#19: Nairobi, Kenya

This past weekend was spent in Nairobi and for the most part it was fun and even a bit relaxing! On Friday, my first order of business was to meet my boss’s daughter who has been helping me get a dress made. She gave me the matatu number to take and told me what to tell the taut so I would be dropped off in the right place. Now, normally matatus aren’t comfortable but they are even less so when one is carrying more than a small purse. I had my camera bag and backpack with clothes etc for the weekend on me and I hugged them the whole way, partly to keep them on my lap and partly to protect myself from pick…backpacks. The journey was complicated when the taut didn’t tell me where to get off in Kawangware like he said he would. I suspected we had passed the right place so I asked another passenger who said I had to get off and walk back the way I came. So that I did, and after asking a few people for directions (I’ve been told to ask businessladies, haha) I found the correct meeting place and after awhile was off to try on my dress.

Alas, the dress is not yet in my possession! But it’s pretty cute, so I’m excited to get it. The tailor had to make a few adjustments and after hanging around in his shop for a time, taking the dress on and off, we decided he could do the final adjustment over the weekend. Hopefully I’ll get the dress tomorrow.

After that, I had to find my way from Kawangware to Karen so I could meet Sarah at the guesthouse (she was flying in from Mombasa) before our next activity. This involved taking one matatu, one city bus, and one piki piki (motorbike taxi). I have really come to enjoy taking piki pikis. Other than a perv trying to talk to me on the bus (I changed seats) and getting off the bus a tiny bit late again, I made it to the guesthouse with no problems. Ken (the cook) was there to greet me with tea and some bread that he had baked. Yum. Then Sarah came, we got ourselves ready, and off we were driven to the Nairobi Serena Hotel to meet our hotel contact (Paul) for dinner.

We ended up having our dinner pretty late because at first we spent time being introduced and talking to a number of his friends. The dinner, of course, was nice. The normal option was a seafood buffet so I ordered off the menu and got Indian food. More yum. We had dinner with another friend of Paul’s and after we finished the two wanted to take us out to see the Nairobi nightlife, which neither of us had yet witnessed. I was actually feeling a little unwell and didn’t really feel like it, but we said we would go out for a short time at a place along the way as we were brought back to the guesthouse.

Sarah and I were brought to a club named Rafiki’s which was very loud and quite crowded, but alright. Now, the guys we were with are quite well off and I suspect most of the people at this joint were as well. It is a pretty big contrast to go from Kawangware (which a Kenyan friend said to me yesterday is “kind of a slum” [actually I just Wikipedia’d it and it is a slum]) to places like this. I don’t want to go into too much detail, but the attitudes of these two wealthy guys unsettle me a little. I know there are rich people with similar opinions about money and material aims absolutely everywhere, but I guess I haven’t actively hung out with people like that before. However, these guys were nice to us and we had a decent time kind of dancing (I found an opportune location against a couch so no one could come near and try to dance with me, hah, though I think these guys would have prevented any nonsense anyway) and were brought home. We only got about three hours of sleep that night because Sarah and I ended up staying up another couple of hours chatting, oops. We got up early so we could make it to the giraffe center shortly after it opened the next morning.

At breakfast we met the other person staying at the guesthouse—a South African/English lady who buys African crafts wholesale and then sells them, I think in London. She was pretty cool and we ended up talking for a while. She told us a bit about South Africa (mostly about the crime… I don’t think I would go there unless I had a knife on me, or even a gun at that) and about the positives and negatives of her experiences/perceptions of Africa and the challenges of doing business here. I found myself in agreement with a lot of what she was saying. She also told a funny story: she was in a village buying goods and one of the ladies in the group she was dealing with threw a stone at a dog for no reason and it ran away yelping. So, she sat the group of ladies down and gave a lecture on not hurting animals, saying she understands that they can’t feed them if they are having trouble feeding themselves but that there is no excuse for hurting them. Moreover, she said god wants us to treat animals with respect. All of the ladies seemed to agree with that last point. Catch is, our guesthouse friend is not religious but I guess she knew how to cater to her audience!

After being regaled by stories, Sarah and I set off for the giraffe center. For the first part of the walk we were accompanied/guided by a guy who was fetching milk for the guesthouse. That was cool because he got it from a place just down the road. I presume he gets it fresh and that’s the milk we were being fed, so that’s nice.

And the giraffe center! It was a little crowded and therefore a bit hard to feed/pet/kiss the giraffes and get good photos but no matter, because I still got to feed/pet/kiss twigas! The center has a handful of giraffes that have a large grazing area and abutting it is a platform where guests can go so they can interact with the giraffes that come up to it. When we arrived there was one giraffe at the platform that got bored and left so then there were none. The keepers lured a couple back over with leaves. When you go to the platform you get a handful of pellets, which are giraffe food. Then you can feed them and pet them and all of that grand stuff. If you stick a pellet in your lips, a giraffe will kiss you (and take the pellet)! I did this twice, haha. Giraffes aren’t particularly friendly—they were really only interested in food and not pets—but they are still one of my favorites. Yay giraffe center.

Heehee, my first giraffe kiss.

Leah na twiga! Yet again.

Lured by leaves.

Afterwards, Sarah and I headed on to the elephant orphanage (David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust), which is only open from 11-12pm. To do this we had to call a piki piki guy to bring us. Luckily, the guy who I rode with the night before gave me his number so we called him and a friend over. He turned out to be helpful, giving us another ride later. Apparently this isn’t his normal job though—usually he is a driver for a Finnish guy who runs the Nokia branch for Kenya! His boss is back in Helsinki for the summer (can’t blame him for that at all) so our piki guy was just earning extra money during his vacation.

We got to the elephant orphanage a bit early, but good thing because it was already crowded! After paying we proceeded to where they were going to bring out the ellies—an enclosure surrounded by a single rope with a watering hole in the middle. Sarah and I luckily got spots right on the rope. At noon, the keepers came out with the first, younger group. First, the elephants got two bottles of milk each, and then they entertained themselves mostly by piling up in the watering hole and then making themselves filthy by rolling in dirt and blowing it on themselves. The reason for this is to protect their skin from sun and bugs. 

Feeding the ellies. They downed those bottles.

Drinking or splashing or both.

Dusty little ellies!

During the elephants' antics, the keepers gave a talk on the project and introduced all of the orphans. There are currently fourteen there and a lot of them were orphaned because poachers killed their mothers, but others because they got stuck in wells or were separated from their group due to human disturbance. Poor little ellies! Once they grow up, they are reintroduced to the wild in Tsavo National Park. After the first thirty minutes a second, slightly older group was brought out and the same routine happened again. This second group was a little naughty, with a couple of the elephants tipping over their water buckets at the crowd, haha. It was really fun to watch them play. They are so cute! Yay ellies.

Playing soccer/football alone.

Eeeee!

The one on the right is pushing over the water...

Bye bye, ellies! They scampered away.

After this fun, Sarah and I proceeded to the mall Galleria for lunch, where we were also supposed to meet Paul (plus I had a few errands there). The elephant orphanage is a little ways off a main road, so we decided to walk to the main road from which we’d catch a matatu. A gate guard had to point us off in the right direction so we didn’t end up walking through a section of the road that is in Nairobi National Park (hence there could be lions lurking). We made it to Galleria without any lion attacks.

Sarah and I had to wait for Paul for a while so we ordered an appetizer for ourselves. Galleria has a food court and we decided to go for Italian. After Paul came, Sarah and I both got vegetable pizzas which were pretty good. At this point I was starting to feel especially gross though. A sick feeling had been lingering since the day before, but now it was getting to the point where I didn’t really feel well enough to push myself to be out and about. I think I ate some rotten yogurt the day before. But anyway, before going back to the guesthouse there was a craft shop Sarah and I wanted to check out. We thought it was down the road on our way back so I decided I could walk at least until then. We were wrong, though, and ended up walking for quite awhile. Once we made it to the junction where we had to leave the main road we became certain we had missed something, so we called our piki driver and rode back to the guesthouse.

Once there I put on my pajamas and debated taking some medicine, but Sarah suggested that I ask Ken if he had any tips. His suggestion was to drink some vinegar, so I did even though it was nasty. I think it helped though, because after a bit I started to feel better and the next day I felt basically fine. Sickness averted (hopefully), hurrah. The rest of the day we just sat around and read and interneted before Ken fed us dinner. He makes awesome chapatti, by the way.

On Sunday Sarah and I just stayed at the guesthouse and relaxed. We spent a bit of time wandering the property behind the guesthouse, which has trails down to a river. We also read for a bit and I finished my book (The Long Walk). In the evening Sarah was picked up to go to the airport for her flight back to the states. Bye bye. I had been planning on going back to KEFRI for the night, but the guesthouse is so nice that I decided I might as well wait until the next day, when I would get at least some help getting back to KEFRI. In my free time there I started to re-read The Master and Margarita which I borrowed from the guesthouse's small book pile. I’m glad I found it there, since I’ve been intending to re-read that book for some time.

My decision to leave in the morning was wise, not just for my own comfort but because getting back to KEFRI via public transportation is a bit of a pain and I completely wasn’t sure of how to do it. Ken was going into town so he said he would take me to my matatu stop downtown which was great because after that I knew my way but not really up until that point. We walked a bit before reaching the bus, and then rode for awhile before reaching downtown. Ken even sat with me in the matatu as we waited for it to fill up. Next time I go to the guesthouse (I plan on staying there the few days before I leave) apparently we are going to bake a cake!

Ken and I left the guesthouse before 8am, and I reached KEFRI at around 10:30am so it was a longish trip to get out of town. And now I’m here putzing, but just for a couple of days. On Wednesday, my SPEA friend Hayley and I are off on a trip. First, we are headed to Kigali, Rwanda and plan on staying in Rwanda for about a week. Then, we’re hopefully going to cut across Northern Tanzania to end up in Arusha, from which we can go to Ngorongoro Crater and maybe some other places.  I am especially excited about Rwanda—I have heard so many nice things about Kigali! Apparently Rwanda has done an amazing job at rebuilding itself after the genocide. Plus, we are going to try to go to Parc National des Volcans, which is exciting because that’s where Dian Fossey worked! Sadly, we aren’t rich enough to see the gorillas (permits are $500 and sell out half a year in advance) but we can hopefully do a hike and maybe see Fossey’s grave. After the abroad from Kenya travel, we’ll head to Mombasa on the 16^th and I’ll stay with Hayley and her host family for a few days before heading back to Nairobi for final packing before my flight home on the morning of the 22^nd. It seems so soon now that it’s August and especially because of the impending travel!

Since I’ll be traveling without my computer, I probably won’t have a chance to update my blog until I’m back in Nairobi in about two and a half weeks' time… sorry. However, once I am settled with my computer again I will post entries and photos of my upcoming journeys retroactively, so do check back later.

#18: Arusha, Tanzania & Nairobi, Kenya

On the bus to Arusha Sunday afternoon Sarah and I were getting pretty nervous, especially after what happened when we went to the Mara without pre-arranged lodging. We didn’t have much money to spend and we didn’t want to be wandering around after dark in a strange city looking for something reasonable. We called everyone we knew who might have ideas or connections in Arusha but no one had specific recommendations that were within our budget. One friend suggested that we ask the bus driver, so that’s what we did. He said he would show us a place when we got there, which relieved my anxieties somewhat.

The border crossing was much like the one I had been through going to Uganda. First, we passed through the Kenyan side and dropped off our exit papers. The Tanzanian office was a good five-minute walk through no-man’s land, but the bus driver gave Sarah and I a lift. Tanzanian visas are expensive for Americans, costing $100, but at least they are multi-entry and last for a year. There’s that, plus they are kind of fun! We had our photos taken at the booth and they printed out the visa right then, picture and all. It was kind of like a much more official version of an instant photo booth or something. My passport is a lot cooler now.

We got to Arusha well after dark, but our bus driver got his taxi driver friend to bring us to a place to stay, no problem. We ended up staying at the first place he showed us. Now I know of a cheaper, nicer place to stay (for next time), but what we got wasn’t too bad for an unplanned first try. The room/bathroom wasn’t especially nice but the beds seemed clean and the double room only cost us about the equivalent of $20 per night. The lady at the desk was very sweet (the next day she walked us to the bus station) but she had the unfortunate habit of chewing sugar cane and spitting it into her hand then touching our key. Another interesting note: Tanzania is lauded for having largely avoided the tribal conflicts that exist in other East African countries. People often say they are Tanzanians first and a member of their tribe second. However, the hotel registry asked for tribe. I found it curious and wrote “American.” After all that, we asked the nice hotel lady where we could have dinner and she pointed us to a place across the street. It was a little late when we went in and apparently they had run out of a lot of things. The lady working there was kind though and ran somewhere to get me vegetables.

After eating, as we were entering our hotel a guy came up to us asking if we could visit a safari company right down the street. Sarah and I had been planning on visiting one anyway to at least check out the prices for excursions in the area around Arusha, so we went ahead and got some information before bed.

The next morning we had our breakfast. I got my standard vegetarian fare of greasy eggs and slices of bread but Sarah got something a little more exciting: superget and sausage. Superget is spaghetti, and she said the sausage tasted like beef jerky. I shared my breakfast with her (and oh, I miss my bran flakes). The juice was tasty, though.

After breakfast, Sarah and I decided to go to the bus station to see about tickets for me to go back to Nairobi and for her to proceed to Mombasa where she had a meeting. The bus station is a large parking lot packed with people and buses and some small stands for a million different bus companies. Very confusing! To add to the chaos, ticket sellers kept approaching us telling us to buy a ticket to their bus to Dar es Salaam or Moshi right then and wouldn’t always go away even if we said we were not going to those places. No bus tickets were bought; we thought it best to wait.

So on we walked to explore downtown. All of a sudden, there were a bunch of noises that sounded just like gunshots. Then a group of people came running toward Sarah and I from the opposite direction. It was a little confusing because some of them looked like they were laughing, but the shopkeepers we were standing by started closing up and pulling down the grates in front of the doors. We asked one of the them what was going on and he told us that there was a strike of the matatu drivers and the police had shot off tear gas to quell protests. He told us not to worry, but that we should turn around and walk the other way. That we did, and a procession of police vehicles drove by. Nothing else seemed to happen though, so I think everything turned out okay.

Sarah and I meandered our way back towards the hotel, stopping at a few safari companies along the way to compare prices and options because we were hoping to do something the next day (Tuesday). We met one guy that was particularly helpful, but sadly a little too expensive. We chatted with him for a while though, as we waited for a ride. Our travel/hotel contact had promised us lunch at the Serena hotel by Arusha and sent a taxi to pick us up. At the hotel, we were treated to a free and delicious five-course lunch and free t-shirts! We spent the afternoon relaxing there. This hotel chain is super swanky, and rarely have I ever felt like such a VIP. 

The fancy pants hotel.

One of the staff kindly showed us around the gardens. Apparently the hotel grows some of its own food, so that’s cool. I also got to pick coffee beans and see what they look like raw. We were also shown down to a nearby lake where guests can go canoeing. Maybe one day if I am ever rich I might splurge big time on a day in one of these places for some big/special event, but I don’t think I’ll ever be that rich. Might as well get the special treatment for free while I can though!

Sarah, our hotel garden guide, and a coffee plant.

When we got back to town after our nice hotel time, Sarah and I went back to the safari company we visited on our first night to book a trip for the next day. They had a hike at the base of Mount Meru for a pretty good rate, so we decided to do that. The guy there also said he’d get our bus tickets for us, so no more hassle for that. We did have to run to an ATM to get cash to pay for this all, but we were given a ride to one and the trip helped us to discover the location of a number of cool-looking restaurants and coffee shops for later. The reason we needed a ride to an ATM and couldn’t just go to one in walking distance (we were right downtown) was because most weren’t working. Arusha had no power, so only the places with generators had electricity. Apparently the grid relies on hydropower and it has been very dry lately, so that’s that. There was no power the next day too, and from what people said I gather this isn’t an uncommon thing.

The next morning we got up for our hike. There was no usual morning shower because a lack of electricity meant ice-cold water, but since I was going to get sweaty anyway I guess it didn’t matter so much. We headed over to the safari company, met our guide, and were off.  A guy drove us to a place about five minutes away and from there we started to walk. Our guide was from the area, and he showed us the schools, the different varieties of bananas, the types of houses around, etc. We walked for a while along what seemed to me to be a pretty typical village/small town road, and then we started properly hiking uphill. 

The village. 

Marijuana mountain, because apparently that's what is growing up there. It's not legal, but there's no enforcement.

Even though we were just at the base, hiking up the foothills was pretty good exercise. Apparently a lot of the people from that area live to very old ages, and I’m not terribly surprised after seeing how fit they must be. People go up and down to collect firewood and to garden, and they carry huge bundles over the slopes. We passed several groups of kids who wanted their photos taken and wanted to accompany us. And we saw a bunch of chameleons!

We paused several times along the way to look out over Arusha—we had hiked high enough that we could see the whole city from above. After a bit we passed through a forest, and then we sat to eat our boxed lunches. Then we hiked back down again. It was super dusty; there was probably several inches of dust on the ground. Hiking up it was a pain because it made breathing/seeing more unpleasant (not to mention it made my clothes filthy) but on the way down it was a little treacherous because the path was so slippery! But no one fell. We ended up walking all the way back to the safari company and arrived by 2pm. We had been told the hike usually takes until 5pm, but our guide said we were very fast hikers. Good to know that even though I’m not in the best of shape at the moment I can still do these things! I really would like to climb all the way up Mount Kenya and also doing Kilimanjaro would be fantastic. One day?

 There's Mount Meru, just barely. It wasn't clear enough to see Kilimanjaro.

After we showered off copious amounts of dust (in ice-cold water but it didn’t matter so much since I was sweaty and hot), Sarah and I walked to the area where we had seen the cool looking restaurants the day before. We ended up going into a French place called Michel’s Wine and Cheese. There were two French men in there who I suspect owned the place. The joint had a really large crêpe menu and first I ordered a crêpe with spinach, mushrooms, and crème fraiche. So tasty! Sarah also enjoyed hers so we decided to get a second round, haha. This time I got a crêpe with brie, apples, and golden sauce (pretty sure it was honey). Yum. Next time I am in Arusha I am certainly going back there. After enjoying our crêpes we had to walk back to the hotel, which was creepy partly because it was getting dark but we made it.

Sarah’s bus to Mombasa left at 6:30am and mine at 7:30am on Wednesday, so we had to wake up early. I actually was awake before Sarah’s alarm, though, because the call to prayer woke me up. There were no bus mishaps and I made it back to Nairobi easily. In fact, I happily didn’t have to get a new Kenyan visa at the border, so I’ll end up saving $100 on Tanzania to Kenya crossings during the rest of my time here.

In Nairobi, I was met by Sarah’s and my hotel contact who picked me up, brought me to the Nairobi Serena, and got me lunch. I had another crêpe, hehe, this time with curried vegetables. The Nairobi Serena is no less swank than the others. Bill Clinton stayed there when he was in Nairobi. I was even driven all the way back to KEFRI in one of the hotel vehicles! It felt more than a little ostentatious and I didn’t really like that, but it was still preferable to taking the matatu with my packs.

And that was Sarah’s and my travel adventure. I have a little bit of work to finish up today and then I’m into Nairobi for the weekend. I have to pick up a dress I had tailor-made and then Sarah and I are just going to hang out in the city the rest of the weekend until she leaves Sunday night. I do believe that tomorrow morning I will see my two favorite animals here so there are likely reports of excitement and photos to come.

#17: Nairobi & Maasai Mara, Kenya

So! After I updated last Thursday it was rush rush to Nairobi to make it for a meeting Sarah and Dr. W. had arranged with ANAW (Africa Network for Animal Welfare). We met and had lunch and… I met my first vegetarian here—one of the main guys of the organization. Apparently a vegan works there too! Wow. Anyway, we had a late lunch and conducted our meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to establish links with SPEA for an internship program next summer that Sarah and Dr. W. have been constructing. I think it went well, and ANAW seemed super cool. They do a lot of different activities ranging from lobbying to educating kids to desnaring and freeing trapped animals. They have actually employed former poachers to make wire statues of animals with the cut snares and sell them. Pretty cool stuff. Also they gave us t-shirts, haha. Then we met with someone from Shannon’s internship at Aqua Clara, which works on community water projects. I think all of the meetings went well. I was mostly a bystander, but it was cool to learn about these different organizations and I hope their collaboration with SPEA is successful.

After the meetings, Sarah and I were brought to Kifaru House, which is ANAW’s guesthouse. It is located in Karen, which is one of the very rich parts of Nairobi. I hadn’t been that deep into Karen before, actually, which is basically huge house after huge house with large hedges surrounding the property. The area is very green though, which is nice, especially compared with the rest of Nairobi. Sadly we got to the guesthouse after dark, so we couldn’t explore the walking trails they have. But no matter—we’ll be back! Anyway, we were fed and left to putz for the night. It is a very pleasant place. It is also home to a hyper dog named Kaka (haha).

The next morning Sarah and I were brought to Wilson airport, which is the domestic airport in Nairobi. We still hadn’t booked a place for our stay at the Mara—we’ve both traveled a fair amount and are used to not planning everything ahead of time. However, though this strategy may work in some places, it is not the best when it comes to the Maasai Mara. Sarah had a contact at a travel agency that she called while we were still waiting on our flight at Wilson and he said he would get back to us. Well, we started our journey in a very small plane which landed at two airstrips before arriving at our final destination, which also consisted of a single, dirt airstrip and one small pavilion. It was not an airport, we were in the middle of the Mara (we saw elephants and other animals flying in), had no ride and no place to stay. Hmm hmm! The guy at the tiny ticketing booth called the nearest hotel (and the only one around) to give us a ride. We arrived at the swankiest hotel I have ever been to—we were greeted by staff with damp towels so we could wipe away the plane dust and then were served juice. Super luckily, Sarah’s travel contact works for this branch of hotels and after about an hour of waiting, we found out he was able to get a room for us at a much lower-than-usual rate (which is very high), even though they were overbooked. Crisis averted! Not only that, but we were at a nice place.

Sarah, as we awaited our verdict.

View of the Mara from the lodge.

After settling, Sarah and I opted to take a guided walk around the lodge’s fenced in area. It is fenced in to keep away lions, buffalos, and other dangerous creatures that lurk around. The guide told us about the different plants and animals there and we saw tons of rock hyraxes running around. Kenyon folks: hyraxes are real, not just graffiti! Not only were they running around the wooded area surrounding the lodge, but they would also scamper around the pool and everywhere else! Silly little things.

A hyrax!

Sarah at the lodge, now happy because we had a room! Spy the weird looking rooms behind her.

That night, just after dark, we went out on a night safari. We were joined by two older British guys who have apparently been to Kenya something like ten times and have been to all of the national parks. They were pretty nice, but I suspect they’ve been to the national parks and that’s it, which makes me feel a little uneasy. I love the national parks—visits to them have been some of the highlights of my time here—but the national parks aren’t Kenya. This hotel wasn’t Kenya. It was full of white people; I saw maybe a couple Africans there who weren’t staff members. Stuff like this is the tourist, cliché version of Kenya. Fun, certainly, but I would feel guilty in a way if that’s the only Kenya I ever knew, especially if I had been multiple times. The contrast between this and just walking around Nairobi, or especially Nderi and Muguga, is astounding.

But that aside, the night drive was really cool. We had a spotter who would shine a spotlight on animals so we could see—we almost always spotted their eyes glowing first. Right away we saw some female lions snacking on a kill they had made earlier in the day. We also saw tons of hippos wandering around since they feed on grass after dark. Wildebeests (and their buddies, the zebras) were also everywhere, since the Great Migration just started. Also spotted: many hares, water buffalo, hyenas, topi, Thomson’s gazelles, bat-eared foxes, impala, and even night twiga/giraffes! It was really cool to see all of these creatures at night, especially since some of them are hard to find during the day.

A dead water buffalo.

Scary - a hyena feasting.

After our night safari we made it back to the lodge for dinner. One word about the food there: delicious! They had a huge buffet with tons of vegetarian options and almost everything was super tasty. They had Kenyan food, Indian food, British-ish food, nice cheeses, fruits galore, desserts… Nom. For once, my trouble wasn’t finding a vegetarian option but having too many delicious ones around.

The next morning we had a morning safari drive at 6:30am. Animals are a lot more active in the morning because it is cooler out. This time Sarah and I had a vehicle to ourselves. Again, we saw tons of animals. We also drove down to the river, which smelled like death because it was full of it. Apparently tons of wildebeests die when they try to ford the river because it was absolutely filled with bodies. And it stank. 

Bodies, vultures, river, sunrise...

On we drove, and our driver got word that there was a lion nearby hunting. Off we went to catch that. Indeed, there was a female lion stalking some waterbuck. We watched her until all of a sudden there was a commotion on the other side of the vehicle. Unbeknownst to us, there was a different lion over there and she sprang up and chased the waterbuck! It only lasted a minute, and the waterbuck got away. So did we—it’s probably not smart to station yourself between two hunting lionesses. We saw plenty of other animals on the way to and from the lion hunt, including many we saw the night before.

A typical Mara scene - zebras and wildebeests.

Zebra friends (Sarah's favorites).

A hyena!

A topi. They stand on (often termite) mounds for better visibility of their surroundings.

The drive continued to be awesome, because after that we saw my two favorite animals here—elephants and giraffes! First, we came across a herd of ellies munching and putzing near the road. We watched them for a while until they crossed in front of us and meandered on their way. After that, it was time to head back to the lodge for breakfast but on the way we ran into some twiga so I got some photos of them too!

Me and ellies!

Leah na twiga, tis true.

The rest of the day Sarah and I lounged around, reading and chatting by the pool. I even swam a bit but it was cold! After lunch we also moved rooms. Because of our unexpected appearance we had to be put in a room that I think was actually supposed to be staff housing. The room was very nice and actually a bunch of rooms—one with two small beds, one with a very large bed, a changing room, and a bathroom. We were curious what the normal rooms were like though, so we packed up and relocated. This room was super nice too. It was a lot smaller but very nicely decorated. Its main advantage was that it had a small balcony that looked right over the Mara. From our window we could see giraffes moving in the distance, as well as the ever present varieties of antelope a bit closer. I also saw a warthog dart under the fence into the lodge’s grounds. Later, as Sarah and I were leaving, perhaps the same warthog scampered across our path. Eek!

Our new room; self-portrait I suppose.

Since Sarah and I hadn’t planned very well, we had to book our return flight (no one buys one-way tickets to the Mara except us…) on Saturday for the next morning. On Sunday we got up, enjoyed a lovely breakfast (which included very delicious avocado juice), and then were brought to the airport. We met some pretty high-rolling people (surprise surprise) on the flight, including a lady who works for CNN and does some reporting on environmental issues. When we arrived back in Nariobi, Sarah and I were met by her travel contact and his colleague, who helped us arrange for our shuttle to Arusha, Tanzania that afternoon. But first we had to find a place in Nairobi that took traveler’s checks on Sunday so Sarah could get some cash (by the way, never use those in Kenya; they’re a pain). Then we had some juice and afterward Sarah and I were suddenly off to Tanzania. Once again, we had booked nothing before our arrival… Next update: regarding Arusha.

#16: Muguga & Nairobi, Kenya

Exciting travel plans announcement: Sarah and I are off to Maasai Mara tomorrow morning! After that, Arusha, Tanzania. I'll be back around here in about a week.

This week so far has been decent. The SPEA Abroad course was around on Monday and Tuesday so Shannon was visiting and Bryson was still with us. On Monday I putzed around here, but on Tuesday I joined the course for part of their day. We visited UNEP's headquarters, which was pretty interesting to see. I also had salt and pepper tofu for lunch, which was pretty awesome. In fact, the day before I had my first tofu here - Sarah found some for me and we made it for dinner Monday night. Anyway, after seeing UNEP I was dropped downtown and then went to meet Rox, who was helping me get my dress made. We went to the tailor, showed him what I wanted, gave him the fabric, and he took my measurements. The fabric and the tailor's charge added up to about $15, so getting dresses here is pretty cheap! Hopefully it turns out well. After that I made my way back to KEFRI.

Yesterday we said our goodbyes to Bryson and Shannon in the morning as they were leaving Nairobi with the course. Then Sarah and I ventured into Westlands after working a bit. We had lunch at an Indian restaurant (yum) before going off to get some souvenirs. I specifically wanted to get some bracelets and necklaces. A word of advice: if you're white and don't know how much souvenirs should cost, don't go shopping until you do. I bought three necklaces from a lady who said she would sell them for 4500 shillings (about $50!). I ended up buying them for 800 shillings (about $9).

After getting our souvenirs we went back to the cafe we had been to on Sunday. American prices, but super delicious. I got an iced latte light (so tasty! real coffee!) and Sarah and I split a tiramisu. No dinner after our huge lunch and that, haha. We sat there and read for awhile until it got dark. Dr. W. was going to come meet us but the traffic was so bad we had to postpone. Once it started getting dark Sarah and I caught a matatu back to Zambezi and from there a piki piki (motorbike) to KEFRI. Catching the matatu was a little trickier than normal because the police were moving people away from the usual stage and weren't allowing matatus to stop there. It was also my first time riding a piki here. I had been apprehensive because the road to KEFRI is truly one big pothole (they just started fixing it after promising to for quite some time) but it was fine.

So, for today: paper writing, hopefully a meeting, and packing. I'm excited to start traveling again. I'm also looking forward to school in a way, dare I say it - reading in the cafe yesterday was really nice and I wouldn't mind studying in one of the Bloomington coffee shops again right now. And drinking real coffee.

But for now, exciting adventures! The Mara and Tanzania this coming week, and Rwanda and more Tanzania starting in August!

#15: Gwassi Hills & Nairobi, Kenya

So, this past week was spent in Suba. It started out in a very hectic manner—I was brought to buy my plane ticket to Kisumu only hours before the flight, rushed back from Nairobi to KEFRI to pack, and then departed for the airport with my boss just in the knick of time. We made the flight with five minutes to spare. Stress! We met up with Bryson once we reached Kisumu. Our boss went to a different hotel while Bryson and I had dinner where we were staying and then I indoctrinated him with more Manic Street Preachers albums. If you don’t know Manic Street Preachers, let me know and I’ll try to indoctrinate you too.

The next morning we left for the GFSI project at the nice hour of 6:30am, just in time to catch the ferry across Lake Victoria at 8am. After taking the hour-long ferry we drove for another few hours to the project site. It was nice to be back at the location. The tent hotelish place, Janet (the lady who manages the hotel) who makes me delicious veggies in peanut sauce, the lake, the sunset… I had missed those things. So it was good to be there and back again. Also, we weren’t the only guests this time. A Dutch couple who work for the foundation which funds these projects were there as well. They live in Arusha, Tanzania and are mostly involved with the Tanzanian projects but the husband works for GFSI as a consultant/trainer too. It was really interesting to talk with them and learn about the projects and this model of economic development from their perspective.

Tea upon arrival.

Inside my awesome tent.

The view outside my tent/my new sandals.

The week was mostly spent trying to get documents from people there. Bryson, with a bit of help from me and Pat, was working on a business plan regarding KEFRI’s inputs into the project. I was trying to scrape up some literature that will help me write a paper of my own. These tasks were completed during the day and in the evening we would watch the sunset and take photos, eat dinner, and then go off to our tents to read. Janet even made what she called pancakes one night for dessert—they were actually crêpes, and delicious. Also, I am still really enjoying reading Shantaram. In a way I don’t want to finish! It’s always nice to have a good book to look forward to reading before bed.

Our usual evening activity.

Sadly, all wasn't lovely though. There are certain things that just bother me, one of which is being female here. Often, when people would approach me and Bryson, they would introduce themselves to me and say goodbye when they left (often telling me to stay in Kenya and find a man… no thanks) and then ignore me during the whole conversation. It was made even more frustrating because they would ask Bryson questions about me, instead of addressing me myself. Honestly, there was a large part of me that wanted to shout, “I’m here and I’m an intelligent human being, you can talk to me too!” Oh well. I’m just glad I’ve grown up in a place where there is, relatively speaking, decent gender equality. But anyway, that’s that.

We left the project at 2pm on Friday. We drove through Ruma National Park and like the first time we went to Suba we saw giraffes! Again, we took the ferry and then met our taxi to Kisumu. The taxi ride turned out to be quite interesting. A little while after we got in the car stopped. The gas gauge was on empty and members of our party kept telling the driver that we just needed fuel, but he insisted on fiddling with the oil and the engine and trying to start the car. I think he was just trying to somehow cover up his mistake. Finally he caught a ride to the nearest town to get gas, leaving us waiting. He came back, put in the fuel, and voilà—the car started. So off we were again until we were almost to Kisumu and… the gas ran out again. We had to coast into a gas station. Good job, taxi man. Anyway, we made it to our hotel where I had a fruit salad dinner and read before bed.

Yesterday (Saturday) morning we flew back to Nairobi. This time I was flying during the day which was nice because we could see Mounts Kenya, Kilimanjaro, and Meru. After the flight we had lunch at our boss’s place and then his daughters took me out fabric shopping as I am going to get a dress made. We did that, I got a piece of fabric, and then went to Masai Market so I could get some souvenirs and gifts. I’m glad I had the Kenyan company as they were able to bargain for me and get the actual price rather than the mzungu price. Usually I would tell them what I wanted, they would bargain for the price, and then I would step in and buy. All in all, it went well. Then I joined the SPEA group at Wida Highway Motel for another drawn-out dinner. After all of that it was quite late and I was quite tired.

Today was really great because I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2! I had been quite sad about not being able to go to the midnight premier and was anxious to see it.  The theater was showing it in 3D too, which was a first for me. I think I prefer 2D though. Anyway, I enjoyed the film! I’ve never been a massive fan of the movies, but I thought they finished well with the last two. Importantly, they did a good job with some of my favorite scenes from the book. My mood was greatly improved after that. Before the movie, Shannon, Sarah and I spent some time in a nice, very American coffee house in Westlands where I got a frappuccino kind of drink and a fruit danish, haha. After the movie we grabbed a few groceries and then headed back to KEFRI, where I’m writing this now as I listen to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. By the way, one of their songs was in the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, and Nick Cave is great besides.

Anyway, I am going to go through my photos from the last week, read, and then bed. Work tomorrow. Possibly more exciting travel plans for less than a week from now, so stay tuned.

#14: Muguga, Kenya

After getting back from Uganda my work here consisted of the normal on-site office stuff—namely a few small tasks but ample free time. I try to use this time at work when I have internet access to do productive things even if I don’t have work tasks, such as posting the blog updates I write in my room (hoho) and job search-ish stuff (finally created a Linkedin profile, hmmhmm). The few days I was at work after Uganda consisted mostly of this, so nothing terribly exciting.

What was exciting, however, was that Bryson, Pat, and I got visitors! Thursday night we went to the airport to pick up Sarah, who was my housemate back at school this past year. On Friday we were joined by the professor affectionately known as Dr. W. who is largely responsible for our presence here, having helped us loads. And finally, on Saturday, Shannon (my other Bloomington housemate) came too! It was a housemate reunion, in Kenya of all places! By the way, we made our plans to come here separately, haha.

A charming housemate reunion.

Dr. W. and Sarah are working on creating a more structured class/internship program to launch next summer here. Shannon was just visiting for a day before heading down to the coast for vacation after finishing her internship. It was nice to hang out with some new yet familiar faces—new to our KEFRI abode (we hadn’t had visitors before!), but good friends. On Saturday we hung out, ate lots of fruit, and then ventured to Wida Motel for a long dinner. That things don’t always move quickly here is a common theme, and though I would have preferred to get home earlier than 11:30pm, dinner was quite nice. For part of the time there was live music which was a welcome change from the radio music we usually hear (Classic 105…). In fact, they played the “Jambo, jambo bwana” song I randomly found on Youtube awhile ago when I was looking up Swahili stuff. It’s apparently quite famous, having popularized the phrase “hakuna matata.” I would post a Youtube video for your listening pleasure, but Youtube is blocked at work…

During the wee hours of the morning, all of our guests plus Bryson departed—Shannon to Mombasa and the others to Mumias Sugar. I tried to sleep in so I could get an adequate amount of sleep, kind of failed, and then took a cold dark shower. Sadly, the water problems came back… This morning we had water but no electricity (hence the cold), but now we have electricity and no water. It has actually been properly chilly here the past few days (I added a thick blanket to my bed, stolen from the spare room in the house that is used as storage) so I am still undecided whether or not I will brave a cold bucket shower in the morning if the water hasn’t come back on.

Today was nice though, despite the cold. I drank copious amounts of tea and Milo to keep warm as I read on a blanket outside. I’ve started a new book (Shantaram, by Gregory David Roberts—le hannon, B). I miss reading long books (and having all day to read them). It was nice just to relax. I took a quick break to run to Nderi to buy more credit for my phone. Nothing at all happened, but I do feel more comfortable with male company because I got a lot more attention without it today. It’s frustrating to feel like I’ll get annoying, unwanted attention unless I have a male companion around, but I think in many cases it’s true.

As I was sitting around outside though, I realized that it felt completely normal to be here, in a way. I’ve been in Kenya for two months now—over half of my stay. It makes sense that I should be used to most things, at least the stuff associated with my normal routine here, but there is still a part of me that finds it a little astonishing. Here I am, in Kenya, feeling like it’s quite a normal thing! I suppose I never really thought about it before, but I’m glad that I feel that way now. I feel settled and like I’m taking in the good and the bad like I’d do back home in the States.

Also, when Sarah came I realized how much Swahili I’ve actually picked up. I haven’t really been actively studying it, but when I was explaining what things meant to her I realized I do, in fact, know a fair amount of the basic words/phrases, and even some grammar. It’s certainly not an impressive amount—I can make out a handful of words in a conversation and not really understand what’s going on—but it’s nice to realize that I’ve been absorbing some of the language.

Like I mentioned earlier, it has been pretty chilly and I’m drinking a lot of tea. I guess I’m becoming kind of Kenyan in these regards. I used to laugh when people would complain about the cold because it really wasn’t, but now I’m more inclined to agree (it has actually gotten colder though). And I really have developed a fondness for the Kenyan milky tea. And for chapatti too. I might just have to learn how to make it so I won’t miss it too much when I’m back home.

Anyway, it’s July already and I’m over halfway done here. I’m looking forward to going home—I really miss some people and things and I am ready to finish school (while looking forward to next semester’s schedule of classes because I think I’ll have some interesting ones)—but I’m also a little shocked at how seemingly little time I have left. There’s so much I’d still like to see and do! Just within Kenya there are a bunch of places I’d still like to visit, not to mention in East Africa in general. And there are certain small items I need to take care of during some weekend in Nairobi, but I have so few weekends left, especially when you consider I’ll likely be traveling for most of them!

The traveling hopefully continues tomorrow (Monday) evening with a return visit to the Green Forest Social Investment project in the Gwassi Hills. I loved that place so I’m excited to go back just for the sake of being there, staying in my tent-room looking out at the sunset over Lake Victoria, but I also hope to get some more concrete ideas and to do some digging for a final internship paper/report/something along those lines.

Anyway, I’ll find out for sure whether I am departing when I meet my boss in the morning. Hopefully I’ll be gone until Friday. So until then, ta, stay well.

#13: Kampala & Masindi area/Budongo Forest, Uganda

I’m back from Uganda! I got back to Muguga at about 11:30am after boarding the bus in Kampala at 7pm the evening before. Yes, it was a tiring journey. However, before bed tonight I should tell a little about my adventures in Uganda.

I left last Tuesday, 28 June, from Nairobi by bus at 7am, which meant I had to get up at 5am, woohoo. Thus began my not-so-pleasant experiences with buses in East Africa. We drove along, making it to Kericho before trouble ensued. The area is very hilly and surrounded by tea plantations. As the bus was climbing a hill the engine failed. We were stuck sitting on the side of a huge hill as other vehicles squeezed by and the driver tried to fix the bus. After about 90 minutes of prodding something through an opening in the floor of the bus he was able to start the engine and we were off again… for another 5 minutes. Same thing, yet again, and we managed to make it to a gas station where I think they made some more repairs. I was lucky, though, that I had two British girls to chat with during these waits. I also had my book to finish.

Finally, we made it to the border crossing at Busia as it was getting dark. I made it across to Uganda with no problems, but the crossing is a bit creepy. There is a long stretch of dirt and trash that you have to walk across from the Kenyan exit check to the Ugandan entry check, which is populated only by guys trying to get you to exchange money with them. No thanks—I’m told these guys sometimes rip people off.

As we drove through dark Uganda, the sky was continuously being lit up by lightning. I found out later from the news that eighteen schoolchildren had been killed when their school was struck. Apparently this area is one of the most lightning-prone in the world and when combined with deforestation (or few trees taller than people or buildings) and a lack of lightning rods it is a fatal combination.

We reached Jinja (the source of the Nile) as it grew late and… more bus problems! Apparently the vehicle we were on wasn’t registered to be driving in Uganda. Um. So we had to switch buses. Luckily this didn’t take too terribly long before we were on our way again. That said, we pulled into Kampala at midnight. The bus company I took is supposedly the most trusted and has been around the longest. If this is true, I wonder what sorts of terrible problems the others may have. Luckily, the professor I was going to be working with at Makerere University was there to pick me up and bring me to the guesthouse where I could get some much needed rest.

I was fortified the next morning by a good breakfast. The food was standard for guesthouse breakfasts in this area—eggs, toast, tea, coffee, and fruit (pineapple). In this case, I was extra happy because the coffee was real (not nasty Nescafé!) and the toast was actually toasted (“toast” is often just a slice of bread, and I have seen both “toast” and “toasted toast” listed on a menu). After relishing my crispy bread and Ugandan honey I was picked up by the professor I was working with and brought to the forest faculty. There I was introduced to another professor who suggested that I head up to Masindi and Budongo forest to see the forestry college and the field station there in order to make some connections for Indiana University (one of my missions) and to see another area of the country. After arranging to leave with someone at 2pm, I helped install some IFRI software (another mission of mine) and had a lateish lunch.

Leaving at 2pm turned into leaving at 6pm but luckily there was a nice lady in the office who I could chat with as I waited. The man escorting me (he works for the forestry college) helped me navigate the Kampala matatus and we boarded the appropriate bus in the bus park. The bus park was a little crazy. It was muddy due to rain the night before and swarming with vendors selling absolutely everything, from used books to hard-boiled eggs to cell phone chargers. I still don’t understand how this economy functions, to be honest. It’s a little overwhelming and I usually try to distance myself in scenes like this due to my white skin—“mzungu, buy this!” But really, it’s interesting to think about the sheer number of people who make a living through informal sector work like this and I wonder how it is all organized, or if it is.

The bus ride was wasn’t terribly exciting and I tried not to watch the terrible movie on the TV. This bus ride was the best I had all week though. We got into Masindi around 10pm, grabbed a late dinner, and then took a 30 minute taxi ride to the guesthouse at the forestry college where I was staying. The area is covered in sugar cane (and massive termite mounds) and there is a sugar factory (Kinyara Sugar Works), which the man I was with said was founded by Idi Amin though I'm unsure if that information is accurate. Also, this area is not far from Lake Albert and the border with the Congo. As a result, there is a huge Congolese population that fled from the war.

Thursday morning I was sent with a group of students to see a collaborative forest management project. The students are all Bachelor’s students at Makerere who were finishing a month-long stint at the forestry college as a part of their curriculum. It was nice that I got to tag along with them and see what the rural communities in that area were like. Well, they’re poor. Very poor. Out of all of the places I’ve been so far, this area was perhaps the most similar to the stereotypical images of poverty in Africa: naked kids with distended bellies, mud huts with thatched roofs, heat, women with babies on their backs, dirt, tattered clothes… It was sobering. A very nice girl of twenty years was very enamored by my name and kept saying it so I chatted with her a bit. She had a baby strapped to her back and asked where mine was. She also told me I should take her baby with her to London and was surprised to learn that I am from a family of only three children. The difference in how we must have grown up is astounding.

Everyone in the community we spoke to was very nice though, and showed us some of what they were doing, including border planting around the forest and creating apiaries. The group involved in forest management also organizes forest patrols. It is all a very sticky situation, though, because one may come across a relative in the forest doing something like illegally harvesting wood.

Community members and a few students.

After this trip, we had a late lunch and then I accompanied the guy who’d been watching over me to the local market, which apparently changes location everyday. It was a little overwhelming—crowded, hot, and everyone was staring at me. I was also physically grabbed for the first time by a guy who wanted to sell me something. I brushed him off and walked on calmly though honestly the incident definitely angered me. Then I was sent for a rest before dinner. It was needed—my shower hadn’t worked that morning and I felt especially dirty after applying sunscreen and sweating in the glaring sun all morning. I bucket showered and readied myself for dinner. Actually getting to dinner was a little scary and has made me realize the important of carrying my own flashlight, which I need to buy. Dinner was after dark, at 8pm, and to meet everyone I had to walk along an unlit road by myself. I got a candle (and help lighting it because I can’t make wax matches work) which promptly blew out in the wind so I was left to stumble along with my cell phone lighting the way.

I made it to dinner, though. A word on my experience with Ugandan food now. It is pretty similar to food I’ve had in Kenya in that it contains a staple carb (in Kenya, most commonly ugali) and for vegetarians like me, beans and/or kales and/or cabbage. One variant in the Ugandan cuisine that I liked, however, was matoke. Matoke is banana mush and yes, I like it (those who know me well probably know I do not like bananas at all). However, matoke is made from small, green bananas, which are starchy and don’t really taste like bananas. I like matoke better than ugali, so I ate dinner with relish. Kenyan milky tea still wins though.

On Friday I was taken to see Budongo forest itself and the field station within. We drove into the forest, down a road that is known as the Royal Mile. After a minute, I saw what at first glance looked like a person sitting in the middle of the road. It was a chimpanzee! 

Actually, the Jane Goodall Institute does work in this area and primatologists do research at the field station, so the area chimps are pretty used to humans wandering around. I got out of the car with one of the college drivers and we walked along. I was hesitant to take photos—the younger chimps looked on more curiously while the older ones were displaying by banging on trees and I didn’t want to agitate them anymore. Also, looking a chimp is the eye is a threat, so I didn’t think it was wise to put my camera to my face and look right at them. So I put the camera on live view and took a few sneaky shots by my side. The chimps let us wander by and then actually followed us at a distance for the rest of the walk. A childhood dream (that of being Jane Goodall) came semi-true! I saw wild chimps!

The forest itself was very interesting, with many species of birds and loads of butterflies. The forest also contains valuable trees such as mahogany, which can jeopardize efforts to preserve it. We made it to the field station after driving deeper into the forest, where I luckily met two British students doing research there and spoke with the director in order to make some more ties for IU. I rode back in the truck alongside the buckets of food for the students at the college (it was made off site at the dorm near the field station where they were staying).

Being awkward/excited/nervous in the forest.

After lunch I was brought to my last destination in the area—an ecotourism project. The project used to be funded by the Jane Goodall Institute and along with providing forest tours and maintaining a campsite it used to provide forest education programs for local schools. However, in 2009 funding was switched to NFA, Uganda’s forest ministry, and there is no longer an emphasis on conservation—tours are provided for the revenue they bring in and the education programs were halted, though the materials still remain onsite. The man who I spoke with had been working there for something like fifteen years and his sadness at the current lack of educational programs was easy to see; he said they were helpful to children and to the forest as people learned about its value. I hope these programs can be resumed soon too.

Misty Mountainish evening view from my guesthouse.

Saturday came, along with another slow bus ride. I was riding back with the student group to Kampala. Not only did the bus leave an hour late, but something went wrong with the exhaust pipe and we had to stop for a couple of hours while that was fixed. Sigh. However, upon returning to Kampala, my nice guesthouse awaited me. Also, I met up with Bryson (who came to the city for a long weekend) and Meagan (a fellow SPEA student interning in the city) and some of Meagan’s colleagues for dinner which was at an excellent Indian restaurant. I must say, I think Kampala has an edge on Nairobi as far as eating goes. Also, unlike Nairobi, Kampala is situated on a group of hills so while that makes walking around more strenuous it also makes the city look nicer, in my opinion.

On Sunday, after my breakfast of coffee cake (yum!) I met up with the professor I had been communicating with to discuss an internship program and IFRI activities. It was nice to learn more about both. After lunch (this time Kampala cuisine failed me—the veggie burger I had was pretty gross though I’m surprised they even had one) I went back to the guesthouse and hung out with two British girls who were staying there. Then, I was off to meet Meagan and Bryson for a Fourth of July gathering. It was at the place of a friend of Meagan’s and was basically a potluckish thing for a bunch of expats. Thing is, the place was located a bit outside the city, I didn’t have much cash, and had to carry all of my luggage. Therefore, my option was to take a boda boda (a small motorcycle) to my destination.

Boda bodas are a common form of transport around Kampala. I’ve seen them in Kenya, but they are not nearly as common in the places I’ve been to so for me this ride was a first. After negotiating my fare and telling the driver to please go pole pole (slowly) I hopped on the motorbike, my luggage squished between me and the driver. He was careful about going pole pole, but the ride was a little harrowing! These things are zipping all over in between cars, of course almost no one is wearing a helmet, and there I was clinging onto my luggage with one hand and the back rest with another, trying to keep my butt on the seat. However, despite the danger it was actually kind of fun! After getting directions clarified I made it to the celebration where we ate and then saw fireworks go off above the city. Yes, Fourth of July fireworks in Kampala—they were put on by the American Recreation Authority, whatever that is.

After, I had another boda ride, this time to Meagan’s (where I was spending my last night). She works for a company that produces and markets Ugandan-made sandals. In the morning I even got to do some foot modeling, hah. Monday was spent at a resort on Lake Victoria, where us SPEA people read by the lake and then at a Turkish restaurant before Bryson and I departed at 7pm on our bus back to Nairobi.

But did we actually leave at 7pm? That would be too easy! The bus left 30 minutes late, and then after 5 minutes turned back to pick up someone at the station. After another 5 minutes of driving, it got stuck on a hill in the city. The transmission died. The driver had to back the vehicle down the busy hill road onto a side road where people attempted to fix the bus for a good two hours before giving up. Finally we were granted another bus (though this one had nicer seats) and we were off again, something like 3 hours behind schedule.  After a fairly sleepless bus ride Bryson and I arrived back in Muguga. Luckily KEFRI is right off the highway the bus was taking into Nairobi, so we just hopped off early rather than go into the city and have to come back again.

On the bus ride I had some time to think about some things. Overall, my experience here has been very positive but there are also certain frustrations. One is the general inability for things to work or get done on time. Sometimes I can deal with that, but when it’s constantly happening it gets tiring. It also compounds my feeling of being a dirty traveler, because a lack of running water and extra long bus rides contribute to the dirty bit. This stuff can be just personal or incidental like when we don't have running water, which isn't truly a big deal. However, when I see that the state of transport in East Africa is really just shoddy as a whole, it makes me start thinking. I don’t really know how public transportation in many American or European cities evolved and I’m sure at some point it wasn’t great. But looking at the situation in Kampala and Nairobi it is pretty clear that adequate, safe public transportation is a problem and perhaps even a hindrance to the development of the region. When things aren’t working systematically, there can be serious negative impacts.

Also, it isn’t easy to see the poverty that many people live in. Unlike me, many of these people had no options for their life. If I grew up near Masindi, I would probably have at least one child by now and would be working in the fields the rest of my life. During my first boda ride in Kampala we sped by a string of three or four little kids spaced apart on the sidewalk. They were sitting there, palms up, begging, with no adult to be seen around. I am sure one of these kids was not much older than two years old.

My final frustration is being white. No matter what, I stick out and I can’t help it. I am sure it’s probably a good thing to experience being a minority at some point in your life, but at times it feels a little extreme.  Sometimes I am literally the only white person around, like when I was in Masindi. And it’s tiring to walk around and see that absolutely everyone is just staring at you, there are whispers of mzungu, parents pointing you out to their children, when really you just want to be invisible so no salesman in the market grabs your arm, just because you’re white and therefore rich (I saw no other arm grabbing). On a more personal level, it is frustrating when people you’ve spent time with refer to you as “mzungu” rather than your name when speaking to each other in Luganda or Swahili, even when you’re sitting right there and of course know what the word means—you hear it at least one hundred times daily. So there’s that. Some days it’s easy to brush it aside as funny (like this afternoon when a group of ten little kids raced up to me and all were delighted to shake my hand), but on others, like when I was grabbed at the market, it’s harder. It can be frustrating for your most recognizable attribute to be something like skin color that has nothing to do with how you are as a person.

Like I said, though, this has been a positive experience so far. Of course, going to developing countries will lead to some frustrations. I defy anyone who would say all is great because it’s not. I don’t think anyone with a heart could go to some of these rural villages and come away happy after seeing such severe poverty. More selfishly, I can’t help but feel least a bit self-conscious after being continuously stared at. But both of these things help with gaining perspective, both personally and more broadly. Also, generally speaking, I liked Uganda and hope one day to return and explore the country more. People were overall very friendly and willing to help and Kampala is a city I enjoyed spending time in and would like to get to know better. Perhaps it’s not all fun and games, but this trip has certainly been a positive experience so far, and I hope I’m learning a lot.