peacock, and some others.
It’s amazing how the sun affects temperature completely. From 8-10 while we were up on the hill, there were no clouds in the sky and the sun was intense but it was totally comfortable because the air was still slightly cool. By 2 it’s decently hot but the air doesn’t hold any heat. And by 6 when the sun goes down again it will start to cool off and get down to 50 at night. Zero humidity is an amazing thing.
P.S. I did some of my laundry today. It wasn’t as big of a failure as I expected. Different, really different but not a disaster.
sometimes the internet fails in Kenya.
Day 11 (9/15)
The internet wasn’t working for this day so this is a catch up….
This morning was our first non-program day. We decided to go to Kimana again (the town with all the mamas and things being sold.) Anyway, I got some cool things (all surprises for when I get back) and then we walked around again. It is definitely more enjoyable to go mid-morning versus mid-afternoon because not all the mamas have gotten there yet and you don’t feel pressured to buy things because there aren’t 20 people putting jewelry on you, and stopping you to show you all their bracelets and necklaces and things. After that (around noon) we went to a restaurant called Club Kimana. Its basically a club and we were the only ones in there. There are cabanas outside and music playing and we were allowed to have a beer and eat our lunch. My first African beer…Tusker, named after an elephant that killed the founder of the beer; couldn’t complain, although a bottle was a ½ liter. Haha. FYI. In Kenya, the only women who drink are prostitutes, so for our group to be allowed to drink and not be looked down upon is special.
After we came back from Club Kimana, there was a goat waiting for us that we also decided to buy. This goat however is not a pet, we bought it to roast. So the askaris slaughtered it for us (yes I watched), they are masters, enough said. I won’t go into details in case some people don’t want to know. Anyway after it was dead they skinned it (expertly, again) and after dissecting all the parts (one of the askaris ate a part of the kidney, raw. We cooked the rest of it along with liver, ribs, legs) and they basically took sticks, (like roasting marshmallows), stuck it on the part, and then jammed the stick into the ground near the fire. It was actually really cool because for the bigger parts they put the sticks into a star so that it was all stretched out. We roasted some of it in our fire pit, and then the rest we had for dinner. Goat is a lot like beef, sorta.
Tomorrow I have cook crew. Only problem is that we are leaving at 7:15AM for another field lecture and breakfast is at 6:45AM. (In the states that would be approximately 11:45PM). Cook crew reports one hour before breakfast…that 5:45AM. I can’t wait.
P.S. Last night after I posted the last blog, the cat trap failed horribly. The cat went on it, (one of the askaris actually told us it was there because no one noticed) and when the string was pulled it created a cat-a-polt and just lifted the cat up about 9 feet in the air and it freaked out, tumbled around and jumped off. HAH
The internet wasn’t working for this day so this is a catch up….
This morning was our first non-program day. We decided to go to Kimana again (the town with all the mamas and things being sold.) Anyway, I got some cool things (all surprises for when I get back) and then we walked around again. It is definitely more enjoyable to go mid-morning versus mid-afternoon because not all the mamas have gotten there yet and you don’t feel pressured to buy things because there aren’t 20 people putting jewelry on you, and stopping you to show you all their bracelets and necklaces and things. After that (around noon) we went to a restaurant called Club Kimana. Its basically a club and we were the only ones in there. There are cabanas outside and music playing and we were allowed to have a beer and eat our lunch. My first African beer…Tusker, named after an elephant that killed the founder of the beer; couldn’t complain, although a bottle was a ½ liter. Haha. FYI. In Kenya, the only women who drink are prostitutes, so for our group to be allowed to drink and not be looked down upon is special.
After we came back from Club Kimana, there was a goat waiting for us that we also decided to buy. This goat however is not a pet, we bought it to roast. So the askaris slaughtered it for us (yes I watched), they are masters, enough said. I won’t go into details in case some people don’t want to know. Anyway after it was dead they skinned it (expertly, again) and after dissecting all the parts (one of the askaris ate a part of the kidney, raw. We cooked the rest of it along with liver, ribs, legs) and they basically took sticks, (like roasting marshmallows), stuck it on the part, and then jammed the stick into the ground near the fire. It was actually really cool because for the bigger parts they put the sticks into a star so that it was all stretched out. We roasted some of it in our fire pit, and then the rest we had for dinner. Goat is a lot like beef, sorta.
Tomorrow I have cook crew. Only problem is that we are leaving at 7:15AM for another field lecture and breakfast is at 6:45AM. (In the states that would be approximately 11:45PM). Cook crew reports one hour before breakfast…that 5:45AM. I can’t wait.
P.S. Last night after I posted the last blog, the cat trap failed horribly. The cat went on it, (one of the askaris actually told us it was there because no one noticed) and when the string was pulled it created a cat-a-polt and just lifted the cat up about 9 feet in the air and it freaked out, tumbled around and jumped off. HAH
Monday, September 14, 2009
aardvark holes are dangerous. and feral cats are hard to trap
Day 10 (9/14)
So I’ve messed up the day count. But now I fixed it, just in case anyone was confused. Any by the way, I’m not really editing these, so I’m sorry for past and future mistakes. This morning we had class for about 4 hours with Kiringe. 2 of which was spent right outside the camp fence looking at the different ways to indirectly observe animals through tracks, poop and looking for clues in behavior (like elephants uprooting a tree).
Anyway we happened upon an aardvark hole and Kiringe was trying to show us how they dig and how they need extremely strong back-end muscles and large claws. And then…he fell in the hole. HA, its about a foot and a half wide, 45 degree angle sloping down and the dirt around the top of the hole gave way where he was standing, he fell in up to about his waist too. It was fantastic. And he loves to say “hellooooo” for when he wants us to listen, when he wants an answer, and when he wants to know if we understand.
While Okello loves his “M’s and M’s”, KFC(“but don’t tell him it’s not chicken, it will upset his love handles (also known as his Buddha belly…he doesn’t differentiate), strawberry wine coolers, and Idaho. We learned some more Swahili. That will come later…
Currently we are assembling a cat trap for the cat that pees in our chumba. However, it’s a drawstring-burlap bag connected to pulley and they are waiting for the cat to go onto the bag (after some food), they plan to pull the bag shut with a synching mechanism and then put it in a container (spare-trash can) and drive it far away. I’m not a believer. Have you ever tried to catch a feral cat before? I have. It’s the least fun thing…ever. I will keep you updated on the status of the cat-catching.
Tomorrow is a non-program day, which is a day off that we get every 6 days and as a group we decide what we want to do for the day. Tomorrow will be exciting. I can’t wait to fill everyone in on the details.
So I’ve messed up the day count. But now I fixed it, just in case anyone was confused. Any by the way, I’m not really editing these, so I’m sorry for past and future mistakes. This morning we had class for about 4 hours with Kiringe. 2 of which was spent right outside the camp fence looking at the different ways to indirectly observe animals through tracks, poop and looking for clues in behavior (like elephants uprooting a tree).
Anyway we happened upon an aardvark hole and Kiringe was trying to show us how they dig and how they need extremely strong back-end muscles and large claws. And then…he fell in the hole. HA, its about a foot and a half wide, 45 degree angle sloping down and the dirt around the top of the hole gave way where he was standing, he fell in up to about his waist too. It was fantastic. And he loves to say “hellooooo” for when he wants us to listen, when he wants an answer, and when he wants to know if we understand.
While Okello loves his “M’s and M’s”, KFC(“but don’t tell him it’s not chicken, it will upset his love handles (also known as his Buddha belly…he doesn’t differentiate), strawberry wine coolers, and Idaho. We learned some more Swahili. That will come later…
Currently we are assembling a cat trap for the cat that pees in our chumba. However, it’s a drawstring-burlap bag connected to pulley and they are waiting for the cat to go onto the bag (after some food), they plan to pull the bag shut with a synching mechanism and then put it in a container (spare-trash can) and drive it far away. I’m not a believer. Have you ever tried to catch a feral cat before? I have. It’s the least fun thing…ever. I will keep you updated on the status of the cat-catching.
Tomorrow is a non-program day, which is a day off that we get every 6 days and as a group we decide what we want to do for the day. Tomorrow will be exciting. I can’t wait to fill everyone in on the details.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Day 8 (9/13)
This morning we had our field lecture. I do not mean we went outside our chumba (classroom) and sat on the ground. By field lecture I mean we drove an hour on Kenyan roads (dusty, bumpy and completely uneven) to a secluded spot (saw giraffes, zebras and gizelle along the way) and parked next to a small mountain and climbed 30-40 minutes to the top, sat on a huge boulder and had class. Just for fun. The hike going up was around 45 degrees in spots and straight up in other areas and really rocky, I couldn’t decide which was better, going up or attempting to go down. But either way, tons of fun! And Daniel was doing his Maasai warrior cry (a high pitched shriek) coming down, at first I thought someone was dying, then I realized it was Daniel and I thought he was scaring away a buffalo or something. Turns out he does that for fun. But anyway, the view was incredible you could see from Kili to the Chyulu Hills on the complete other side, which is endless miles that only the eye can see. Below us the bomas (villages) and giraffes looked like little play figures and the sound of drums in the background was a surreal highlight of the entire climb. Another cool aspect of being so high up was being able to see where the rangeland soil went from red to white to black-grey. Not to mention everyone has a beautiful red-dust tan that seems to only wash off for the few minutes that you get to shower and after that all bets are off. AND on the way back we saw camels. I swear to God. A herd of camels, just roaming around a village. They said its usually rich people that have them, I took pictures to prove it to everyone. Camels, can you believe it?
P.S. The cat almost pee’d on everyone again today. Haha its terrible.
Weather report: 75-80, sunny, zero humidityl few clouds, dusty. Very dusty. But don’t feel bad, its gets down to about 50 at night so it evens out a bit.
This morning we had our field lecture. I do not mean we went outside our chumba (classroom) and sat on the ground. By field lecture I mean we drove an hour on Kenyan roads (dusty, bumpy and completely uneven) to a secluded spot (saw giraffes, zebras and gizelle along the way) and parked next to a small mountain and climbed 30-40 minutes to the top, sat on a huge boulder and had class. Just for fun. The hike going up was around 45 degrees in spots and straight up in other areas and really rocky, I couldn’t decide which was better, going up or attempting to go down. But either way, tons of fun! And Daniel was doing his Maasai warrior cry (a high pitched shriek) coming down, at first I thought someone was dying, then I realized it was Daniel and I thought he was scaring away a buffalo or something. Turns out he does that for fun. But anyway, the view was incredible you could see from Kili to the Chyulu Hills on the complete other side, which is endless miles that only the eye can see. Below us the bomas (villages) and giraffes looked like little play figures and the sound of drums in the background was a surreal highlight of the entire climb. Another cool aspect of being so high up was being able to see where the rangeland soil went from red to white to black-grey. Not to mention everyone has a beautiful red-dust tan that seems to only wash off for the few minutes that you get to shower and after that all bets are off. AND on the way back we saw camels. I swear to God. A herd of camels, just roaming around a village. They said its usually rich people that have them, I took pictures to prove it to everyone. Camels, can you believe it?
P.S. The cat almost pee’d on everyone again today. Haha its terrible.
Weather report: 75-80, sunny, zero humidityl few clouds, dusty. Very dusty. But don’t feel bad, its gets down to about 50 at night so it evens out a bit.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
only in kenya.
Day 7 (9/12)
I cannot say it enough. The stars here are amazing. The Milky Way is so clear and the stars are like a masterpiece. I don’t think I will ever get over it.
So I just realized that a week ago today I was leaving my house to come here. I can’t believe it’s only been one week. I feel like we’ve been here for so much longer then only 6 days. I feel like we’ve seen so much and learned so much from the staff and actually right now we are teaching Moses, about all the hotels in the States and shops and things (here hotel is more like a café, and usually a butchery is right next door.)
This morning I got up bright and early for our nature walk. As in we left at 6:10AM just before sunrise. At first we saw a troop of Baboons all up in the trees yelling and moving around from branch to branch. Then we walked for a while and saw tons of tracks from elephant (babies and very large ones), giraffe, buffalo, zebra, aardvark, goats and sheep. All of a sudden out of nowhere we saw an Eland about 200 feet in front of us, and then a few minutes later a couple Impala grazing about 300 feet away, and then those little Dik-diks were rustling the bushes a couple yards away. On the way back we saw the same troop of Baboons but a few of them had come down onto the ground and one male was absolutely huge, like extremely massive. During our first class our Prof almost got pee’d on by that cat again. I can’t remember if I mentioned it before but it’s a cat that lives in the compound and steals food and won’t leave. And our chumba (classroom) roof has a burlap layer underneath the tarp. It goes up there and will pee. Haha. I took my first hot showers since I’ve been here today! It was beyond glorious; even though the water pressure has to be kept low it’s still phenomenal. And today I learned they have a fiber optic cable so by the time its working (next semester?) The people in this camp can skype lol. I can’t complain though, there is a lot that’s here that I didn’t expect. AND today when we were running (yes I’ve picked up running-do as the Kenyans do right?) we saw a Vervet monkey running about 2 feet away from us and going up into a tree. So cool.
Tomorrow we are going for another field lecture…a 4 hour lecture. I can’t wait.
And I heard its about 60 and raining in RI…its about 75 and sunny here. Again.
New words! FYI-e=a, i=ee, o=oh, u=u, a=ah
Oh, by the way..elimu (ehleemoo) does not mean elephant. It means education, oops
Gari (gahree)-car/vehicle
Habari (hah-bah-ree)-news
Imba (imm-bah)-sing
Jambo(jahm-bo)-hello
Lala (lah-lah)-sheep
Mama (mama)-mother
Nani (naa-ni)-who
Omba (ohm-bah)-to bed/pray
Paka (pahkah)-cat
Kupaka (koo-pah-kah)-swear
*no q in Swahili*
Simba (simbah)-lion
Toka (toke-ahh)-get out
Ugali (oogahl-ee)-corn and water crushed, like mashed potatoes
Viatu (vee-ahh-too)-shoes
Wageni (wah-gen-ee)-guest
*no x in Swahili*
Yai (yah-ee)-egg
Zawadi (zed-wah-zee)-person
I cannot say it enough. The stars here are amazing. The Milky Way is so clear and the stars are like a masterpiece. I don’t think I will ever get over it.
So I just realized that a week ago today I was leaving my house to come here. I can’t believe it’s only been one week. I feel like we’ve been here for so much longer then only 6 days. I feel like we’ve seen so much and learned so much from the staff and actually right now we are teaching Moses, about all the hotels in the States and shops and things (here hotel is more like a café, and usually a butchery is right next door.)
This morning I got up bright and early for our nature walk. As in we left at 6:10AM just before sunrise. At first we saw a troop of Baboons all up in the trees yelling and moving around from branch to branch. Then we walked for a while and saw tons of tracks from elephant (babies and very large ones), giraffe, buffalo, zebra, aardvark, goats and sheep. All of a sudden out of nowhere we saw an Eland about 200 feet in front of us, and then a few minutes later a couple Impala grazing about 300 feet away, and then those little Dik-diks were rustling the bushes a couple yards away. On the way back we saw the same troop of Baboons but a few of them had come down onto the ground and one male was absolutely huge, like extremely massive. During our first class our Prof almost got pee’d on by that cat again. I can’t remember if I mentioned it before but it’s a cat that lives in the compound and steals food and won’t leave. And our chumba (classroom) roof has a burlap layer underneath the tarp. It goes up there and will pee. Haha. I took my first hot showers since I’ve been here today! It was beyond glorious; even though the water pressure has to be kept low it’s still phenomenal. And today I learned they have a fiber optic cable so by the time its working (next semester?) The people in this camp can skype lol. I can’t complain though, there is a lot that’s here that I didn’t expect. AND today when we were running (yes I’ve picked up running-do as the Kenyans do right?) we saw a Vervet monkey running about 2 feet away from us and going up into a tree. So cool.
Tomorrow we are going for another field lecture…a 4 hour lecture. I can’t wait.
And I heard its about 60 and raining in RI…its about 75 and sunny here. Again.
New words! FYI-e=a, i=ee, o=oh, u=u, a=ah
Oh, by the way..elimu (ehleemoo) does not mean elephant. It means education, oops
Gari (gahree)-car/vehicle
Habari (hah-bah-ree)-news
Imba (imm-bah)-sing
Jambo(jahm-bo)-hello
Lala (lah-lah)-sheep
Mama (mama)-mother
Nani (naa-ni)-who
Omba (ohm-bah)-to bed/pray
Paka (pahkah)-cat
Kupaka (koo-pah-kah)-swear
*no q in Swahili*
Simba (simbah)-lion
Toka (toke-ahh)-get out
Ugali (oogahl-ee)-corn and water crushed, like mashed potatoes
Viatu (vee-ahh-too)-shoes
Wageni (wah-gen-ee)-guest
*no x in Swahili*
Yai (yah-ee)-egg
Zawadi (zed-wah-zee)-person
Friday, September 11, 2009
Day 6 (9/11)
So this morning, I missed the nature walk, going to bed after 12 and waking up at 6 doesn’t work out for many days in a row. But there is another one tomorrow and for sure I’m going. I heard they saw some Baboons and monkeys fighting. I forgot to mention that yesterday we saw the Baboon that tries to steal food from the kitchen bolting across the soccer field. He is huge, haha but it was awesome. Last night at the bond fire the stars were incredible, they seem so close and so bright, and the coolest thing is we’ve never seen these stars before because it is the southern hemisphere. It almost looks like they touch the horizon, just like in the Lion King where it looks like they are never ending and run right into the ground. This morning while brushing my teeth I looked over to my right and Kilimanjaro was literally right there. It’s the first full day that we’ve been able to see it. When I tell you that it’s breathtaking, you can almost see the trees and how remarkably small the glacier has become. I’ll post pictures but they told us the glacier has shrunk 90% in the past 80 years, it looks like a little white cap on the very top compared to the pictures I’ve seen from years and years ago.
Today is September 11th. Eight years since the attacks and it’s a little strange not to be in America and see the flags flying and the general acknowledgement of what happened. Not that I expected it to be recognized here but I remember exactly where I was, how I found out, watching the news when I got home.
After lunch we went on a nature-walk/field-lecture with Okello, he is entertaining and completely hilarious. He was trying to stretch out his love handles, calls himself a chocolate Buddha, and wants us all to overflow his “cup of joy” picture that said in a semi-thick Swahili accent and lots of jiggling after he says things that are funny. Right in the beginning of the walk he was trying to show us how young and agile he is and went to go jump a small stream which we had to do a few times but he fell in haha. On the walk we learned about how farmers will illegally take the water from a stream or river and irrigate it to their farm. By the time a few people take the water it’s all gone when you get down river (especially in a 2 year drought like they are experiencing now). They also will trap zebras, gazelle, monkeys, and anything else that tries to take their crops. However in Kenya it’s illegal to harvest any and all wildlife…bush meat wipes out herds in just a few years when farmers come into the area. The area around the camp is gorgeous and I can only imagine what it looked like before the drought and before farmers came and cultivated areas, which eventually end up killing the resources found in the soil.
Today I learned that Sukari in Swahili means sugar! One of the giraffes at RWPZ is named that. And Kenya is her baby. Oh and elimu means elephant.
We do all our laundry by hand, or we can pay the local mamas 200 shillings (about $2.50) to do a load of our laundry. I was about to test out doing laundry by hand at about 4 pm today. Then I realized that it wouldn’t dry because the sun goes down around 6:30. And if I left it overnight the monkeys might come and take my laundry and I’d find it in a tree somewhere. Or even better the birds would poop on it while it was on the line, or even better bugs will nest in it and lay eggs. So long story short I have no attempted to do my laundry by hand yet, but I'll keep you all updated on the failure of hand laundry.
P.S. I can’t post any pictures until I come back, the internet is too slow here to upload pictures.
P.S.S. People aren’t joking when they say Kenyans are fast. All the staff at the camp are super fast. They were playing soccer with the kids today and they darted back and forth all over the place. It looked like they went about 100 meters in 4.5 seconds and they were just jogging.
So this morning, I missed the nature walk, going to bed after 12 and waking up at 6 doesn’t work out for many days in a row. But there is another one tomorrow and for sure I’m going. I heard they saw some Baboons and monkeys fighting. I forgot to mention that yesterday we saw the Baboon that tries to steal food from the kitchen bolting across the soccer field. He is huge, haha but it was awesome. Last night at the bond fire the stars were incredible, they seem so close and so bright, and the coolest thing is we’ve never seen these stars before because it is the southern hemisphere. It almost looks like they touch the horizon, just like in the Lion King where it looks like they are never ending and run right into the ground. This morning while brushing my teeth I looked over to my right and Kilimanjaro was literally right there. It’s the first full day that we’ve been able to see it. When I tell you that it’s breathtaking, you can almost see the trees and how remarkably small the glacier has become. I’ll post pictures but they told us the glacier has shrunk 90% in the past 80 years, it looks like a little white cap on the very top compared to the pictures I’ve seen from years and years ago.
Today is September 11th. Eight years since the attacks and it’s a little strange not to be in America and see the flags flying and the general acknowledgement of what happened. Not that I expected it to be recognized here but I remember exactly where I was, how I found out, watching the news when I got home.
After lunch we went on a nature-walk/field-lecture with Okello, he is entertaining and completely hilarious. He was trying to stretch out his love handles, calls himself a chocolate Buddha, and wants us all to overflow his “cup of joy” picture that said in a semi-thick Swahili accent and lots of jiggling after he says things that are funny. Right in the beginning of the walk he was trying to show us how young and agile he is and went to go jump a small stream which we had to do a few times but he fell in haha. On the walk we learned about how farmers will illegally take the water from a stream or river and irrigate it to their farm. By the time a few people take the water it’s all gone when you get down river (especially in a 2 year drought like they are experiencing now). They also will trap zebras, gazelle, monkeys, and anything else that tries to take their crops. However in Kenya it’s illegal to harvest any and all wildlife…bush meat wipes out herds in just a few years when farmers come into the area. The area around the camp is gorgeous and I can only imagine what it looked like before the drought and before farmers came and cultivated areas, which eventually end up killing the resources found in the soil.
Today I learned that Sukari in Swahili means sugar! One of the giraffes at RWPZ is named that. And Kenya is her baby. Oh and elimu means elephant.
We do all our laundry by hand, or we can pay the local mamas 200 shillings (about $2.50) to do a load of our laundry. I was about to test out doing laundry by hand at about 4 pm today. Then I realized that it wouldn’t dry because the sun goes down around 6:30. And if I left it overnight the monkeys might come and take my laundry and I’d find it in a tree somewhere. Or even better the birds would poop on it while it was on the line, or even better bugs will nest in it and lay eggs. So long story short I have no attempted to do my laundry by hand yet, but I'll keep you all updated on the failure of hand laundry.
P.S. I can’t post any pictures until I come back, the internet is too slow here to upload pictures.
P.S.S. People aren’t joking when they say Kenyans are fast. All the staff at the camp are super fast. They were playing soccer with the kids today and they darted back and forth all over the place. It looked like they went about 100 meters in 4.5 seconds and they were just jogging.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
jambo from kenya!
Day 5 (9/10)
This morning I was on breakfast crew, which is a group of 5 that get up early and help Susan cook breakfast and it rotates through the group. Susan is Maasai and the main cook; she sings and talks about how the food says that it is ready to eat. I had to butter bread and then fry it in oil to make it toast…it was semi successful. First class we learned about wildlife policy and why it’s failing and how you have to understand the people and their culture to make policy successful. A lot of people played soccer today and I am not even close to agile enough for the type of competitive soccer they play-it’s intense. We learned a lot of Swahili words today I’m gunna try to post new words that we learn. AND we went into a Boma in the afternoon (traditional Maasai village). OH MY GOD it was so cool. When we got there the mamas sang and jumped to greet us and I took a video of it but I can’t post any pictures or video till I get back into the States. And to greet them back we sung Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, it was hilarious and I’m not sure they understood the song but nevertheless…priceless. And we got to go into a traditional mud huts.
Picture this…they are about 5 feet tall, almost completely dark with about 4 3x5 inch windows that are just openings and it smells like smoke because that’s where they cook and they have no ventilation. And they have two beds, the frame made of sticks and vegetation and twigs for a mattress and that is covered with a piece of hide, one bed for the mother and children, one for the father. These beds are maybe 4x4 feet.
After that all the mamas sat in a huge circle and laid out their jewelry, carvings and fabric for all of us to buy. They are not nearly as pushy in that setting and it was nice to see all the things laid out. I love the beaded bracelets that are so many different colors and sizes and variations.
We also took some pictures of the kids and then would show them the pictures and they all got the biggest kick out of seeing themselves and their friends on the camera. Most amazing thing ever I hope we can go back soon. We also learned we are allowed to buy “1.5 sheep and a baby and a goat” for 2500 each shillings, which is 73 shillings to the dollar…do the math but it’s definitely worth it. Bond fires going! Gots to go.
MOD-mwanafunzi of the day, student of the day (rings the bell, turns the solar panel, writes up the board, and RAP (reflection, announcements, presentation)
Askari-guard carry big sticks and chase away animals (ah-scar-ee)
Asante-thank you (a-saant-eh)
Karibou-welcome (care-i-boo)
Rafiki-friend (Rah-fee-key)
Pole-sorry (poll-eh)
This morning I was on breakfast crew, which is a group of 5 that get up early and help Susan cook breakfast and it rotates through the group. Susan is Maasai and the main cook; she sings and talks about how the food says that it is ready to eat. I had to butter bread and then fry it in oil to make it toast…it was semi successful. First class we learned about wildlife policy and why it’s failing and how you have to understand the people and their culture to make policy successful. A lot of people played soccer today and I am not even close to agile enough for the type of competitive soccer they play-it’s intense. We learned a lot of Swahili words today I’m gunna try to post new words that we learn. AND we went into a Boma in the afternoon (traditional Maasai village). OH MY GOD it was so cool. When we got there the mamas sang and jumped to greet us and I took a video of it but I can’t post any pictures or video till I get back into the States. And to greet them back we sung Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, it was hilarious and I’m not sure they understood the song but nevertheless…priceless. And we got to go into a traditional mud huts.
Picture this…they are about 5 feet tall, almost completely dark with about 4 3x5 inch windows that are just openings and it smells like smoke because that’s where they cook and they have no ventilation. And they have two beds, the frame made of sticks and vegetation and twigs for a mattress and that is covered with a piece of hide, one bed for the mother and children, one for the father. These beds are maybe 4x4 feet.
After that all the mamas sat in a huge circle and laid out their jewelry, carvings and fabric for all of us to buy. They are not nearly as pushy in that setting and it was nice to see all the things laid out. I love the beaded bracelets that are so many different colors and sizes and variations.
We also took some pictures of the kids and then would show them the pictures and they all got the biggest kick out of seeing themselves and their friends on the camera. Most amazing thing ever I hope we can go back soon. We also learned we are allowed to buy “1.5 sheep and a baby and a goat” for 2500 each shillings, which is 73 shillings to the dollar…do the math but it’s definitely worth it. Bond fires going! Gots to go.
MOD-mwanafunzi of the day, student of the day (rings the bell, turns the solar panel, writes up the board, and RAP (reflection, announcements, presentation)
Askari-guard carry big sticks and chase away animals (ah-scar-ee)
Asante-thank you (a-saant-eh)
Karibou-welcome (care-i-boo)
Rafiki-friend (Rah-fee-key)
Pole-sorry (poll-eh)
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Just to catch up, here is the 2 days of travel and the first couple days at the camp.
Day 1 (9/5)
9AM-Left home
12:30-Arrived at hotel
4PM-Left hotel and went to airport
5PM-Checked bags
6PM-Went through security, met up with the group flight
8:50PM-Boarded plane
Day 2 (9/6)
6AM-Arrived at London, one hour before scheduled
Had 13 hours in London, slept in the airport
7PM-Boarded plane for KENYA
Day 3 (9/7)
5:30AM-Arrived in Nairobi
9AM-Left airport for camp site
5 hour drive on the worst roads I’ve ever been on (some was paved), arrived at the bush camp, plus we stopped in a local shop and saw lots of cows, goats and crazy drivers.
1PM-Had lunch, site tour, hung out
5PM-Our luggage arrived (the “white rhino” broke down..which is the name for the truck carrying our bags)
After that there was more orientation, and lessons about things that could kill you.
Day 4 (9/8)
Everything is so pretty, this morning we went for a run around the camp and saw a warthog and some small antelope called Dik-diks (sp?). Sometimes animals get into camp through the fence and they have to be chased out. Baboons sometimes come in and monkeys and lots of birds. After that we had more orientation and some classes about the center and more things that are dangerous, haha only Black mambas, lots of parasites, mosquitoes, scorpions, and every single tree around and all the wild animals are dangerous, no big deal. Even the dirt can have bugs that get into your skin in. And it is so dusty if people move around at all in the dirt it’s an instant fake tan of brown-red dust.
After lunch we went into a local town. They have mamas (the local women from the villages) that try to sell things to you, and all surround you trying to get you to buy their bracelets and necklaces that are BEAUTIFUL. It’s a little overwhelming to be there but it’s so cool all the things they make.
We all ended up watching the Lion King. Ha
Camp has flushing toilets, running water, and showers (hot ones when the generator comes on from 6:30-11PM), electricity at night and internet when the generator comes on. And there is drinking water that takes just like water back in the States, I was most excited about that. We also have new mosquito nets and new mattresses! The food is also SO good, everything is fried but it’s delicious.
Day 5 (9/9)
Got up, its overcast today but low 70s which is perfect. After breakfast we all went on a nature walk with Daniel around the perimeter of the fence (but on the outside, which isn’t safe for us to be alone there because there are so many animals.) Anyway…he pointed out the trees and bushes that are poisonous, could make you blind, or have thorns the size of my hand then we examined some scat to see what animals were around the perimeter of the camp (giraffes and zebras!). Daniel is an awesome man, he also teaches us Swahili. After the walk we had some team bonding exercises and read advice from past students, I learned never to leave food in our bandas (which are like cabins)...monkeys will steal it and it attracts mice which attract snakes…which can kill you. Again, no big deal.
Day 1 (9/5)
9AM-Left home
12:30-Arrived at hotel
4PM-Left hotel and went to airport
5PM-Checked bags
6PM-Went through security, met up with the group flight
8:50PM-Boarded plane
Day 2 (9/6)
6AM-Arrived at London, one hour before scheduled
Had 13 hours in London, slept in the airport
7PM-Boarded plane for KENYA
Day 3 (9/7)
5:30AM-Arrived in Nairobi
9AM-Left airport for camp site
5 hour drive on the worst roads I’ve ever been on (some was paved), arrived at the bush camp, plus we stopped in a local shop and saw lots of cows, goats and crazy drivers.
1PM-Had lunch, site tour, hung out
5PM-Our luggage arrived (the “white rhino” broke down..which is the name for the truck carrying our bags)
After that there was more orientation, and lessons about things that could kill you.
Day 4 (9/8)
Everything is so pretty, this morning we went for a run around the camp and saw a warthog and some small antelope called Dik-diks (sp?). Sometimes animals get into camp through the fence and they have to be chased out. Baboons sometimes come in and monkeys and lots of birds. After that we had more orientation and some classes about the center and more things that are dangerous, haha only Black mambas, lots of parasites, mosquitoes, scorpions, and every single tree around and all the wild animals are dangerous, no big deal. Even the dirt can have bugs that get into your skin in. And it is so dusty if people move around at all in the dirt it’s an instant fake tan of brown-red dust.
After lunch we went into a local town. They have mamas (the local women from the villages) that try to sell things to you, and all surround you trying to get you to buy their bracelets and necklaces that are BEAUTIFUL. It’s a little overwhelming to be there but it’s so cool all the things they make.
We all ended up watching the Lion King. Ha
Camp has flushing toilets, running water, and showers (hot ones when the generator comes on from 6:30-11PM), electricity at night and internet when the generator comes on. And there is drinking water that takes just like water back in the States, I was most excited about that. We also have new mosquito nets and new mattresses! The food is also SO good, everything is fried but it’s delicious.
Day 5 (9/9)
Got up, its overcast today but low 70s which is perfect. After breakfast we all went on a nature walk with Daniel around the perimeter of the fence (but on the outside, which isn’t safe for us to be alone there because there are so many animals.) Anyway…he pointed out the trees and bushes that are poisonous, could make you blind, or have thorns the size of my hand then we examined some scat to see what animals were around the perimeter of the camp (giraffes and zebras!). Daniel is an awesome man, he also teaches us Swahili. After the walk we had some team bonding exercises and read advice from past students, I learned never to leave food in our bandas (which are like cabins)...monkeys will steal it and it attracts mice which attract snakes…which can kill you. Again, no big deal.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
This is my address while I'll be there. Mail takes about 2 weeks, and anything bigger than a letter may not get to me because they have to inspect everything and if it looks valuable they will take it. So letters only please! And leave your address so I can send you post cards!
Center for Wildlife Management Studies
P.O. Box 27743 (Nyayo Stadium)
00506 - Nairobi, Kenya East Africa
And this is my e-mail: cmrohland@gmail.com
Center for Wildlife Management Studies
P.O. Box 27743 (Nyayo Stadium)
00506 - Nairobi, Kenya East Africa
And this is my e-mail: cmrohland@gmail.com
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