Sunday, April 1, 2012

Kakamega Rainforest



 So you may think Africa is dry... mostly true, but this weekend we went to somewhere it rains quite frequently, the Kakamega Rainforest! It was just like we learned about in school, with a canopy, monkeys, birds, lots and lots of butterflies.  It was beautiful.

We left at 9:38 am on Saturday. I mention the exact time because most of Nolan's group was convinced this was horribly late. In those eight minutes we may have discovered another species or something! I admit, when they tried to yell at us to get ready 15 minutes early during breakfast, both Nolan and I slowed down. We truly had a reason for those 8 minutes. We were writing back my friend Lisa whose husband was in the emergency room. Please pray for Lisa and her husband Drew as I am worried about them both. Pray for them both to be healthy!

We arrived at our bandas at around Noon. I have no idea what banda means, but it is sort of a hut/cabin. No electricity, but all of the essentials, bed, sheets, towels, mosquito net, hot water. Speaking of water, they heat it in a big pot over the camp fire. Perfect temperature for me, but most of our comrades complained of second degree burns. Later I will show you a picture of the outhouse/shower house. pretty scary, but what's the phrase, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. It was one of the best experiences here, and we all felt better staying somewhere were we were not pampered. I'm pretty sure it was still pampering by Kenyan standards, but by American standards I would call it primitive camping.

One of the first pictures is the dining hall banda looking straight up at the ceiling. We don't undertstand how they make it so water resistant. It rained and stormed but the straw thatched roof kept us dry. It was very tall too, I would say about 20 feet!.

The picture below is Nolan on our 4 hour hike through the rain forest. You should be very excited, because these pictures are from the tiny camera. Nolan was in charge of the zoom lense powerful canon, so all of the really good pictures will follow when he tells me how to upload them. :)



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