Kenya, here we come!

The last three days have been a whirlwind of activity. Gifts for our hosts, last minute additions to our itinerary (including a visit to a Kenyan orphanage), copying of safari receipts and passports, checking that we have camera chargers and cords, purchasing of comfortable (and really corny) sandals, printing out curriculum material to fill the long hours on the plane, and of course the dreaded packing!

But now we're ready to head to Kenya. For Meredith this will be her second trip to Kenya and her third trip to the continent. For Jessie this is all brand new. We are both so excited for this wonderful opportunity - we keep saying, "hey, wanna go to Kenya tomorrow?".

Tomorrow we will depart JFK at 11 in the morning and land in Dubai sometime early the next morning. We'll spend 7 hours there and venture out to check it out. Then it's back on a plane for another long flight before we land in Nairobi at 7 pm local time on Saturday (which is about noon NYC time). We'll try to keep our eyes open until 10 pm before crashing at our wonderful host Pat's home.

Just a reminder - we won't be able to post to the blog daily but we will try to post as often as possible. We won't be able to send individual emails announcing this so it'd be a good idea to go ahead and subscribe - the site will send you an announcement telling you we've added another post.

Kenya, here we come!

Our Itinerary

As with most things, itineraries change and once you get going on the ground new opportunities and experiences arise. However, thanks to a suggestion from Ben (Mer's brother), we are going to post our basic itinerary so that everyone has an idea of the general outline of our trip.


Nairobi – August 1st -5th
Stay: Patricia Echessa our host (an English teacher who has helped us so much in organizing trip)
Activities:
• Rusinga/Aga Khan Schools
• National Museum
• Kenyatta University/University of Nairobi
• Either: Kenyan Parliament or Day trip to Karen Blixen museum

Note: We will focus first Nairobi visit on general history of Kenya, intro to Kenya focused activities

Amboseli Nature Reserve– August 5th – August 7th
Activities:
• Balloon safari
• Game drives/animal viewing
• Masaai village visit

Nairobi – August 7th – 8th
Overnight

Naivasha (Rift Valley)–August 8th – 10th
Activities:
• Visit former British colonial town area, Delamere Estate
• Afternoon trip to Lake Naivasha (see flamingos and other wildlife)

Lake Victoria, Kisumu, Kogelo (West Kenya) August 10th – 13th
Activities:
• Visit Kikuyu/Kalenjin villages
• Visit Kogelo (Hometown of Barack Obama Sr.)

Nairobi – August 13th – 14th
Overnight

Mombasa/South Coast – August 14th – 17th
Activities:
• Visit Old Town Mombasa, Fort Jesus (Portuguese fort and trading site)
• Frere Town (Old Slave Trading Site)
• Visit Heller Park (Nature Reserve)

Malindi (Coast)– August 17-18th
Activities:
• Visit Mwaluganje Elephant Camp
• Malindi Marine Nat’l Park

Lamu (Northeast Coast) – August 18th – 20th
Activities:
• Gede Ruins (old Swahili area)
• Dhow (traditional Swahili fishing boat) ride to smaller islands
• Learn about Coastal Swahili culture

Mombasa – August 20th-21st
Overnight – depart for Nairobi 21st

Nairobi – August 21st – 25th
Activities:
• Visit Kamiruthu/ Nguge People’s Theater (Day trip)
• Maasai Market
• Watamu Art Gallery, Mzizi Arts
• Bomas of Kenya
• Youth center visit, Interview with Rusinga/Aga Khan students
• Contact community center

Getting Ready for Our Trip

Today Mer and I started our blog. We're sitting in a coffee shop with piles of Guide Books in front of us trying to get our last minute details worked out.

Done:
-Itinerary outline.
-Driver.
-Kenyan guide books.
-Blog set up.
-Budget.

To do:
-Prescriptions for Malaria medicine.
-Packing list.
-Gifts for our hosts.
-Hotel Reservations.
-Emails to our families with all our contact info while we're gone.
-Learn how to use this website!!!

We're excited for our trip and can't wait to share what we learn and see with our students at Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom HS.