a few days in the Central Highlands

Hung was hot here in Nairobi, so he suggested we hit the Central Highlands, since he knew the Highlands in Vietnam were cooler than the cities. We took a matatu up to Nyeri which is a small town sandwiched between two park destinations: the Aberdares and Mt. Kenya Nat'l Park. It was green & lush and we enjoyed a beautiful cool rain on the way up & as we walked through the town.

After setting up our accomodations at a little hotel where all the safari drivers stayed, we got a bite to eat. Everyone is watching lots of English Premiere league football games, Manchester United and Arsenal are both very popular teams here - many matatus are covered with their insignias - so it was easy enough to find a place to have a Tusker, eat, and watch the town go by on a balconied perch.

On Sunday we decided to try & visit the park, though this is no small feat since there is no walking entry & renting a driver & four-wheel drive (needed for many areas of the park) is cost prohibited. We ended up finding out that there was a free bus tour every weekend day that picked people up by the post office in town. We arrived promptly at 11am just to learn that even this big bus would have to wait to be filled before it could leave.



Two hours later (we've come to understand that you pay money not to have to wait here) the bus was crammed with Kenyan families on an outing after church (+ us and 5 young japanese men) and we took off. The drive was quite fun, and we ended up seeing lots of water buffalo, families of warthogs and baboons, some colobus tree monkeys with fabulous puffy white tails dangling from the branches, and during our lunch break, thanks to our binoculars, we even spied a single male elephant in a clearing eating flowers off a tree.

The next morning I took a walk by myself while Hung slept in. The earth was vividly red and soft & spongy to walk on.

I took this picture during the walk.


you can see how lush the surrounding were.

Posting these photos has been a real challenge, but I'm glad to know it can be done now, even if its some trouble, so hopefully there will be more.

Hung stayed an extra day to walk around for himself and he just now walked in from a dusty hot ride. We leave for Mombasa tomorrow so we need to sort out our departure plans.

Rhythm and music

So much to write about as we are encountering new situations all the time. We finally seem to have the hang of looking right first, then left as we cross the motorways, and the heat & humidity (even here in nairobi) is slowing our walking gait to a moderate pace. We are staying in the CBD (Central Business District) right across from Nairobi University, which is a bustling inner-city campus with a pleasant griouping of buildings that seem to have been built in the 60s and 70s. Its a quick walk to everything downtown and Hung has been quite adventurous during the days while I've been out with Cathy on the outskirts of town.

Hung and I like to walk and since most things are not far from one another or difficult to navigate (and we aren't in a hurry), we often walk from one spot to another. We are often the only mzungu (white/foreigners) walking. Yesterday we walked to an area of town just Northwest of the main center called Westlands. There were no sidewalks, but alot of folks walking along the small road. We made our way into the area & started to explore. Hung is pretty fearless in this regard - poking into incredible latticeworks of public stalls to see what people are selling. After checking out a series of nyama choma stands (bbq meat, usually beef - very popular here) Hung found a stand that had chicken and we plunked down in the midst of all the workers (did I mention I'm also usually the only woman other than the servers?) and had a really deliscious meal of kuku choma, some finely cut greens and diced tomato with hot peppers (Kenyan salsa) and a chapati. yum.

Last night we went to hear a "spotlight" music show at the Alliance Francaise in downtown. A great scene. Very mixed, as was the music which showcased new talent. The second performer was dressed in some kind of campy calf-skin outfit; he was singing a few popular songs so everyone rushed to the stone dancefloor (the concert was outside in a courtyard). There were others playing dance music with traditional instruments and a woman singing feminist songs (her introduction to the songs indicated this, but because they were in swahili, I can't say the exact message), and a very successful crossdresser who was also layered with traditional and modern garb. He/she (everyone was screaming afterward) was very talented on the marimba as well. It would take me too long to describe the audience for all of this, but there were lots of groovy hip-dressed africans, some rastafarians, a gaggle of ex-pats, lots of kids - was a really fun night.

Here is a picture of Cathy pregnant(!)


Just now I'll sign off as we are catching a matatu to head up toward Mt. Kenya for a few nights - a little preview road trip after acclimating at my friend's apartment. Hung has said he will post something soon - he is having his own personal battle with "the mozzies. You'll have to hear more from him...

great food & crappy internet

may get bumped off at any moment, but will write until I do. Am at an internet cafe downtown (Ksh 1/per minute - an amount too small to convert in US$) after being dumped from my friends' currently spotty service. I've been told that this is probably the most reliable internet of the trip, so don't worry too much if I drop out of sight. Also you might just need to check the blog occasionally to see what I'm doing as the yahoo seems terminably slow. All a real eye opener in terms of access issues.

In any case, on other (human) technology fronts, I had a wonderful time meeting some local women working with Solar Cookers International. My friend Cathy just finished a short promo piece for them & so in preparation for a public screening, she had me tag along to help sort out the connections from her puter & camera. We got treated to some Kenyan food (greens, a nice lentil dish, rice, bbq meat, even cake) all cooked in the sun. fantastic! The need for firewood among the mostly rural population to cook food has decimated whole areas of forest here, as well as causing great conflict among the populations who are most in need (refugees and indigenous tribes), so this low-cost alternative is being championed as one possible solution.

here is one in action:


Since Cathy is a really good director, the tape was inspirational, but probably most because of its main "star" Margaret Owinha - a really amazing local woman who heads up the project here in Kenya. I'll take some pics tomorrow (and hopefully can post them) so you can see it in action. I plan to purchase one of their Cook-its for use at the Hobe Chobe when I return.



Hung went off on a matatu (small minibus) to a town not far from here. We are being adventurous by white Kenyan standards just walking and going about, but the city is quite populous and during the day it feels completely fine. I'll try & get Hung to post something about his day when he returns.

Nairobi - day 1

Well, we made it to Nairobi. landed late last night after a few days stop over in London. I would like to post some pictures (from the anti-war demo at Trafalgar square on Sat, and the Rachel Whiteread installation at the Tate Modern) but I'm on a very spotty dial-up connection & could be kicked off at any moment, so I'm not going to press my luck at the moment.

(here they are)






We are staying with my dear old friend Cathy Scott (an aussie doco producer) and her (soon to be) husband who works with NGO infrastructure in disaster/conflict zones, and was recently an analyst with icg (www.icg.org). He just returned from a flight to the US, while Cathy just returned a few days ago from a trip to Oz, so it is a house full of people in various states of jet-lag.

Will write again soon with more observations, just wanted to let you know that we had landed safely...

Adriene

About to Leave

I am feverishly crossing things off my various lists (create blog-check!) in preparation for the trip. We have (most) of our shots (since I got the painful tetanus, Hung informs me that I'll be the one handling all the barbed wire and rusty nails), and necessary visas, banking, etc done. Its amazing how tangled up we are in the monthly maintenance of our lives - it all really depends on us being here, or at least on the other end of a phone or computer.

In any case, our anticipated route will be London, UK> Nairobi, KENYA> Mombasa> Dar es Salaam, TANZANIA> Zanzibar> Selous National Park, Mtwara> Pemba, MOZAMBIQUE> Beira> Maputo> Johannesburg, SOUTH AFRICA

you can follow along generally on this map
http://www.africaguide.com/afmap.htm

but don't hold us to that!
Here is a link to an African news source if you want to know generally what is going on in the countries we are going to.

http://www.allafrica.com

of course, the big news where we are going (besides alot of corruption in Kenya that is coming out & resulting in raids on their newspapers and demos in response) is a serious multi-year drought. It is primarily affecting the Sudan, Ethiopia, and Northen Kenya. Of course, as travellers we will be able to get food & water just because we have $$, but in Tanzania electric power is primarily hydro-electric, so there is power rationing and other consequences that we cannot know from here. We are hoping that the anticipated long rains (usually arriving around this time and carrying on for several months) will come & we can celebrate with the East African people when they do.

In any case, I'll be writing as often as I can & can post photos here too, so am looking forward to keeping in touch this way.

wish us well on our journey - we will be thinking of all of you.

Adriene