Mt Kenya

I’m all mif and depressed now... I don’t like living in a different country anymore... its gonna mean I am always saying goodbye to those I love the most.
My sister and her husband have been and gone... we had an awesome holiday of course. With Mandy around, everyone is guaranteed to have fun. But I miss her terribly!

So, what we got up too:
Well, the morning after Mandy and Collin arrived in Nairobi, we headed off for Mt Kenya. We were climbing the Chogoria route, which is apparently the most scenic.

DAY 1: We had lunch and chatted to our guide in chogoria town before making our way to our first campsite which was at about 3000m above sea level. This was the only hiking we did where we actually carried our own bags. We had porters to carry our bags for the rest of the trip.... which we realised afterwards was a bit unnecessary...our bags weren’t that heavy and the hiking was definitely not strenuous. Besides the 5 porters, there were 2 cooks and our guide, plus us 4 = a big group! In retrospect we should have saved ourselves some money by doing the trip with less support. A challenge we would have all been up for. Oh well!
As soon as night fell it became freezing – so we huddled round our fire, me with ALL my clothes on that I’d bought with me. I realised I had misjudged just how cold it gets!DAY 2: The next day we hiked at a leisurely place up to Lake Ellis where the boys both swam, starkers. Crazy things- it was freezing! Then went on to a very pretty waterfall before making our way to a cave where we would spend the night. The porters (who always took the more direct route) had set up our tent and had a good fire going for us on arrival. Although The Cave itself was pretty dismal - definitely the campsite we enjoyed the least.
Our meals were prepared for us by the 2 cooks and were great. We would have pancakes, eggs, sausages(not me obviously) and cereal and fruit for breakfast. Sarmies, nuts and more fruit for lunch, followed by rice or potatoes and veggies and meat for supper. Followed by more fruit. Hot chocolate, tea and coffee would be bought to us regularly and it was much appreciated with the chilly weather. It was great to not have to do any of our own cooking and cleaning... although with all of us being seasoned campers we wouldn’t have minded!

DAY 3: The next day we did another easy paced, non taxing hike to Lake Michaelson which has to be the most amazing spot on the whole mountain. The beautiful glassy lake is surrounded by dramatic cliffs and is fed from water running off the glacier. Another chance the boys couldn’t resist – so again, they swam starkers in the minus 2000 degree icy water!
The scenery that day was just spectacular. And the birdlife, the fauna and the flora all very interesting throughout the trip. Collin and Mandy were great to have around as they really know their birds and plants.
It rained a lot that afternoon so we were forced to huddle in our tent... which was my large family dome tent, a cheapo I bought at Game 8 years ago that has stood me well. It was not waterproof though so things got a little wet. All part of the fun I guess. We had a dry night thank goodness, although very cold....we were at 3900m after all.
DAY 4: The following morning a helicopter came impressively circling and swooping over us and landed 500m away. Several people then got out and did some fly fishing for a couple of hours before flying off again. The whole episode made Collin super envious- he would have done anything to have had his fishing rod with him. But what a spectacular trip those tourists must have had, flying in to remote destinations and fishing in secluded lakes. WOW!
We hung around at the lake the whole morning while our porters and cooks tried unsuccessfully to catch fish. Their attempts were quite comical really.
The hike to the next spot was steep but not long and we did it in the drizzle.
I had to stay at a hut on a lower level (4200m) because of the altitude, so Benedikt, Collin and Mandy hiked with the guide to a higher spot and camped at 4600m that night – in a snow blizzard! The tent was certainly not snow proof either!
DAY 5: In my sisters words: "The Summit was out of this world. We left Wewies at 4000m and the 3 of us slept at the foot of the peak Lenana 4998m. We slept in a snow blizzard, in the funny tent from Game!! Ha ha it was so funny. I had about 20 layers of clothes on and didnt sleep much. The scenery on the way up was just to die for. Photos will tell all. So when we awoke at 4,30am (I was wide eyed and ready to hike all night!) to summit it was pitch black and our tent was 3 inches deep in snow! It was so exciting. As we summited the sun was glowing orange through the clouds. C and I have never been so high and it was rather breathtaking. A wonderful moment I will NEVER forget. You could see for miles. Incredible.
We were down with Wewies for breakfast at 8am. (C and I got quite sick on the way down, massive headcahes and I vomited a little bit! LOSERS!)"
All in all it was a great experience. It is a beautiful mountain and is relatively untouched by humankind. Apparently Kilimanjaro is a bit more touristy. If we had to do it again we would do it on our own, without a guide or porters or anything - which is permitted on Mt Kenya....not like Kili where you have to have a guide. We were not impressed with our guide. At all!
Apparently we went through 7 different biomes on the way up: rain forest, bamboo forest, normal forest, fynbos type vegetation, a rocky cactus layer, bare volcanic rock moonscape type stuff and lastly the scree. Well those are my guesses to the 7 layers anyway.

We had a hectic trip back down the last part of the mountain in the car- it had been raining heavily and the bad dirt road was just a mud bath. The 26kms took us 2 hours to do with all the slipping sliding. Then we got stuck for hours in typical Nairobi traffic – a real eye opener for Collin and Mandy. At one stage, Collin asked Benedikt in a very diplomatic way, ‘So what was it on your pre-trip to Nairobi that made you say yes to the position?’! ha ha ha.... I think Collin and Mandy’s romantic view of a beautiful Out of Africa type Kenya was shattered that day!

Party!

So last weekend was a weekend of parties. Silly season is definitely here. Benedikt had his Christmas party at work... which he seemed to enjoy. Although being one of 3 white faces amongst 120 odd staff members meant the music and dancing weren’t quite up his street!
He came home and we immediately went to Eva’s party. Eva is my new Forest Friend. It was very cool of her to invite us as it really was an AMAZING party. Eva and Andrea’s house is really impressive. Its hoooge and has the most spectacular entrance ever.... Big 8m wide doors that open up onto an exquisitely lit terrace with a pool. And behind that more steps that lead down into the garden which borders a forest. And the house looked like it had 100 rooms. The catering was done by an Italian restaurant and they had the smart waiters coming round with silver trays of canapés and champagne etc! There were about 50 people there, from all walks of life and from SO many different countries. We were given a playing card and told to find our partner. And then you had to sit with him or her. So I sat at a table with my Italian partner, 1 South African, another Italian, 1 Swede and a French pilot. My partner was a very interesting guy who worked for UNEP. He’s spent 7 years on a Yemen island where there was NOTHING. His job was to create a Game Reserve while he was there.... amongst loads of other things. Benedikt sat between a Spanish lady and a Costa Rican lady, and a South African guy... whose wife was at my table. We haven’t met many South Africans while we’ve been here... so it was good to chat to them, they were a very cool couple that have been in different african countries every 3 years for the last 20 odd years. The thing that struck us about the evening was that everyone there was of such high calibre... like MDs of big corporates, or head honchos at the UN, or owners of lucrative companies... made us feel like poor small fry. And we’re not poor! I guess we were one of the youngest couples there though.
The next day we went to the German Business Association’s Christmas lunch. It was at a cool pub kinda place, The Rusty Nail. They gave away 50 prizes! So we bought loads of raffle tickets and sat through 47 prizes being giving out before it was our turn to win something. We won a 2 nights accommodation at a hotel at Bahari, about 1 hour north of Mombasa. YESSSS!! What a bonus. We will probably use it in January as it expires in 3 months time.

Then we headed off to a kiddies’ birthday party... our cycling friend, Eric’s daughter was turning 7. It was hectic! Thanks goodness we didn’t have a kid there!

On Sunday Loopy came for her last layover here. She has resigned from Qatar airlines because they suck. So her last flight was to Nairobi- very cool. We took her to Muthaiga Club in the afternoon to meet friends having a swimming party... then we took her back there in the evening for a meal. So she had to like the club!

Uh, have I mentioned that my sis is coming?!!! ONE MORE SLEEP!!! Yippee yippee yay yay.
So I most definitely wont be updating my blog for the next 2 weeks.

Hope you all get very fat over Christmas and very drunk at New Years. We’ll chat again in 2010!



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Sarah the Ninja

So last Saturday I did a ladies self defence course. It was a full day of learning how to take baddies down. Not with strength or punches or kicks in crucial areas... but rather by using really soft nudges/tugs on arms/legs/hips/heads in certain ways that throw a person off balance. Its called Triangulation and is very effective. It was a REALLY good and interesting course. I practised on Benedikt and I got him on the ground with 3 fingers and NO force whatsoever! I kinda hope I get to use my new skills one day :-)
On Sunday we went to Nairobi’s Christmas Market. It was most impressive. A huge variety of stalls with cool things. We could have gone mad buying ornaments and furniture etc but we restrained ourselves. We made a rule to not buy any clutter while we’re here as we more than likely will have to downsize when we move to the next country. (Benedikt is even more determined that we go to a first world country next! Which means no slaves and a small apartment.... but at least things will work) So we bought a Kenyan Christmas tree and some quaint xmas decorations and candles and other small things. It was a good outing! Saw lots of KCs (Kenyan Cowboys) and mazungu families.

Today after yoga all the girls stuck around and we had sushi making lessons. So now I am a professional in that too. I am learning so many news skills! We made California rolls with carrots, avo, egg, radishes and cucumber. And little maki. And once the rice was finished we made sea weed veggie wraps :-) Yoga is now finished for the year, I’m really going to miss it but have every intention of practising on my own. I will be able to put my feet behind my head by mid January!


We are now officially members of the ooh-la-la Mathaiga Club. Its an old school colonial country club where you have to go through a whole process before you can become a member. You have to be nominated firstly, then complete a detailed application, then interviewed, then introduced and then finally orientated. What a rigmarole. And to be honest I don’t see what the fuss is about... its just a normal golf clubby kinda place, nothing fancy and to me it looks like the decor needs redoing! But the mazungus here seem to love it. Think maybe they love dressing up to go there and bumping into their snooty friends while sipping on pims or a G & T :-) One of our main reasons to join there is because they have built a new gym there and they have decent squash and tennis courts. Our membership came just in time as our local crappy gym closes down this December. I will be glad to not go to that hole again! So now when you all come to visit us we will take you to the Mathaiga club for drinks or a meal and a stroll around the grounds and you shall have to act all posh and put on a la-dee-da English accent.

I’ve been taking to Mahindi to a nearby Forest 3 times a week lately. I have made 2 friends who I meet up with and all our dogs play together while we walk and chat. Mahindi is in her ELEMENT! It combines her 3 most favourite things: going berserk in a forest, playing with other dogs (well, bothering them) and messing about in all the puddles. Ah, life is good!
Von more veek till my sis comes! We're going to climb Mt Kenya as soon as she arrives too. I carrunt wait!!!





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