Day Three and Four

Day Three and Four were much like Day Two of Orientation. We did mix up the morning sunset though each morning. On Day Three we did Yoga as the sun rose up over the giant Lake Nakuru National Park Hill. We did three sessions of orientation stuff with tea and snacks intertwined. Our second game drive ended up being awesome. We found three lions (simbas) on a fallen tree just off the path. Our bus got within ten feet of them which provided for some awesome pictures. We also got to go down to a “water fall” as Jane told us it would be. Unfortunately it is not the rainy season so there was no water flowing but because of that we were able to go under where the falls would be and explore the cave behind it. Day Fours sunrise was on top of a hill like mountain of which we could see the entire lake and all of the surrounding area. Again, I have great pictures and videos. Later on in Day Four, we were taught a real lesson. There are three different times in Kenya, all of which have specific characteristics. Before I list them there is a word and acronym of which you must become familiar with. The first is Mzungu. This is what Kenyans call white people. Everyone seems to have their own definition but from what I’ve gathered it means white explorer. This is traced back to early colonial times. It’s not derogatory and we are called this name all the time. The acronym T.I.A. is also very important. T.I.A. means “This Is Africa”. We say this all the time when something that would only happen in Africa happens. When you have to make sure that your doors are locked at all times, that the bus windows are closed and locked and that you leave no possessions out in the open for more than ten seconds for fears of baboons barging in your room, stealing your stuff or terrorizing the bus, it is appropriate to say T.I.A. Special Note: There are no baboons in Nairobi but staying five days inside an African national park provides special considerations. So, the three times are as follows:
Mzungu time: This is what all of us Americans view time as. It is appropriate to be a little early or on time but do not be too late or you will offend someone/lose your job.
Kenya time: If a dinner party starts at 6pm, expect people to be arriving from the hours of 8pm all the way to 11pm. No one is offended by this. It’s Kenya.
T.I.A. time: Who knows. There is no way to calculate how late this person will be. If you expect a bus to be there in less than 10 minutes (true story), expect it in 1 to 5 business days.

Now is a good time to talk about our bus. Kenyan buses are not driven like our run of the mill bluebird buses. They are driven like a combination of an ATV and an M1 tank. There is no pot hole, steep climb, tight passage, or dirt road that it will not take on. The ride is not like a roller coaster, it is a roller coaster. Hold on to your stuff because it will go flying in the next five minutes. Three people have also suffered minor cuts and bumps. This poses certain problems though with durability. As we were climbing the hill to see the sunset in the morning, the bus died four times. Luckily we were able to get all the way up but it was an adventure on the way down because there was no stopping, just free flying. We knew that this day we were going to go visit the Ogyeck (sp?) tribe in very rural Kenya. They are a tribe of hunters and gatherers who live in the forest that have survived despite the government’s efforts to force them out. Anyways, the bus was found to have a problem with the fuel pump. We were told that we weren’t going to be able to go but then a few minutes later we found out that we were going to try to make it into town on the bus so that we could shop around while the bus got fixed. About an hour later we were told the bus would not be fixed in time so we were trying to get another bus from our hostel to come pick us up. It was supposed to be on its way. Fast forward three hours. The bus finally gets there. Fast forward a half hour. We are on the side of the road about ten minutes away from where we are picked up. Another breakdown? No. The new bus driver didn’t know where we were going, a very rural place that no car should even attempt to travel, and he said the new bus would not make it there. But we also found out that the old bus would be done soon. We only waited for the old bus for about ten minutes which was nice but we did finally make it out to see the Ogyeck many many hours late. Jane even said that was not Kenya time, it was T.I.A. time. Ten minutes turned into hours. It was really interesting to see the Ogyeck. The government is on a mission to assimilate them into modern Kenya society so that the forest can be logged or so that the land can be used for farming or other development. They have resisted and are standing strong despite being forced to live by means outside their comfort zone. Recently they have had to start learning to farm. Being hunters and gatherers, nothing was ever needed to be grown. They are slowly learning and are managing to get by. It was our last night at Lake Nakuru so we had a camp fire, sang songs (we do that a lot) and had some bro pillow talk at night. Lake Nakuru was such a great experience but it was sad knowing that I wasn’t going to be seeing the people in my group every day. Tomorrow we meet our families.