Kakamega Rainforest, Baboons, etc.
I came into town this afternoon to send off some paperwork required by Peace Corps. After getting that mess out of the way I finally got around to sending out emails (still not caught up completely, but I'm close), and now the Cyber Cafe is about to close. I want to update the blog though so I'll be quick and fill everyone in on the weekend, hopefully before being run off.
This weekend there was a birthday for a PCV in Eldoret, which is about a two hour matatu ride from Kakamega. (By the way, the time taken to travel via matatu/boda boda has become my measurement standard in Kenya, so add a few hours on a bad day) Five people came to my house, which gave me a great reason to finally clean it up, and we had an action packed night of eating salsa and bean dip, playing the yahtzee game I bought for a quarter from the returning volunteer's auction, and catching up with everyone's latest adventures. The next morning we went to Kakamega town and met up with Elly, who is a Kenyan that I met on my return trip from Eldoret a few weeks ago. He is a college student in Nakuru who lives in Malava, which is a town bordering a forest filled with Baboons that is close to Kakamega. Elly agreed to take us to Malava and we met a game warden there who gave us a tour of the forest. We brought a bunch of bananas to feed the baboons, but at first it appeared they decided to take the weekend off. We walked through the forest for several hours and could not find any, although the trees were filled with blue and colobus monkeys. Finally we gave up and almost made our way back into town when we found the baboons standing by the side of the road. We walked towards them and they started to run off until I tossed a banana in their direction, after which they became friendlier. First we got to watch a baboon skirmish between two large males over who had the right to get to the bananas first, and after that they were almost taking the bananas out of our hands. A baboon inches away from you is an interesting experience, as they are huge and look like bears with long tails. I guess they are friendly though since they area vegetarians, and Kenyans would never do anything that was unsafe. (ok, maybe not always true)
Anyway, I got to feed baboons which made me really happy. Afterwards we went camping at a new spot in the Kakamega forest a short hike from a phenomenal view. We walked to the overlook and could see hundreds of miles of rainforest. A mist comes off the trees during the rainy season and everything looks different, so I plan to return again in a few months when the rains are here. At the campsite we caught up with a few more volunteers, and we had five people in a four person tent. It's amazing how cheap getting paid about $150 a month will make you, because for an extra dollar we could have slept in a hut with cots. Anyway, at about 3 in the morning, after approximately zero hours of sleep, I was fed up and slept outside the tent. The next morning I woke everyone early to see the sunrise, which looked like it would be fantastic from the overlook. It turned out really nice and I'll post some pics now if they don't run me off.
That's about all for now, work is coming along well and I'll write more about it at another time.
This weekend there was a birthday for a PCV in Eldoret, which is about a two hour matatu ride from Kakamega. (By the way, the time taken to travel via matatu/boda boda has become my measurement standard in Kenya, so add a few hours on a bad day) Five people came to my house, which gave me a great reason to finally clean it up, and we had an action packed night of eating salsa and bean dip, playing the yahtzee game I bought for a quarter from the returning volunteer's auction, and catching up with everyone's latest adventures. The next morning we went to Kakamega town and met up with Elly, who is a Kenyan that I met on my return trip from Eldoret a few weeks ago. He is a college student in Nakuru who lives in Malava, which is a town bordering a forest filled with Baboons that is close to Kakamega. Elly agreed to take us to Malava and we met a game warden there who gave us a tour of the forest. We brought a bunch of bananas to feed the baboons, but at first it appeared they decided to take the weekend off. We walked through the forest for several hours and could not find any, although the trees were filled with blue and colobus monkeys. Finally we gave up and almost made our way back into town when we found the baboons standing by the side of the road. We walked towards them and they started to run off until I tossed a banana in their direction, after which they became friendlier. First we got to watch a baboon skirmish between two large males over who had the right to get to the bananas first, and after that they were almost taking the bananas out of our hands. A baboon inches away from you is an interesting experience, as they are huge and look like bears with long tails. I guess they are friendly though since they area vegetarians, and Kenyans would never do anything that was unsafe. (ok, maybe not always true)
Anyway, I got to feed baboons which made me really happy. Afterwards we went camping at a new spot in the Kakamega forest a short hike from a phenomenal view. We walked to the overlook and could see hundreds of miles of rainforest. A mist comes off the trees during the rainy season and everything looks different, so I plan to return again in a few months when the rains are here. At the campsite we caught up with a few more volunteers, and we had five people in a four person tent. It's amazing how cheap getting paid about $150 a month will make you, because for an extra dollar we could have slept in a hut with cots. Anyway, at about 3 in the morning, after approximately zero hours of sleep, I was fed up and slept outside the tent. The next morning I woke everyone early to see the sunrise, which looked like it would be fantastic from the overlook. It turned out really nice and I'll post some pics now if they don't run me off.
That's about all for now, work is coming along well and I'll write more about it at another time.
posted by KenyaJoe at 6:58 AM
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