Kakamega Forest

Thank you to everyone that has sent us "the voice of reason" in
response to our musings on how we can help here and how overwhelming
the need is. I thought about leaving that for my personal journal,
but wanted this blog to be a true representation of what it is like
for us here. So, you'll get the good, the bad, the ridiculous and the
ugly. Rest assured that we are loving every minute of it.

We've spend the last two days in the Kakamega Forest -- the last 240
sq kms of tropical rainforest in Kenya. It was not easy to shell out
the thousands of shillings for the entrance, the bandas and then more
for the guide, but it was well worth it. We went on three guided
walks, to the lookout, the falls and the nature trail which took about
4 hours for all. The forest is home to butterflies, snakes, birds,
monkeys, antellope, and pigs. We were fortunate enough to see two
snakes -- a bush viper and a forest cobra. Both poisonous. Our guide
told us that you have 7 minutes to get to the hospital after being
bitten by a forest cobra. Not too comforting when we are standing
about 6 feet away watching it climb straight up the tree in front of
us.

We were chuckling to ourselves as we followed our very shy guide
through the dense forest. She was dressed in a long bright green
skirt and blouse, with her hair in a nice braided bun, with little
flat shoes. No water, no hiking boots, no compass, no whistle, no
pockets... Jack takes more gear with him on a run in Seal Bay :o)

We did not come prepared to the forest. Everyone told us to bring our
own food, but for some reason we thought they were kidding. I had
packed 3 oranges and a couple of mangos and we bought a couple little
bags of peanuts out of the window of the matatu. After our four hour
hike, we finished our food and still had the afternoon and evening to
get through. Terry had his book and journal with him, but I didn't
want the extra weight, so Cody and I had a very quiet, peaceful siesta
in the afternoon. This is the first time in the trip that I have
heard Cody complain. "This blows" is I believe how he put it.

After a rest we were getting ready to go on a night walk (dusk), with
hopes of seeing a flying squirrel, some bats and a couple of the
nocturnal monkeys. Just as we got our headlamps and hats on, the
skies opened up with another thunder and lightening storm. We tried
to brave it, but it was pretty clear that this was going to be another
serious storm and the idea of being lost in the forest, in the dark in
the middle of a storm, just wasn't that appealing. So, we made a run
for our banda.

We were staying in Udo's Bandas, which were adorable mud huts with
thatch roofs. Ours was the largest available with four single beds,
each with their own mosquito net, and two wicker chairs. At 7pm, with
no books to read or cards to play, we crawled into bed. It was so
dark, I couldn't see any difference whether my eyes were open or
closed. The sound of the storm made it that much more cool. We tried
to forget about the bizarre looking bugs we saw on the other side of
our mosquito nets.

I was happy to have Cody unplugged and all to myself in the bed next
to mine. We chatted about monkeys, gossip about his brothers and
Southpark into the night.

We had heard that the sunrise from the look-out was not to be missed,
so we set Terry's alarm on his watch and headed out at about 6:15am.
Cody unfortunately couldn't be persuaded to join us. It was a little
buggy, but fresh and shiney from the rain. After walking for about 15
minutes, Terry made a waving motion to me. There in our path maybe 50
feet ahead were a tribe of baboons. Definitely worth the price of
admission! I went from being excited to scared. Excited won in the
end and we spent at least half an hour watching them do what baboons
do. Mamas carrying babies, little ones playing and chasing each
other, females presenting their bottoms to the alpha male... yes, we
even saw quite a bit of monkey business.

What a gift. We missed the sunrise as the baboons were in our path.
Eventually they made some space for us and we walked around up to the
lookout for a spectacular view of the misty forest.

We saw them again on the way back down. When we got back to camp,
Cody was awake and I was able to talk him into coming to see the
baboons. It was a stretch because a couple of hours had passed, but
we had to try. We did not make it to the rock quarry where Terry and
I had seen them, rather they met us on the path. They were walking on
our path towards us. Cody agreed that next time he will trust me.
When I drag him out of bed early it is for a good reason.

We saw more monkeys on our way out of the park -- black and white
colobus, red tailed and another grey type we're not sure of the name
of.

A great day... more later.