African Conservation Fund: South Rift Exploratory 6-24 to 7-24-07

DesertRose

Safari Chick & Supporting Sponsor
Jambo everyone from Nairobi, Kenya! sorry if this is rushed, we're about to lose our electricity and thus internet.

I arrived one week ago, it's been a crazy time of mostly meetings - though I did get out to the bush, in Tanzania, for 2 days (more on that below).

I have many purposes for this trip, the foremost being scoping out some exciting opportunities for supporting a new South Rift Tourism Circuit that will benefit the Maasai communities 100% - an important conservation step. To do this I'll be picking up a Toyota HiLux later this week (the rental of which was made possible by a donation from an esteemed member of this group - thanks Ed!) - outfitted with a roof tent, Engel fridge, full camping kit - then I'm off on some project visits taking me from the Maasai Mara to Amboseli and then up to the Laikipia Plateau.

My biggest challenge is to convince my African colleagues that I can drive! (Women don't drive much here . . . let alone in the bush!)

I have just gotten back from a visit to a project we support in Tanzania, where I have just delivered a number of BoGo lights (see thread in Making a Difference) to a poor Maasai community. This community is very marginalized and poor - one of the poorest Maasai communities I've ever seen. Their homeland was taken away when Tarangire National Park was created during British protectorate times. Over the years they have been squeezed on all sides by encroachment of white and black farmers, and finally they are marooned in a small plot bordering Tarangire, where they try to eke out a living - not too successfully. They turn to poaching firewood as well as animals from the park, creating a bad situation for all.

The project we support is a small ecotourism camp owned by a Tanzanian, a Maasai - his name is Hagai Kissila. His small camp, Whistling Thorn Camp, has brought much needed funds to this little community. In just 2 years I've noticed marked improvements in health and ability to send children to school. Poaching is diminishing, and interest in preserving wildlife is improving as they see direct benefit from wildlife in the form of cash.

The kids were thrilled with the lights. Here are some photos - this is L'Engai and his sister and her kids. (You'll note that she has an enormous goiter; after our visit we took her to Arusha, where Hagai is paying for an operation for her).

The last shot is really fun - anywhere you go in Africa, walking on paths, you get a little train of kids following you and laughing. I took that shot over my shoulder!

Thanks to everyone for the donations - we'll be distributing more throughout the trip!


Roseann

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Great job Roseann!!

I love the pictures of the kids with the lights--what a great gift to bring. The Whistling Thorn Camp sounds superb. Right next to the park!!

Keep up the good work, have fun with your rig out in the bush and don't eat too much goat :shakin:
 

DaktariEd

2005, 2006 Tech Course Champion: Expedition Trophy
Way to go!
Keep up the updates!
:sombrero:

We need a safari-hat smiley...
:D
 

DesertRose

Safari Chick & Supporting Sponsor
desertgirl66 said:
Great job Roseann!!

I love the pictures of the kids with the lights--what a great gift to bring. The Whistling Thorn Camp sounds superb. Right next to the park!!

Keep up the good work, have fun with your rig out in the bush and don't eat too much goat :shakin:

Thanks Kristina!

The lights are an effort we promoted here:
http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5907


So far we've amassed 125 lights!
 

voyageur

Adventurer
B.O.B. is great...

Good Morning Roseann, Happy Fourth of July! Just wanted to let you know the B.O.B. arrived just fine. Great packing job - N0 damage...

My friend will be very happy to receive it.

Best of luck in the "Dark Continent"...

David
 

BajaTaco

Swashbuckler
Great photos Roseann! I look forward to reading more when you have a chance.

Good luck, be safe & have fun,

Chris
 

calamaridog

Expedition Leader
It's great to see the lights being put to good use.

I'm really quite pleased with the quality and functionality of the lights. My daughter uses hers often and we charge it right up.

She has dropped it a few times and such but the light is durable.

I will look forward to seeing more :)
 

DesertRose

Safari Chick & Supporting Sponsor
Reporting in from Kenya briefly - I'm in Nairobi for resupply and a meeting, then we're off to the Magadi region, in the Great Rift Valley in about an hour.

Just returned from 3 days in Amboseli National Park, where I took a team from Cincinnati Zoo's education division and Miami University's Earth Expeditions program. We successfully recruited them to run a new Earth Expedition in Kenya in partnership with African Conservation Centre. I rented 2 HiLux 4WD trucks from Tough Tracks in Naivasha; I drove one, and a team member from ACC drove one. They are fully kitted out with Eezi Awn tents, Engel fridges, stove, and all kitchen needs. They are very comfortable, and tackle the tough tracks really well despite less aggressive tires than I'd choose (Wrangler ATs) and not a ton of clearance, but the suspension is really tough. I need to crawl under and see what there is, but I can see sway bars and I think an extra leaf.

The folks are some of the most fun I've ever gone on safari with - my laugh muscles hurt! We not only saw awesome game - including one of the largest bull elephants any of us have ever seen, and he was about 20 feet from my truck - but also had good meetings and met some great people. Also saw most of Kilimanjaro for about 20 minutes at dawn - gorgeous! No good pics, it was too murky, but we loved it. The stars were also AMAZING - truly astonishing. Southern cross directly overhead.

We camped at the Kenya Wildlife Service campsite at the southeastern end of the park. Yesterday was the hardest day - we drove 200 miles, from the park's southeastern corner all the way back across the borderlands to the Kenya-Tanzania road, then to Nairobi. Nine hours of driving and two just to get through Nairobi traffic jams. It was difficult overland driving, with about 50 miles of tough tracks and lots of deep bulldust. I'm stiff today! (Nairobi is like bumper car driving without the bumpers and against huge trucks and crazy matatus - taxis.)

Thanks to a donation by Baja Overland (THANK YOU Kevin Speicher) of a GPS unit, Fugawi Maps of an East Africa map, and Graham Jackson for technical assistance (including an FTP of a calibrated Fugawi map!) we're starting to map a route for our 2008 debut of our Adventure Self-Drive Safaris, driving overland from the Maasai Mara to Amboseli.

Below are some shots - including the winner of "who can deploy the Eezi Awn fastest, the men or the women?" contest - less than 60 seconds (that's me!). The guys couldn't figure out how to release the ratchet. On the other hand, they bailed me out when I couldn't start the charcoal.

Off to the South Rift now - but I won't be near a computer til the 25th!

Kwaheri.


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goodtimes

Expedition Poseur
Hey! Aren't you supposed to be working?!?! Quit having so much fun. You are making all of us working stiffs jealous.

:arabia:
 

Desertdude

Expedition Leader
Looks like a fine outfitted vehicle to be traveling with. Interesting they chose to mount the tent up front. Better access to the spare and gas I imagine. It does look dusty!

Thanks for the updates, stay well. :arabia:
 

DesertRose

Safari Chick & Supporting Sponsor
Checking in from the field . . . got back last night from a week in the South Rift of Kenya, just a few miles from the Tanzania border. This is a primary focal area of our conservation support work. We stayed at a modest camp on the Nguruman Escarpment, a gorgeous place overlooking the vast river, swamp, and savannahs sweeping across the floor of the Rift Valley. Here are a few shots from a sighting while driving to a meeting at Oloika, the village of Shompole community.

The first shot is captioned:

"Why you need to be careful out bushwalking." Look closely!

All images taken with a 50mm lens.

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I'm leaving shortly for the Maasai Mara region for three days then I depart for the north, the Laikipia Plateau via the Aberdares. Will be delivering more BoGo lights to a village up there.

Won't be back online til I hit the airport on Tuesday the 24th.

Kwaheri all!
 
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DesertRose

Safari Chick & Supporting Sponsor
Last report and then I fly home!

Had a very eventful last 10 days at the Masai Mara and then up in the Laikipia Plateau.

The national highway to the Mara is insanity - about 10% pavement and the rest potholes the size of large trucks, plus a large volume of traffice, still driven at 90 kph plus.

Here are some images from the trip . . . more when I return.

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Finally - some low-range 4x4 action. A huge flood in the Mara in December caused enormous gully creation and lots of challenging roads.


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Stopping at the school, these kids were planting trees. Still a traditional area, the lady there is holding a gourd full of milk, which we bought.

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View from our campsite at the Mara.

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Overlooking the Great Rift Valley
 

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