People that Kenyans have told me that I look like.

Martin: A group of street boys called me Martin over and over again. After telling them that I was not Martin they still continued to call me Martin for about five minutes.

 Scherrer Cabelino Maxwell Andrade: He plays football for Barcelona. 

 Chris Benoit: The pro wrestler. 

 Shawn Michaels: The heartbreak kid.

J C: Many Kenyans have told me that I look like him... This might have been because I did not shave for a month and my hair was getting ridiculously long. 

Bennett

Adventure!

There has been a lot of adventuring as of late. Maria and I caught an early morning matatu ride heading towards an elevated and verdant town called Nyahururu. Good luck pronouncing it. It was a fairly bustling little place not unlike Nanyuki. It had many dukas and restaurants that lined the main road traveling through the heart of the town. We bargained with a taxi driver who at first attempted to rip us of, but later gave us a moderately fair price and we rode with him six kilometers outside of Nyahururu center. The campsite we ended up at was surrounded by a stick fence and had several small structures made of wood and tin. We went up to reception which was located in a dilapidated two-staged bus from who knows where. 

Not-so-good shot of the two-staged bus. 

After talking to an employee and getting set up in our banda, we were led around on a mini tour of the site. It contained a few bandas for sleeping, a kitchen and dining hall, a playground made from recycled metals and wood, several small field areas, a tightrope made out of a giant log, an exercise machine which essentially was a giant block of metal standing alone and a "two kilometer" Forrest for bird watching. 

The playground made from recycled materials. 

It began to rain, so we settled in and read for a while. When the rain ceased we walked around the Forrest looking for birds till sundown. At night we had a bonfire outside and ate chapati, rice, greens and stewed meat (well I ate the meat) while staying warm. The proprietor hassled us a bit for donations to his various causes that needed funding. So we retreated to our banda and called it an early night.

           In the morning we packed up and headed for the beautiful Thompson's falls. It had been raining a lot so the falls were raging pretty hard. We walked down the stone steps that lead through the dense foliage to the base of the falls. We took pictures and quietly watched the force of nature. It was surprisingly calming and peaceful. Then a parade of about two hundred primary school students began funneling down the steps so we made our leave. 

Thompson's falls from above. 

Maria and the steps heading down to the base of the falls 

Me being me at the base of the falls. 

After a bit of shopping we bought two tickets to a little town to the north called Rhumaruti. We sat in the matatu for about an hour before it finally filled up. The journey North took us through several small farming villages with beautiful scenery. Once at rhumaruti we hired two boda boda to take us the rest of the way to our destination in the bush. It was an hour long ride on dirt roads. It began to rain about five minutes into our trip. Then it began to pour. The roads turned into rivers and we were drenched. My back ached horribly from clenching onto the motor bike, hoping not to slip off. Once we reached our destination, a campsite perched on top of a hill called "Bobong", we popped off the bikes and drew a general groan from all the expats who watched us arrive. They were sympathetic to our wetness and immediately offered us hot coffee. I shivered uncontrollably as I prepared both Maria and myself a cup. Then we stood by a cooking fire under a tarp till the shivering quit. We thanked the expats, then found our Danish friends Marie and Mahtilde and our Canadian friend Pamela sitting in a nearby banda sipping red wine. The rain had finally stopped around sunset. That night we dried off and danced with some locals around a camp fire while attempting to sing in tribal languages. Singing in which languages? I have no idea. It was mounds of fun. 

In the early afternoon we made our way down the hill to a field across the road. We were attending a camel derby in the bush. A track had been set up with wooden poles attached with plastic ribbon that formulated a giant oval perhaps a kilometer in diameter. There were moaning camels bearing their disgusting gums and teeth everywhere. All the locals from far and wide had come to attend and many were garbed in their tribal attire. There were many stands selling local jewelry, others were selling booze, soda and goat meat. After much waiting and warm beer drinking the races finally started. It worked much like horse racing would in the States. About eight to ten men riding camels once around the track as an announcer yelled over a loudspeaker. Except the announcer yelled in swahili. People cheered as well. After loosing some misplaced bets we sat under the thin shade of an acacia tree eating grilled goat meat and chapati. Many local dogs came to join us begging for scraps. At one point there was a baby camel race. You could hear the cries for miles around as they separated the mother camels from their juveniles. They then placed numbers on some of the irate and upset children, lined them downfield from their mothers and then had them race back to their pack. It was both entertaining and heart-wrenching. In the end the winning baby camel was rewarded by being separated from the pack again to be identified as it screamed intensely. There was also a triathlon that was one part running, one part bike ride the last part camel ride. In the afternoon a thunderstorm loomed overhead so we made our way back up the hill to the campsite to avoid getting soaked (again). 

 Adult camels that were ridden in the races.

 Mid race.

 Baby camels racing to their mothers.

A local about to ride his bike ("boda boda" when used as a taxi).

 Lost bets.

         The next day the five of us loaded into a truck and drove on dirt roads through the bush back to Daraja. Along the way we spotted a few elephants, leopard tortoises, grevy zebras, warthogs, and a group of twenty-four giraffes. We arrived at Daraja to have lunch with the girls. Maria and I then said good-bye to the Danes and the Canadian. We then caught a ride to town with a fellow Mets fan from New York who graciously paid for our fair saying: "From one Mets fan to another, let me get this one." We spent the night in town in our own beds. 

 Grevy zebra

 Leopard Tortoise.

 Elephant up on the hill. 

Pack of giraffe. 

In the morning we went food shopping in preparation for our adventure up north. The two of us met up with Tom the conservationist-biologist, his son Jake, are best Kenyan friend Charles from the bush house and a man named Peter who used to work for Tom back in the day. We packed up two cars with supplies and then hit the road. We drove through Timau past all the flower farms that are infecting the earth to the major junction near Meru, then took a left turn to Isiolo. Isiolo is incredibly dry and has a rather large Muslim population. It looked almost like Nanyuki minus all the green trees.  After picking up diesel fuel and being questioned by some local police we made our way up past the Ewaso Nyiro river that is also located near the bush house. Here the river ran through a small village called "Archer's Post." Tom told us that it used to be the last refuge before the long trek 500 km to the Ethiopian border. Now, however, there are a few more villages to the North in the dry desolate lands such as Marsabit. The roads were immaculate; Some of the finest I have seen in East Africa. They were Made by some Chinese company and are hardly used by anything else besides trucks carrying sand and minerals taken from somewhere up north. After the post we found the giant granitic dome known as Mt. Ololokwe. It was our final stop alongside the pristine road. We parked the car to marvel at it. Then two local Samburu men came by to take us inside the reserve. We drove in through a sand covered valley between two mountains that were riddled with Acacia robusta trees. We ended our drive at a camping spot. After setting up our tents, Jake, Charles, Peter and myself spent two hours climbing the smaller mountain next to the dome. The bush was so thick along the way that Peter had to hack a trail with a panga (basically a machete). There were plants, that when touched, would secret a milky white substance, if it went into your eyes, you would go permanently blind. There were many large boulders that required us to deftly climb. We eventually reached the top. Our group went up to the cliffside and yelled down below at the campsite. Charles asked me to take a photo which required me to change lenses on the camera. Like the idiot that I am, I accidentally left one of the lenses on the rock before descending down a much easier route into the valley. Seemingly I had lost the camera lens for good. We cooked posho and sukuma wiki over the campfire for dinner before sleeping in our tents. At night we heard at least three troops of Baboons on the on both sides of the valley somewhere up the mountainside. Jon the Samburu guide told us that there were Leopards disturbing them up in the trees and they were alarm calling. Also we heard a very large Hyena calling in the night. It's voice was monstrous as it reverberated of the the cliff sides. The guide described the Hyena as "kubwa sana" meaning "very big."

Mount Ololokwe

          In the morning our group packed a small supply of food and water onto two donkeys. A local guide named Jon led us up the larger mountainside opposite of the rock that was climbed a day ago. The trail was steep but there was no bush to hack through. The trek offered sweeping views of the valley below. After about two hours up the mountainside the trail opened up to a plateau covered in a field of green grass. Off in the distance was a dense Forrest of cedar and strangler fig trees. It was a totally different world from the base of the mountain. Around this time I realized that I had lost the camera lens. I was pissed at myself. After walking the field we entered the Forrest. Our campsite was then found amongst the trees. We unpacked and rested for a bit. Later a group of us went for a walk along the cliffs. The views were ridiculous to say the least. We theorized about how high we were from the ground and chucked rocks off the edge. We then walked to one of the highest spots on the mountain where we crawled up to the steep ledge to peer at the sudden drop off. Off in the distance we could see blotches of cloud cover littering the landscape. And a road that extended as far as the eye could see. That night we cooked over the fire and slept in sleeping bags out in the open. We were told there were Leopards nearby in the Forrest. So sleep did not come so easy for me. In the morning we descended down the mountain and back to camp. 

 Hanging on the edge.

 Peter, Jon, Jake, me, and Charles.

 A rather large cliffside. 

Dust blowing off in the distance. 

       




         I stayed at the campsite and read Hemmingway for most of the day. Others went for bird watching. Jake climbed a mountain. In the night Tom and Maria went out to look for Bush Babies. They asked me to join. Tom took the lead with his bright head lamp and his Mag light. Maria stalked about thirty paces behind with her super bright head lamp. I took the rear another thirty paces behind with the small light  that was on my cell phone. Since I did not even know what a bush baby looked like and for having such a dinky flashlight, I simply pointed my light at the ground while walking. Tom made clicking noises at the acacia trees in order to draw out the bush babies. After a short while we found three of them. They were very small primates that jumped around the tree branches in search of insects to eat. They were crazy looking with their short tails. After we returned to camp we called it a night. 

Bush baby (Galago Gallarum or Samali Bush Baby) photo taken off the internet.

         In the morning we got word from Jon the guide that a small village nearby had our camera lens. We drove out to them and a women came to return it to us. I was relieved. I took pictures of some of the people in the village with the lens and showed them the results on the digital screen. They laughed hysterically. It occurred to me later that perhaps that was the first time they saw anything like that. It is a good thing when potentially bad situations have a pleasant outcome. The trip was over and we headed back to Nanyuki. This was all a great success. 

The rescuer of my camera. 

The rescuer and other people who lived in the community near Mt. Ololokwe. 

Go gunners

Some pictures of our new home and from the special education school. 

 The view from our 4th floor balcony.

 Martin being Martin in our living room.

Fellow Arsenal teammate.

 Dorm room that the kids sleep in.

 Once the room where the Autism class took place. Now condemned and is about to fall apart. Notice the giant crack just above the door. If you were to slightly push on the wall the whole building would collapse. Now the Autism class is held in the dorm room, where they push the beds back to create a learning space.

 Some of the boys pose for the camera.

 Learning tools being used in the Autism class. Tools wonderfully donated by the Autism Spectrum Consultants of San Diego.

 George!

 Classroom block.

 More posing for the camera

 More classroom space for the children. This place also doubles as the eating area.


        On Monday I went out with some of the children to play football in the yard. One of the kids with limited English gave me the choice of either playing on the side "Manchester United" or on the other side "Arsenal." Thinking that a team named after weaponry was considerably more fun sounding then a team named after a united front of some English city I have never been to. I chose Arsenal. We began play and very quickly it became obvious how stacked the other team was against us. They had three of the big boys with fine motor skills.
        Despite our best attempts to strategize and one of my team mates borrowing a rain boot to play in, leaving the other foot bare. We lost by 16 goals. Maybe we should have pulled out our goalie at some point. He is shown below.

It probably did not help that I am completely inept at football.

Species List updated

Last time I posted this I only had 58 species of bird and 34 mammals - so there is some improvement.  Bennett and I are taking a trip next week, stopping in the Abederes mountain range, then Thompson's Falls in Nyahururu, and then on to camp in Rumuruti for Wild Camel Day.  By the conclusion, I expect that my list of birds to well exceed 100!

Maria

SPECIES LIST

Birds

1. White-bellied go away bird: Criniferoides leucogaster

2. Von der Decken’s hornbill: Tockus deckeni

3. Red-billed hornbill: Tockus e. erythrorhyncus

4. Superb starling: Lamptotorns superbus 

5. Pied crow: Corvus albus

6. Wood warbler: Phylloscopus ibikatrix

7. Grey-capped social weaver: Pseudonigrita arnaudi

8. Red-billed quelea: Quelea quelea aethipica 

9. Somali ostrich: Stuthio (camelus) molybdophanes

10. Vulture guinea fowl: Acryllium vulturinum 

12. Ring-necked dove: Streptopelia capicola semalica

13. White-browed scrub robin: Cercotrichas leurophrys

14. Speckled mousebird: Colius striatus kikuyuensis

15. Greater blue-eared starling: Lamprotornis c. chloropterus 

16. Purple grenadier: Uraeginthus ianthinogasta

17. Marico sunbird: Nectarinia mariquensis snarelica 

18. D’Arnaud’s barbet: Trachyphorus darnaudii

19. Hadada ibis: Bostrychia hagedash brevivostis 

20. Cardinal woodpecker: Dendropicos fuscescens

21. Sprosser (or thrush) nightingale: Luscinia luscinia

22. Yellow-necked spurfowl: Francolinus leucoscepus 

23. Green-capped Eremomela: Eremomela scotops kikuyensis

24. Grey headed sparrow: Passer griseus 

25. Common bulbul: Pycnonotus barbatus tricolor 

26. Grey-wren warbler: Calamonastes simplex 

27. Slate-coloured bou bou: Laniarius funebris 

28. Grey-backed camaroptera: Camaroptera brachyura tincta 

29. Black-capped social weaver Pseudonigrita cabanisi

30. Wire-tailed swallow: Hirundo r. rustica

31. Southern black flycatcher: Melaenornis pammelaina

32. Fan-tailed raven: Corvus rhipidurus 

33. Common drongo: Dicrurus a. adsimilis

34. Lappet-faced vulture: Torgos t. tracheliotus

35. Laughing dove: Streptopelia s. senegalensis

36. Emerald –spotted wood dove: Turtur chalcospilos   

37. Speckle-fronted weaver: Sporopipes frontalis emini

38. Vitelline masked weaver: Ploceus velatus uluensis

39. Kori bustard: Ardeotis kori struthinunculus  

40. Speckled pigeon: Columba g. guinea (Daraja Academy, Nanyuki)

41. Rufous Chatterer: 

42. Long-toed lapwing (plover): Vanellus crassirostris 

43. Crowned lapwing (plover): Vanellus conronatus 

44. Helmeted guineafowl: Guttera pucherani

45. Pied wheatear: Oeanthe p. pleschanka 

46. Spotted morning thrush: Chichladusa g. guttata 

47. Marabou stork: Leptoptilus crumeniferus (Nairobi and Watamu)

48. Egyptian goose: Alopochen aegyptiacus

49. Grey-crowned crane: Balearica regulorum gibbericeps (Mt. Kenya Safari Club)

50. Red-winged starling: Onychognathus morio (Daraja Academy, Nanyuki)

51. Lilac-breasted roller: Coracias caudata

52. White-bellied bustard: Eupodotis senegalensis canicollis

53. Three banded plover: Charadrius t. tricollaris (Watamu)

54. Whimbrel: Numenius p. phaeopus (Watamu)

55. Angola swallow: Hirundo s. splendes (Daraja Academy, Nanyuki)

56. House crow: Covus s. splendes (Shanzu)

57. Black saw-wing or rough wing: Psalidoprocne a. albiceps

58. African firefinch: Lagonosticta rubricata hildebrandti

59. Lesser striped swallow: Hirundo semirufa gordoni (Daraja Academy, Nanyuki)

60. White-browed sparrow weaver: Plocepasser mahali melanorhynchus

61. Barn swallow: Hirundo r. rustica (Daraja)

62. Common house martin: Delichon u. urbica (Mpala)

63. Arrow-marked babbler: Turdoides jardineii emini (Daraja)

64. Ruppell’s griffon vulture: Gyps r. rueppellii (Mpala)

65. Eastern pale chanting goshawk: Melierax poliopterus

66. Chestnut sparrow: Passer eminibey 

67. Rufous sparrow: Passer r. rufocinctus

68. Baglafect weaver: Ploceus baglafecht

69. Hildebrandt’s starling: Lamprotornis hildebrandti

70. Grey heron: Ardea cinerea (Coast and Daraja in June)

71. Cattle egret: Bubulcus ibis

72. Buff-crested bustard: Eupodotis gindiana (Mpala Conservancy area)

73. Northern white-bellied bustard: Eupodotis senegalensis

74. Black-headed lapwing (plover): Vanellus tectus

75. Blacksmith lapwing (plover): Vanellus armatus (Ol Pejeta Conservancy)

76. Black-fronted bush shrike: Malaconotus nigrifrons

77. Red-billed oxpecker: Buphagus erythrorhyncus

78. Black-shouldered kite: Elanus c. caeruleus (Dol Dol Rd. before Daraja)

79. Black kite: Milvus m. migrans (Nairobi)

80. Northern white-crowned shrike: Eurocephalus rueppelli

81. Tropical bou bou: Laniarius aethiopicus (Lake Naivasha)

82. Sacred ibis: Threskiornis a. aethiopicus  (Ngong Hills)

83. Cattle egret: Bulbulcus i. ibis

84. Black-headed oriole: Oriolus larvatus rolleti (Daraja)

85. Green wood-hoopoe: Phoeniculus prupureus (Daraja)

86. Red-bellied firefinch: Lagonosticta senegala ruberrima (Daraja)

87. African orange-bellied parrot: Poicephalus r. rufiventris (Daraja)

88. Bronze sunbird: Nectarinia k. kilimensis (Daraja)

89. Lesser blue-eared starling: Lamprotornis c. chloropterus

90. Red-rumped swallow: Hirundo daurica emini (Daraja)

Reptiles & Amphibians

1. Striped skink: Mabuya striata

2. Red-headed rock agama: Agama agama

3. Rainbow skink: Mabuya margaritifer

4. Great plated lizard: Gerrhosaurus major

5. Leopard tortoise: Geochelone pardalis (SNC and Daraja)

6. Sharp nosed rocket frog or Mascarene rocket frog: Ptychadena oxyrhynchus or Ptychadena mascareniensis

7. Tropical house gecko: Hemidactylus maboula

8. Nile monitor: Varanus niloticus

9. Galapagos tortoise: (Mt. Kenya Safari Club Orphanage. Native only to the Galapagos.)

Mammals

1. Dwarf mongoose: Helogale parvula

2. Impala: Aepyceros melampus

5. Giraffe: Giraffa camelopardalis

6. Vervet monkey: Cercopithecus aethiops

7. Olive baboon: Papio anubis

8. Grevy’s zebra: Equus grevyi

9. Burchell’s zebra: Equus burchelli

10. Kirk’s dik dik: Madoqua kirkii

11. Rock hyrax: Procavia capensis

12. Thomson’s gazelle: Gazella thomsoni

13. Warthog: Phacochoerus aethiopicus

14. Spotted hyena: Crocuta crocuta

15. Elephant: Loxodonta Africana

16. Black-backed jackal: Canis mesomelas

17. Scrub hare: Lexus saxatilis

18. Squirrel: Xerus sp.

19. Gerenuk: Litocranius walleri

20. Bush buck: Tragelaphus scriptus (spotted a solitary one across river – seemed a deep reddish color, rounded rump, short tail)

21. Blue/sykes monkey: Cercopithecus mitis (Gedi)

22. Patas monkey: Erythrocebus patas (Mt. Kenya Safari Club Orphanage. Native to Kenya.)

23. Guereza black and white colobus: Colobus guereza (Mt. Kenya Safari Club Orphanage. Native to Kenya.)

24. Bongo: Tragelaphus (Boocercus) euryceros (Mt. Kenya Safari Club Orphanage and Breeding Center. Native to Kenya.)

25. Pigmy hippopotamus: Hexoprotodon liberiensis (Mt. Kenya Safari Club Orphanage – not native to Kenya or Eastern Africa. Found only in Western Africa coastal areas)

26. Cape or savanna buffalo: Syncerus c. caffer (Mt. Kenya Safari Club Orphanage, Soita Nyiro Conservancy, Ol Pejeta Conservancy. Native to Kenya.)

27. Lichtenstein’s hartebeest: Sigmoceros (Alcelaphus) lichtensteini (Mt. Kenya Safari Club Orphanage. Not native to Kenya but found in Tanzania and south.)

28. Blue wildebeest (brindled gnu): Connochaetes taurinus (Mt. Kenya Safari Club Orphanage. Native to Kenya.)

29. Cheetah: Acinonyx jubatus (Mt. Kenya Safari Club Orphanage and Ol Pejeta Conservancy. Native to Kenya.)

30. Caracal: Caracal caracal (Mt. Kenya Safari Club Orphanage. Native to Kenya.)

31. North African porcupine: Hystrix cristata (Mt. Kenya Safari Club Orphanage)

32. Oryx: Oryx gazella beisa

33. Grant’s gazelle: Gazella granti

34. Camel

35. Black Rhino: Diceros bicornis (Ol Pejeta Conservancy).

36. White Rhino: Ceratotherium simum (Ol Pejeta Conservancy).

37. Common eland: Tragelaphus (Taurotragus) oryx (Ol Pejeta Conservancy).

38. Blue Duiker: Cephalophus monticola (Mt. Kenya Safari Club Orphanage. Native to South western Kenya).

39. Bat-eared fox: Otocyon megalotis 

40. Klipspringer: Oreotragus oreotragus: (Il Polei)

New neighbor

Leopard tortoise: Geochelone pardalis 

A little shy at first

Ok, very shy

What a nice outfit

And then we made friends, ok not really, but I did fool him into revealing himself

Similes, analogies, and poetry. Oh my!

I am in the middle of a tedious process of combing through my stacks of field notebooks, transcribing every word, and then attempting to organize them for analysis.  Wow, what fun.


In so doing, I came across some great similes etc. authored by various girls.  And oh boy do they love constructing similes (and some are quite ingenious!).  Below are a few examples... Maria

“I was happy as a king.”

“I was as happy as a lark.”

 “I didn’t even get a pin drop of sleep.”

“I was as happy as a puppy next to its mother.”

"The results were out, and I was as eager as a bride and groom to see the results."

“I was as flabbergasted as moses when he broke the ten commandments.”

“I was as happy as Barak Obama when he was given to be president of America.”

“I was so happy that now my happiness could not be compared with that of Isaac Newton who discovered the force of gravity.”

“She was as happy as a barren woman who gave birth to a bouncing baby girl with a golden spoon in her mouth.”

"As long as diamonds remain priceless and the ocean wet, I will never ever forget Daraja Academy until I drink my cup of death."

"All in all, God lifted out love that now I can sing and stand out amazingly with no fear and I can speak in front of people with my futuristic voice that glitters and shines at the daytime." 


Below are some pictures I took at the football/volleyball tournament that Daraja recently competed in.  The competition was held at Il Polei Primary (although the events were for secondary students), about 35 minutes north east of Daraja.  We were at the location from 8:30 until sundown.  It was extremely hot and dry, yet the girls managed to play two games of football before breaking at 4:30 to eat something.  Truly amazing. 

In Kenya's version of volleyball, players can link arms before the ball is served, and then as it glides over the net quickly switch places.  One can also kick and head-butt the ball over the net.

Keeping oneself entertained between games

The primary school kids were particularly thrilled that a couple of wazungu were in attendance.  At one point we were completely encircled by 50+

Lilian and her game face.

Not much shade in Il Polei.  Boys here taking advantage of one of the few acacia trees near the field.

Jamaica doing her thing.

Volleyballers Monicah, Lilian, and Pascalina

Volleyballer Zeki, Jacinta, and Shamsia