No black mambas yet!

Jambo! Good news! I have not gotten bit by a black mamba, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to post this! But really, Kenya has been pretty awesome. I decided it would be easiest to make a blog. The internet is pretty slow here and we alternate nights to use it. Plus, although I'd love to keep in touch with everyone as best as I can, at night I do have to do homework, unfortunately, or if there is something fun going on like cards or a fire, I'd rather join in than deal with the bad internet connection. This entry will be really long, so read however much you'd like!

I guess I'll describe our site, Kilimanjaro Bush Camp (KBC). It is a 6 hour drive from Nairobi, MUCH further than I had originally expected. We are in the Kimana Group Ranch (a subdivided plot owned privately by Maasai communities rather than the government) which is situated between Amboseli and Tsavo West National Parks. We have a clear view of Mt. Kilimanjaro from our camp, especially in the morning when it is less cloudy around the mountain. It is such a clear view that we can see the snow on top, which if you compare the view to photos of Kili from even just five years ago, let alone twenty, you can see that there is not much left. In a few years, the glaciers will be completely gone. The whole area, people and wildlife, relies on the glacier water, so it is very unfortunate and scary to think of what will happen to the area.

Anyway, our camp is fenced in and guarded by Maasai askaris (guards) to make sure that dangerous animals (i.e. elephants) do not come in. A mile path surrounds our camp which is really nice to walk on to see the flora and fauna in the area. The main features of our camp are the main building, or chumba, and the cabins, or bandas. We do everything in the chumba: classes, meals, meetings. We even hang out on the chumba porch in between activities. Looking out from the porch, there is a large field with five bandas on each side. Each banda sleeps four people, although I only have two bandamates. The rest of KBC is staff bandas and offices. There are also some nice nooks like little gazebo-like structures and a volleyball court.

We have been very busy with classes. We only get about one day off a week, and those aren’t really days off but more like non-program days. They try to keep us busy because we are not allowed to leave KBC without staff supervision because the wildlife is too dangerous (again, elephants). We have gone into the nearest town, Kimana, for market day. It was very chaotic - Maasai mamas flooding to us, the mzungu (white person). It was a lot of fun though, I pretended to do kung fu with some little boys, I don't know where they learned that. We also visited our Maasai neighbors' boma, or homestead. I'm pretty sure it’s only a few families that live in one homestead with several houses, but their kinship networks are very different and I haven't quite gotten it yet. Their homes are made of all organic materials like plant parts and cow dung. They each have a corridor and typically two rooms, one specifically for the mama. They live very simply and traditionally.

To pass the rest of our free time, we tend to go on walks around camp or play soccer in the field. In general, there is a lot of dust here. But when we play soccer, it gets so bad you literally can't see the ball at times. Needless to say, it's a lot of fun and we get very dirty. All of the flora here is covered in thorns, including most of the grass and weeds, so falling during soccer is very painful. After a soccer match, we are caked in dirt (including on our teeth and in our lungs) and usually bloody. Still, playing soccer has been one of the highlights for me. We can’t wait to take on one of the local high school teams, and, most likely, get our butts handed to us.

We have seen a lot of wildlife. On the drive from the airport we saw zebras, giraffe, wildebeests, hartebeests, and impala. On our camp there are vervet monkeys and yellow baboons, although we usually only see the same baboon all alone (our field guide tells us that he is most likely alone because he is an adolescent and finding a new troop). There are a lot of birds including ibis, African doves, and kingfishers which are the most beautiful bright blue color I've ever seen. You can see them from across the camp even though they are small. Sometimes in the morning, our Kiswahili teacher and overall Maasai liaison takes us for nature walks outside the camp. There we have seen dik-dik and lots of tracks (poop and footprints) of elephants, zebra, and aardvarks.

So I am doing very well so far! There was a terrible 24ish hour bug that hit most of the group over the past few days. Knock on wood, I haven't been affected yet. It's very reminiscent of the plague from the camp this summer. Otherwise, we take a lot of precautions to avoid danger. We keep mosquito nets tucked in our bed during the day, mostly to prevent scorpions and snakes (like black mambas, by far my biggest and probably only fear here) from hiding in our beds. I’ve gotten used to shaking out clothing and shoes before putting them on, just to be safe. The drinking water is fine, but we have filtered water just in case the glacier water somehow gets contaminated. Apparently the most dangerous thing in Kenya is the roads, or lack there of. You are 40% more likely to die in motor vehicle here. So warning me to not get AIDS or eaten by a lion was actually very silly. But don’t worry, we have two full time mechanics to make sure our jeeps are in top shape to avoid problems.

Sorry that was really long, but I warned you! There’s still tons more that I could say but I’m feeling really antisocial right now by writing this haha. I get to use the internet some nights between 7 and 11 pm, so if you go on the internet at around noon your time, chances are you can chat with me on AIM. Miss you all!