Another early morning today. Everyone was rushing around trying to fit all their stuff into the same bags that they arrived with, eat breakfast, and pack the lorry. We left the camp for the last time at 6:50 am waving to the staff that could not come with us. I was in Erica’s car for the four to five hour drive to the Ta/Ky border. Because of all the packing that had to get done everyone was really tired and dozed off and on for the first two hours of the drive. We made one stop to go to the bathroom at which point I switched from middle of the car to the passenger seat. Erica and I talked for the remained of the drive as we passed a country club, road construction (with lots of soil erosion), and one of the SFS staff on days off in his home town! Mostly the scenery was flat grass or bushland until we got within 20 kms of Kenya. There was a short range of mountains that reared right above the border and sharply contrasted with the surrounding flat bushland. We pulled up within the border crossing area, filled out exit forms, and said good bye to our Tanzanian drivers. Erica and a member of the Kenya staff helped us get our passports stamped and gathered us into an area to wait while the Kenya group was organized. We waited for a long time and still the other group was not ready. During this waiting period Erica brought over the Kenya SAM Molly so we had some time to chat with her. Finally Erica had us cross the road to meet the other group while they were being processed by immigration. They also have 29 students yet they seemed a larger group since there was no familiar faces. Our time mixing was very short because we soon continued on into Kenya. This border crossing meant walking thru this mix of stalls selling all manner of things (all very overpriced of course) to a high metal fence and proceeding through a gate. I have a picture of the sign immediately after the fence saying “You are now entering Kenya”. The other side did not look very different. There were Maasai women and men trying to sell sandals, jewelry, and food everywhere, cars and trucks slowly weaving through each other either going or coming from Tanzania, and plenty of chickens and dogs running around to add to the general chaos. Staff from KBC met us and we were introduced to our drivers and reacquainted with the program assistant Martin. The luggage was already transferred to the Kenyan cruisers which were parked a short hike away at a tourist hotel. Getting to the hotel we had cold sodas, clean bathrooms, and comfy chairs at our disposal. We spent another hour and a half or so here chatting and relaxing while immigration stamped our student visas. I had been the first to get my passport stamped but apparently all our student visas needed to be stamped and approved as well. With a two hour drive still in front of us I was very eager to get going despite the rare comfort of big chairs with cushions and cold sodas. Around 3pm we were loading into the cruisers (I choose Molly’s so I could pick her brain about KBC and get to know her) and headed out. The rough dirt road and bushland looked the same as on the Tanzanian side but as we left town we saw fewer and fewer people besides the occasional herd of cattle or goats with herdsman. After a little over an hour we approached the Amboseli National Park gates and the drivers suddenly took a left on to what even I would hesitate to call a track through the shrub/grassland. It costs money to drive through the park so we were going on locally used roads on the edge of the park (aka cattle tracks). I thought this was fantastic as we bumped and jostled our way across uneven ground and avoided huge gullys created by soil erosion from heavy rains. The sky was going from full sun toward evening, which I have already told you cast the most amazing light onto the landscape. Kili was not visible but we could see the outline of the base which foreshadows the height to be seen on a clear day. We drove the last 20km to camp on a beautiful tarmac road before turning right onto a well maintained gravel road. This road wound through some more acacia bushland and past the local secondary boarding school before bringing us to the rust red gate complete with smiling Maasai watchmen that was the entrance to KBC.
The camp is much, much bigger than Moyo (thank god) and we could immediately see bandas on both sides of the road set many yards back from the driveway. All the roofs were thatched with a sharp peak and small dormer like structured for the windows. All along the drive there is a beautiful bush with purple flowers and there are lots of yellow bark acacias providing shade. Some people describe the feel of summer camp but it looks like a real field station to me. The chumba (dining hall/classroom) has a high ceiling with many beams and older wooden table shaped in a U around a podium/projector/chalkboard at the front and center. Another bonus is that every chair I have seen so far is large enough for an average human and is not made of metal which will poke you. The kitchen is at the bottom of the U and has a hallway for us to go along and get food. The best part is that from the driveway the chumba has a porch and a big opening which you can walk between the kitchen hallway and the bottom of the U and straight out the other side. Here is another porch, bigger and with a few seats and benches looking out over a large grassy area with fire pit close to the porch, student banda on either side, a volleyball court, and beyond all of this a far fire pit in a clearing with a thatched gazebo and chairs before a path continues into the forest area within camp. It is glorious with wide open spaces, many birds, and tall acacia trees. You can really stretch here and spread out….a very nice change from Moyo where I felt like I was tripping over everyone all the time. Back in the chumba and at the front of the U (top of the right arm if you are standing at the bottom) is the door into the library and computer room. This was a lovely discovery since it has to be twice if not more times larger than the library at Moyo and the computer room has more than three chairs and they are all comfy!!!!! But back outside. We were divided into three groups and given quick tours of the camp. The bandas hold up to four people. There are four beds on wooden frames about 2 feet off the floor and the space is split into four corners by half-wall height storage units for each bed/person. Since we are keeping the space living arrangements from Moyo this gives Jess, Steph and I a whole empty corner to store bags and extra stuff. The bathrooms/showers are separate from the bandas and sit on either side of the chumba. Staff and faculty housing are very removed from us and give the professors their own space and privacy. One really cool thing they have right next to the chumba are twelve raised solar panels on metal poles that swivel. It is the MOD’s job to turn the panels each morning to catch the rising sun’s rays and again in the afternoon to get the evening light. The power is stored directly in a huge battery which powers the chumba and therefore the kitchen, all the lights inside the classroom/library/computer room, as well as all the outlets for us to charge our electronics. After the tours we hauled our luggage to our bandas (I’m now in Encorongoru….meaning Bush baby!) and unpack a little bit before dinner. The food was very good. They had a bowl of cut cucumber, tomato, and green pepper and the meat especially was much more tender than Moyo. The rest of the evening was spent unpacking and watching The Lion King on the excellent TV in the chumba. Walking back to the banda (carefully after many many warnings about snakes, scorpions and other fun biodiversity) the stars were amazing. I know I said that at Moyo also but they were even brighter and more impressive here. Even at Moyo the lights from the bandas made the stars dimmer. Here all lights cut off at 11pm and the sky just lights up with starlight. There is no light pollution so it gets really dark and you can see everything above you. However as beautiful as it was the long day was finally taking effect. I slid into my sleeping bag and watched the sky out of my little banda window as I fell asleep.
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