10. Aberdare Country Club and Park

On Wednesday morning Dani and I left on a trip down to Aberdare National Park and Country Club. This was the only multi-day trip we did, and we were trying to pick a trip that would take us relatively close to Nairobi so that dropping Dani off at the Nairobi airport wouldn't be all that difficult. My friend Izzy had recommended Aberdare Country Club to me. She said it was super-ritzy, but, "heck, you're graduating from med school soon. I just told myself that I deserved it." I took Izzy's advice to heart, and splurged. The trip took us about 6 hours in the car. And along the way, Dani, who is an excellent photographer, took some really nice pics in the villages we passed.

We also stopped at the equator along the way.

0º latitude!

We got lost once, but eventually we made it to the Aberdare Country Club in the early evening. It's a really interesting place. A four-star hotel and resort, yet the road leading to it is not even paved, with the last section being over very uneven pavement and passing several small peasant huts. It definitely felt like we were colonialist mzungus (white people) who were flouting our wealth in the midst of dire poverty.

Inside the gate it was like entering another world. The golf course straddles the road leading up to the country club and warthogs, antelope, and baboons stroll along the greens.

Warthogs along the path

The buildings were surrounded with gardens and the East had a tremendous view of Mt. Kenya.

Sunbirds on the flowers

Main hotel building

Garden view

Laser-eyed deer

View from outside our room

After we settled in, we went down for tea, took a stroll around the grounds until dinner. The food was quite good, though we thought they used the same sauce on both of our main entrees. After dinner we sat and caught up on internet for a bit, then went up to bed since we were planning on waking up for a morning safari in the Aberdare National Park.

Safari and the Ark

The next morning we woke up for breakfast, then went on our Safari to Aberdare. We had the safari truck all to ourselves. Originally we had planned to go for the entire day, but decided as we began to cut it down to a half-day. The reason for this was that the park is unlike some of the other National Parks in Kenya in that it is rather heavily wooded. Therefore, it is rather difficult to site game except at the watering holes. Since these were still relatively dry due to the lack of rain, many of the animals were off in the trees and were not visible. We did see some animals though in the open areas. These photos are mostly with Dani behind the camera.

Waterbuck

Antelope

Dani with a herd of Cape Buffalo in the distance

Elephants in the forest

Cape buffalo

Baboon

Besides animals, we were also visited by a rather sizable number of tsetse flies. These have a painful bite and can carry the disease African sleeping sickness, though incidence is low in Kenya. Our driver broke off some branches of trees for us to use as flyswatters.

Bob, the fly-killer

At one point the guide had us get out of the car at an overlook and it was only after we were strolling around for a bit that we noticed that we had a companion, a large male Cape buffalo was resting under a small tree on one side of the overlook. Our guide had just got through telling us that lone male Cape buffalo were especially dangerous and unpredictable, but when we asked if we should perhaps get back in the car, he said, "No, I think it will be, OK." So (perhaps not exercising the best judgement, we strolled around the overlook, keeping the buffalo at a distance. He didn't seem to mind our intrusion, and continued to lazily rest under the tree.

A dangerous beast

 After seeing some animals (and killing tsetse flies), we rounded out our safari with lunch at the Ark. This is a hotel inside the Aberdare Park with a large viewing area at one end. They have a watering hole and place out salt to attract the animals, so (perhaps not surprisingly) we had some of our best sitings here. We had thought about staying at the Ark, but when we got there, we realized that we'd made the right choice in only staying at the Country Club. The rooms were pretty small and basic. And because it is inside the park, you were basically trapped in the hotel.

This antelope was being sassy

Back at the Country Club, we had a little time to rest but then decided to take a guided walk further out onto the Country Club grounds where they have a herd of giraffes, antelope, and even hyenas and leopards (though these are rarely seen during the day - we didn't luck out). Our guide told a story about the time that a foreigner was killed by one of the giraffes - kicked in the head when he tried to get too close to take a photo, and how at first they thought it might be a murder. It wasn't until the hematoma began to form on his head that they looked and saw that there was a mark that looked like a hoof.

He also told us that they used to have big problems with the locals who would come into the Country Club's land at night to kill bush-meat. The guards would catch some of the trespassers and take them to the police, but the families would bribe the police, and they would get off. It wasn't until the guards were told to break the poachers' bones before turning them over to the police, that the poaching stopped...sooooo complicated....

Little Rock thrush

Giraffes!

Giraffe resting his back foot

We surprised this guy. Woke him up from his nap.

African landscape

The whole herd

We found a chameleon on the road

After we got back from our walk we had dinner, then had a really lovely evening sitting by a fireplace and chatting.

The next day we started out early for Nairobi. Dani's flight wasn't until 4pm and we'd heard that the drive was about 3 hours, but we decided to take no chances and left at around 9am. It was a good thing that we did. Our driver had not approached Nairobi from the North before and was unfamiliar with the exact way to the airport. We ended up getting lost several times, only making to the airport at around 2:30pm. Dani and I had a rather rushed goodbye at the terminal - a police man was trying to get a bribe from our driver because he had unknowingly parked illegally to drop Dani off. Thus, while the ending was rather tense, it was really great to be able to spend time with a dear friend in so many beautiful locations. Thanks for coming, Dani!

09. Kakamega

Probably my overall favorite trip of my week with Dani was to the Kakamega Forest Preserve, which is about 2 hours West of Eldoret. This is a several thousand acre remnant of old-growth African forest which was originally preserved by a missionary family. The land then underwent several business incarnations - including an orphanage and a farm - but now is a retreat/resort. The grounds are lovely, and there are experienced birders who act as guides into the surrounding forest where you can see some birds that you cannot find anywhere else in Kenya. And even some that are found nowhere else in all of East Africa! We left IU House on Monday morning and arrived in the early afternoon.

The entrance to our bungalow

We were able to get a deal on our room, since the resort has a long-established relationship with Max, the owner of the travel agency/cab service who contracts with the IU-Kenya program.

The outside porch of the bungalow

Bedroom

Living room

We settled in to the room, then set out on a hike with our guide, Gabriel. At first he was rather quiet with us, only pointing out birds and, just as he was telling us about some of the poisonous snakes that could be found in the forest, we came across a Bitis nasicornis, or Rhinoceros viper, one of the most poisonous, curled up in a tree right beside the path!
 

Rhinoceros viper

The hike took us about 4 hours, and was about 8-9 miles. The forest is magical.

Our best bird of the day was the Blue-headed Bee-eater. This is one of the species which can only be found in the Kakamega forest! They act a bit like flycatchers, finding an open area and picking a branch on which to perch, then flying out, catching an insect, and returning to the same perch. We ran into a pair!

Blue-headed bee eaters!

 And here's what they look like up close:

We also saw 3 types of monkeys. They are hard to get on camera, so here are professional pics of them.

Black-and-white Colubus Monkey

Blue Monkey

Red-tailed Monkey

Along the way we ran across local men and women who were illegally harvesting charcoal wood in the forest. They would cut down trees and burn them in place, then carry out the charcoals for sale. Gabriel said that he had no power to stop them, but he does try to report sitings of them to the authorities. This conflict between the local people trying to earn a living and environmental preservation is common across the developing world.

We also had several encounters with safari ants, who can bite something fierce! Gabriel, who was leading the way, would say, "Ants! Ants!" and start running, and we had then would run along the path for about 100 yards, then stop and stamp our feet, assuring that all of the ants were off before continuing on our way. Finally, we reached the Yellow River, which flows through the forest and eventually continues down to Lake Victoria.

Yellow river with me and Gabriel

Rapids on the river

On the way back to the resort, Gabriel opened up a little and told us about several of the organizations he has founded, including one for the empowerment of young girls, as well an organization that purchases sanitary pads for girls. This is a big issue for women in the developing world. A lot of women use pieces of cloth or other material which is non-sterile. They then either miss school or work due to infection. Gabriel said that it costs about $14US to buy pads for one woman for one year. We ended up contributing toward his organizations, and Dani plans to ask her classes in Bahrain to contribute as well.

After getting back to the resort and saying goodbye to Gabriel until the morning, when he was to lead us on a sunrise walk, we showered then had dinner at the resort's restaurant. The food was really great. We then stayed up for a while playing music and having a mini-dance party in the living room of our bungalow. Very fun.
 

Sunrise Walk
The next morning, we awoke at 5:30, before the sun rose and met Gabriel near the roadway. He then led us in the dark along the road. We could hear the Colubus monkeys "roaring" at each other to mark their territories. It reminded me a bit of the Howler monkeys of Central America, who also vocalize (especially at dawn) to mark their territory. After walking along the road a ways, we took a path that steadily climbed into the forest, eventually after about 1 mile opening out to a steep, treeless hill. The whole time the sky was getting brighter and brighter. When we climbed to the top of the hill we could see for miles, and the mist on the forest and the cool, pleasant air was intoxicating. The sun cresting above the distant mountains was glorious.

After sitting and just taking it all in for a while, we headed down the slope to an abandoned gold mine, the shaft of which continued into the hillside for about 50 yards. Inside were many fruit bats, who we tried many times to capture on film, but to little avail.

A bat in the mine

We then slowly retraced our route, birding as we went back to the resort. Our hike ended in a splendid breakfast. And then we rested for the rest of the morning awaiting our ride back to Eldoret.

Dining at Kakamega

08. Vacation Week - Kruger Farm and Kerio View

My second week in Kenya was spent with my friend Danielle, who has been living in the Middle East in Bahrain the entire time I've been in med school. I've only had the chance to see her twice during that time, and both visits were very short. As such, I was very excited that I was able to meet up with her in Kenya and thankful that my program was flexible enough to allow me to take my second week here off. Taking time off after only one week on service isn't ideal, given that it takes some time to fully acclimate to the Kenyan medical system, and so to start working, then stop for a week really can interrupt the acclimatization process. But this was the only time Danielle had, and thankfully it all worked out!

Danielle arrived on Saturday evening, and her flight had been delayed for 2 hours in Nairobi. So when I took the taxi out to the airport, we ended up waiting for a while. I bought the driver, who was a good sport, a dinner while we waited. We ended up spending the night at IU House, but then journeying out to two places I'd heard about through other Brown friends who had been to Kenya last fall: Kruger Farm and Kerio View Restaurant.

On the way to the farm we happened upon a long-distance road race. This area of Kenya, and especially the town of Iten, is called "Home of Champions," since it has produced many of the world-champion Kenyan long-distance runners.

Kenyan road race

Kruger is a 1000+ acre farm whose South African owner imported a herd of giraffes there >20 years ago. We took a beautiful morning hike for about an hour. Along the way we saw many antelopes and dik-diks, which are really small and ran away from us whenever we got close, so we couldn't get a good photo.

Antelopes

After walking for about 45minutes, we finally saw the giraffes!

This guy was the biggest!

After our walk we got back into the car for a short trip up to Kerio View Restaurant. This is a beautiful place which sits right on the edge of a relatively narrow part of the Great Rift Valley. It offers really breathtaking views. We had a yummy lunch then took a brief walk around the grounds.

Dani after lunch

Overlooking the Rift Valley

Overlook

Dani being eaten by a crocodile

After looking around a bit we headed back to Eldoret and had an afternoon at the Boma Inn, where I continued to work on "getting strong," and Dani (much more reasonably) got a massage. Successful day!