The Road to Tsavo

Wednesday morning arrived bright and early, and off we went to the Tsavo National Park region in the southeastern area of the country, headed for a safari. Here are some of the scenes along the way.

Claudia

(Photo credit: Claudia Daggett and Laurel Seid)

(Photo credit: Claudia Daggett and Laurel Seid)

Arrival

We arrived in Nairobi this evening and were met by Steven Labarakwe, Joseph Lekuton's friend and our guide and host during our stay. "Jambo!" and "Sopa!" were exchanged as we tried out our new Swahili and Maa greetings. We had the additional delightful surprise of being greeted by a Cape Cod Academy friend's brothers-in-law: Edward and Katampe Surum, with Edward in traditional Maasai dress.

We were then whisked off to the Stanley Hotel, where we enjoyed dinner with Joseph and Steven. Kuku wa Kupaka was the choice of all of the Americans at the table -- a local favorite featuring chicken, ugali (a polenta-like side), and sukumawiki (chopped kale). It was a day of much travel, surprises, and good fellowship.

Claudia

Photos: Steven Labarakwe, upper left; Joseph Lekuton, upper right; the Surums with me, bottom (Photo credit: Laurel Seid)

En route: Zurich

Most Americans traveling to Kenya make a flight connection in a European city. For us, it was Zurich, and our layover was a generous 23 hours. The break was good for jet-lag recovery and provided an interesting side-trip. Adventures included jumping off a moving train, criss-crossing rivers as we walked through the city, taking in the Marc Chagall windows in the Fraumunster Kirche, and a hearty lunch of sausage. For the flight to Africa: Swiss chocolate!

Claudia

Departure

After eleven hours awaiting and then re-arranging a flight from Boston, Muddy, Jamie, and I are finally in the air. While we originally planned to meet Laurel at JFK Airport in NY to connect to a flight to Zurich, our Jet Blue shuttle flight had first a mechanical failure and then a weather delay. Fortunately, we were able, ultimately, to get a direct flight from Boston putting us in Zurich only three hours later than originally planned. Our original JFK-Zurich flight seemed to go off without a hitch with Laurel aboard. So, our group will be fully constituted in Switzerland in the morning.

Claudia

Photo: Green Sails, Swiss Air, Logan Airport Terminal E (Photo credit: Claudia Daggett)

Vocabulary primer: A little Maa, a little Swahili

We depart tomorrow! A friend, whose late husband was Maasai, gave me this vocabulary primer that may be helpful to us as we greet our hosts.

In Maa:
Greeting, as in "Hi, how's it going?": "Sopa!" (Soap-ah)
Response: "Sopa" or "Sopa oleng"
Thank you: "Ashe" (Ahsh-ey)
Thank you very much: "Ashe oleng"
Goodbye: "Ole Seri" (Oh-lay sayri).

In Swahili:
Thank you very much: "Jambo! Assante sana"
Goodbye: "Kwaheri"

We'll see if we can develop our understanding beyond this point as the next two weeks unfold!

Claudia Daggett

Money

Kenya shillings exchange today at a rate of about 80 KSh to 1 U.S. dollar. It will be interesting to adjust to the value as we travel about the country.

The notes come in denominations of 50, 100, 200, 500, and 1000. On the back, lovely scenes of Kenya are depicted. Early bills feature Jomo Kenyata, Kenya’s first president (1963-1978), on the front. According to EyeWitness Travel Kenya (DK, 2009), Kenyatta’s image was replaced by the face of Kenya’s second president, Daniel arap Moi (1978-2001), in 1980. In 2005, the country returned to the use of Kenyatta’s image on the bills.

EyeWitness Travel Kenya offers some facts about the economy that I plan to keep in mind as we take in this experience:

• Agriculture is a major source of revenue with considerable export business in tea, coffee, exotic vegetables, and fresh flowers. (Did you know that Kenya is the world’s largest exporter of roses?)

• Since the 1970’s, tourism has become increasing important to the country’s economy and is now the biggest foreign exchange earner.

• Despite periodic downturns due to the effects of drought, political instability and corruption, Kenya has experienced fairly steady economic growth. Per capita income in Kenya grew at least threefold from 1975 to 2006. The country was removed from the International Monetary Fund’s list of countries requiring debt relief in 2005 and is now considered a self-sufficient developing nation.

I am working, in my own mind, on integrating this information with the images and information in the news of profound poverty in urban areas such as Kiberia in Nairobi and in the more remote rural areas of the country.

Claudia Daggett

Reading: Unbowed

Having read Joseph Lekuton’s Facing the Lion, I have been eager to continue to read about Kenya from a Kenyan’s perspective. Much of what is published and readily available comes from a western point of view, often an American or European who has been transplanted, is visiting in order to do good works, or is exploring as a tourist. This makes Wangari Muta Maathai’s book, Unbowed, a particular treasure.

In Unbowed: A Memoir (New York: Anchor Books, 2006), Maathai offers her personal perspective as a Kikuyu woman born in 1940 who, through personal courage and perseverance, has made a significant impact on her country’s environmental movement and political system. She is the founder of the Green Belt Movement, an organization that has responded to the devastating effects of the deforestation of Kenya by engaging vast networks of rural women to plant over 40 million trees since 1977. She served in the Kenya Parliament from 2002 to 2007 and as Assistant Minister for the Environment from 2003 to 2007. In 2004, she became the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

Maathai's memoir begins with her childhood and early schooling in the village of Ihithe and the town of Nyeri in the central highlands of Kenya and moves to her university study in the United States and Germany. She describes her emergence as a social activist in an era when voicing dissenting opinion was not welcomed by the Kenyan government and her eventual success as a national leader. Maathai gives us a window on Kenya’s recent history: the shift in culture, economy, politics, and the environment that has taken place over the first 60 of her now 70 years.

I found the writing in Unbowed to be straightforward to the point of being a bit stiff at times. The read is well worth it, however, since there are many understandings to be gleaned: from cultural practices to the impact of outsiders on a native culture, to economic stresses, to the power of democracy. Her work combines the notions of replenishing the land, empowering the rural poor, and promoting peaceful collaboration among the many ethnic and tribal groups in Kenya.

Claudia Daggett


This trailer from the PBS documentary, "Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai," gives a brief introduction to Maathai, her perspective, and her work:

Book image: http://greenbeltmovement.org/w.php?id=56
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5GX6JktJZg&feature=player_embedded#!

Wildebeest migration & the dwindling Mara River

This evening's episode of 60 Minutes featured the wildebeest migration from the Serengeti in Tanzania to the Maasai Mara in Kenya. Eye Witness Travel: Kenya reports that the annual migration involves up to 2.5 million animals over approximately 40,000 square miles (DK: London, 2009, pp. 124-125).

According to 60 Minutes, this is the last of the migrations of this magnitude in existence involving mammals -- with possibly only butterflies comparing in number. The migration is at risk due to the diminution of the Mara River as a result of deforestation.

The wildebeest are likely to be traveling north in Tanzania while we are in Kenya such that we'll miss this spectacle. It is a pleasure to see the event recorded, at least, and edifying to have some emerging sense of the environmental issues faced in East Africa.

Claudia Daggett

Video credit:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6646126n&tag=cbsnewsMainColumnArea.2