This weekend we ventured out to Kakamega Rainforrest which is about 50 miles north of Kismum in the Vihiga Distirct. It is the only rainforrest reserve in Kenya an stretches for about about 30 kilometres. We decided that rather than doign an expensive packah\ge tour we would backpack it as a group as theose sorts of companies completley rip you off especially when it is so close! We managed to haggle down a matatu on saturday morning which went to Kakamega town...an hour later we arrived in the town, but in the wrong place to catch the bus to the forrest! You would have thought that it was quite obvious, but the sleepy shanty town appeared not to be used very many torrist as i think most muzungus bypass the town! After a lot of haggling we managed to get this guy to take us in his VW caravan! The guest house we were staying in was situated in the heart fo the forrest in a small clearing...we were staying in Bandas, which are like luxury mud huts with beds and mosquito nets, they were so charming! They slept four people and i have to say had mroe space than our mintute flat we are staying in, in Kisumu! lol When we eventually arrived after half an hour of being thrown about in the VW, our guide, called Moses, greeted us and offered to take us on our first 'short walk' at 1.30, befreo the rains! Apparently, it rains everyday at about 3.30-4, i knew trhere was a reason it was called a Rainforrest! Im glad we were there during the colder season because it can reach late 30s and is really humid! Our first walk took us through a circular root in the forrest and Moses gave us information about the wild life as we went along... apparently the forrest i home to over 400 types of butterflys, 34 kinds of snakes, thousands of differnet species of birds and 7 types of monkeys...not forgetting thousands off insects! The noise of the forrest was just unbelievable! We ddint ssee very many animals but we did manage to see 4 monkeys, the blue common monkey, the red monkey and the rarest black and white monkey! they were amazing, and cliched as it sounds, just like off telly! It really felt like i was ion somekind off BBC doccumentary trapsing through the rainforrest searching for monkeys or something! He also pointed out many interesting trees... one of them was hollow and held over 60 litres of water, where as another one cured prostate cancer! (dont ask me how they foud that one out!) One of the most inetersting things was how the differenet trees compete for space, eg the Fig tree always wraps itself around other trees and suffocates them, it looked quite amazing! Moses also explained about the deforrestation whcuih happened in the early 20th century, reducing the forrest to a tnth of its size! It was quite shocking seeing a random clearing... the gvernement has now introduced tea plantations around the edge of the forrest to offer alternative employment to the locals rather than relying of the wood from the forrest. That night we went to bed really early beacues we planend to do a big walk to see the sunrise int he 'morning'! At 4.45am i awoke with a strange dream of a buzzing noise and then realised it was the alarm! gggr! We left the camp at 5 am and walked 8 km to the top of the highest hill in the forrest just in time for the sunrise...it was hard work on an empty stomack but was deffinately worth it! It was quite a cloudy day but you could still see the sun peeping through and it was immense. From the view point you could see the mist on top of the trees and the meandering river, it was like a scene form the Lord of the Rings! The noise of the forrets awakiong was also so cool, the monkeys started cooing to eachother! When we gto back to the camp we had chapatis and chair and then relaxed for a while before getting back on a matatu to town because some people needed to go into town and there wasnt really much to do there... the journey back was itself an adventure! After 5 mins the engine overheated.... then we had a puncture...the the engine competley concked out! Typical! We waited an hour or so while they fiddled about before the driver admitted defeat and called his mate to some as a repalcement! I have really settled into my placement now and am getting into a routine at Noble Homes, teaching the orphans. Today we have been into town and brought a whole load of paper and pencils for them as it is impossible for them to emeber anything unless they write it down... hopefully it will help! We seem to be attracted moe and more children as they go home and tell their other friends they are being taught by Muzungus! Bring it on!