Wherever i went in the village Enderasha, in Kenya, I was the subject of much attention. The children always anxious to be friends and to be in my pictures.
Photo Credit: Linda Aines
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
The Ark is the name of this "tree hotel" which sits high in Abedare National Park in the Central Highlands of Kenya. It is built like an ark or ship with small berth-like cabins. The meals are first class and the Entertainment is continuous with frequent visits by the many types of animals and which can be viewed from the many decks and glass-enclosed rooms... I only had one day of this "Safari" experience before returning to Endarasha Village and my work with the Farmers Co-operative Society.
Photo Credit: Linda Aines
And during the morning sunrise, i could see the outline of Mount Kenya in the background as an antelope was drinking on the edge of the pond. It was gorgeous! Throughout my short stay at the Abedare National Park and during the many visits by these animals, I kept thinking of Sara, my 4 year old grand niece who so wanted to know if I was going to visit the jungle. Well Sara, this one is for you!
Photo Credit: Linda Aines
As I spent an overnight stay at a "tree hotel" in the Abedare National Park a few hours from Nairobi, Kenya. I got to view elephants and other animals as they came to the watering hole. Elephants, buffalos, antelopes and other game animals come to this watering hole which is an attraction for wildlife as they come to the muddy pool and saltlick near the hotel. Guests can view the animals from viewing terraces--there is even a ground level photographic hide. It is quite an animated scene as the animals jostle, and sometimes break out in fights especially when new-born calves are around. Throughout the night, if the guests are asleep, a buzzer will sound announcing the animals that come to the hole-- there are special sounds for rinos and leopards which are more rare.
Photo Credit: Linda Aines
Thursday, March 03, 2005
The Central Highlands of Kenya
My Wanderings
Enderasha, Kenya: I have now been here 10 days.... I am one of two white persons in a village of 20,000 in the foothills of Mount Kenya. It is a populated rural agricultural area a few hours from Nairobi, which is very hard to describe. It is quite beautiful, like a patchwork quilt with rolling hills and shade trees. The highlands were at one time all forested but much of it until the land starts rising too steeply has been cleared for agricultural land. There is still the original forest cover in Abedares National Park which is a gated preserve where you can see elephants, buffaloes, antilopes, deers, rinos, leopards, and a variety of smaller animals and birds. I did visit the park last weekend---just had to as there are no animals outside the Park’s electrified fences. I went to the Ark, a “tree hotel” located inside the park, where guest can view some of the animals as they come to the watering hole near the hotel. I found myself along with the 20 or so other US and European tourists, fascinated by these animals. Of course the hotel staff sprinkle some salt near the watering hole every afternoon and it attracts the animals. Hotel guests just watch from the balconies and glassed rooms strategically located to provide an unhampered view of whatever wanders nearby. And they came, like a parade--- first it was the elephants, then the buffaloes. Later there were some sixteen elephants out there hogging the pond and as they cleared out, then came the smaller animals: a warthog, some deers, antilopes. I also saw two janet leopards (very small cats) near the hotel and some other small animals I cannot name. It was hard to go to sleep as the animals hung around for most of the evening. Not to worry, if we go to sleep, the hotel rings a buzzer if some interesting animals come in.
My safari was a short outing, less than 24 hours and now I am back at my assignment, writing a business plan for the Endarasha Farmer’s Co-operative Society. The Society has the biggest buildings in town—a grouping of one and two story brick buildings that house farm input supplies, milk cooling tanks , vehicles that enable this coop to collect and distribute milk for the many small dairy farmers in the Endarasha area. Here I work everyday at the Society’s offices along with Mary, a Peace Corp Volunteer assigned to the Cooperative. At the end of the day, I walk some 150 meters to the grounds of the Endarasha Parish Catholic Church where I eat and sleep. This walk is quite fun as I usually meet all kinds of people from the village---adults and children who are anxious to say hello, if I smile at them. The children are beautiful and just beam if I acknowledge them. I have been given a small cabin on the edge of the garden, to sleep in. My meals are taken in the Rectory, with Father James and Anne, the cook and house manager. I am well fed and in good company. There is a guard on the grounds and he stays in the cabin next to me so I am very safe. This is good!
Enderasha, Kenya: I have now been here 10 days.... I am one of two white persons in a village of 20,000 in the foothills of Mount Kenya. It is a populated rural agricultural area a few hours from Nairobi, which is very hard to describe. It is quite beautiful, like a patchwork quilt with rolling hills and shade trees. The highlands were at one time all forested but much of it until the land starts rising too steeply has been cleared for agricultural land. There is still the original forest cover in Abedares National Park which is a gated preserve where you can see elephants, buffaloes, antilopes, deers, rinos, leopards, and a variety of smaller animals and birds. I did visit the park last weekend---just had to as there are no animals outside the Park’s electrified fences. I went to the Ark, a “tree hotel” located inside the park, where guest can view some of the animals as they come to the watering hole near the hotel. I found myself along with the 20 or so other US and European tourists, fascinated by these animals. Of course the hotel staff sprinkle some salt near the watering hole every afternoon and it attracts the animals. Hotel guests just watch from the balconies and glassed rooms strategically located to provide an unhampered view of whatever wanders nearby. And they came, like a parade--- first it was the elephants, then the buffaloes. Later there were some sixteen elephants out there hogging the pond and as they cleared out, then came the smaller animals: a warthog, some deers, antilopes. I also saw two janet leopards (very small cats) near the hotel and some other small animals I cannot name. It was hard to go to sleep as the animals hung around for most of the evening. Not to worry, if we go to sleep, the hotel rings a buzzer if some interesting animals come in.
My safari was a short outing, less than 24 hours and now I am back at my assignment, writing a business plan for the Endarasha Farmer’s Co-operative Society. The Society has the biggest buildings in town—a grouping of one and two story brick buildings that house farm input supplies, milk cooling tanks , vehicles that enable this coop to collect and distribute milk for the many small dairy farmers in the Endarasha area. Here I work everyday at the Society’s offices along with Mary, a Peace Corp Volunteer assigned to the Cooperative. At the end of the day, I walk some 150 meters to the grounds of the Endarasha Parish Catholic Church where I eat and sleep. This walk is quite fun as I usually meet all kinds of people from the village---adults and children who are anxious to say hello, if I smile at them. The children are beautiful and just beam if I acknowledge them. I have been given a small cabin on the edge of the garden, to sleep in. My meals are taken in the Rectory, with Father James and Anne, the cook and house manager. I am well fed and in good company. There is a guard on the grounds and he stays in the cabin next to me so I am very safe. This is good!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)