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FINAL DAYS AT KBC & AFTER PROGRAM ADVENTURES

DOCUMENTED ON JANUARY 17, 2009, finished on February 28, 2009

Sunday December 7, 2008

Well, today was the culmination of our work on the directed research projects. We started early as usual, with breakfast at 7:00 AM and by Kiringe's orders, by 8:30 the chumba was transformed from our messy dining and studying area to a conference hall. We covered our cluttered cubbies with beautiful striped shukas and gathered every chair in the entire camp, placing them to face the projector screen.

Everyone was spiffed up and dressed to impress. Manuel even whipped out a classy shirt he had been saving in his suitcase just for the occasion! Well, we were all ready by probably 9:00 and the presentations weren't set to begin until 10:00. All the Land Cruisers were out collecting those we had interviewed and collected data from during the DR process. The drivers had already hit the road by the time I got up for 6:00 cook crew! So since the chumba was ready, we were ready, and all that we needed was our audience, we had some time to relax, listen to music, and just enjoy each other's company since our time together is actually coming to an end. :(

Finally 10:00 came and the presentations began. Kiringe's group went first. I wish I could say that I heard it, but the sound didn't travel very well to the holding tank where we were just outside the chumba, but from what I could hear, they did a good job, and collected some very useful data. I was surprised by the amount of Maasai words they used, or at least Maasai names for plant species, I didn't realize they would be using it that much. After Kiringe's group presented, Kioko gave a presentation on the research he has been doing on elephants. Again, I couldn't hear it very well, and I was in the study banda for a portion of it, so I missed all of that.

Next up, was my group, Tome's! I was not an official presenter, but rather a question answerer. Anyway, our presenter's were going along nicely, annunciating and talking at a good pace, you know, all that kind of stuff that makes a presentation smooth. Then the number 450 million Kenyan Shillings came up and the crowd went wild. There was clicking and head shaking and a lot of discontent uttered. Why? Well, the 450 Ksh is the revenue generated by Amboseli National Park, not profits, but revenue. Nevertheless, it's a lot of money, in Kenya and in the States! Tome actually stepped in to clarify that it was revenue not profits, but the crowd was still quite discomforted by the number. Surprisingly, for all the noise they made during the presentation at that and other monetary figures, no one had any major questions for us, and I never actually had to utter a word during the question session which made me a little sad actually. I wish I had more of an active role, although I did pass up the opportunity to be a presenter, so I have no one to thank but myself.

Anyway, Kiringe stepped in and gave a passionate speech, calling for everyone in the Amboseli-Tsavo area to band together to make community conservation initiatives a reality in southern Kenya. After hearing the crowd grumble over the revenue Amboseli has in a year, he reminded folks that they could have their own Amboseli, there's no need for KWS or the Kenyan government to be a part of its management. His passion was met with crowd approval and was a pretty spectacular end to a long morning/afternoon of sitting and listening.

Afterwards the entire audience joined us for a meal at KBC. It was probably the best picnic I have ever been to, hands down. Everyone was happy and jovial.

We finished off the night by watching the YouTube video Muffins a half dozen times. I know what you're thinking, unimaginative Americans, but seriously, I have never enjoyed watching that more with anyone besides Kim Wu!

Monday December 8, 2008

Well now that DR is complete and classes are done we had today to do whatever we wished, for the most part. For most of us that meant time to being packing - but not before one last spear throwing behind the right side bandas! I am really going to miss spear throwing, and I'm so glad I took it up before I left! Who knows someday I might really go deer hunting with that spear, it should be put to use right? Haha

Tuesday December 9, 2008

Today could definitely be called a day of reflection I suppose. This morning we had a talk with all the professors, Seno, Daniel, Sipaya, Sarah, Marius, and Njao and just collected everyone's thoughts on the program. Did it meet or exceed expectations? What could be improved? Things like that. We all agreed that it was the best semester we had ever had, no one could have prepared us for a more amazing time. It's been a great three months and personally I'm not even close to ready to leave. It's going to be tough, but I'm thankful for the lessons I've learned here. I think I grew a lot as a person and I'm so happy to have met so many people. It amazes me that despite the mileage between our origins in the States, there was little drama and dislike shared between people. Beyond that, KBC will always have a place in my heart. It was my first real adventure away from home and it has been nothing but incredible. It's been a lesson in wildlife, land use changes, land tenure, human-wildlife conflict, national parks, and above all human ecology. I am so happy to have had the opportunity, and words can't fully express what it means to me.

Late in the day we met with just Sarah and talked a little about returning home, the horrible reality of Stage II reverse culture shock, and keeping in touch. She had us do a little exercise where we poured water into a pitcher and told of a gift we wanted to give each and every one of our fellow students. Gifts ranged from happiness, to adventure, safety, memories to muffins!! I had to give muffins, but honestly what I didn't say was that muffins were a sense of humor in disguise because I think that all of our combined sense of humors and willingness to get along were what made this semester so amazing.

Then, more packing - or cramming I should say, good luck to my pack being under 50 pounds! Finally, I had my last shower in the shadow of Kilimanjaro - that is until I return to Kenya!

Dinner and the after party were definitely the highlight of today. We rearranged the chumba and brought in enough chairs for the entire staff to each in it with us and then some people even decorated. We had pizza and chapatti with onion and tomato salad! Delicious! Then immediately after dinner I gave the final presentation as MOD. It was a powerpoint with my favorite quote, from Edward Abbey with some of my favorite pictures from the semester. Basically I just wanted to remind people of some of the amazing things we saw and did (not that you could forget just yet). Anyway, then Megan came up and revealed our secret planning that she had spearheaded weeks before, while we were at NPS - gifts for all the staff to show our thanks for all they did. I have never seen so much happiness in one room! I'll try to list all the gifts, but I may miss some. Thermoses for the askaris, a volleyball for Ngala, a mousepad and headphones for Njao, a t-shirt for Kioko, tapes for Charles, cleats for Sipaya, sunglasses and a sweater for our resident model Daniel, aprons for the kitchen staff (and those who like to hang close by the door), a hat and watch for Abdi, a hat and camo belt for Harrison, a box of candy and some CDs for Okello, a lab coat with hand drawn birds by Haley for Kiringe, a wild print lab coat made by the tailor in Kimana for Tome, a new shirt for Seno, our resident Kenyan cowboy, and something for Marius, which has escaped me for the moment.

The staff professed their thanks to us in the form of Okello giving a passionate speech of his where he explained how they couldn't believe we had been working on the gifts without the staff knowing. Song and dance followed, with Okello throwing in his own war cries (or I guess in this case extreme happiness cries) and jumping. Then Daniel sang one of his favorite religious songs, one he had had shared with us around the campfire in Tsavo as well.

The fun wasn't over, Katherine and Tommy surprised Sarah with a video they put together where each of us vocalized the things we love most about Sarah. There were tears, laughter, hugs and a whirlwind of other emotions, but I think we can all agree that it was by far the best meal we ever had together at KBC.

Wednesday December 10, 2008

The day began early as usual, breakfast at 7:00 (on the menu along with the usual was cold leftover pizza - entertaining given the fact we are on our way back to our American college kid lifestyle). The chumba was a mess, people were running around grabbing things in their cubbies, throwing things they didn't want to carry home in the large metal bins by the chalkboard, packs and suitcases laid about - some light but most about to burst at the seams. The bandas emptied out one by one as we loaded the Rhino and climbed into the Cruisers for our last journey as a group. Seven hours or so in the car were ahead of us and there was definitely reluctance in the air. We said goodbye to staff not accompanying us for the ride - to avoid the sadness of seeing students leave them yet again, our professors didn't hang around very long.

So began our journey home. We stopped at the usual stops, the Curio shop just before the tarmac road. As usual they wanted us to spend, spend, spend after all, those Kenya shillings aren't going to be of much use back in the States! Our final stop as one large group was at Nakumatt, just a few minutes from the airport. The seven of us travelling afterwards got left there, waiting for a taxi that Sarah called for us. A little sketchy? Maybe, but we were free, on our own, ready to explore Kenya!!

Well, a three hour taxi ride later, Emma, Josh, Nic, Tommy, Catie, Tori and I arrived at our hostel in a residential neighborhood of Nairobi. Traffic was horrible and we had to stop at the bus station to get our tickets to Uganda for the next day, so by the time we got in we were tired and hungry. Ben was there too after riding to the airport with the gang he landed at the hostel about three hours earlier! It felt good to reach our destination, but sad to know we left our friends, however tomorrow a new adventure begins! Plus that curry Emma and I had for dinner was AMAZING!