This week has been an experience to remember. That’s for sure! Last Wednesday, I think, we took off for our camping expedition to Tsavo West/Chyulu Hills National Park. We left early in the morning, and got there around 2:00-3:00.
On our way there we stopped to get an armed escort to accompany us in our vehicles to the NP, because apparently there have been bandits on the road that are raiding cars. We luckily didn’t have any trouble. I am sure the huge rifles the guards had probably scared them off… cause they sure are intimidating. We then had lunch at Mzima Springs. It was this beautiful spring/swamp located on the interior of Tsavo NP. There were a bunch of vervit monkeys there. They steal lunches too, so we had to be super careful… One girls’ bag of chips got stolen out of her lunch box and the monkey proceeded to not only OPEN the bag of chips, but also eat them one by one like a human. It was unreal. I got some good close up pictures of the monkeys – they are very interesting looking. After that we stopped at the Shetani Lava Flow, it was so sweet seeing all of the remnants of a volcano eruption that happened over 500 years ago. The lava rocks were so sharp, but so cool looking! I took some rocks with me.
After stopping at the lava flow, we were on our way to our campsite. When we got there, a lot of stuff had already been put up by the staff that had arrived a while before us. Although, we still had to put up our tents and fit a whopping 6 people in each tent. The tents were probably 7ft by 12ft; maybe smaller – to prove my point it was NOT big enough. We were a can of sardines in there! I had to leave my backpack of clothes in the car because I couldn’t fit my stuff in it! But regardless, it was fine. The major problem I had was that I did not bring a sleeping pad – as everyone else did. IT SUCKED. I was legit sleeping right on a rock too. Not fun! However, I pushed through it and am so happy to be back at KBC.
Let me explain some other aspects of the campsite too. These will show you just how much we roughed it in Africa. For starters – there were no toilets. There were holes in a cement floor that didn’t even have elevated steps to put your feet on. It was a difficult bathroom week for me… On top of that, I have a pretty crazy story about the bathroom. On the third to last night, I was going to the bathroom around 7:30pm. It was dark, so we had to have an askari (security) escort us… (just in case there is some type of predator/wild animal lurking somewhere). So, I go to the bathroom, pull my pants down, and something big looks like it fell out of my pants. At first I thought it was my money, but that was quickly proved wrong when it flew back out of the cement hole. It was then that I realized that there is a bat within my choo. I freaked out, considering it was flying all around, and basically ran out of the choo; I was just able to pull my pants up as I was running out. (Sorry this is so graphic, I just want everyone to get the full picture). I basically freaked out, and the askari comes over and asks me what’s wrong; I tell him about the bat and he proceeds to laugh at me. Pretty embarrassing. Oh and to make matters worse, it happened the next three nights in a row. It was horrifying.
Anyways, on a happier note, we got to do a lot of fun stuff during the days we were there. The first day we were there, we went on a sweet game drive (night game drives are the best). We saw our first predator! A leopard and a hyena – it was soooo cool! I was on cloud nine. It was just laying on this rock that we passed.
The next day we had a lecture, prepping us for our game drive the next day where we classify species as well as the vegetation they are located in. After that we had a night game drive again, and stopped at Mzima Springs once more. While we were there we heard a tour guide talking about a lion spotted with its prey. We made the staff drive us all the way over there. I have never ridden in a car going so fast in my life, however it probably felt a lot faster than they were actually going because we were out of the hatches. When we got there, we were unfortunate in our findings. No lion… boo. It was stinky, but the drive over there was probably one of the highlights of the trip to be honest. I am going to miss game drives so much when I am back home.
The next day we had our game drive, we drove around for probably 5 hours. It was super hot too; I got a pretty sweet dust tan. We also got to climb up this interesting hill. It was pretty much all black gravel, and whenever you stepped on it your feet sunk in past the top of your shoes. The view was spectacular. We spent a little time up there and then we left for the rest of our game drive. When we were done we went back to camp and relaxed.
The next day we had a lecture from a KWS employee who works at Tsavo NP. She gave us a bunch of background on the park, how it was established and how it is ran. It was really interesting to learn how things like that are managed. It is sad to hear about how little money trickles down to the local Kenyan population around the park. When the park was established, they had to kick out all of the populations (Kumba and Maasai) who were living on the land. In return for kicking them out, they gave them terrible land for farming or did not compensate them any land at all. Therefore, all of the individuals from those tribes living in those areas around the park are extremely poor. In addition, the KWS is in charge of leasing lodge facilities within the park. Apparently they only get 1% of the total revenues made from these lodges. I asked the representative why that was so, and why they don’t demand a higher percentage considering I am sure the foreign owned lodges would be willing to be competitive in the market to secure their spot, and she seemed very careful as to what she said. Afterwards John, one of the interns, gave me the answer that I was almost looking for. Apparently the Kenyan government is being paid off by the lodge CEO’s. He told me it is really corrupt and that’s why KWS cannot demand more money because the government has set the lodge lease percentage at 1%. Very interesting stuff. It made me feel bad though that all of the local people basically lost their fertile land and their ability to attain natural resources for free. As everyone should be able to live off the land, but unfortunately the Kenyan government claims this huge bounty of land as a national park, and forbids the locals from utilizing any of its resources. I understand that conservation is important, but I do not feel it is more important than these individuals lives/health.
Enough of my ranting, the next day we had a big discussion with the group and two of our professors about the major conservation issues within the region. The topics had to do with how to get the community involved in conservation, how to change the conservation policy, how to solve human-wildlife conflict, and one other topic that I can’t really remember. We came up with some interesting solutions, but it seems like solutions will never happen here unfortunately. I hate listening to all of the problems within this country, and not being able to see any change within the short time that I am here. I mean, I know change won’t happen for a very long time – but while I have been here it seems like change needs to happen a lot sooner than that. So I hate leaving on a dot, dot, dot… After our discussions we had the rest of the day to ourselves. I was able to read and relax, which was nice.
On Sunday we got to do our big hike up at Chyulu Hills! It was absolutely amazing, however I have never missed paved roads more than I did that day. I probably accumulated a million bruises within the car on the drive over there. We were legit going over the biggest rocks on the steepest/narrowest road. I was afraid for my life. At one point we drifted over this big rock and hit the side of a tree. It was crazy though because it didn’t even dent that big land cruiser we have. I tell you I have so much more respect for Toyota after this trip, because those cars are incredible. The wear and tear they go through on a typical day is so crazy, it’s hard to believe they last so long and are still in good condition.
When we got to Chyulu Hills, we had a lecture on the top of one hill. We discussed the issues with the surrounding societies that I talked about earlier. It was hard to concentrate though because the view was so beautiful. After our lecture we went down the hills and then had another hike ahead of us. This one was a beast – although it only took us 45 minutes, it was extremely strenuous and was in really dense grassland. We had heard from KWS that there was a lion sighting earlier that morning, so we had to be escorted by two armed guards both in the front of us and behind us. I tell you I do not think I’ve seen more armed guards in my entire life until this trip. When we got to the top it was stunning. The view was spectacular – we could see miles and miles away. I had a really nice talk with one of the staff, Ernest, and taught him some Spanish since he taught me some Swahili. We also talked about how he has two mothers and that it’s not weird. He cannot have preferential treatment towards his real mother too because that would be wrong. It was interesting hearing all the cultural aspects to the Maasai tribes.
After the hike we went to this local gas station in Mtito where I got the most awesome wood sculptures ever! I am so stoked about them! We also got to get some goodies at the gas station – including ice cream even though it made me super sick after. =[ The last stop for this day was at the man-eater “museum”. It was basically a walk in shop with a small section of the building dedicated to some old bones found within the park. It didn’t really have to do much with the “man-eaters” at all. Nonetheless, I got some cool gifts at the gift shop. I am really excited to bring all of this stuff home!
The next day we went to the rhino sanctuary and had a discussion/lecture given by KWS guards. It was cool learning about the ways in which they conserve the rhino populations and try to eliminate poaching. They are very dedicated to their work. Unfortunately, the only rhinos they have within the sanctuary are black rhinos. Those rhinos are very timid and do not come out often to be seen. All the staff has never seen a rhino within parks, so it was basically a given that we would not be seeing any. HOWEVER, we got to see a cheetah! It was in the middle of the road about 400m ahead of us. I didn’t have time to snap a picture of it, but it was cool seeing it from a distance. At least we got to see a predator if not a rhino.
After the rhino sanctuary we got to go to the LODGE!!!! We had a buffet – it was really good! We also got to take a hot shower!!!! It was amazing – especially having real toilets!! I was so stoked! The place was pretty nice, I guess the rooms go for $500 a night which is ridiculous if you ask me because the place was definitely not worth that much a night. They did have a sweet tower that you can look out and see all the animals come to the watering hole. There is no glass panel covering the outlook either so it was cool to just sit, relax, and watch the animals. It would have been amazing to sit there at night or in the early morning and read or something. It was very peaceful.
After the lodge we went back to camp and told some crazy ghost stories around the campfire! It was insane to hear how many people have actually had encounters with ghosts or aliens or something. I mean I don’t know if I really believe all of it, but it was fun in the moment. One story had to do with a girl waking up in the middle of the night on a camping trip, sitting Indian position in the middle of a lawn staring up at the stars. Her friend woke her up and she didn’t realize what she was doing. The next morning there was a perfectly burned circle around where she was sitting the night before, and the week they arrived the woman went blind. She is still blind to this day. Another story was about one of the girls being home alone at age 13 and talking on the phone with one of her friends. She then realized that someone had picked up another extension from a different room – so she makes the decision to run into her parents room and lock herself in there because it was her best option in terms of safety. When she gets in her parents room she realizes that the phone cord is pulled all the way to under the bed, meaning whoever had broken into her house was underneath her parents’ bed at that moment. She freaked and locked herself into her parents’ bathroom until her parents got home. The person had fled out her parents’ window – SUPER FREAKY!!! There were some pretty scary stories told to me honest. And of course that was on one of the nights that the bat flew out of the choo hole!
That leads me to today. We basically packed up camp early this morning and were on our way back to camp. It was so nice getting back here. HAVING TOILETS!!! It was weird because it felt almost like home. We all are so much more comfortable here, so it was very nice to get back so early and be able to nap/run/do whatever we wanted. I got to run and luckily I was not interrogated by any baboons!
Anyways, my hands are tired from all this typing. Sorry it is so long but I figured I would fill everyone in on my fun trip. We are off to watch Harry Potter. I am excited, but I do not think I will be able to stay awake for it. As for tomorrow, we have an off day and get to go on a hike in the morning, play with some kids in the afternoon, and then go to club k at night. Sounds like a good day – I am looking forward to some more relaxation!!
OH – I almost forgot one of the best parts of the trip! Last night we were serenaded by a lion. I woke up in the middle of the night to a couple roaring simbas. I think they were wishing us farewell. =] It was super cool waking up and hearing lions roaring around you. How many people can say they were roared to sleep by lions in the middle of a national park in Kenya, Africa? Not many I am assuming…
Hope you all had a great week last week, and hope your day today is just as good or BETTER! =]