Our course was broken up into two parts: a week of hiking and a week of sailing, separated by a few days of safari in Masai Mara. We would be hiking in the Nguruman Hills in the southwest part of Kenya, right at the edge of the Great Rift Valley. Our goal was to practice self-sufficient leave-no-trace camping, while getting from point A to point B. We would be spending the entire time on land belonging to the Masai, the nomadic tribe known for its fierceness in fighting. I have to say NOLS has done an incredible job forging a relationship with the Masai. NOLS groups are known and permitted, not only on the land, but within the villages as well. Masai warriors are hired to lead us through the hills, and to share their culture with us. And NOLS makes donations to schools in the communities we go through.
Two days of travel got us to the start of our hike. Right off we were invited to a special Masai ceremony - a male circumcision and entry into manhood. We went to the boma (small village) at dawn, while the boy was being taken to the river for a bath. A temporary structure had been set up in the cattle pen for the ceremony. When the boy returned, he was led into the pen and doused in cold water. Then the deed was done. We saw the whole procedure - in fact it was a little too much for me; I had to stop watching at one point. Afterwards there was bloodletting from a cow, then traditional dancing. An incredible experience.
The next day we took off into the hills, for a week of hiking. We were carrying tents, food, and cook gear - we were completely self contained. I have to admit I was fairly dubious when we were presented with a stack of margarine, flour, sugar and told that this was all of our food for the next week. But we formed into cook groups, and with a little creativity and assistance, actually ate fairly well. Pancakes, cinnamon rolls, macaroni and cheese, quesedillas - I was impressed.
The hiking loads were about 40 pounds, a decent amount, and the terrain challenging at times, but the actual distances seemed a bit short. Most of the hikes were half-day instead of full day, less than a lot of people were expecting. But that meant more time for lessons, and for relaxing. There was plenty of cultural interaction with the Masai, in fact often you couldn't get away from them. We visited several of their bomas, and were even invited inside for tea. The Masai seemed as curious of us as we were of them; for some reason they were especially impressed with our watches. One day we bought a goat for dinner, and had it slaughtered and prepared traditionally. I didn't particularly want to watch, but as a lifelong omnivore I felt it would be a good thing to experience. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting; the goat was suffocated, then butchered. I was amazed how clean the process actually was; all of the parts were expertly separated. I always wanted to take anatomy. In the evening the Masai showed us how to create a fire from scratch - I gave it a try and was able to spin up some embers. Then the meat was roasted for dinner. A bit greasy, but not bad.
The hiking itself was great. We walked among zebra and wildebeest, up and down hills, through thorn thickets, with cattle, past bomas, across rivers - you name it. I do have to say that everyone felt pretty grimy by the end, and we were glad at last to hike out to the cars and prepare for the next part of the course.
Next, we were off to the coast for a week. We hopped a prop plane from Nairobi, then a boat launch to Matondoni. This is a small town on Lamu Island, of the fishing, weaving, and boat building variety. We spent the night, then loaded up our two dhows the next day. We would be accompanied by a crew of local sailors to give us a hand. Dhows are very distinctive triangular sailed vessels, used extensively by Arab traders for many centuries. They are purportedly the first boats that could readily sail into the wind, creating a great advantage over the square-riggers. By the way, our dhows had an interesting device for going to the bathroom: essentially a wooden board hung over the side. If nothing else, it provided its share of entertainment.
Off we went to the isolated island of Kiwaiyu, where we would learn sailing on small dhows and windsurfers. The sailing was a lot of work, if fun, but I really took to the windsurfing. After being knocked silly dozens of times, I eventually got the hang of manoeuvering the little craft and took every chance to head off into the wind. Our last day there, we went tide pooling and snorkeling among the coral reefs. Saw some cool stuff, including a lionfish and a huge scorpionfish.
From Kiwaiyu we headed back to Matondoni. In order to use the tides to pass a narrow channel, we had to tie up in the evening, and wait until the tides were right to sail on during the night. We cooked dinner on the boats (fire in the hold!), then sat back and read, played cards, and chatted until dark. I stayed up stargazing until the sailors woke up and cast us off again. This was just the most awesome experience, with the dark waters below, the silhouettes of the people and boats, and the blazing stars above.
Back on Matondoni, we had a big celebration
with the locals - a seafood feast and then dancing.
It didn't seem to matter that the band knew only one song. We were
all in great spirits during our big group
breakfast the next morning, then headed off to Lamu-town.
Like Zanzibar, this place maintains a heavy Arabian influence. This
can be seen in the many mosques,
the local dress, and the customs of the region.
We had a day and a half of shopping, eating, and wandering the little
alleys filled with surprises. On
our last day we hopped a plane back to Nairobi, and had a true
feast at the Carnivore - an all you can eat meat-lovers dream, with
chicken, pork, roast beef, ostrich, hartebeest, and zebra on tap.
Roar!!
