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Sorry I have totally neglected this blog... but here's the final entry.


So... last weekend we had the chance to see the last piece of rainforest that used to cover almost all of Kenya. It's called Kakamega rainforest- it was about an hour or so away and we traveled in style in a 'matatu' (that wonderful relic of public transportation that makes death feel imminent). Here's the funny story of how our trip got started.
We, four white girls, got dropped off at the Northern part to the forest. But remember, this is Kenya, there are no signs for any entrances or offices that might be useful to us at this point. So we saw a policeman up the road at a vehicle checkpoint (the place where they pretend to check cars and matatus and seatbelts), and we approached him. We asked how to get into the rainforest even though we were technically already there. He was kind and said he wished that he didn't have to work so he couldshow us around, so instead he sent a 'boda-boda' (bicycle taxi) man to go find guides for our mini-excursion. This situation may appear ridiculous but I assure you it's quite the norm over here.
10 or 15 minutes past and the boda-boda man came with 2 guys who were apparently rainforest savvy. We blindly trusted them and agreed to a price. Then before we set off one of our giudes (they were now 3) brought a piece of sugar cane about 2m (6ft) long. He then broke it up into 4 pieces giving each of us about 1 and 1/2 feet of sugar cane to chew on through our journey.
Finally we set off into the forest. At first we stopped by a tree nursery and then from there we climbed over a barb-wire fence into the real forest. I am sure there was a 'real' entry way but that would have been too easy. So we hiked through the beautiful rainforest for a few hours encoutnering horn-billed birds, monkeys-some black collubus that we had seen in other partsof Kenya and others with red tails. We also saw massive trees which we could stand inside of. All in all it was well worth the trip and an amazing day.
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Then back to research (adolescent repoductive rights in Kisumu). This week is my last in Kisumu- we're departing for Nairobi on Sunday with much joy. Kisumu is beautiful city/town and Kenya's third largest but not the best atmosphere for being a white woman. No biggie. So my research is basically done and it feels weird to say that. So now once in Nairobi I have to sit down and write my massive paper. Should be tons of fun. Then after that it's my last week. We Will travel to Mt. Kenya for project presentations and then do some wrap-up and evaluation of our time here. I can't believe I will leave here in just 2 weeks and 2 days. This will prolly be the last email until then folks- but some shout-outs to birthday ppl!!

Sarah Anne- May 1
Vicki- May 4
Daria- May 8

See everyone soon!