A hike diverted...

Although living in Kenya is great, there are certain freedoms I miss about living in North America- one of them being the freedom to go on a hike without a guard/protection. I completely forgot about this small requirement on Saturday when Emily and I made our way to the lush Ngong Hills. We took two matatus early on Saturday morning, bumping along the road, listening to Tupac at full blast. Just a note- all matatus (small buses) have great sound systems and they love to pump the music out to the entire city- it is a fun adventure when the music is good. We arrived in Ngong city centre and walked towards the ranger station where we were then pointed in the direction to start the hike.

We hiked for about 30 minutes at an 80 degree angle and finally reached the start of the hike, where we were then told that we needed to hire a guard to accompany us on the hike. That was not a problem, but the problem was that it cost 2000 ksh, about $30 USD, and together Emily and I had 900 ksh. The rangers would not let us hike alone due to the grazing animals and frequent grazing thieves. So, we sat down had a bite to eat and came up with plan B. Plan B consisted of walking about to Ngong Centre and taking matatus to Karen where we spent the afternoon walking in Karen and checking out craft stores.


One great find was the Kazuri Bead factory. It was established in the 1970s and is a factory where women from Kibera (local slum) work- making beads, pottery, painting, etc. The result is beautiful and I have attached some photos.





Rewind to Friday night- awesome outdoor concert at Alliance Francaise, which highlighted African Fusion music. African Fusion is a combination of modern/rock African music and it was amazing!! The setting was fabulous, the music was fantastic and the crowd was energetic- can’t ask for much more really.

Sunday was the usual dive class and then Swahili lesson. Sunday has become ideal in Nairobi. The dive club is a great place to relax and catch up with friends. Lazing by a pool in March is such a novelty.

Next weekend Emily, Dana and I are participating in a 10K run called “Heart Run Kenya”- should be fun. Emily is off to Mombasa- on the coast (Monday-Thursday) and I have another busy work week with more team members from the UK and Sub Saharan Africa visiting.

Hope all weekends were great across the globe!

For more photos go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amandainkenya/