A Very Good Friday and a Holy Satisfying Saturday

Firstly, I'd like to take the opportunity to express how incredibly proud I am of my big sister, Lilli, who graduated from NAVY officer's candidacy school yesterday and is now a commissioned officer in the world's top naval fleet. You've grown into a beautiful, strong, confident, and amazing young women, one of my top role models, and I cannot express how truly proud I am to be your brother today and every other day.

Fortunately, it would seem this weekend was one of sister successes on multiple fronts. Good Friday started out with more great news from my urban home stay family as my sister, Shiko, has been accepted to the St. Lawrence University class of 2017! Not only is this excellent news for Shiko and the family, but it's great to know that next year I'll have someone to share my Kenya homesickness with. While she is not entirely sure she will attend SLU and is still waiting to hear back from several other schools, after the celebration and good time we showed her last night following the breaking of the news, I'm quite confident I'll be seeing a lot of shivering Shiko next year in Canton.

Last night Shiko, Trevor, Nelson, and Sue (my urban home stay family) joined us for supper in welcoming both Shiko and our new Swahili fellow to the greater St. Lawrence family. Much discussion over the meal revolved around our favorite aspects of the close, warm, and welcoming community at St. Lawrence and how proud we are of the close connections and relationships the school fosters between students, faculty, staff, and community members. The entertainment, however, came largely in the form of watching the reactions of our new Laurentians as we explained the cold weather, snow, and the rural middle-of-nowhere-ness that Canton so perfectly epitomizes. 

Following dinner Shiko and Trevor stayed on the compound with us as we prepared for a night out in Karen. Several of the girls helped Shiko find an outfit and get ready for the long night of dancing out on the town, while many of us guys simply kicked back with Trevor and chilled as we waited for the girls to be ready. The rest of the night spent at the local bar and dance club was marked by smiles,  unconventional dance moves involving lots of flailing limbs (ahem...Sophie), mingling with the locals, and enjoying the local fare. 

Family picture to celebrate Shiko's acceptance to SLU and first night out with her new SLU family.

Holy Saturday 

Following the exciting night out on the town with Trevor, Shiko, and the gang, I woke bright and early at 7:00 to prepared for my much awaiting round of golf with Dr. Wairimu, our program director. In a somewhat twisted testament to the lack of concrete timelines in Kenya, she showed up almost an hour and a half later than expected smiling and joking as if the plan all along was to leave at nine. However, in hindsight I'm grateful for this slight delay, as it helped us hit the links as the rainclouds were clearing and the sun was beginning to peek its way through the clouds.

After a lovely half a round of less than stellar strokes, I finally found my swing and managed to salvage a couple pars and a birdie before we finished. An excellent time was had on the beautiful course at Karen Country Club, especially as we had some great laughs over the occasional shanked shots and botched puts on and around the speedy greens. Still, I could not have asked for a better partner and a nicer day to get back into the swing of things. The whole round, however, I was channeling Grandpa in the back of my mind with his famous words of wisdom, "Keep your head down and watch the club hit the ball. The rest of us will tell you where it goes. Just watch the club hit the ball."

Dr. Wairimu and I on the ninth fairway on the approach to the clubhouse.

An Afternoon at New Life Home

Photo credit: Julia Hall

After an exciting morning on the course with Wairimu, we returned to compound for lunch and then to collect the crew that went with us to New Life Home in the afternoon. New Life Home is a center in Nairobi that rescues babies who have been abandoned and does exactly what its namesake suggests, gives them new lives. The home started as the brainchild of a British couple who were called to do this work in Africa where there really is a need for it. With the help of donors, volunteers, and a dedicated nursing staff, New Life is able to help abandoned babies find new lives and new homes with loving families.

Abby, Julia, Haley, Emma, and I spent the afternoon playing with some of the children of the home and the experience proved truly heartwarming. While some of the babies were barely able to hold their own heads up, they were all happy to spend the afternoon with us and we shared many laughs and smiles.

Meet Valentine, a precious little angel who I spent much of the afternoon with. Photo Credit: Abby Martin

Emma's new best friend, Joseph reaching for the camera. Photo credit: Julia Hall

Homemade Nachos and Bruschetta

While many of us went out for dinner tonight, a group of us decided to cook our own dinner, instead. After scouring the local supermarkets for tortilla chips and some suitable cheese, we returned to the compound to start cooking. Jamming out to some great tunes courtesy of Sadie, we prepared some salsa and grated enough cheese that it's a miracle I still have my finger tips. Despite a harrowing ordeal turning on the barbaric stone-age oven, our nachos and bruschetta came out splendidly, and we all enjoyed the home-cooked food we've been craving so badly.

Our dinner crew. From left: Kate, Haley, myself, and Sadie Wolfman Thompson. Photo credit: Julia Hall

Adventure Wednesday in Downtown Nairobi

A Busy Day in the Central Business District

Haley and I had a busy day in downtown Nairobi. Due to a relatively open afternoon schedule, we were able to run several errands today and accomplished many of the items our our to-do lists. Once we arrived in the Central Business District we made our first order of business changing our flights via the Turkish Airlines office. After a ten minute walk from the UKC where we have classes, we arrived at the Turkish Airlines office on the corner of Market Ave and Moi, which we had googled earlier today. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to us was the fact that this little branch was incapable of handling any ticket adjusting, and rather served only as a booking agent office. With some directions from the friendly staff at the small branch, we headed some six blocks north to the International House Tower where we were told to visit the main Turkish branch. 

Upon our arrival at the International house, we were greeted by a team of security guards and a maze of security checkpoints rivaling the TSA at international airports. Even just to get up to the tenth floor where the Turkish office is, Haley had to surrender her license as collateral for a visitors pass (which she joked didn't bother her too much, as she's 'sick of that picture anyways'). Nonetheless, after almost 15 minutes of wandering through the lobbies, elevators, and hallways of the high-security building, we arrived on the tenth floor where we were greeted by the enthusiastic staff of the Turkish office. 

A quick thirty minutes later, we had officially switched our flights so that we can stay an extra ten days in the country with our Moms, who arrive on the 16th of May (can't wait!). I even asked the clerk who assisted us to put a note in with the file that we are VIPs in hopes that we are upgraded or given access to the posh Turkish Airlines lounge in Istanbul. After we left the Turkish headquarters we met Haley's host sister, Koki, who spent the rest of the afternoon with us. 

Next stop: Kenyatta International Conference Center. KICC is a massive conference center located inside the compound that houses the president's office, parliament, the supreme court, and several other important government buildings in the heart of the Central Business District in downtown Nairobi. The crowning jewel of the KICC is the 30 story tower which houses many of the centers' conference halls. Towering over downtown Nairobi, from the helipad and observation deck on the roof, vistitors can experience a breathtaking 360 degree view of the city. 

On the recommendation of some of our classmates who visited the tower earlier this week, we visited KICC for the sole purpose of climbing the tower and taking in the sights of the bustling metropolis from high above the streets. With the help of our friendly tour guide, Peter, we learned all about the history of the impressive building, the KICC and its historical significance, and also many local landmarks visible from the tower. The view from the top truly speaks for itself. Below are some snaps I took with my phone atop the helipad and tower. 

Koki and Haley pose in front of the city backdrop on the rooftop helipad

This is a panorama view from the helipad atop the Kenyatta International Conference Center. From here you have a 360 degree view of Nairobi.

Ngong Hills Hike

This Saturday a group of us decided to venture out to the nearby Ngong hills for a little exercise and fresh air. The Ngong hills are located just outside Nairobi high on the plateau overlooking the Great Rift Valley in nearby Ngong.  The hills are only a 40 minute drive from the compound along Ngong road, which is one of the main roads heading into Nairobi.

On Saturday morning we all woke up around seven o'clock, had breakfast, packed lunches, and headed to the bus around eight. Along with Adan, one of the friendly askari (guards) who works on the compound, we made the 40 minute trip to the foot of the Ngong Hills at Kona Baridi, a small village located at a very sharp and windy bend in the road. There we met our Maasai guides for the hike, a group of three young local men who accompanied us on the hike. Although guides are not required, security can sometimes be an issue, and the presence of the armed guides was a precautionary measure we took as a group.

We started hiking shortly after nine o'clock and headed up the dirt road from Kona Baridi towards the first of the seven hills on the hike. From there, the trail took us up and over several of the high grassy peaks and we continued to climb higher and higher. Some two hours in we reached the halfway point at the top of the fifth and tallest hill, where we stopped to catch our breath and take in the gorgeous views of the Great Rift Valley. During this water break we were also fortunate enough to meet Mr. Johnston Waithiru, a local business man and self-proclaimed sportsman who offered to lead us in an elaborate stretch and fitness routine before we started to head onwards to the remaining peaks. His enthusiasm was contagious and we left the halfway point following our break with a new spring in our step and a new friend.

A little selfie love at the beginning of the hike...notice the cloud behind me

The clouds finally cleared and allowed me to take this shot on the way up peak three. 

Group photo from the top of the fifth peak around 7800 feet. 

Ally stands amidst the clouds as the sun peeks through on the top of peak five. 

Looking at the sixth peak as we head down the backside of the fifth. 

A local scout troop does some drill practice on top of peak six.

A view from the end of the hike of the windfarm at the bottom of peak seven. 

From the halfway point on, we continued to hike down into the valleys between the remaining peaks and up the following hills, sucking wind most of the time as the altitude (fluctuating between 6000-8000 ft). On top of the sixth and seventh peaks we met groups of school children and young scouts (respectively), both whom were out for some physical fitness training on the sunny Saturday morning. We descended the final hill around noon, and stopped at the bottom of it to take lunch and relax in the shadow of several giant wind turbines clustered around the base of the hill.

A short ten-minute walk down a dirt road took us past the Kenya Wildlife Service ranger station at the northern entrance to the park and led us right to our bus, which returned us to the compound in Karen for a relaxing afternoon and some much needed naps. At the end of the day, the burner of a hike left most of us pretty exhausted, although not too much to keep from enjoying the beautiful weather for the rest of the weekend.

Safari ya Tanzania

A welcomed site in Arusha upon our arrival. This man had his shop set up right next to the notable "Hillary Clinton Shop".  Photo Credit: Julia Hall

Karibu Kenya! We've just returned from our two-week safari with Dorobo in Tanzania, where we had the opportunity to view wildlife, learn about the savannah and forest ecosystems, and live with two indigenous groups practicing their traditional lifestyles. Dorobo is an environmentally conscious tour operator based out of Arusha, Tanzania that has had a working relationship with indigenous people's in the Yaeda Valley for almost thirty years, since the company was started by three brothers in the 1980s. Our two weeks with Dorobo were chock full of excitement and learning as enjoyed the natural beauty of the ancient landscape and the culture of the people's who have lived in harmony there for thousands of years.

We spent the first week of our guided safari (in Kiswahili 'safari' translates to 'trip') in Tarangiri National Park, a 4000 sq.km protected park which covers a large swath of northern Tanzania and is home to hundreds of thousands of migratory species throughout the year. During our stay in Tarangiri, we went on several full-day 'game drives' (what the locals call 'safaris') across the diverse landscapes of the northern section of the park. In addition to the hundreds of birds pointed out to us by our avian-enthusiast guides, we were able to catch sightings of many of the iconic African savannah species, including many African elephants, lions, wildebeest, antelope, giraffe, zebra, ostrich, and warthog.

I snapped this picture of the larger Dorobo truck crossing the Tarangiri River. Unlike many in the park, this river remains wet throughout the year, which means many animals come to drink from it in dryer months.

Although blurry, this picture shows two lioness resting in the shad of some Acacia trees as they watch nearby zebra grazing near the riverbank. They eventually made a half-hearted effort to take some zebra after they wandered very close to their tree, but it proved unsuccessful as it appeared they were already full and didn't care to waste the energy on a kill. 

A better photo of the lions taken by Meghan

Photo Credit: Meghan MacGregor

Photo credit: Meghan MacGregor

Rachel climbs up the baobab near our lower Hadza camp. Photo credit: Meghan MacGregor

I took this photo of elephants in the marsh playing and cooling off in the heat of the day. They also like to cover themselves in mud to keep their skin cool and damp and parasites from entering through their skin.  

This curious zebra took a break from his grazing to stare at us for a bit as we snapped some photos from the Land Rover.

While many of the animals are now beginning to migrate outside the park in preparation for the mating season and as food grows scarce inside the park, we were fortunate to catch sightings of most of the big game in the park that are still around. Evidenced by the ear-to-ear grins sported by most of us during the close encounters with these impressive animals like elephants and lions, the opportunity to witness these animals so candidly in their natural habitats was nothing short of incredible.The beauty, grace, and power of these animals alone was truly awesome; be it lions stalking zebra and other prey from the camouflage of the grassy plains or elephants casually grazing and throwing mud on themselves at the waterhole.

This is a view from our drive up into the mountains to our camp in the Nuo Forest.

After several days in the park, we headed west towards the Yaeda Valley, where Dorobo has an excellent working relationship with the native Iraqw (pronounced hear-ock) and Hadza people, both of which have inhabited the land in and surrounding the Yaeda Valley for thousands of years. Our first two days were spent high in the mountains (7,500 ft) of the protected Nuo Forest, located in a region densely populated by communities of agro-pastoralist Iraqw people.

Here we had the opportunity to discuss the problems associated with land shortages and forest conservation, issues incredibly pressing in their community as there is not adequate land to support the growing population and land-intensive practices of these people. In addition to fruitful discussions with local men and women we had lots of downtime in camp, which we spent birding, playing soccer with locals, going on nature walks, hiking to gorgeous natural waterfalls, tossing the frisbee, and simply sitting around the campfire sharing stories. This portion of the trip was pretty amazing, especially in contrast to the savannah, as the high-mountain forest ecosystem offered a completely different, yet equally diverse array of wildlife and scenery.

I spent much of our afternoon visit to the local village playing soccer with some of the children. Although they were a bit shy at first, they loved soccer and soon warmed up to playing with me. Photo Credit: Julia Hall

Following our time in the Nuo Forest, we drove another four or five hours down into the Yaeda Valley to spend our remaining days living and learning with the ancient Hadza people, a group of hunter-gatherers whom are believed to be direct descendants of the earliest known human civilizations discovered just north near the Ngorogoro Crater ('Lucy' and many remains of the earliest hominids were found here). The Hadza are an incredible people with a modest population who have managed to survive as subsistence hunter-gatherers in this region for thousands of years despite the extinction and assimilation of many other cultures with the advent of European settlement here.

Our move from our lower Hadza camp to the higher mountain camp involved an eight mile hike across the valley, which had some swampy sections. Photo Credit: Julia Hall

The Hadza start fires using a traditional fire drill made of a special wood. 

Once they have created an ember with the drill, they transfer it to a tinder bundle to start the fire. 

With the Hadza we had the opportunity to join them as they conducted their daily activities, including digging tubers for food, harvesting honey, gathering berries for eating, and even hunting for game. Many of us also enjoyed climbing a massive baobab tree with help from Mika (one of our guides) who slung a rope for us. We were able to walk, work, and hunt alongside these indigenous people, an incredibly genuine opportunity to experience their culture and lifestyle in its most pure form. Further discussions with the Hadza helped us understand just how unique they are as a people and how wholly content and satisfied they are with their lifestyle, which many (including the Tanzanian government) would consider primitive and/or backwards.

Additionally, we participated in other traditional cultural practices of the Hadza like dancing and gambling, which serves as one of their main mediums of exchange (some of us gambled clothing and other small items and won some cool Hadza arrows). Surely the time spent we with the Hadza will prove to be special memories treasured by young people from a culture and world so foreign from theirs.