Happy Hippos in Kisumu

Yesterday, Michael, Amy and I took off and headed to Kisumu, a town that is on the edge of Lake Victoria, which is about a 3 hour drive southwest of Eldoret. Since we are starting the data entry process for our study, we needed to go to the distant clinics to collect copies of the data so that people in Eldoret can enter it, since Eldoret has a more reliable source of internet...oh, and power.  We had to go get some documents from one of my Research Assistants, Janet, as her clinic in Chulaimbo is about a half hour from Kisumu. 

After a long, yet fun night of dancing on Tuesday night, to say goodbye to med student, Chris, we decided to embark early in the morning on our 3 hour trek west toward Lake Victoria. The drive is absolutely gorgeous, as we passed through various terrains of Kenya, including Kakamega Rain forest and down through the arid boulder and palm tree hills near Chulaimbo, ending in the blistering heat of Kisumu on Lake Victoria.  

(pic of the map for Eldoret to Kisumu) 

We reached Kiboko Bay Resort, which is located in Kisumu, right along the Lake.  Our arrival was in perfect timing for tilapia ceviche at the Kiboko Bay, with actual tortilla chips, a rarity in Kenya!!! (we take small wins here!). The Kiboko Bay has little tented huts around the well groomed lawn and a tiny pool that overlooks the lake. The resort's location is right along the Hippo Bay, where apparently families of hippos tend to gather and sop up the aquatic veg. After a restful lunch, we drove through Kisumu town in search of our hotel, since every other hotel was booked in the nearby area.  

(view from lunch at Kiboko Bay, overlooking Lake Victoria)

The Kisumu town was really interesting, the people had a different "pep" in their step...it felt somewhat like Key West, FL where the people are 'lake' or 'water' people, that have a bit of a hangover from the night before. It could have been their hangover that I was noticing, or my headache from dancing the previous night, none the less, the people looked a bit ragged, so we fit right in. Everything about the people and the town centered around fish and fish products and it was perfectly acceptable for men and women to be in fishing clothes (aka dirty ass old, tattered clothes), just walking around. This same town was just recently featured in BBC news for a "Sex for Fish" article, where women are so poor and do not have monetary means to pay fishermen for fish, so they just trade sex for fish...easy as pie! It was actually quite sad to see how this sex for fish has influenced the culture, even little nuances here and there, a mzungu such as myself, could pick up on the lingering stench of sex for fish in the area, as I eyed each shanty-style shack with the word 'hotel' written on the front with a bit of a judging and sorrowful eye. 

After lunch at Kiboko Bay, we headed to the only hotel that had availability for the night. This town is also a HUGE port for NGO ex-pats or Americans, so there was some conference that forced us non-NGO workers in search of room and board in sketchier parts of town. We found a place online, called the "Royal City Hotel" that featured (online that is) a lovely picture of a rooftop pool. When arriving at such the Royal City Hotel, there was indeed no such sign of a rooftop pool, and the online description was complete and utter bullshit as even the rooms were not remotely close to the pictures, but it didn't matter to us. We were fine with what we had for only 30 bucks for the night (plus we were also seriously considering sleeping in the vehicle since there seemed to be no availability at any location and it would have been a team bonding moment)!Once we settled into our rooms (oh, and this is the second time where we have requested a room with two beds, only to get a single double bed, so Amy and I were cuddling up for the night...a hot and sweaty night to say the least, only in the miserable way...get your head out of the gutter!), I met with my Research Assistant in town and retrieved some documents. Since we had the entire night ahead of us, and Amy and I didn't want to spend too much time sitting on our bedroom that reeked of a stale odor mix of tarnish and mildew, we headed to the neighboring Casino or bar that had an outdoor/rooftop seating area, where we enjoyed watching the sunset and tossed back a couple of drinks and tried to enjoy the chef's "favorite" french fry option...french fries sitting in a pool of browned butter (browned on accident of course) with smoked paprika finish. The not-so-melding flavors of the smokiness of the paprika and the nutty-ness of the browned butter was luckily washed down nicely with a large swig of Tusker. It was a perfect ending to an interesting 'go with the flow' kind of day, with the breeze off the lake and the setting sun! We certainly also chased down the poor food selection with several hours of laughter with Michael, Amy and I. I think the team bonding aspect of the trip was well worth the drive!

(view from our Casino hot spot full of strange food and plenty of Tusker)

This morning we went back to Kiboko Bay resort and hopped in a rickety fishing boat and headed out for a morning hippo/fishing boat tour. The hippos stay near the Kiboko Bay resort, guzzling up whatever algae and plant life they can eat under water, ending their second breakfast around 8AM, perfect timing for our arrival. The hippos were awesome, each of them surfacing all around our tiny ass boat. I wasn't too fearful, since each of them was subdued to a restful morning nap, they weren't on the prowl for food or looking for trouble or anything, so we were safe. 

(a morning yawn from the male hippo, while the females lazily eye us in our boat)

(hippo winks) 

The drive back today was long (about 5 hours), but absolutely gorgeous! The scenery is absolutely breathtaking, again with the lush green of the banana leaf plants against the deep red of the dirt, and the giant boulders that protrude from the hillsides, it was fantastic. There were moments of silence with the three of us, as we were in awe of our National Geographic-esque backdrop. 

(moving car+ iphone camera=poor focus, but still beautiful)

(green on red dirt)

(beautiful scene as we got lost in some back roads)

Of course my ipod was selected for the chosen playlist on the way home, so we were serenaded by a mixture of Whitney, random 80s classics, and a plethora of rap, mostly mid 90s-2000s since my ipod hasn't been updated for about 6 years! It was a great mix for the bumpy, yet beautiful ride home, each of us busting out a few notes here and there! 

Glad to be back in Eldoret, but I think I have been bit by the travel bug!!!! I am planning a trip with some people from AMPATH to Rwanda in the next few weeks...excited to see some Gorillas, and get to see the land where some of the refugees at UT call home. Should be an amazing experience, and I can't wait!