From June 14 until June 23, 2012 I will be spending time in Kenya with CTC International, a non-profit organization based out of Austin, Texas. The Kenya blogs are part of a series documenting my own experiences, and do not in any way reflect the views of CTC International or the 2012 Medical Team.
I and my fellow CTC International Medical Team 2012 travelers (minus Joel and Josie who had a delayed flight from Salt Lake City, Utah) landed in Nairobi, Kenya at 11:00 p.m. on Saturday, after almost 28 hours of travel. We stayed the night in Nairobi at the Methodist Guest House. After a delicious buffet breakfast and an introduction to "Kenyan time" - we waited an extra two hours for our vans to arrive - we were finally on our way to Maai Mahiu.
First, we made a quick trip to the Village Market, an outdoor-mall establishment, complete with a food court. We bought snacks, wine, internet cards, exchanged USD for KSH - Kenyan Shillings (about 80-88 KSH per 1.00 USD, depending on where you are in Kenya) - and drank Diet Cokes from the bottle through a straw.
After the mall, we stopped at an outlook area right off the narrow road that wound down through the Kenyan hills. The rest stop had a small bar and snack kiosk and a cluster of art shops. The view was gorgeous: the Great Rift Valley. We took in the view and bought souvenirs from the slightly pushy shopkeepers.
The Great Rift Valley is approximately 3,700 miles long and spans from Northern Syria to Central Mozambique. It cuts right through the middle of Kenya. Seeing this supposed "birthplace of humanity" was staggeringly beautiful. The area is so dusty and dry (except in the rainy season), the Acacia trees, yucca, Century Plants, and the tall cactus-trees look so formidable. I wondered how anything could have flourished here? Yet, this is the so-called "birthplace of humanity" and there are still many peoples and tribes - like the Masaai - that eke out their living in this vast, spiny space.
This was such a great introduction to the beauty of East Africa.