Last Dance in Kenya

Hello all,

Wow, Kenya has to be one of the most racist countries I have been to Africa but also one of the most hospitable. The last few weeks have been a blast. It is impossible to forget you are white here, even if you speak fluent swahili, there is a noticeable them and us attitude, which is not always negative. It is, however, highly annoying, especially when you don't want to be the subject of attention, which is my preferred way of travel.

After my arrival, i discovered fairly quickly that this was the worst time of year to be diving in kenya. All the dive centres north of mombasa were closed and south was likely to be murky. Ahhhh! I decided to head to Diani Beach where a friend of Mwezi (from Zanzibar) lived and check things out there. Great, another long white sandy beach covered with palm trees - do you ever feel like you're going in circles??!

Diani is wall to wall middle-market resorts and luckily I easily found the only backpackers called Stilts where you live in wooden huts (bandas) in the trees. Rock on! After constant sea views, it was a fantastic change to sit on the balcony and see green bush with spiders, birds, mongoose and monkeys. The latter woke me up every morning by jumping on my roof and trying to steal my mangoes!

The first couple of dives I did were pants, but the third on a wreck was awesome with massive schools of fish. You are not allowed to penetrate the wreck which infuriated me as it was perfect for it. However, I was good and followed the rules - instead I swam through the railings ; ) I met Linzi (Mwezi's friend) at Farmers Eve which is a local gathering evening at Stilts for dinner and drinks. The locals were like most locals - entertaining. For a change the conversation revolved around rally car driving (big in Kenya), problems with Kenya and the environment instead of fish, fish and more fish ; )

The next day I was wondering what on earth I was going to do with 2 weeks in Kenya if no diving and everything is so expensive when Joey (Linzi's Mum) called me and asked if I would like to dog sit for her on the weekend. Would I??! She has the most beautiful house I've ever seen. It simply flows with no windows and few doors, lots of driftwood, cushions, lights with quirky lantern covers, natural materials.

To top it all off, the house sits at the top of a long garden, at the botttom of which is the beach and sea. This is a quiet end of the beach so few resorts, no beach boys, just long walks with the dogs and spectacular views. Relaxation is not the word. Some new books, a bottle of wine, 2 dogs and 3 kittens for company, I loved it.

When she came back I stayed on in the extra room upstairs. Linzi and her sister are setting up a clothing label (just started in Top Shop in London and featured in Marie Claire) and I helped them out a bit by being around for material deliveries etc as well. All the animals were so much fun, that I have definitly decided to have pets - right now I'm thinking one dog and 2 cats. You can't just have one pet, they need the others to play with. You could spend hours watching the 5 of them interact with each other. I hardly saw Linzi as she was away that week but got on brilliantly with her Mum, Joey. That was an unexpected joy.

As peaceful as Diani is, I needed to see some more of Kenya, so I set off for Navaisha where Mwezi's family have a camp site on a lake. Now, I pretty much just turned up and they welcomed me into their home, I went rowing on the lake, ate crayfish, usual lake stuff. Lovett, (Mwezi's bro) asked me if I wanted to go camping with him and his friend Jamie. Would I??!

This has to be simply the best trip I've done in Africa. Lovett is a rally driver at heart so we hurtle up the most dangerous potholed, steepedged, muddy, full of massive trucks and lorries road I have ever been on. Wicked fun. Wear a seat belt.

Jamie's family live in the Rift Valley (good beef - apparently the fever is not that bad...) and they too welcomed me into their home although it came as a small surprise that I'd only known Lovett for one day. He and Jamie have been friends since they were born.

We stayed the night there, sleeping in Jamie's mud hut that he'd built at the bottom of the garden with a sweet view over the native forest and coffee farms and bats that come out of the wooden posts at night. The next day it was off to Lake Bogeier (spelt wrong). It's a soda lake so no swimming (it burns). On the way there we picked up 2 bags of cement.

This is real safari, no people, just you, the road and the bush. The drinking started out of the driveway. I'd been hit a couple of times by flying bottle caps (I was in the back) before I realised it was part of one of their games. Stunningly beautiful, I barely had time to admire the flamingoes before we started building a wall.

There are hot springs running into the lake but they are too hot to sit in for long, so the boys wanted to build a pool where the water could cool down instead of constantly flow. Not your average afternoon in a nature reserve. We had to drain it, lug massive rocks around, and cement the wall, let it dry before filling it the next day.

As the sun set, it was probably time to set up camp, so off we went to find a spot, put up tents, start to prepare dinner, only to realise that some of the food has been left behind. Oh well, meat diet??! That night we had roasted duck and steak. It was delicious. After dinner we went scorpion hunting cause Jamie had an ultra-violet light that shines them up.

Both Jamie and Lovett dropped out of school at 15 and have been making their own way since. Both love the bush. A couple of years ago, they did a year course in South Africa and basically came top of their class despite drinking their way to mayhem the whole time through. These are people who know their animals, lizards, trees, plants but don't take it too seriously - the stories are too many to name.

The next day we had tea (Jamie is a big tea person) and went for an unsuccessful walk to find snakes. Earlier, my heart practically stopped as I watched a giant eagle owl flying overhead. I love owls. Brunch was a massive mix of boerwurst, egg, bacon, tomato and cheese. That was our only meal because after mid day lazing and afternoon tea, it was time to rest in our newly made hot pool, watch the birds/animal life around the lake and drink beer and cane.

Lovett brought the car over so we had tunes and very later on, I had to be strongly encouraged to stop dancing, get in the car and go back to camp. Drinking cane on a near empty stomach is not such a good idea! I was so hungry, that when we went back to camp, I started to cook some sausages, and then just ate them raw! Well, nearly raw.

I don't think I can descibe just how fantastic it is to have this beautiful lake, the surrounding mountains, impala, zebra (and on an impromptu bush walk - nearly disturbing buffalo - not such a good idea), tons of birds, the bush, camp fires, hot springs and ALL TO YOURSELF. Jamie thinks it's the most beautiful place in the world, and maybe he is right. It certainly beats any tacky overland trip.

Sad to leave, although had another fun night at Jamies' house, where the boys cooked a goat. Meat tasts much better when it comes straight off the animal. Lovett and I went back to his camp and then I had to get my gear together and say farewell to him too. He is a very easy person to hang around with.

Basically I had a awesome time in Kenya because Mwzei's friends said Karibu (welcome) to me and truely meant it. A remnant of colonial hospitality that I tasted in Zimbabwe but is much stronger here. These are people who love and appreciate their country and it has been a real pleasure to see it with them.

Tomorrow I'm back in the UK for hectic three weeks of friend and family madness! I couldn't have picked a better way to finish this time in Africa.

Hope you are all well and happy,
lots of love
Kathryn

P.S. Only slight moment of fear was coming back into Nairobi to catch the bus to Mombasa. A few hours before they'd been a bloody shoot out on the River Road where a cop and 2 gangsters had been killed. Where was my bus leaving from? River Road. Don't you just love Africa?!