Life in Kenya

I survived Tanzania without getting any jiggers.  I have mixed feelings about this, since it would have been cool to say I had that experience, but glad I didn’t have to deal with something growing in my toe.  But since they don’t have them in Kenya I guess I’ll never know what it’s like…

The travelling lecture this morning consisted of two hours of cutting our own road through bushland to avoid getting stuck in the biggest puddles of mud I have ever seen (we’re talking several feet deep).  Just when we would get close to the site, at the top of a steep hill we would end up rock climbing, we would have to change routes so that we wouldn’t spend several hours pushing the vehicles out of the mud.  It was all worth it though…a constant view of Mt. Kilimanjaro, a cheetah sighting and getting stopped by several herds of cattle and saying hi to the local Maasai on the way to a lecture.  This is life at the new camp site in Kimana, Kenya, at the southernmost part of the country and in a semi-arid agricultural region.

This afternoon we also resumed our volleyball tournament, a new sport we’ve taken up since this camp has a really nice court.  My team placed third so we did alright.

It takes some getting used to making sure we close the door when leaving the banda so animals don’t get in and dodging the massive spiders in the shower, with water that comes directly from Kili, but the new camp is what I expected when coming here.  And there are way more mosquitos.

Also the askaris (guards) killed a black mamba, one of the most poisonous snakes in Africa, right outside the office I was just photocopying in.  So far I haven’t seen any snakes myself and I hope to keep it that way.

Our schedule is still really busy, and in a matter of days we’ll be going on expedition, taking exams again, and starting directed research!