Climbing Mount Longonot

Sammy, Dorothy, Sibel, Garret, Kimberly, James, Helen

There is a reason why everyone in this photo looks pretty happy.  I am quite pleased with myself because I am thinking (mistakenly) that the hardest part of the climb up is behind us just because we are at the top.  I had never hiked around the rim of a volcano before and I still had a few things to learn.

The view back from the summit of what we had just come up
Those Ridges were pretty tough

Greeted by Giraffes as we approached the trail

I guess my first problem was I had just not gotten used to the metric system yet.  I have been on enough hikes to at least check on how high the hill is.  Well, it started at about 2150m, and goes up to 2780m.  That's only 630, not bad.  Through the miracle of the Internet I now realize that the 6450 ft I was starting at is almost as high as the summit of the tallest mountain east of the Mississippi (good old Mount Mitchell NC).   Then the slog went up 1890 feet to 8340.  The air was just a wee bit thinner than it should have been.

The view from one side of the crater

The climb was essentially in 3 sections - first get up the darn thing, then yoyo up and down around the rim, and lastly roll back down it.  There was actually a fair chance of rolling down into the crater on the trip around the rim - a good part of the way consisted of knife edge ridges.  Luckily I had planned for that and was far too tired for the fear of heights to kick in.

to the other side - the summit is the biggest little bump

See that little bump on the rim in the bottom photo - the tallest one?  That's the summit.  Here is what I was thinking when I first got over the edge of the rim:  Really doesn't look so bad to get over there, does it? Just a few bumps before and after the summit. This is where you should be rotflyao.

Sibel negotiating one of those little bumps

I mentioned earlier that I had more than one problem manifest itself in my preparation for this. Luckily I had been doing 30 minutes on the elliptical and treadmill every day since I got here so I was in better shape than normal. (translation:  still pretty sad) No, this was another mental problem. I had the expectation,  formed from every US national park I have ever been to, that there would be some kind of trail maintenance program.  You know, that is where they put in some steps here and there, maybe zigzag the trail to ease the steepest bits, and where it does go vertical there might be a ladder or at least something to hold on to and keep from falling down the whole way.

Nada.  All the steepest bits were scrambling up or down massive erosion gullies.  We did find lots of steps but they are the kind hikers kick and dig into the dirt so they have a something to grip onto.

Another ltty-bitty bump on the way to the summit

What a beautiful place

Garret, Kimberley, Sibel, Helen, Dorothy

All Whining aside, This was an incredible introduction to the National Parks and a day we all will remember forever.  While I can't say I kept up - I can say I finished,  And I have to thank my friends for all the help they gave me on the way.

Did I mention the thorn bushes?

Minor Fortifications on the way to the Market

 There are some things I see while walking and driving around Nairobi that are just a little different than anywhere I have ever been.   I have seen plenty of gated communities in my time, some even with guards.  I have just never been somewhere before where everyplace is gated.  Even the bars and restaurants have gates and a guard post between them and the road.    I recently took a walk to the Kenyetta open air market and here are the snaps. 

 So yes, that is razor wire and electric fences adorning everyone's front, side and back yards.  Once you are inside the gates the gardens can be completely beautiful and the houses impressive.  It is just that often from the road all you can see is the roof of the house.

For many people Mpesa is their main "Checking account".

Pretty common practice is both razor wire and electric fence on top

Behind this gate there are at least 3 businesses plus probably some residential.  Mpesa means "mobile money" and there are thousands of these banking stations scattered in every corner of town.  You can use your phone to send payments to anyone else's phone. 

Here you can see the Minaret from the local Mosque.  Those little dots just under the opening are loud speakers - and yes we can hear the calls regularly.  The ones at 5am take some getting used to.




I was in the supermarket the other day and where they sold light bulbs and other hardware they also had coils of barbwire. Now that is different from home.

Here and there you see a little individual expression in the fortifications

More Coke!  Here is a neighborhood general store.
looking down the street you see the endless concrete walls

When I got to the market the first thing you see are some produce stalls, then came this really cool fried fish stand.  They kindly let me come back and take all the photos I wanted.

That looks like some of the hand hammered woks I saw being made at the Jua Kali market in another post.  The fire stands also look like some of the goods that were made there totally by hand.

That is all Talapia, They scale it, put a couple cuts in the sides, and throw it to the grease.  Looked pretty good. Probably not so good for you.

Scaling Fish - here is a guy who works hard for his living

 There is a section of the market where there are Nyama Choma (Grilled Goat) shops.  The front window shows the wares, there are grills close by,  and people are eating just inside.  There are other shops nearby that just sell french fries (chips!).

There must be 6 shops all just the same right next to each other and the competition is intense for the customer.   Close to a dozen of these guys in the white coats descended on me, ringed around and all tried to sell me their raw fly covered goat chunks at the same time.  I had some fun with it and bystanders were all laughing while they watched me trying to extract myself.  I ended up buying a Kilo of grilled goat from this guy at the bottom.

How to Properly Kiss a Crocodile...

We are really trying to get out on the weekends because it can be a drag to hang out in the apartment.  At home getting a day with nothing to do is a rare pleasure that I really enjoy. Here I need to keep moving.  The Sheldrick Orphans project is located within the Nairobi National park and is a place that young, transportable Elephants and Rhinos can be taken if they are found on their own - mostly due to poaching activity.

Here they come.  Lunch is what gets them excited and they really trot over to us with a will.

And what a lunch it is!  The first course is gallons of milk and they tear into it with a vengeance. I don't know how the Milk Council has missed this for their advertising program.

Got Milk?

The rather large team of attendants show a great caring and gentleness for the animals.  They introduced the crowd to each by name and told us about their personalities and their history.  This team actually sleeps with the elephants, seeing to their needs at night, keeping them company and giving them blankets if they are cold.   It was touching to see the affection - the babies would go up and want to nuzzle a bit every once in a while.

Two of the little ones put on a wrestling match for us.  You can get an idea of the crowd here from this camera angle.  Several hundred tourists surrounded the area on three sides.  The grounds are only open for visitors for one hour per day and this is on the schedule for most of the safari package tours.  In the end I had to take most photos with the camera held up as far as I could reach to get above the crowd.

Dorothy and Kimberley managed to peek through the crowd

After leaving the elephants we decided to try an attraction that is a little more off the beaten tourist path.  Mamba Village is in Karen and is a lovely little oasis with both beautiful gardens and pens full of big toothy reptiles.  Remember that this is a suburb of the city and that you can see houses nearby.  Hopefully these fellas don't get out to party much.

So, how does one properly kiss a crocodile?  First one must meet an attractive member of the species.  A guide eager to hop into the cage and perform introductions helps with that.  The next problem is rather more delicate - how does one avoid too rapid a courtship?  Keeping ones distance and a firm grip is essential.  Finally, in some cases, and I think this is clearly one of them, the closing of the eyes helps a lot. Don't forget - kissing is one thing, being kissed back must be regarded with more caution.

These little guys must file their teeth at night.

Our guide was eager to hand out critters

They also had, of all things, a bunch of turtles, or tortoises, or whatever they call themselves.  They really did not talk much.   Nor did they strike us as being in the mood for affection, which was good because I didn't want to get a reputation for late dating after the crocodile.

Dorothy and Kimberley performing introductions

A Very Friendly Giraffe.  He would bump heads with us
if  we stopped paying him attention

So, thus ends another day of exploring the areas surrounding Nairobi.  We still have not gotten into the game parks properly but we are making plans and going out to meet some safari companies.  Hopefully pretty soon we (and you!) will be seeing the more of the real Africa outside the city.

Nyama Choma means "All the Goat you can eat"

Left to right: Kimberley, Sid, Chris, Peter, Clarice, Moses, and Alex

We were just thinking about what we were going to do for lunch on July 4 when Chris came in and told us Peter was taking us out for lunch in honor of the US holiday.  That sounded pretty good, and we all loaded into a small bus to cross town to Peters favorite hangout.  It turned out to be a Nyama Choma place, kind of an open air tavern that specializes in both roast meat and lots of Tuskers.  Considering it was lunch we held off on the Tuskers - really not a very great sacrifice in my opinion.

Two of our cooks and the piece de resistance

Essentially the only decision you make when you come in is how many kilos of meat they should put on the grill and what you want to drink.   Forget about diet sodas, they seem a little hard to find.  There is however commonly a selection of fruit juices,  sometimes by the glass but often in the Liter box.  Here they only had Liters so there was plenty to share around the table.

Our Butcher hard at work.
 Notice the tree trunk for a chopping block.

There was a small butcher shop and this was actually the key focal point for the resturant.  It stayed crowded there with people ordering, watching the preparation, the weighing and paying.  I had to ask people to excuse me so I could get this picture of the butcher busy at his tasks

Peter getting personal service

One of the staff came around to each of us individually and offered the chance to wash our hands, both before and after the meal.  Here is Peter taking advantage of the opportunity.

Our Head Chef

The Meal:  Chips, Ugali, Spinach, and Goat. 
The more observant will have already noticed the lack of eating utensils

Peter and Clarice

Table Side Service!

While I was expecting an informal meal the big surprise was learning how to eat stewed spinach with my fingers.  Everyone loaded all their bones on my plate for this picture and I was impressed by their caring attention to detail.  My roommates think this is a guy thing and they are probably right on that.