Down Town and Up Country

For one week earlier this month, we hosted my parents here in Kenya, spending a few days in Nairobi, before heading 'up country'.

First to the countryside near the town of Nanyuki, three hours north, where we hiked into the Mount Kenya national park, to see caves used by the Kikuku freedom fighters in their struggle for independence against the British.  The next day, we visited the equator for breakfast, and then headed further north to the central highlands, where the wilderness of Northern Kenya begins. 

We stayed for two nights at a lodge owned and operated by the local Maasai community, a three-hour drive from the nearest tarmac, through a beautiful landscape bursting with wildlife.  All the profits from the lodge support community development projects, including paying for school fees.  In every way it's a wonderful place to be.  I've told Dan if I ever go missing... I'm probably at Il Ngwesi Lodge.

 Il Ngwesi probably warrants a blog post of its very own, but for now...take it away Mum and Dad!


A guest blog written by Sue and Mike Trenchard (Helen's parents)


We visited Helen and Dan in Kenya at the beginning of March for a week to get some insight into their lives as VSO volunteers, and what daily life is like for them. And to have a nice holiday of course.


This blog entry is not a “this is what we did in Kenya” travelogue - we don’t want to bore our readers.  This is more our immediate snapshot memories of the sights, sounds - and sometimes smells - of Nairobi and its impressive surrounding countryside.


*  In Nairobi trying to look as if we knew what we were doing, in reality following Helen and doing as we were told.

*  Squashing into a Matatu and refusing to pay more than 20 bob, because that’s what Helen told us.

*  Crossing the 6-lane Mombasa highway on foot at Belle Vue to get to the other side. Think of the M25 and you get the idea.


*  Road building and road works do not mean closing the road. Cars, buses and trucks just find their own way through.


*  Enormous roadside hoardings advertising washing powder. No wonder so many Kenyans look beautifully turned out despite the ever present dust from the roads.


*  Getting on a bus at a stop named “Coal” because that’s what is piled up at the side of the road. And getting off at “Workshops” because that’s what happens there.


*  Early morning sounds - 5am - in the apartment block, echoing around the concrete walls.


*  Early morning smells - same time - people starting to cook on their outdoor landings.


*  Sunday morning church singing from all directions of the city, some of it more melodious than others.


*  Looking down from Helen and Dan’s apartment roof on one of the areas of “informal housing” (read: slum) sitting cheek by jowl with middle class back gardens.


*  Kenyans are very welcoming and some of them have very firm handshakes.


*  VSO volunteers in Kenya become almost tearful when given cheese and chocolate from home.


*  Stall after stall after stall selling mangoes along the highway out of Nairobi.


*  Eating breakfast - full English plus added exquisite tropical fruit - on a hotel terrace overlooking Nairobi National Park, by a beautiful lily pond at the Equator, and sitting by a river in the Il Ngwesi conservation area after an early morning bush walk.


*  Even baby elephants have enormous foot prints.


*  Sleeping in Prince William’s bed under the stars at Il Ngwesi Eco Lodge.


*  Watching elephants at the waterhole from the comfort of our luxurious outside toilet and shower.


*  Eating barbequed goat in the Maasai village by the light of the cooking fires.


*  In the space of a 3 hour bumpy drive seeing elephants, giraffes, buffalo, impala, waterbuck, rhinos, giraffe gazelles and lots of birds at close quarters.


*  The contrast in 24 hours from dinner in a Maasai Village to a European Restaurant in Nairobi with a band playing modern jazz.


If our daughter ever needs a different job we can recommend her as an efficient tour operator and guide.