A Birthday Surprise

A couple of days after our arrival in Kisii it was my 30th birthday. I wasn't quite sure what to expect since Noela and I had just settled into our rooms at the St. Vincent Center and we had only met the staff at the UW-KEMRI office in Kisii the day before. But the day was full of surprises.

In the morning, I awoke to find a birthday card and small present from Noela waiting just outside my room. The cook at St. Vincent's made me an extra spicy Spanish omelet for breakfast. And then Jackie, our dynamic powerhouse of a project mentor at UW-KEMRI, arranged a lovely surprise party at lunch with the rest of the office staff. There was of course lots of sweet milky tea, but also popcorn, spicy chips, cookies, fruit, and even samosas. They sang me "Happy Birthday" and presented me with a ridiculously large card with a bald eagle on it (not sure if that was intentionally America-themed).

But the very best surprise of all came in the evening. The day before, Jackie had suggested that Noela and I go on a trip over the weekend to do some "experience sharing" and work on our research project proposal. She said that the Kakamega Rainforest, which is about 3 hours northwest of Kisii via the town of Kisumu, would be the perfect place for us to get away from it all. This struck me as pretty amusing because I had just "gotten away" from Seattle to Nairobi 5 days ago and then got away from Nairobi to Kisii a mere 24 hours ago. But Jackie's enthusiasm is infectious, and Noela & I were up for anything, so off we went!

We set off in the afternoon in one of the hospital's 4x4 jeeps down the very long and bumpy road through Kisumu to Kakamega. In Kakamega, we were met by Dr. Nyongesa, the Director of Public Health for Kisii, who is one of the senior staff at the hospital. His home is in Kakamega and he very kindly gave us a ride into the forest to our final destination.

After several miles driving down dirt roads filled with gaping potholes heading further and further away from civilization, I was beginning to get a little worried about what we would find at the end of the road. I mentally prepared myself for a weekend spent in a tent with a dirt floor, lots of mosquitos, and no running water.

But when we finally arrived at the Rondo Retreat Center, we were greeted by this:

We stayed in this enchanting cottage for the whole weekend. After putting our bags away, we were served late afternoon tea and chocolate cake in the cozy parlor in front of the fire. The entire place was frozen in time from the British colonial era, and somehow perfectly preserved in the middle of the Kakamega Rainforest. It started off as a sawmill in the 1940s, became an orphanage for awhile, and now caters to eco-tourism. And as we met several of the other guests over the course of the weekend, we discovered that nearly every person was an ex-pat or visiting physician taking refuge from the hectic atmosphere of Nairobi, Eldoret, or Mombasa.

Above is a photo of Noela & me taken by our nature guide Job after our early morning hike into the jungle and up to the top of this hill where we had panoramic views of the surrounding rainforest. It was absolutely lovely and we were lucky enough to see all 3 types of monkeys that populate the area: colobus, blue and red-tailed. Here's a photo of the black & white colobus monkeys:

After our hike, we got to work on our research project and came up with our proposal by the end of the weekend. More on that in the next post. Tutaonana!

Some Pictures

Here are a few pictures from our trip from Nairobi to Kisii through the Rift Valley and then of Kisii itself. It's a very lush, verdantly green area up in the hills.

The Road to Kisii

Today we set off for Kisii, which is about 350 km to the west of Nairobi. George and I left Nairobi in the morning after my apartment at Gemina Court was inspected to make sure I didn’t abscond with any of their (mismatched) silverware. Then we stopped in Limuru, a small town covered in fog up in the hills, to pick up Noela and we were on our way.

As we headed down the hills on the highway with breathtaking views of the Rift Valley, we hit a road block. Or more precisely, a long line of cars and trucks stopped on the two lane highway that George said was most likely caused by an accident. He said sometimes it can take hours to clear the road when these happen. It seemed like our trip was off to an unfortunate start.

But then, George noticed a dirt road leading off the main highway up into the hills on the right. Calling it a road is quite generous. It was more like a clearing where the dirt had been flattened so that the rocks and potholes were more visible to the naked eye. A half-dozen 4-wheel drive safari tourist vehicles roared confidently up this road. They were followed by a couple of matatus (more about these later) and then a small minivan. And finally George, our intrepid driver, decided to go off-roading in a car that has the equivalent size and horsepower of a Toyota Prius.

Our long line of vehicles made its way slowly up the road, with continuous jarring bumps and dips. At one point about 15 minutes in, we came across a huge pothole where it looked like the road had caved in. The safari vehicles cleared it easily. The matatus, on the other hand, had to give up and turn around. Matatus are small passenger vans that seem to be the most common form of transportation used by Kenyans, especially when traveling long distances. They typically hold about 14 people, but their engines are not very powerful.

After the matatus gave up, I was pretty dubious about whether we could make it. But George expertly navigated our way across. It felt like we had just successfully forded the river on the Oregon Trail. =) That gaping pothole ended up being the first of many, but George managed to get us safely across all of them. After about an hour, we finally ended up getting spit out back on the highway several kilometers north of where we needed to take the exit for Kisii. I’ve never been happier to see a paved road!

The rest of the journey was thankfully quite uneventful, and we made it to Kisii in the late afternoon. I thought I was the only one who was nervous during our off-road adventure, but when I asked Noela about it later she said she was holding her breath the entire time. I have to say it was definitely a bonding experience. More about our adventures in Kisii next time!

 
~Ammu
 
(Note: I wrote this post 4 days ago but didn't have any internet access to post it till now.)