A Forest in Kenya??

Day 7 – Friday, February 05, 2010

We started our day only a few hours after the previous one ended. It was great to sleep under the mosquito net – felt like a princess covering like in the good old days of England. I had a piping hot shower and headed to breakfast, unsure of what would be available. There were really nice fruits, including star fruit, bananas, watermelon, and pineapple, British sausages, hard boiled eggs, and a grain I was brave enough to try called Ugi that was a nice experience….once. The grain was a brown color that had the consistency of cream of wheat. It did not taste like that at all. The after-taste was pleasant, but the initial taste was somewhat bland and an odd texture.

After lunch we loaded the vans with the giant bags and headed on a few errands before heading out of town. The driving was crazy! Everyone seemed to know the rules, but it really just seemed like some kind of ordered chaos. There were no street signs, or distance markers, but everyone seemed to know where they were. The houses were beautiful behind large gates with armed guards. Later on as we got out of the city, you could see the change in affluence. People were walking everywhere, including children wandering on their own down the road. We came across a number of school students once out in the country who were too excited to wave and say hello! Apparently we’re quite a freakshow to the kids – a van full of white faces. The crazy part was, everything was green and lush! We passed by the largest pineapple farm in Kenya and a number of other farms including tea leaves farms. There were people along the road carrying large loads, goats and cows roaming everywhere, and the neatest most colorful shops. After a bit of a bumpy drive, we came to this shockingly small dirt road with thousands of bumps. It was probably 10 miles long, which took an agonizing 30+ minutes!

Once we arrived at Castle Forest Lodge, which I thought was supposed to be an ironic name, I realized it wasn’t. The rooms were actually bungalos and a main large lodge. Each lodge was for two people with single beds and the bathroom had a shower that was a spout and a drain in the corner of the room. No curtain or separation from the bathroom at all! It was beautiful with a nice waterfall nearby, great food as we settled in for the calm before the storm. In fact, it did rain that night! Lunch and dinner were both curry based and we had the afternoon to relax and explore, and a nice team meeting in the evening.

Books finished: 5

Summary: Kenya is so green and the people are so nice!