Group A. Naomi, Yiling & Ella

To pick up from the last blog … One we deplaned, excited to stretch our legs and grab our bags… except that, the bags are still in Amsterdam. Dr. Lougheed filled out the forms and KLM said they would be on the flight tomorrow evening at the same time. Relived that our bags were not completely lost, we stepped outside, grateful for the fresh air. The fresh air was not short-lived though as we could not find our ride to Kolping Conference Centre. Eventually, after 30 minutes of wandering and investigating, we suddenly saw the biggest truck we ever saw reading to bring us to Kolping. After beautiful night drive and 10 minutes of trying to pull into the driveway, we finally made it to the conference centre and went to bed, falling asleep to the sound of Montane Nightjar’s songs.

We woke up the next day fairly late, (we could afford it because we had nothing to get ready with), met Jana (who arrived early this morning) and went right to breakfast at 8:30 for our first Kenyan meal. After breakfast, we convened on the covered outside patio. We had formal introductions and discussed the assignments we would be completing over the next 2 weeks. We also met Carol, Mukhtar, and our TA Cletus. We discussed biases towards Africa, as well as Kenyan history and geography. Miranda shared many fun facts. We had the rest of the day free to relax and recover from our jet-lag, so after our meeting we set out and began to explore the property around the conference centre. We had a blast identifying species we had never seen before. Yiling used her birding skills and binoculars to identify a menagerie of Kenyan birds, including Hadada Ibis, many Black Kites, the beautiful African Paradise-flycatcher, African Palm Swifts, Speckled Mousebirds, Northern Fiscals, Pied Crows, Common Bulbuls, Ruppel’s Robin-Chats, Variable Sunbirds, White-browed Sparrow-Weavers, Baglafecht Weavers, African Pied Wagtails, and Streaky Seedeaters. There is also an exciting diversity of plants on the property. Many are not native but were introduced as ornamental plants because they do well in the warm environment. Beautiful Wax Mallows, Giant Stripy Bamboo, Coatbuttons, Some very large cacti (possibly Senita Cactus), Silky oak, Garden Croton, and Crimson Bottle Brush, as well as an array of interesting plants that were harder to identify.

After having a wonderful lunch, and cleaned our dishes, we went to the local Galleria Mall. We bought snacks, souvenirs, and other essentials. Selena and Yiling had their first experience at bartering, they did their best! On the way back, we saw a beautiful, huge, white, sacred ibis flyby, how wonderful! We also marvelled at the Kenyan landscape. The re-entrance to the KCC was very successful compared to last night. After getting off the bus, we split off, and relaxed. The birds slowly stopped their songs as the night falls, and the night creatures started their shift. We were lucky to encounter a gecko, and an Abyssinian Thrush (why is it awake?). Amadahy, Lacey, Akila, Naomi, and Yiling went looking for frogs, but instead they found a stick insect and another gecko. We then ate supper, the beef was very yummy! Later that night, Amadahy, Lacey, Akila, Naomi, Yiling, Suzy, and Serena climbed all the way up to the roof of the truck to see the views. We went to bed still exhausted after two full days of travel.