Hello all!
This trip keeps getting more and more amazing and less and less able to be described in words.
The Maasai Mara was absolutely breath taking. It is definately the africa that people fall in love with. We were camped inside the Game Reserve, near an old research centre- no one else was permitted to stay inside the reserve, and we really were living with the Hyenas and Lions. Lions roared 2 or 3 times a night, and we would wake up and listen to them, safe inside our tents. We didnt actually end up having Maasai warriors per say, as our guards, but most of the people who live around there are Maasai and the rangers who patrolled our campsite at night were locals. So, almost the same Suen.
The sun sets were absolutely stunning. We birded every morning, and went on at least 1 game drive a day. We saw lions, lionesses, lion cubs, cheetahs, elephants, hyenas, giraffes, gazelle (grants and thompsons), impala, baboons, warthogs, buffalo, ostrich, wildebeest, hartebeest, saddle billed storks, secretary birds, grey-crowned cranes... the animals were great. Probably the freakiest thing that happened to us was one afternoon our Ornithology class went on a bird walk with an armed guard. While looking at a bird in the 60x scope, Dr Bird and John yelped as two lions ran across the clearing in front of us. After that, we made a bee-line back to camp, and frightened a herd of gazelle, which looked just like a running group of lions and scared us more than anything else. We had to cross an elephant wallowing pool to get back to camp, and while some of us jumped across the puddles, others looked back to see a fast-approaching group of elephants. Meanwhile, those back at camp had spotted us below them and were sort of freaking out about the fact that there were elephants a few meters behind us.
Needless to say we got away just fine. The scariest thing though is the fact that we weren't as frightened as we should have been, and we were all much more niavely excited at our close encounter with dangerous wildlife on foot. That was the first and last bird walk in the Mara.
After 5 nights in the Mara, we packed up camp and set off on a ridiculously long drive to Elangata Wass. I think the drive took us well over 10 hours, which was really rough by the end, with the open sided trucks battering us with wind and dust the whole way. But we have become seasoned travellers over road and these drives are becoming longer but passing faster as the trip progresses.
Elangata Wass is at 1200-1400 m, very high altitude, and is suffering greatly in Kenya's time of drought. When we arrived, they had no had rain since August. We pitched our tents at Kudu Camp, a half hour drive out of Mile 46. Everything was dry and crispy, and extremely intolerably hot.
This was the place we did our Maasai home stay. We were paired off and dropped at Mile 46 with local kenyan youth guides to walk to our bomas, which ranged from 30 mins to 2 hours walk away from the town. Maya and I walked for 1.5hrs (and it was very very hot) to our boma in the middle of absolutely nowhere. There were 8 children where we stayed, and we slept on a cattle hide platform inside the tiny, low, hot, dark and smokey cow-dung home. We learned alot. The grandmother whose boma we stayed in was named Rebecca (they often have Christian names) and we were told to call her Ngoko (I think thats how Maa for grandmother is spelt). She was really very nice and talked alot to us through our youth guide, Daniel. She lives in the same acacia-bush encircled complex as her 3 sons and their families. The cattle and goats were brought in from the fields after dark. There is no water in those parts right now and many family's fathers have left with cattle for months, many all the way to Tanzania, looking for pastures for their herd. The drought's consequences stuck out when I went into the cattle yard. In one corner, with her calf standing near by, was a cow who was so hungry and dehydrated that she could not stand nor eat. The family force fed her some cabbage, then stuck a stick under her boney ribe cage, one man grabbing eat end, her tail and her horns, and the 4 men pulled her to her feet. The only way to get her to walk was by teasing her with a bucket of water held just out of reach as she stumbled towards it. The calf was in very poor shape as well, and the children kept sticking their fingers under its pelvic bone and between its ribs.
Some Maa words, for you at home:
"supa" - hello/ greetings
"ipa"- response greeting
"Ashayoling"- thank you
Also, when an elder approaches, you must bow your head and let them touch your head as they say Supa, and then you are allowed to reply Ipa and look at them.
It was a pretty intense experience. We were with the family for 24hrs, which allowed us to experience a miniscual part of their lives, but the men talked fairly good english and the children take english at school so we did manage to have some great interactions without needing a translation. The next morning we woke at dawn and helped around the boma before leaving at 8, dressed in our sunday clothes, to walk the 2hrs back to Mile 46 to meet the rest of our group at a Pentacostal church at 10.
Everyone was pretty worn out, and the rest of that day and the day after were easily the lowest point in the trip. Orno had a midterm the next morning, and everyone was tired and emotional.
On the 24th we loaded up the busses and drove for another 7 hrs to Laikipia, stopping by in Nairobi to stock up on basic supplies and snacks. We arrived at MPALA research centre at around 5:30.
This is a wonderful wonderful place. If you are not a researcher, you pay up to US$1700 per night to stay in the Dutch tents that line the river. But as we are both researchers and students, we pay nowhere near that price and still enjoy the amazing luuries of hot water in basins outside our tent in the morning and the opportunity to shower in the canvas shower stalls. Toilets with seats are also something we havent seen for a few weeks. We have real beds, on which we are absolutely passed out every night, and the mood has lifted significantly since we left E. Wass.
Orno is working on our case studies while we are here, and Jordi and I are studying the Common Drongo, a fork tailed black bird seen almost every where in Kenya. It has this cute way to hunting insects, called hawking.
We will leave here on the 3rd, and trek back to Nairobi to stay in ICIPE for 4 days.
I hope this finds everyone well at home. If anyone at McGill knows the date we are permitted to register for courses, would you please post it so I can see? MyMcGill absolutely will not load on these computers (who is surpised?!), and our profs are unaware of the deadline.
I hope midterms have passed, or nearly have, and that everyone is enjoying Reading Week!
Lots of love to all
Marion xoxoxoxo
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Travel day
Dear all
Its 630 in the morning and the sun is juuuust brightening the sky a little. the busses are packed, breakfast is wrapping up and we are all sleepily getting onto our trucks. we have a 7-8 hr bus ride ahead of us to the Mara. Valentine's day party went late into the night and I didnt see the end of it, heading for bed instead at around 1130, getting up with the alarm at 545. Its been a tiring couple days with bird walks and the boat trip to bird island. we are going to be camping for the next week in Mara and Langadawas. Masaii warriors will serve as our guards against the prevelant lions and hyenas at night.
Not sure when I'll next have access to internet, some say a week, some say more. But I'll write with an update at least by March17th, which is when we will be back in Nairobi's ICIPE site.
Lots of love to all at home
xoxox
Marion
Its 630 in the morning and the sun is juuuust brightening the sky a little. the busses are packed, breakfast is wrapping up and we are all sleepily getting onto our trucks. we have a 7-8 hr bus ride ahead of us to the Mara. Valentine's day party went late into the night and I didnt see the end of it, heading for bed instead at around 1130, getting up with the alarm at 545. Its been a tiring couple days with bird walks and the boat trip to bird island. we are going to be camping for the next week in Mara and Langadawas. Masaii warriors will serve as our guards against the prevelant lions and hyenas at night.
Not sure when I'll next have access to internet, some say a week, some say more. But I'll write with an update at least by March17th, which is when we will be back in Nairobi's ICIPE site.
Lots of love to all at home
xoxox
Marion
Friday, February 13, 2009
Off into the bush again!
Dear all
So the last 4 days have been spent in beautiful Mbita. We have spent most of our time here at the Suba district hospital that is a 10 minute walk from ICIPE. Our Health and Nutrition Module has been all about HIV/AIDS and malaria, and also some about tsetse fly and sleeping sickness. Kenya's HIV prevalence of HIV/AIDS is 7.4%, which is an assumed underestimation due to the stigma attached to the disease and also due to the lack of access to testing.
The kenyan government now provides ARVs (Antiretrovirals) free of charge, as well as treatment and prevention of malaria. Vaccinations and deworming of children are also done for free. Mosquito nets and condoms are also handed out for free. Consultations with a doctor at any level of medical institutues are free, but most medications (apart from those already mentioned) are to be bought from the clinic/hospital at which they are prescribed. Thus, barring the success of such a program is accessibility: for the people, reaching the clinics/hospitals is either impossible due to poor roads, or due to distance; and the trucks that bring the drugs and supplies for these places often cannot reach them. Supplies are brought once a month, but may only last 2 weeks.
While this has painted a dire picture for Kenya, the places themselves are inspiring and really remarkable. There are outreach groups for PLWH (People Living With HIV/AIDS) and volunteers are trained by the government to work within communities at the household level-- they are required to visit 20 households a month to been track of the needs of the community and gather information on the numbers of children who are immunized etc etc. This system is effective and is working. The doctors and nurses we spoke to are very educated, at least 3 or 4 years of post secondary education, and are very open to our questions.
The town of Suba is small and crowded. We were given full reign of the area, walking in group of 3 or 4 from ICIPE into town at least once a day during our free time. for 350 USh (around 4 US dollars) I had a skirt made that is longer than those that I brought, in anticipation of the Muslim community in Zanzibar. The people of the local town are very friendly and many speak exceptional english and love talking to us.
There are 3 courses in the 2nd module of this program (we wrote our final exams on Sunday for the previous module) and I'm taking Ornithology with Dr Dave Bird-- this is not a joke. None of the other 2 classes are started yet, as the Archaeology prof from UBC has yet to arrive. But my class started yesterday morning with a 7am bird walk, followed by a lecture. There is lots of work for this class, but the projects are going to be interesting and I'm definately going to know my birds by the end of it! Mum, let Grandpa know he has competition coming up! This morning we had another morning bird walk (will probably have one every day until the course ends on March4th) and tomorrow we leave at 6am for Bird Island for 3 hours, followed by another few lectures. This is proof that we are by no means on vacation!
On sunday, we leave very early on our 8-10 hours bus ride through Kenya towards the Mara. We hope to see Lions and cheetahs there. Not sure when I will have internet next, but probably in Laikipe sometime at the end of February.
I wrote to Riders for Health, looking for a volunteer position. But they employ locals which, having learned much about community sustainability, I understand completely, and they also could not recommend many people I could contact as an alternative. So I still have no set plans for my time here after the program, although I have a friend who wants to travel with me to Rwanda to stay with some friends and to see gorillas, and another wants to go to Malawi with me. So there are lots of options, depending on the amount of money I would like to spend. There is time yet
HOWEVER!! I cannot believe that today was day 27. This trip is racing by.
I hope my posts have been rewarding to my followers. Riss and Donna and Dad, thanks for your emails regarding my posts! Its really nice to get emails, but to those who havent written do not worry because the internet here is so deadly slow that I rarely check my email... the best place to write back is as a comment on my blog.
Lots of love to home, not sure if I'll get another chance to write again before we leave Mbita. Tonight is movie night, and tomorrow is our PA, Monica,'s birthday/ pre-trip party night so we are sure to be sleeping a little on the busses on Sunday.
xoxoxox
Marion
PS: false alarm on Malaria-student. We all knew that wasnt what it was, he just really liked the drama created by saying it. He has had tests, and does not have malaria or typhoid. We are all well and healthy and happy.
PPS: Dad, the story I was given for the meaning behind "Abwooli" is that it is a nickname for a young person, or young looking person, or young boy. Though, your definition as a young person being seperated from his/her money is also very accurate in my case!
So the last 4 days have been spent in beautiful Mbita. We have spent most of our time here at the Suba district hospital that is a 10 minute walk from ICIPE. Our Health and Nutrition Module has been all about HIV/AIDS and malaria, and also some about tsetse fly and sleeping sickness. Kenya's HIV prevalence of HIV/AIDS is 7.4%, which is an assumed underestimation due to the stigma attached to the disease and also due to the lack of access to testing.
The kenyan government now provides ARVs (Antiretrovirals) free of charge, as well as treatment and prevention of malaria. Vaccinations and deworming of children are also done for free. Mosquito nets and condoms are also handed out for free. Consultations with a doctor at any level of medical institutues are free, but most medications (apart from those already mentioned) are to be bought from the clinic/hospital at which they are prescribed. Thus, barring the success of such a program is accessibility: for the people, reaching the clinics/hospitals is either impossible due to poor roads, or due to distance; and the trucks that bring the drugs and supplies for these places often cannot reach them. Supplies are brought once a month, but may only last 2 weeks.
While this has painted a dire picture for Kenya, the places themselves are inspiring and really remarkable. There are outreach groups for PLWH (People Living With HIV/AIDS) and volunteers are trained by the government to work within communities at the household level-- they are required to visit 20 households a month to been track of the needs of the community and gather information on the numbers of children who are immunized etc etc. This system is effective and is working. The doctors and nurses we spoke to are very educated, at least 3 or 4 years of post secondary education, and are very open to our questions.
The town of Suba is small and crowded. We were given full reign of the area, walking in group of 3 or 4 from ICIPE into town at least once a day during our free time. for 350 USh (around 4 US dollars) I had a skirt made that is longer than those that I brought, in anticipation of the Muslim community in Zanzibar. The people of the local town are very friendly and many speak exceptional english and love talking to us.
There are 3 courses in the 2nd module of this program (we wrote our final exams on Sunday for the previous module) and I'm taking Ornithology with Dr Dave Bird-- this is not a joke. None of the other 2 classes are started yet, as the Archaeology prof from UBC has yet to arrive. But my class started yesterday morning with a 7am bird walk, followed by a lecture. There is lots of work for this class, but the projects are going to be interesting and I'm definately going to know my birds by the end of it! Mum, let Grandpa know he has competition coming up! This morning we had another morning bird walk (will probably have one every day until the course ends on March4th) and tomorrow we leave at 6am for Bird Island for 3 hours, followed by another few lectures. This is proof that we are by no means on vacation!
On sunday, we leave very early on our 8-10 hours bus ride through Kenya towards the Mara. We hope to see Lions and cheetahs there. Not sure when I will have internet next, but probably in Laikipe sometime at the end of February.
I wrote to Riders for Health, looking for a volunteer position. But they employ locals which, having learned much about community sustainability, I understand completely, and they also could not recommend many people I could contact as an alternative. So I still have no set plans for my time here after the program, although I have a friend who wants to travel with me to Rwanda to stay with some friends and to see gorillas, and another wants to go to Malawi with me. So there are lots of options, depending on the amount of money I would like to spend. There is time yet
HOWEVER!! I cannot believe that today was day 27. This trip is racing by.
I hope my posts have been rewarding to my followers. Riss and Donna and Dad, thanks for your emails regarding my posts! Its really nice to get emails, but to those who havent written do not worry because the internet here is so deadly slow that I rarely check my email... the best place to write back is as a comment on my blog.
Lots of love to home, not sure if I'll get another chance to write again before we leave Mbita. Tonight is movie night, and tomorrow is our PA, Monica,'s birthday/ pre-trip party night so we are sure to be sleeping a little on the busses on Sunday.
xoxoxox
Marion
PS: false alarm on Malaria-student. We all knew that wasnt what it was, he just really liked the drama created by saying it. He has had tests, and does not have malaria or typhoid. We are all well and healthy and happy.
PPS: Dad, the story I was given for the meaning behind "Abwooli" is that it is a nickname for a young person, or young looking person, or young boy. Though, your definition as a young person being seperated from his/her money is also very accurate in my case!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Back in Kenya!!
Dear all!
Two days of travelling later and we have finally made it back to an ICIPE site in Mbita, Kenya. We drove for two days in intense heat. We spent some time visiting first a Millenium Village and the next day a Millenium City in Kisumu district. These projects are involved in the implication of the MDGs (Millenium Development Goals). These places stirred up alot of mixed feelings and quite the contraversy between those who support bringing developing countries up to par, and those who resent the "westernized swoop" and experiments with groups of people. I have written extensively about these visitations and my feelings about what we saw and learned and I'll talk more about them when I get home.
Having driven for hours across fairly arid and very very windy and questionable roads, we came suddenly to a port on the edge of Lake Victoria. The shore was littered with beautifully painted fishing boats, daws, with a single sail. Absolutely stunning, a photographers dream.
We somehow got onto this sketchy looking ferry. What an exercise that was! The program produced BRIGHT ORANGE lifejackets and insisted we wear them. As if we werent already getting enough attention. So onto this flatbed ferry we loaded two HUGE trucks (one of ours, another a frieght truck) and several cars, when it had looked like the ferry was only big enough for one truck only. Oh Africa! We crammed onto the boat in between all the cars.
What a beautiful ferry ride, from one peninsula to another, it took around an hour, maybe more. The wind and the view was stunning.
Mbita is right on the shore of Lake Victoria, and the ICIPE site we are staying in is right on the water. We have started our Health Module with our docotor, Dr John Geddes. Its been a very interesting morning discussing HIV/AIDS prevelence in Africa and specifically Kenya.
There is a long line up for this very very slow internet access so I will leave this short and try to write again later. We leave for Masaii Mara on Sunday morning, another long drive, and then we gradually make our way back to Nairobi for the beginning of March. Our trip may have its first case of malaria, but we are hoping its just a fever. I'm healthy and well and happy.
I hope this finds everyone well.
Lots of love
Marion xoxoxox
Two days of travelling later and we have finally made it back to an ICIPE site in Mbita, Kenya. We drove for two days in intense heat. We spent some time visiting first a Millenium Village and the next day a Millenium City in Kisumu district. These projects are involved in the implication of the MDGs (Millenium Development Goals). These places stirred up alot of mixed feelings and quite the contraversy between those who support bringing developing countries up to par, and those who resent the "westernized swoop" and experiments with groups of people. I have written extensively about these visitations and my feelings about what we saw and learned and I'll talk more about them when I get home.
Having driven for hours across fairly arid and very very windy and questionable roads, we came suddenly to a port on the edge of Lake Victoria. The shore was littered with beautifully painted fishing boats, daws, with a single sail. Absolutely stunning, a photographers dream.
We somehow got onto this sketchy looking ferry. What an exercise that was! The program produced BRIGHT ORANGE lifejackets and insisted we wear them. As if we werent already getting enough attention. So onto this flatbed ferry we loaded two HUGE trucks (one of ours, another a frieght truck) and several cars, when it had looked like the ferry was only big enough for one truck only. Oh Africa! We crammed onto the boat in between all the cars.
What a beautiful ferry ride, from one peninsula to another, it took around an hour, maybe more. The wind and the view was stunning.
Mbita is right on the shore of Lake Victoria, and the ICIPE site we are staying in is right on the water. We have started our Health Module with our docotor, Dr John Geddes. Its been a very interesting morning discussing HIV/AIDS prevelence in Africa and specifically Kenya.
There is a long line up for this very very slow internet access so I will leave this short and try to write again later. We leave for Masaii Mara on Sunday morning, another long drive, and then we gradually make our way back to Nairobi for the beginning of March. Our trip may have its first case of malaria, but we are hoping its just a fever. I'm healthy and well and happy.
I hope this finds everyone well.
Lots of love
Marion xoxoxox
Friday, February 6, 2009
Oliota from Jinja!!
Hello all!!
WOW I can't think of where to begin. We spent a GLORIOUS week in Kibale NP near Fort Portal... I love it there. Baboons and colobus monkeys every where, days spent in the jungle collecting data about water temp, O2 levels, swamp invertebrate species, idenifying butterflies. There is so much life there. The field guides are an absolute wealth of knowledge. Emanuel and Peter stuck with Lauren Chapman's group-our "ecoteam" in conservation ecology. I have so much to tell about this wonderful place, and so many pictures. They fed us very very well, and the bunk bed dorms were wonderful. Too cold for mozzies, and glorious rainstorms every day, following a hot morning.
We next moved to Lake Nabugabo, a satellite lake of Lake Victoria, seperated from Victoria 5000 years ago by a sand bar. The campsite there was something from heaven: right on the lake, with a wonderful cool breeze. We stayed at one of only 3 places on that lake, as most of its perimeter is protected wetlands, where the ecoteam spent their days. Lauren took us to set and collect traps for cichlid fish, as well as the regular water quality checks, and also to do a spectoscopy test on the water, which we found to be in the 500-600 nm wavelength... explains the hybridization of cichlid fish species in the wetlands b/c they cannot follow proper sexual selection and species selection when mating.
It was hard to leave both of these places, and they 7 hr bus ride to Jinja today was long and hot. We will be here in Jinja, staying at a very nice hotel ( WITH HOT SHOWERS!!!) for about 3 days. Then, back to Kenya and to Mbita.
Not sure when I will have internet next, and I'm currently paying for internet at a cafe (500 shilling for 20 mins... 1800 shilling/1US)
Africa is beautiful. The sky is huge and I am collecting photos of clous, sun sets and too many sun rises to be comfortable with. I haven't got a single mozzie bite, and I'm not sunburnt but working on a healthy tan. I remain one of maybe 5 people (out of 40) who havent had any stomach or gastro problems. So, its a great success story on my behalf.
I'll write again as soon as I can
Mom: Please would you send the link for my blog to Marty and Darren from Belize? I forgot to invite them I would really like them to be able to read this!
The Quad+ Nunnie: been thinking of you alot while I've been here... I'll be home at the end of April unless soemthing big keeps me here and I'm excited to see you!
My McGill Mates: hope the snow is stopping and the temp is coming up now that it is February! I have a final exam on Sunday so dont hate me from over there... I feel your midterm sorrows!!
Lots of love
Abwooli (Marion)
WOW I can't think of where to begin. We spent a GLORIOUS week in Kibale NP near Fort Portal... I love it there. Baboons and colobus monkeys every where, days spent in the jungle collecting data about water temp, O2 levels, swamp invertebrate species, idenifying butterflies. There is so much life there. The field guides are an absolute wealth of knowledge. Emanuel and Peter stuck with Lauren Chapman's group-our "ecoteam" in conservation ecology. I have so much to tell about this wonderful place, and so many pictures. They fed us very very well, and the bunk bed dorms were wonderful. Too cold for mozzies, and glorious rainstorms every day, following a hot morning.
We next moved to Lake Nabugabo, a satellite lake of Lake Victoria, seperated from Victoria 5000 years ago by a sand bar. The campsite there was something from heaven: right on the lake, with a wonderful cool breeze. We stayed at one of only 3 places on that lake, as most of its perimeter is protected wetlands, where the ecoteam spent their days. Lauren took us to set and collect traps for cichlid fish, as well as the regular water quality checks, and also to do a spectoscopy test on the water, which we found to be in the 500-600 nm wavelength... explains the hybridization of cichlid fish species in the wetlands b/c they cannot follow proper sexual selection and species selection when mating.
It was hard to leave both of these places, and they 7 hr bus ride to Jinja today was long and hot. We will be here in Jinja, staying at a very nice hotel ( WITH HOT SHOWERS!!!) for about 3 days. Then, back to Kenya and to Mbita.
Not sure when I will have internet next, and I'm currently paying for internet at a cafe (500 shilling for 20 mins... 1800 shilling/1US)
Africa is beautiful. The sky is huge and I am collecting photos of clous, sun sets and too many sun rises to be comfortable with. I haven't got a single mozzie bite, and I'm not sunburnt but working on a healthy tan. I remain one of maybe 5 people (out of 40) who havent had any stomach or gastro problems. So, its a great success story on my behalf.
I'll write again as soon as I can
Mom: Please would you send the link for my blog to Marty and Darren from Belize? I forgot to invite them I would really like them to be able to read this!
The Quad+ Nunnie: been thinking of you alot while I've been here... I'll be home at the end of April unless soemthing big keeps me here and I'm excited to see you!
My McGill Mates: hope the snow is stopping and the temp is coming up now that it is February! I have a final exam on Sunday so dont hate me from over there... I feel your midterm sorrows!!
Lots of love
Abwooli (Marion)
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