The Great Primate Handshake – Volunteer in Africa, working to conserve monkeys and apes through film and educational content production

Wednesday 8th and Thursday 9th July 2009

These next two days were spent on the road travelling from Sweetwaters in the Nanyuki area to Kakamega Forest near the Rift Valley.

Being on the road, with no access to power, meant again we were unable to set up the satellite dish and have access to the internet for uploading blogs, nor could we recharge batteries for cameras, phones and laptops.

Sorry dear readers for the short break in this blog…we have all been in a bit of travel limbo for a couple of days and are now catching up.

Wednesday 8th:

4.00 am The day started for me at this unsociable hour when I heard some movement and snuffling outside the tent. It was still dark – an hour and a half to day-break. After the initial dream of a snarling hungry lion ripping canvas and bursting in, and dragging me and my tent buddy out in to the bush be eaten alive had passed away, I realised it was probably only a small deer or possibly prairie dog scavenging, and went back to sleep.

6.00 am Everyone got up to pack up camp, take down the tents, eat breakfast, all as the sky turned from black through grey, then pale blue, to bright sunny blue. As the tents came down, everyone one was excited to find they had been sleeping on a small ant or termite nest. This Is Africa, and perhaps the snuffling animal noises outside were nocturnal anteaters hunting in the dark while the ants were sleepy.

8.00 am Everything cleaned and packed on the truck, sides rolled up, the campfire kicked over with dirt, and a womble trawl for litter around the area. Then off we went, out of the Ol Pejeta reserve across country on a journey that became our last safari over a wide area of mainly open bush. We all hoped this would be the moment we would see one of the big cats – lions or a leopard – sadly neither. We saw many zebras, herds of giraffe, warthogs, elephant, antelope, a whole office of secretary birds, and then a curious white rhino which seemed to like us chasing it as it ran parallel ahead, off the road, before eventually losing interest and turning left in to the bush.

9.05 am Good bye Ol Pejeta as we pulled out through one of the back gates, heading for a main road. The next stage was a long drive through churning dust as we aimed to link up with tarmac. Everyone in the back pulled their hoodies over their heads, wired up their iPods and hunkered down to cope with the dust which covered everything and went in to every exposed crevice on the truck and item of clothing.

10.10 am We hit tarmac and the back of the truck erupted out of their hoodies. Steve was now able to put his foot down and make up a bit of time. The scenery was changing from arid bush to cacti and more water-storing succulent plants. The plains became undulating, and some trees began to appear more frequently. As we passed through villages, we saw more fruit for sale on the side of the road, on stalls and barrows. Occasionally we stopped for snacks at a garage. Buying fruit from the roadside farmers was much better value, and the bananas, avocados, oranges, mangoes were always fresh, ripe and deliciously ready to eat. They were also much cheaper than the shops or supermarkets…and importantly, we felt we were supporting the farmers trade directly rather than through middlemen.

11.00am The earth has now changed from a dusty beige yellow to a deep rusty red colour as we began to move in to the fertile arable lands of middle Kenya. Tea plantations, sugar beet, bananas and maize fields abounded. While moving, we all completed Jocelyn’s interim questionnaire.

13.00pm Stopped at a supermarket for snacks and provisions.

14.45pm Stopped at a layby for a quick lunch. Cook team rustled up salad sandwiches and fresh fruit.

15.15pm Back on the road, spirits high, bellies full.

16.55pm Ash decides that the black spot on his left hand between first and second fingers was not a splinter…it was a tick burrowing its way in. Medical opinion in the back of the truck ranged from pliers, hot needle, squeezing, a cigarette (as they do in the films with leeches) and of course amputation at the wrist. Steve pulled over, and with the expression of an amused Aussie bored with fleas and life, applied the traditional cigarette method to the tick’s bottom. It came out without hassle, and after applying some antiseptic, Steve took a puff on his cigarette, swung back in to his cab, and the journey continued. The bush surgery has been filmed and photographed with paparazzi intensity, and will appear on several blogs, including here shortly.

17.23pm We crossed the Equator. A roadside stall was selling demonstrations of the “water-direction” thing. The scenery now getting more hilly and wooded; beautiful. Still driving through the middle of nowhere heading towards Kakamega on bumpy rural roads.

19.30pm Just as night was falling into deep darkness, we arrived at the Naiberi River Campsite and Resort in Eldoret – Overland Camp where we would be staying to break the journey. Kakamega was still some 4 hours away. Everyone got off the truck and disappeared down a dark tunnel and out into the most amazing bar we had ever seen. It was a huge underground cavern with a stream and two small waterfalls running through it. Large wood traditional African carvings were everywhere. The ceiling was beautifully decorated with woven rush matting. A large dining area meant we could eat. The bar was reached by crossing two hump backed wooden bridges. The pool table would get used later. A large wood burning fire sizzled in the middle of the cavern, surrounded by lazy armchairs and settees. We were in heaven. Word spread that there were European toilets and showers with hot water.

Oh dear…Beer vs showers? That was a tough decision for some. The national standard Tusker beer cost KSh 150 (more than elsewhere @ KSh 100/120) so we knew we were in a classy establishment. The hot showers were, well…hot. The beer won, but people quietly trickled out for a shower too.

20.30pm We ordered food from a terrific menu that included African, European, Indian and Chinese dishes…and waited a while. We were a big and unexpected group for a kitchen that was not quite prepared for us. The food came in phases, and was annihilated; it was delicious. As the team settled down for the evening, there were birthday celebrations and a cake with candles for Kirsty and Steve, and then Rosie and Mike showed they had not wasted their education years…dominating the pool table, and thrashing all comers.

23.00pm Some went off to bed early leaving the party hard-core going strong. The dormitories were terrific, spacious wood architecture, with large wooden bunk beds on which were white cotton sheets and proper pillows. Beer vs comfortable bed? For me the bed won.

Thursday 9th:

The beds were a great comfortable change from sleeping bags on a bed roll. The dormitory had no curtains so we could watch the day break out of its dark shroud and light up the room, waking sleepy heads.

It was my turn with David and Rosie to be cook group again for the day. David had bought some pancake mix so we thought this would be a good opportunity to break from porridge. David cooked hundreds of the smaller American style pancakes, thicker than British ones, and every bit as tasty….especially with chopped bananas, red jam, and maple flavour syrup. He made two very large pancakes – for Kirsty and Steve and all the smaller one got eaten in seconds, thirds and fourth helpings.

I met Mr Raj Shah the owner of the Naiberi River Campsite and Resort – Overland Camp who very proudly showed me around a security fenced off area of the camp that he called his “Holes”. These holes are in fact extraordinary, man-made large pits dug in to the hillside above and facing the river. Most of the holes were lined with large rocks and laid out in a group. Raj explained that these were once roofed and inhabited by the forefathers of the present Masai tribes, some thousand and more years ago. This early settlement was also a staging post for travelling farmers, herdsmen and traders moving across country. He bought the site some four and a half years ago, immediately fenced it off when he realised the importance of the find and called in the government body responsible for heritage sites. The plot was Gazetted two years ago to protect it, and negotiations are now under way with the government to manage the site, to carry out archeological digs and fully investigate its past to exhibit it as a possible national historical treasure.

Our first stop was in the large local commercial town – Eldoret. This was a one hour stop for us to buy snacks and provisions for the next few days because our next campsite in the Kakamega Forest would be out in the wilderness.

The scenery was now dramatically different to anything we had so far seen in Kenya. Deep dark forests appeared on undulating hills; a long ridge – a part of the Rift Valley ran parallel to our road some 15 miles away. This was a lush fertile part of Kenya, producing much of Kenya’s food, and food export trade. People began to make the connection between the green lushness, the rain forest and our instructions that said – “bring a waterproof jacket”. Ah….we were about to experience, for the first time, Kenyan rain. Oh and did we!!

By 3pm the storm clouds were forming and darkening the sky during the afternoon, over in the Kakamega direction – where we were headed. As we got closer, the skies unloaded and a ripple of wow went around the truck. The dusty road turned to slippery red mud; we rolled the truck sides down and speculated on how long the rain would last.

Half an hour later we pulled in to the camp site and Steve parked up close to a pale blue clatter-boarded building on stilts. Everyone piled out and stood under the building while we set up our kitchen and got on with a sandwich snack first, then immediately after, made dinner. Today we decided to make a two course dinner, starting with a sweet cabbage soup with garlic and ginger, followed by a ratatouille on spaghetti. There was nothing of either course left…everyone was really hungry.

A troop of Blue monkeys came out to watch us from high up in the trees. We found out that these were in fact related to the Sykes which we have been encountering elsewhere, the Sykes being a sub-species of the Blue Monkey. These are darker than the Sykes we saw in Diani. They are equally very nimble, agile and curious. The rain stopped and the ground started to dry, so we all selected our tent pitches and put up the tents. The ground was soft, flat and slightly sloping, which was good for rain run-off.

Jamie just loved the oozing warm red mud, so kicked off her shoes and waded in.

Mike and Ash were getting homesick for British food, so opened a can of corned beef and a tin of baked beans. They were in heaven while we all looked on….the photo says it all!

Morale was really high and everyone was looking forward to this phase of the expedition. The Handshake management team really had created an amazing opportunity for us volunteers to see, feel and experience each of the three main geographical regions of Kenya, around a core of primate work we would carry out:

• • The hot and humid Indian Ocean coastline at Diani, with its beautiful beaches, warm sea, and exotic Colobus monkeys.
  • The hot and dry Ol Pejeta game reserve, in arid central Kenya, with its Sweetwaters chimpanzee sanctuary.
  • The lush green Kakamega tropical rain forest with its seven species of primate.

After dinner, with tents up, kit unpacked, a cleaning crew cleaning the mud and dust out of Nox, darkness had fallen, no one was in work mood. So the Laura/Emily/Harriet/Rosie group of party girls decided to play party games to celebrate Kirsty’s birthday. Laura had prepared a “Pass-the-parcel” package with was good fun. David introduced an American party game, best played after a few drinks….”zip zap boing” after which Rosie gave us “Squeak piggy squeak”.

A really nice way to wind down from two days of travel…and everyone went to bed when the rain started again.

Someone said they think they’ve found Laurence’s original passport photograph.