Trip to Kitale

January 12- Karen (just outside of Nairobi- a swankier ‘suburb’ named for Karen Blixen, of ‘Out of Africa’ fame) to Kitale (8 hours away, in Western Kenya)

I’d forgotten what it is like to be woken by the wild African symphony. My sleep was cut shorter than it would have been had I been in a soundproofed indoor room, but oh my goodness, there isn’t much that beats hearing the world come alive all around you. I spent last night on a cot on a second storey verandah of a very nice house by African standards. I even had a hot shower due to an apparatus called a ‘steamey’ which is hooked onto the shower head and heats the water as it trickles out. As you increase the pressure of the shower, it gets cooler… so you can decide if you want pressure or heat. I always choose heat J Despite this place being on the equator, it’s not really that warm in the night times because of the high altitude.

Last night I fell asleep to the sound of two villages of Maasai voices brought together in song carried over a field. I was surprised to hear that there were some villages so close to town. My hosts said that they would soon be displaced as the land they are on is slated for development. The Maasai generally don’t own land, so they are in a tough position as to where they put their semi-permaent houses. I wonder what they were celebrating last night.

I met my traveling companions over morning tea (chai… yum…). They are a group of seven Americans from a big church in Minnesota. They are on a two week whirlwind trip of East Africa, visiting different projects that their church supports. Luckily for me, they arrived yesterday night and have Kitale as their first stop. I’m glad I found out about them before I left so that I could hitch a ride! Although they seem to be a pretty tight group already, they are very welcoming, and happy to have this funny Canadian along. I guess I don’t say ‘eh’ that much because they couldn’t figure out why I don’t have a Canadian accent. They even offered to make me an honourary American- an offer that was graciously declined J

Travelling with this group was different than any other traveling I had done in Kenya. One- the tour guide was American, not a native Kenyan, so had quite a different view of everything- more ‘eye in the sky’ and mildly condescending. Two- we stopped at places the average matatu or budget tour wouldn’t even glance at- like a ‘walled community’ set of properties on a totally wild mountain overlooking Lake Naivasha, where each inhabitant can build their own dream home, next to a beautiful golf course, swimming pool, etc... and a fancy ‘lodge’ for lunch. I really missed being with people who were interested in the finer points of life, like identifying birds or looking for animals and interesting plants en route. No one knew answers to any of my ‘what is that called?’ questions. Our trip took nearly all the daylight hours- we arrived in Kitale as the sun was setting. We ate supper at a restaurant in town and settled in to our accommodation at ICM by 10pm- where we fell asleep, exhausted from our bumpy, dusty ride.