Loita Hills

After eating breakfast and packing up our tents (which didn't take anywhere near as long as the first time we did it), we got back in the truck and headed for Loita Hills. We made a quick stop in Narok to buy groceries, then stopped again along the road at a picnic spot for lunch. There were some tables and benches under a tree, but it was filled with starlings so we had to watch where we sat so we (and our food) didn't get pooped on! We also drove past a colourful market where we waited to meet our guide for the next two days. The road into Loita hills was pretty rough, but we were the only ones at the campground ... just us, the village over the hill, and our two Masai guards who would be staying at the fire and keeping the animals away all night! After setting up camp and relaxing for a while, we were given a quick tour of the village. We were brought into the cattle corral where we were welcomed by the women who had all the women join them in dancing around in a large circle - it's supposed to bring luck to the village, but what it definitely brought was hiking boots full of cow manure!After watching the sunset over the hills and the herd of cows coming in for the night, our guide brought us into one of the houses - they are small mud, dung, and thatch buildings, with only one or two small windows to let light in and smoke out, and keep animals out. Our guide also told us a bit about Masai culture, joking with us about how he wants six wives (one for Monday, one for Tuesday, one for Wednesday, etc., and a rest on Sunday). Each wife has their own house, and it costs about 10 cows to marry a girl. Their traditional food is meat, blood, and milk. I'm not sure how the conversation happened, but pretty soon after he told us that he was looking for his fourth wife, he offered a hundred cows for me! Hmm ... let me think about that for a bit. No.

We had supper in the hut at the campground, complete with cake for desert since it was one lady's birthday. We then sat around the fire with our Masai guide, learning the history of the Masai: They believe that the Spirit God put the Masai, cows, goats, and sheep on the earth at the same time, and therefore, all cows, goats, and sheep on the earth belong to them! We went to bed fairly early and only heard baboons during the night - no lions, elephants or hyenas.

Lake Naivasha

We woke up at 6:30 (no sleeping in on this holiday!) and after a breakfast of pancakes and sausages drove to an animal reserve outside Hell's Gate National Park for a walking safari. The park was full of zebras and giraffes, and we also saw a few colobus monkeys as we hiked down to a lake. We didn't look at the monkeys too long though - we were getting eaten alive by the mosquitoes hiding out in the woods!

After lunch at the camp, we boarded a few small boats for a tour of Lake Naivasha, which is famous for its hippo population. We saw a few hippos (but didn't stay too long - they could get mad at us and then kill us), cormorants, a waterbuffalo actually in the water, storks, and watched them feed fish to an African Fish Eagle - the guide put a piece of papyrus into a dead fish to make sure it floated, then tossed it into the water for the eagle to snatch.

We had seen a sign at the end of our campground warning about hippos coming out of the water at night, so, being the curious tourists that we were, we went down to check it out at 6 pm - no hippos. We went back at 7 pm - still no hippos. Apparently they don't actually come out until around 2 am and we weren't getting up in the middle of the night to try spot a hippo!That night, our cook had prepared a delicious, traditional Kenyan meal for us - ugali, greens, lentils, etc. - all very yummy!

The road to Lake Naivasha

It was a cold night and I was glad for my nice warm sleeping bag - I had felt a bit dumb bringing my -7 C rated bag with me (I didn't want to buy another for the trip), but it was needed! We packed up out tents, and after eating breakfast and cleaning dishes, we went for a guided walk to the village next to where we stayed. They showed us how they spun wool and knitted various items and how they made beads from old magazines ... then tried to get us to buy it, of course! While we were walking we also met a boy with a bird with a string tied around its leg. I guess that's what kids do for fun around there - catch birds and make them their pet for a while. He even stuffed it in his pocket as he walked behind us!

After a "brunch" (beef stew for brunch?) at 10:30, we drove into the town of Nakuru to buy groceries. I bought a few snacks at the supermarket, then sat with some of the others in a cute restaurant that served awesome smoothies. Then it was back on the bus to Lake Naivasha. As we drove, we went through a massive rain storm - the truck was pretty old so there were a few leaks and the sound of the hail hitting the roof was deafening!

The rain let up before we got to our campground but not for long. We quickly set up our tents (about half the group paid to upgrade to cabins) and went to the bar where we waited out another thunderstorm. We played a few games of pool before walking back to our campsites, and after played the longest game of Uno ever - 1 1/2 hours! (I don't think we were using the right rules ... we changed them after this epic game) I had a nice warm shower (water heated by a wood fire!) before climbing into bed around 10.

Lake Nakuru

Day one of a two week overland adventure! We were up early to shower (yay, warm water!) and eat breakfast, then it was off to load up the truck with luggage. In the trip notes, it had recommended duffle bags (not backpacks) that were 30cm x 30cm x 66cm so that they would easily fit in the space provided ... I think I was the only one that followed that piece of advise! So after a lot of squishing of bags and reorganization, the truck was finally loaded and we headed out of Nairobi. We were on one of the older trucks, so it rattled a lot, but because we were on two benches facing into the centre aisle, it was great for conversations, even if we did have to yell at each other :P The first stop was at the New Hope Orphanage. Coming from Juba, this place seemed awesome - well equipped, clean, colourful - though I'm sure I would have had a much different impression had I come straight from home. We were shown all around the place, but what struck me was how much of the talk seemed to be about who had given money and who had volunteered and ended with him basically asking us to come volunteer and give them stuff. Stop number two was at a lookout at the edge of the Rift Valley. Along with the view, we also got to experience our first bit of "local interaction" - i.e. dealing with locals trying to sell us stuff! We got to our campsite outside Lake Nakuru just before lunch (no-one camps in the park any more because of some lions that apparently ate some rangers a few years ago). We set up out tents, had lunch, and played a round of Uno (which I won!) before going into the park for our first game drive. Lake Nakuru was beautiful and full of animals. We saw rhinos, water buffalo, warthogs, dik diks, zebras, giraffes, flamingos, impala, Thompson gazelles, rock hyraxes, a black-backed jackal, pelicans, baboons, and an eland! Our old truck worked really well for looking at the animals - we put the seat cushions up on the back on the bench against the windows and sat up good an high! It also worked really well for shifting from one side to the other, since the animals are never on both sides at the same time.

After supper, we sat around a campfire for a while before going to bed. A few people took showers, but after one girl got stung by a wasp while washing her hair, I decided to just stay dirty!

Off to Nairobi

After eating some yummy, freshly baked beer bread, it was off to the airport (for the third time in a week!). There was a crowd outside the terminal and only the passengers were allowed in, so T and I said our good-byes at the door to the airport. Again, the airport in Juba is not your normal airport, and it doesn't help that all the flights depart at the same time, so it is chaos in there! I put my bags through the x-ray machine and walked through the metal detector (which I'm pretty sure wasn't even on), then pushed my way through the mass of people and bags to get my bags as they came through the x-ray machine.

I stood in what I thought was a line for a few minutes, then when it still hadn't moved (and I didn't even know if the "line" was for the right airline), I gave up and climbed over some luggage and shoved my way around the crowd of people weighing and packaging luggage, until I eventually found the Jetlink desk. I should also note that unlike most airports that have big signs behind them displaying the airline name and logo, in Juba, it's just a small name card at waist height - not much use when there's a crowd! I got checked in, handed my bag to them over the desk, then made my way over to the immigration desk.

After shoving myself over to the immigration desk, I showed my passport and travel permit, and both got stamped without me having to say a thing. I made my way over to the not so clean bathroom (T warned me that the one in the lounge area was even worse, so I figured I should probably go while I could) then to the "security" area. I pushed my way through the guys into the women's line, where a female security officer first couldn't find the stamp she was looking for in my passport, then hand searched part of my backpack and gave me a quick pat-down. I found a seat in the lounge (there aren't any gates, just door leading to the ramp) and read for a while waiting for my flight.

Another different thing about Juba is that they don't announce when flights are departing, you just have to KNOW when your flight is boarding! I saw a group of people suddenly stand and walk to the door so followed, but was met by an older lady who asked which flight I was on. Turns out that we were on the same flight and this wasn't it, so we sat down together and chatted for a while. The second time a group surged for the door (there isn't any assigned seating on the plane, so everyone makes a run for it so they can get a good seat) it was our flight, so off we went, pointing to our bags on the tarmac to identify them and get them loaded on the plane.

It was an uneventful flight to Nairobi, but I got a small meal and the plane seemed relatively new! In Nairobi I went to the Kenyan Airways desk to see if I could change my flights home, but they couldn't do anything about it. Getting into Kenya was simple - I already had my visa, so just needed to be fingerprinted and photographed. I took a taxi to the hotel, checked-in, sent an email home, then relaxed and read in the room, waiting for the group meeting. I had planned on taking a nice, relaxing, WARM shower, but there weren't any towels (I eventually got them later that evening, after calling the desk twice and then going downstairs to ask again) and there wasn't any hot water (that eventually got sorted out, too)!

Random Juba Information

The compound had a set schedule each day, based around when the generators would be running if city power was off.
9 - start of work
10:30 - tea time
11 - back to work
12:30 - lunch
2 - back to work
5 - finish work and head home
7 - eat supper
9 - go to bed ("missionary midnight")

And, since I wasn't able to take any pictures while touring around Juba, these are some of the common (and not so common) sights:

• 2 men and a goat on a boda (motorcycle taxi)
• piles of garbage everywhere - in the market, on street corners, etc.
• GOSS yellow licence plates - don't hit them!!!
• every other vehicle is an NGO SUV
• vehicle's with "no-gun" decals (like no smoking signs, but with an AK-47 instead of a cigarette)
• ducks swimming in a pothole
• a bridge over a creek with a large hole in the middle ... a hole going the whole way through the concrete, so only the rebar was left
• no street signs, traffic lights, or traffic signs
• police directing traffic but just making a worse traffic jam
• men walking goats (on leashes!)
• women carrying all sorts of things on their heads
• tukels (round mud huts with thatched roofs)
• huge snails
• cars driving with hazard lights flashing - it means they are going straight through an intersection, not turning
• forehead scars - the Nuer and Dinka cut their foreheads when they become adults

Dinka Literacy Day?

There was supposed to be a literacy celebration at the local Dinka church this morning, but when T and I, along with the Dinka translation team, showed up at the church, we found that the church was under renovations, so there was no service that morning, so there was no literacy day - it was postponed to the next day! We left some books and tables at the church, walked through the building, then headed back to the compound.

Just before lunch, we drove over to another Dinka church to drop off some books for their literacy celebration. The visit was only going to take 15 minutes ... yeah, right! Once 2 white girls showed up (and one just on a visit to Juba!), we had to be shown around the church, we had to meet the arch deacon, and he had to give an hour "sermon" on the importance of literacy, especially in the mother tongue. It was interesting to hear first hand the importance of the work being done, but I was glad when they came around with bottles of cold water for us ... sitting in a hot room full of people in a country where deodorant isn't often used can be a bit overwhelming after a while!

They had saved our lunch for us at the guest house, and once we finished, we headed with S to the Juba Bridge Hotel for a drink. The hotel is one the edge of the Nile and the Juba Bridge can be seen from the patio where we had our drinks. It's the only bridge between Khartoum and Uganda, so is pretty strategic and therefore, no pictures! It's a pretty normal looking steel bridge.

Back on the compound, I loaded up some pictures onto facebook while T baked banana bread, then it was off for pizza with all the expates from the compound to say goodbye to S (he was heading back to Canada the day after I left). We had cake and coffee back on the compound, then T and I escaped the missionary stories so that I could pack and get ready to leave the next day.