8 May Saturday

Soroti to Eldoret, Kenya
Leaving Soroti at 5 am (really!) in Martin’s (the clinic’s finance officer) friend Herbert’s van. Herbert’s family is from the area of Kenya where we are headed. Martin has never been out of Uganda. We are all excited! Crossing the border only took a little more than an hour. All of us were amazed at the large farms – much larger than the commonly seen farms in Uganda. The weather held for us, with little rain along the way. We arrived in Eldoret around noon, welcomed by my friend who is a volunteer professor at the School of Nursing at Moi University. She has been here since January and we are her first house guests.

Kerio View
Sunday morning we drove about 30 minutes away to have breakfast at Kerio View, a luxurious restaurant and lodge perched on the edge of the western ridge of the Rift Valley! We totally enjoyed the food, views and company. Well, except for the 3 bugs in Herbert’s coffee that I thought were cardamom seeds…oh well. Martin and Herbert had to return to Uganda in the afternoon. My friend took me around Eldoret and we even did a little shopping. Monday I was treated to an informal morning meeting with most of the Nursing School faculty. I was humbled to hear of their various interests – HIV was a theme, with intimate partner violence, community assessment and women’s health all important. Our afternoon was spent packing in preparation for the next four days.

Mt. Kenya
Tuesday morning our driver arrived (late) to take us to Nakura National Park and then on to Mt. Kenya. Nakura gave me my first views of African animals in Africa! We saw flamingos, zebras, impalas, gazelles, waterbucks, baboons, monkeys, rhinos, giraffes and a COBRA!! Luckily we were in the car. The roads deteriorated horrendously after that and our driver was visibly anxious as we entered terrain populated by a tribe that was made notorious by their violence after the most recent Kenya elections. We didn’t arrive at our destination til 8 pm! But it was well worth it. Understated elegance – we even had a fireplace in our room. We were disappointed to learn that the fee for doing a day-hike on Mt. Kenya was $345 per PERSON. That, plus the weather was AWFUL, made us agree that we were going to have to face a forced time of relaxation. Something that neither of us is very accustomed to doing. I went swimming in the lodge’s swimming pool and had a sauna.