Some more animals from the safari

Spotted hyaena .... nasty mannered scavengers which we heard 'yip-yipping' and growling at nights.

This is normally the only view of hippo that we see .... they like to doze in the mud in the Mara River during the day, and come up for air, snort and grunt, and gently sink again.   But they are very dangerous animals if met on foot especially if one gets between them and water.     The size of the tusks in the photo below suggest just what they can do to a human if they attack.

And the day we left, we were lucky to find a hippo actually out of the water, wandering back to the river.   Hippos weigh about one and a half  to two tons, and despite their apparent plodding sluggishness, they can outrun a human, so very dangerous.

And finally, from the large to the small ... a buffalo which if I was one of the old colonial hunters, I would say has 'a fine head' and shoot it to mount it on a wall .......

... to another of my favourite 'small things' .... some sort of long horn beetle I think.  

Purple washing day !!

I went early to the workshop ... I'm getting used to flagging down tuk-tuks and travelling by myself ... and haggling over the price.   I'm told the fare should be 100 K Sh, but because I'm white, they try and charge me much more .... what Hans calls 'skin-tax' !!  I usually pay 150 sh, and occasionally 200, which seems OK to me for the distance, so I pay it.

This is Milly's house, and its obviously the day for purple washing !   It looked like sheets and chair covers and table-cloths.   

I walked along to see Lilian again, pleased with myself that I could find her new house; I have memorised several land marks along the way .... left fork along the lane, pass the water tanks, another left and immediately right, through Nyamasaria market, right at the meat stall, straight, look out for blue loo's and then left at a new building of rough red bricks ......... all the time being chatted to by people who want to know where I'm going, and little children running up and shouting 'Wazungu !   'ow are you ?'  to which the reply is 'I'm fine !'  I think they are taught this in school.   It wouldn't be right at home to shout 'Black man !   How are you ?' but that's more or less the opposite of what the children shout.

Lilian was at home, sewing, and delight of delights, she's given me a big bag of scraps of African materials for patchwork !!  

Chanel, Shaila, Lilian and baby Davis in their house, which is one very crowded room about 12 ft by 10 ft.   Lilians husband is a boda-boda driver, and I suspect one of the workers on the 'dollar a day' poverty level often mentioned in UN and EU reports on African poverty levels.   Lilian adds to their income by taking in sewing and occasionally cooking for people giving parties.   Her children look well fed and clothed, and they go to school, so they manage.   I heard from Paul that many of the children who are usually around the workshop (its the school holidays here) are at 'tu-shon' classes .... or tuition.   The teachers hold these for kids in the holidays, and parents have to pay for their children to be taught what should really have been covered in normal school time.

Paul was giving the students who will take the trade exam on Monday, a sort of very tough 'mock' test, so that the piece they are asked to make will, he thinks, be easier.  

Stephine, Kennedy and Jared

Kennedy planing

Paul on the right explaining the task

Kenyan security

I haven't written anything about this tricky subject so far, but as I've had several emails and skypes about the massacre last weekend at Mandera, I thought I had better.

Firstly, Mandera is about four or five days drive from Kisumu, the last half over desert roads.  Mandera is right in the north-eastern corner of Kenya, tucked into a point of land between Ethiopia and Somalia.   Many people, even here, hardly know where it is, as this cartoon in todays Daily Nation shows:-

The characters comment about it sounding like the Middle East is just what its like .... Al Shabaab (and ISiL in Iraq and Syria) want everyone to be their sort of Moslems, but the Islam they preach isn't true Islam, which is a peaceable religion.   

BUT, the incidence of such events, like the massacre at the Westlands supermarket mall last year, and other attacks in Nairobi have more or less killed off the tourist industry here; also some international businesses are starting to wonder about things.   HOWEVER, I would say that if Serena Mara is anything to go by, its very safe, and many tourists fly in, and fly out again.... hardly the way to see the real Kenya, but at least some do come.  

The local newspapers are having a field day about internal security, and there are protests from the wananchi in Nairobi about the general lack of security in the country.    But here in Kisumu, in the west, it feels fine.

A walk to town, and a birthday party .... and safari (4)

I decided to start writing reports today, instead of going to the workshop.   If I make too many rough notes and never get them typed up, I'll be in a right muddle !   But my good intentions collapsed at breakfast time, when Fr. Alois said it was Fr. Jerry's birthday !   I decided I'd better see if I could at the least get him a birthday card.   Of course, that bit of shopping necessitated walking past the University bookshop .... and I can never resist a bookshop, particularly that one, where in the past I've found some books about the history of the Joluo, their language and myths.

This is the result .....

... three more histories about this region to add to my dozens of others at home !   Still, three books for KSh 1000, isn't bad .... about £7 UK.

Next to the Nakumatt arcade to search for a suitable birthday card .... what sort do you get for a (retired) RC priest ?   Couldn't find anything at all that wasn't glittery or gushing, and then remembered I have brought some HATW calendars with me ... one of those will do !!   

I spotted an ATM machine in the arcade with two hefty ladies outside armed with AK47's guarding it, and decided to take out some more money while it looked safe.  As a lone woman, I'm very wary of taking out large sums of money from an ATM when I'm by myself, but the two ladies reassured me.   I've paid for my first weeks stay here, and am trying to get together enough for the next weeks ... which is tricky as the machines only allow a relatively small amount to be withdraw at any one time.   Its 12,100 to stay here for a week, which is very cheap.    (About £12 per day, full board).

Then to the Kisumu Hotel for a cuppa before I walked home; this is where in the late 1960's we used to be able to get a seven course lunch for Sh 7.50 .... at a time when the exchange rate was Sh 17 to the £1.  The good old days !    The hotel is now part of the University of Maseno (in Kisumu !) but there is a small cafe on the ground floor.  I see the old colonial style British Council library building is now being built over and dwarfed by new build wrapping round it to add to the university campus.    It was a jolly good library; we used to take out loads of books and LP records.

~   ~   ~   ~   ~

And some more safari pictures ...

... we briefly crossed over into the Serengeti in Tanzania; this is the boundary post, but no border post or fence.  So I stood in Tanzania to take this picture !   Animals know no boundaries and wander at will back and forth. 

(Sorry, poor photo) - this is the secretary bird we watched catch and eat a snake; they are named for the Victorian secretaries who used to carry a bunch of quill pens tucked over their ears, and this fellows head feathers are visible drooping down his neck.

Zebras (of which there must have been literally millions in the Mara) often stand like this, head to tail, so that the tail of one flicks the flies off the others face. 

More about the birthday party when it has happened !

Later:-

So we went in two cars; the three fathers from here, myself, a Ugandan lady and Elvis, who is not the King reincarnated, but a young priest from Cameroon who is staying here and working locally for a while.   Kiboko Bay is along the lake shore from here, and the water hyacinth has been cleared so that the water laps at the shore, and there are trees around with weavers nests; and plenty of other birds that live around the shore .... fish eagles, hadada, egrets and so on.   There was a storm brewing up to the south, and we watched the sun go down over the lake as the black clouds and lightning increased and the wind got up.  By that time we had had our drinks and 'nibbles' which were chicken wings grilled in some sort of thick black honey, delicious !   Then back here for supper, where there was a new arrival ... a German man with an English wife born in Zambia and brought up in Botswana, now living in Norway but previously here in Kisumu !   Their children are tri-lingual.  

And did I get those reports started ?      W-e-l-l ....... tomorrow !! 

The workshop students; Protestant chickens; Carmelite nuns ... and a bit more safari.

Today I went to the workshop for the morning after seeing off D. and A. to the airport for their flights home, D. to Thailand and A. to UK.   Its been good catching up on the past with D.   I gave him lots of photos of Maseno and Kisumu in the 'old days' .... I think now we almost qualify as old colonials types !

There were six students working at the workshop, and I observed Paul teaching three newer students about joints, and he set them a task to make a sample piece of certain size.   They had a rough piece of wood which they first had to plane and cut to the correct dimensions .... and tomorrow I hope to see the finished work.   Two students (Bonaventure and Evans) who passed their exams last year are now working upstairs in the workshop making mahogany chairs, as supervised but paid work.

Then back on a tuk-tuk for lunch; two lovely Carmelite nuns had arrived for lunch from Kisii.   They wore brown habits and scapulars and the baggy brown check aprons women of a certain age often wear here.   Father Hans related one of his stories from his past over lunch .... he had picked someone up on the road after an accident and taken him to the hospital.    The patient was very grateful, and his family thanked Hans with a couple of chickens (live, of course !)   But his fellow priests were horrified when he put  them in with their chickens at the priests house; they were Protestant chickens, not Catholics .... so the other priests banished them to roost in a tree.     In the night the Catholic chickens were killed by a mongoose, but the Protestant chickens in the tree were safe !   Hans thought there was a moral there somewhere ....

Safari continued:-

The park allows 'game drives' in the early mornings, and late afternoon, but we persuaded our new driver that as we had missed one drive the last night, maybe we ought to fit it a third drive during the day, which we did.   So we left at 6 a.m., and drove around for two hours, and found lots of lovely animals to watch.

The various tour drivers have in-car radio's so they are talking to each other the whole time, advising where they have seen various animals, and so directed our driver to this lion guarding the remains of its zebra dinner.   He was one of two male lions there; probably young adult brothers; neither had the scratched faces and torn ears seen on older, solitary males.

Below are topi; strange antelopes, the males of which often stand up on termite mounds to see if any strange females have entered their territory, with whom they might be able to mate.   They have a charcoal coloured mark down their thighs, which on their sleek and shiny coats, looks like a sweat stain !   The young topi do not have this same colouring.

Then, the highlight of the drive was a pair of mating lions.   Our driver spotted a male and a female lying near to each other and we stopped, hoping something would happen .... and after a while, the male got up and nudged the female, as if to say 'Come on, shall we ?' .... and they did.   He growled open-mouthed as he climaxed, but she only gave a small grunt ... 

In nearly fifty years of living in and returning several times to Africa, I have never before seen copulating lions, so I was well pleased !

~    ~    ~    ~    ~

Later:-

I am reliably informed by a friend that male lions have barbs on their penis, and that is why the female grunts or growls and snarls as he withdraws !!    There .... you didn't know that, did you ?!    My blog is nothing if not educational !!

Safari report (2); views, clouds and a cold bath !

Once safely into our rooms, we had a look round the lodge ('we' is old Maseno friend D., his brother A., and 21 year old student L., whom D. sponsored through school.

I was sharing a room with L  We briefly unpacked; she had a nap, I was off out again to explore the lodge and soak up the scenery.  The lodge has been built in the style of Maasai enkang but I did say 'in the style of' !!   Nothing like any Maasai homestead I ever visited !   When I looked at the web-site for Serena Lodge, the rooms looked a little like shipping containers covered in a mud plaster !!

The lodge is built curving around a slight escarpment ....

..... and the rooms are long and narrow, with bathrooms and views down to the plain.


While we waited for someone to tell us what was happening re the vehicle and our driver, I sat near the pool and watched an approaching storm.   The wide horizon meant I could watch the clouds building and getting blacker and bigger and nearer ...

... the rain when it started was TORRENTIAL .... I raced across to shelter in a grass roofed place where they stored the pool-side seats, and I've never seen a storm like it.   I half expected to hear Wagner as part of the sound-track.  The swimming pool churned as the rain sheeted into it, and after I had sheltered for half an hour, I was getting wetter and wetter, and the roof started to leak .... so I made a mad dash for the lodge building .... two or three steps in the storm and I was soaked to the skin with water pouring off me !    Once inside the lodge, I think my wet, dripping form rather startled Americans sipping their cocktails ...

Later, once I had showered and got dry, we had our dinner and the manager came to inform us he had heard from the safari company that they were sending a new vehicle for us to use for the morning drive; having no vehicle, we had missed the first evening game drive, but in actuality, I suspect with the storm, it would have been called off anyway.

Still, there was some interesting wildlife at the lodge ...

Yellow vented bulbul, (Picnonatus barbatus).   Very familiar bird in Nyanza.

Dung beetle - they leave an acrid smell on your hand !

Safari report (1), broken gears, a good Samaritan and arrival in the Mara

We were picked up in a people carrier from the guest house at 7 a.m., and left town towards Ahero (rice paddies) and then turned right onto the road to Kisii (sugar and tea) .... which was excellent ... but soon deteriorated. Passing through Kisii it rained, and a new thing with the piki-piki drivers are umbrellas, which are shaped into an extension at the back over the passengers !

Continued south into Maasai land, with some excellent new tarmac roads, and rough lumpy, bumpy stone and earth roads.   Somewhat short of the park, we broke down !!!!

The driver got out and crawled under the vehicle and tapped various things with a minute spanner; another vehicle going to the lodge stopped, but was full, so couldn't take us.  While the driver was tapping and knocking, I went for a short stroll in the bush to look around and photograph flowers and object d'arts ....

... and the driver eventually emerged, having decided one of the gears in the gear box had broken, and we couldn't move !  He got on the phone to the company in Kisumu (four hours away !), by which time a lovely man who worked at the lodge in a car coming from that direction had stopped to try and help.   He immediately offered to take us and our bags back from whence he had come .... which we later discovered was 50 km !!   A good Samaritan indeed.   How many drivers in UK would pick up stranded people and drive 50 km AND back to where he picked us up ??   Not many, I suspect.

Once at the park gate, we showed our passports and the Samaritan explained what had happened, so we were let in with no tickets, 'pay later' !!  

                                                                           The delightfully named Oloololo gate

Once we had checked in at the Serena Lodge (greeted by staff with cold drinks and wet cloths for our dusty faces) I sat by the pool and enjoyed the views, but had to shift previous occupants off some of the seats ...

My joy is complete ....

We've arrived back from our weekend in the Mara Maasai.  There's too much to write about in one blog installment, so I'll write it up over the next few days, but put up some of my pictures now.    Highlights were elephants which I had longed for several years to see again .... what's the modern expression ?   On my 'bucket list' !!   Then we saw lion resting up next to their zebra kill, and later a pair of lions cuddling up and copulating !   The hippo walking on dry land towards us, and little things like the birds and beetles .... so much ....

Lilian, and a visit to the bank

Another visit to the workshop, this time with David and his brother Andy (David lived & taught English here in the 70's and I've kept in intermittent contact).  David was very impressed with the workshop; it was much bigger than he had imagined.   Paul explained the history of it, and told them my hands were all over the building !   His students are amazed that a Mama Mzee could do such work !!

While at the workshop, we walked through to Nyamasaria market, and found where Lilian has moved to.   She is the lady who cooked for us four years ago, and also makes some money by sewing dresses for ladies. She greeted us so effusively with hugs, and then insisted in buying us all sodas.   Lilian always prays before you take any refreshment, and before you leave.  Little Davis who had a bad bout of malaria when we left last year, is well and thriving.   I'll do some photos next week when I take Lilian some baby clothes for him.

Then tuk-tuk back for lunch and after lunch we three went into town for me to get some money from Barclays.  I queued for nearly an hour, only to be told I could take K Sh 40,000 from the hole in the wall; this proved to be wrong as the machine said 20,000 maximum !   So another trip maybe on Monday ....

We had a cold drink before walking back.   And tomorrow we leave at 7 a.m. for our safari !!

The completed stairwell in the workshop; we could have done with a handrail when working on the building as I nearly fell many times when the stairs were covered with rubble and dropped cement.

~   ~   ~  ~   ~   ~

The wind is getting up and its getting dim; the trees are rustling and I think we may get rain.   I do hope so ... I love the hot peppery smell of rain here.  This is the rustling tree outside my room !   One year there was a large lizard living in it  but I haven't seen it this time.  Maybe if I sit quietly on the veranda one afternoon .....

~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~

Later:-

Yesterday was National Toilet Day !!    Siku ya Choo !!     It was to encourage people to use the public toilets rather than just go outside, ESPECIALLY in the towns.  Ten shillings per poo !   (That's about 7 UK pence).  There were graphic ad's on the local TV, and even a government minister was featured in the newspaper demonstrating ...  Thank goodness we have 'high type' at Mill Hill !

To the workshop and then Nyalenda.

A somewhat lazy day; I went to the workshop by tuk-tuk this morning (I'm told a piki-piki is cheaper but a bit more dangerous).   The tuk-tuk man dropped me on the road near the Coptic church and I walked through to the workshop.   What a sight compared to four years ago when I first saw it !   My laptop is getting a bit warm, but I'll later find a 'before' photo and one from today for comparison.

Paul was there and greeted me like a long lost sister; more hugs in front of some bemused new students !  The upstairs which we last saw with just the roof timbers, still open to the sky, is now finished, with a smart ceiling, windows, and the stairs up have a hand-rail, and air bricks to ventilate .   Outside, is an almost completed little brick shed to house the planer, which until now used to fill the workshop with dust and sawdust when used.

Paul called for Milly, who came running over to greet me; she is now 11 and looks very happy.   Emily's children are there; Brighton the same, but his brother Gerald who was such a fat glossy baby, is now about 18 months, walking and very skinny.  Fidel was there; I must take the photos of him as a baby to show him.

Continued later:-

The trees that Wendy, Jonathon and I planted last year are thriving; mine is in the centre with the broad leaves, Wendy's to the left with the feathery leaves, and Jonathon the larger tree to the right.  

The end wall of the workshop has been painted, and this can be seen from the road, so is some good advertising for the workshop training.

And the little building which will house the planer, as mentioned above.   It has yet to be completed, but I'm assured it will be 'soon' !!

~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~

Another tuk-tuk back to the guest house, where I met Father Hans, and we drove to Nyalenda, one of the very poor shanty areas of town.  Hans does a Bible session there on a Wednesday, and the conversation is usually very interesting and amusing, but with some deep thoughts.   We had lunch there; rice and green-gram soup to pour over.  And sweet oranges for pudding !  

I've arrived !

Long journey .... bus from Chepstow to the airport (Heathrow), and then a five hour wait for the plane, but, on the bright side, once on the half empty plane, I played the age card and chatted up one of the hostesses to find me three empty seats in a row, so after a spicy cod supper and watching Mrs Doubtfire, I was able to stretch out and sleep.

At H'row I got chatting to a lady who was going on from Nbi to Watamu, and she seemed very vaguely familiar.   I stupidly (tiredness) only got her first name, but it was obvious from our several hours chatting that we knew many of the same people from 'the old days'.   She has my email, so I hope she gets in touch; again, I forgot to get hers.

Once we landed in Nairobi (in THICK fog) at dawn we continued our chatting as we waited for our onward flights; mine was at 10.30, hers at 3.   I had booked a window seat so that I could take photos of the rift valley as we crossed it, but it was about ten minutes before the fog and clouds lifted, so I didn't see Longonot and Suswa as I had hoped.

Tea growing around Kericho on the west side of the rift valley, and .... 

... rice paddies on the Kano plain with Lake Victoria appearing under the wing of the plane.

Good to be back at Mill Hill House and to meet the fathers and other guests and staff.   I was greeted with hand-shakes and bone crushing hugs from all !   

More tomorrow after I've been to the workshop and town .......

Flying tomorrow ....

D-day is tomorrow at 7 in the evening.   I managed to check-in online and have one of those seats with no room on the first flight, but next to the aisle; however on the second one across the Rift Valley, I've managed to book a window seat with no wing blocking the view.   I've never flown across the Rift Valley before, only done it hundreds of times by car or bus, so am looking forward to seeing the spectacular views.   Lets hope for clear blue skies.

Safari salama !!

Meeting Jennipher

One of the HATW volunteers has been going to Zambia every year almost since the year dot, and he (and by extension his family) have met and got to know Jennipher really well.    She is a Zambian lady who is HIV+ but is taking anti-retro viral drugs every day, and is very well, active, and a wonderful person to have met.

Our volunteer (Chris) managed to get her a visa to visit Britain, and paid for her to return with him after his last trip, so he could show her how airports work, how to deal with her luggage, and most importantly, how to find the correct flight on her return by herself.  

She is amazing; despite being ill herself she has devoted her life to helping others with HIV, and has cared for several children, and started women's self-help groups for other sufferers.   One of Jenniphers groups has some land near a reservoir, but no means of getting the water up to water their vegetable gardens, and food is essential in the treatment of HIV.    Jennipher came to visit our village Bible group, and we donated some money for her work.   She now reports that she has bought a treadle pump for the support group women to use, and now the vegetables can be watered !

 

Two of the Bible group with Jennipher.

 

Jennipher had a wonderful visit and met most of the HATW team in our office; she visited London and Oxford; dabbled her toes in the sea; learned to knit; ate all sorts of strange foods (and gained weight as she was very thin); and was able to visit hospitals and centres for the disabled, and marvelled at the wonderful National Health Service FREE treatment available in UK.   She even had her portrait painted !

 

It was good to meet such a wonderful lady.

 

 

 

 

More about ebola

People who ought to know better have been making what are really quite silly and unintelligent remarks to me about returning to Africa when ebola 'is everywhere'.

Have a look at this map .... see how vast Africa is ?   Is ebola everywhere ??

 

 

It is true that today on the news we hear that there are now several cases in Mali, which is to the north of Guinea, but what actually surprises me is that the ebola virus hasn't spread further.  Doctors are saying that the rate of infection seems to be dropping, i.e. a few months ago, each person with the disease could infect four or more; now the figure is nearer one or two.    So although the death toll is now just over 5,100, the rate of new cases is more significant than the total death toll, as it reflects how fast the virus is spreading.

There is still a very long way indeed to go in order to wipe out ebola, but at last the WHO and aid agencies and even Bob Geldof  (!)  are tackling the task.   Education of people  in the affected countries about the disease is an essential.  Caring for the hundreds of orphans who may have lost parents and yet themselves recovered from the illness, and who are even now ostracised by their neighbours, will be an enormous task when the medics go home.    The cry of 'Ebola boy, go away' must be heart-breaking for a recently bereaved and hungry child.

I'm still here

What a long time since my last posting, but I thought it was high time I resuscitated the blog, as once again, I'm off to Africa in a weeks time !    Such a lot has happened in the African world since the death of Madiba, the main one at the moment being the ebola outbreak in West Africa.

I follow the African news every few days on  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/africa/   which always has news I'm interested in.   And for the last few months, ebola has been the headline news.   I see that an ebola vaccine is being trialed in Mali on health workers .... where it is still possible that there could be cases appearing after a small child who had travelled there from Guinea died from the disease, and caused the many people she was in contact with to be quarantined. 

 

 

One reason the disease has spread so quickly is that in parts of Africa, the customs concerned with dealing with deceased members of the family involves family members (and there can be a lot of them) touching, hugging, kissing the dead person, who may have been bleeding, sweating, vomiting etc.  All and any bodily fluids are highly infectious. Clothing, mattresses, bedding etc.,  from the deceased person are another source of infection, and are kept by family members for re-use instead of being burned.   Apart from person to person spread, it is most likely that this outbreak started by the eating of bush-meat, mainly large bats, which can carry the virus.   So posters such as this are appearing in West Africa. 

 

 

 

~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~

 

Having re-started my blog with a serious subject, I must write some up-dates of news from PALUOC,  what's been happening at HATW, and about a visit from Jennipher from Zambia !





Madiba ......

Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika

R I P Madiba ......

 

 

18.07.1918  -  5.12.2013

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

(I haven't forgotten my blog; its just that I have been so busy since arriving home again, that I haven't got around to writing about our last week or ten days in Kenya, where we had no internet access .... and there's a lot to report.   Soon ....)