Welcomed home by the best people! It feels good to be back :)
My time in Kenya has finally come to a close. It still feels surreal and I’m waiting for it to all hit me. I am excited to see my family and friends but am not looking forward to the culture shock of coming home and missing the amazing friends I've made here. I could go on and on about my experience but in brief: this semester I’ve made some of the most incredible friends and relationships that I know will stay with me for life. I saw so many parts of the country, met so many people from different backgrounds, was challenged in many ways, and experienced some of the purest moments of happiness. My classes challenged me to think about issues in ways I never would have before and broadened my knowledge about development in so many ways. I gained practical experience working in the field at my internship and I am now more than positive this is exactly what I want to do with my life.
On the first day in Kenya we wrote letters to ourselves that we opened on our last day here and I can say that this experience has exceeded all of my expectations, I have more than met all of my goals, grown so much as a person, and I have absolutely no regrets. Thank you to everyone who made this experience what it was and for those of you who supported me along the way. I am counting the moments until I will be back and eagerly anticipating my next adventure to India. Tuonane Baadaye Kenya! After finishing up a stressful week of final exams and papers including our 25 page grant proposals, we got to spend a week in the Mount Kenya region for our end-of-semester retreat. Our week started with a visit to a coffee farm, an organic dairy farm and milk-processing factory, and a tea farm and processing plant organized by a member of the Kenyan Parliament. It was really interesting to get to see some of the different industries in the region, particularly the tea industry, which is one of the largest in Kenya. We spent the next few nights at the Castle Forest Lodge, situated on the slopes of Mount Kenya. The place was resonant of huts in Northern Europe. The buildings looked straight out of the hobbit and each room had rustic wood furniture and a stone fireplace (which was great because it was freezing at night). The cottages overlooked a lush green forest/jungle and when the sky was clear the peak of mount Kenya was visible in the background, the whole place was absolutely breathtaking. The next day we hiked for about five hours up part of the mountain and I can easily say it was one of the coolest hikes I have ever done. We spent a lot of it trekking through the jungle and skidding down precarious muddy slopes. We all ended up covered in mud with scratches and burns from the stinging plants. At the end we reached the most incredible waterfall cascading from a cliff above. We waded in the ice-cold water and admired the rainbow in the mist. The following day we visited the Mpala research center and camped in basic permanent tents. We spent the night around a bonfire singing Maasai songs with the guards and teaching them some of our own. The starts were breathtaking and we spend hours looking up at them. The next day we did a brief game drive and then got to hear from some of the researchers at the center about their projects. They ranged from tracking the behaviors of lions to developing rain gauges to assist in agriculture to cataloguing insects on a specific plant species. After Mpala, we drove to the Ol Pejeta Conservancy, situated on the equator, where we stayed in luxury tents (which could hardly be considered tents) that overlooked a watering hole where animals gathered all throughout the day and night with mount Kenya looming in the background. We spent our few days here relaxing by the pool, going on early morning sunrise game drives, visiting a chimpanzee sanctuary, and getting to feed a black rhino. Ol Pejeta is home to three of the six remaining white rhinos in the world, although we didn’t get the opportunity to see them. We did see cheetahs, elephants, buffalo, rhinos, giraffes, and many other animals though. The week was a wonderful end to the most incredible semester in the most beautiful country I have ever visited. Here are a some quality Swahili tunes to brighten your day. These are a few of my favorites. Enjoy! After months of thinking about it and planning it, we finally did it. We went on a SAFARI! A few weekends ago now, we all took Friday off from our internships and headed to the Maasai Mara for three days. We stayed in a tented camp just outside the Mara for two nights as we went on safari during the days/evenings. We took two vans with tops that popped up so we could stand and look out as we drove. After arriving at the camp and enjoying a delicious lunch we rested for a few hours before heading out on our first game drive. The wind rustled through my hair as our van took us into the Mara, bumping back and forth over numerous potholes as we drove. I looked over the vast landscape that seemed never-ending, watching the lowering sun light up the long golden grass, and admiring the sheer beauty of the place. I thought to myself that even if we had managed not to see any animals the entire time, the natural beauty of the land would have been more than enough to make it worthwhile. However, almost as soon as we entered the reserve, we spotted herds of wildebeest, impalas, zebras, and Thomson gazelles grazing. Off in the distance we spotted giraffes, heads buried in the trees. Our driver pulled off the road and we sped off until we were only feet away from them. He paused for us all to admire their majestic nature before heading off again. As we drove we noticed all the carcasses and bones littering the landscape, including that of a giraffe on the road, lion’s teeth marks visible up and down its spine. As the sun dropped lower in the sky the clouds turned various shades of pink and orange and framed the green rolling hills in the distance. We pulled up to a heard of elephants and I felt tears well up in my eyes. Most you probably know my obsession with elephants and seeing them for the first time in the wild was an overwhelming experience. Just when I thought the day could not get any better we spotted a pair of lions resting under a tree. Just after we pulled up, the lioness stood up and began circling the male lion. Moments later we couldn’t believe our eyes as the animals started mating. It was over as quickly as it began and we were left stunned. Stunned that we were able to witness one of the most fundamental components of life in such a natural setting. It was like watching the circle of life come full circle. We watched it happen several times before heading back to camp to beat the darkness. Somehow the next day was even better. We saw baby warthogs, an enormous herd of over 1,000 buffalo, a pair of cheetahs, lion cubs, two male lions, a hyena feeding on a carcass, another heard of elephants, and so much more! We stopped for a picnic lunch under a tree before heading off to the hippo pond. But before we could make it we noticed the brewing storm clouds behind us. Our drivers immediately turned around and sped off faster than I have ever see someone drive on a dirt road. We drove directly into the storm. It was a scene straight out of storm chasers. Rain pelted our van and at points nothing was visible out of the front windshield. I played “Africa” by Toto for my van as we drove… it seemed appropriate. When we finally came out the other side our driver informed us if we had been five minutes later we probably would not have made it because the roads would have flooded and become impassable. After the rain the air was cool and crisp and the drive back to the camp was beautiful. The animals began to emerge back into the fields and we were able to see two male giraffes fight. They fight by “necking,” essentially whacking their necks into one another; it was unlike anything I have ever seen before. It continued to rain throughout the evening and our guides warned us that if it continued we probably wouldn’t be able to go out in the morning.
We got lucky at were able to head out to the Mara again at 6:30 the next morning. The sun was just rising as we drove out and the scene was just breathtaking. Dew covered the grass and the roads were still muddy from the previous night. We weren’t out long though before more rain clouds started to become visible on the horizon and our guides advised we leave and begin the long drive back to Nairobi. But before we had to head out we spotted one more pair of lions. The male lion was a darker color than the other three we had seen. He affectionately licked the female lion with him and again we were able to witness lions mate. It was a great end to such an incredible weekend. For weeks I have been working with a group of girls at Heshima to develop a newsletter on the role of women and girls in leadership. After lots of hard work we have a finished product! I am so proud of the girls and all the effort they have put into this project. Their stories are wonderful and inspiring and the final product is so much more than I could have ever asked for. I started this project as an outlet for the girls to practice their written communication skills and to have their voices heard on issues of importance to them, but it'll also be used to market Heshima to the local community, to send to their donors, etc. Check it out below if you are interested in one of the things I've been working on! |
AuthorAmerican University Student studying abroad in Kenya and India and wandering the world Archives
May 2015
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