Getting Around

My first picture I took on the first day - Aaron holding the Monitor Lizzard that lives in the garden - he likes wildlife...

Travelling around Watamu is an interesting experience. There’s a variety of transport methods at differing prices and levels of comfort depending on what you want to spend. I feel the UK could learn a thing or two.

If you want to go any distance you stick your hand out and get on a Matatu, a mini van that can take about 8 passengers (or more if the need arises). There are normally about three guys sharing the jobs of driving, taking the money, opening and closing the door and playing the music loudly. The vans are the fastest and worst driven vehicles on the road but they do get you from A to B swiftly. You can go all the way to Malindi (25km) or just from Watamu’s small town centre down to Turtle Bay Beach Club, a couple of miles for just 40 shillings (currently 118 shillings to the GBP).

Turtle Bay is the last big hotel along the spit of land that Watamu is on. Public transport stops here but it’s over a mile further to plot 28 (Arocha) so unless you want to wilt in the heat you need to transfer to another mode of transport. Taxis are always available but hardly worth it for the short distance. If you have luggage hiring a tuk-tuk (auto rickshaw) is best but they’re slow and bumpy. On your own you can take a ride on a picky-picky (motorbike) for a mere 50 shillings but the ultimate way to go has to be on the back of a boda-boda - a bicycle with a seat attached. They look precarious and it takes guts to get on your first one but they quickly become appealing. The drivers – always young guys – are incredibly steady, carefully avoiding the pot holes and also pretty strong to haul these heavy Wazungu (white people) back and forth all day. The pace is gentle but fast enough to get the wind in your face and if you’re unlucky your driver’s BO as well - all this for only 20 shillings to Arocha’s gate.

Then there’s just a walk up the dusty drive way, watching out for the Safari Ants if its evening and when you reach the top of the rise the sea comes into view, an especially welcome site on your first day.

It’s the short rains season here at the moment so it’s hot with occasional refreshing showers and everywhere is still green. The garden was in full bloom when I arrived, every day the frangipani flowers have to be swept off the path. The beach is less than 50 metres away down a path. If you go at the wrong time if day it’s a blinding strip of white, painful to walk on but after about 4pm it’s cooler and cloudier. The water is full of seaweed - and lately some strange earwig like creatures that bite you - but always warm and a great place to watch the sun set from.

We’re in a mainly rural area, only built up at all due to tourism. I was told that 80% of the locals are farmers, mostly subsistence apart from those who fish of course. Arabuko Sokoke forest is a few miles away where Arocha’s Assets scheme is focussed enabling some children from poorer communities to get into high school while their parents get involved in local conservation work in the forest

Working Sleeping & Eating

I’ve got blogs coming out of my ears. I’m glad I started this one and got the practice because now part of my job here is to write 2/3 entries a week for the ARK blog http://arochakenya.wildlifedirect.org (You can see a picture of H&B and Ivy here). This is a little ambitious as the internet here is slow and not as reliable as in the UK. “Sometimes things work, sometimes they don’t”. Henry’s response after I’d been on the roof for an hour trying to publish one article and wasn’t very happy.

I’m also gathering items for the end of year newsletter and yesterday I was at Mida Creek replacing some of the signs from the information boards. There’s a board walk through the mangrove trees which leads to a bird hide. Keen birders pay a small fee to use it which goes to Assets.

A typical day here revolves around the meal times. If you’re lucky it was a cool night. (I’ve actually slept better here than I thought I would – the fan helps! We’ve been blessed with a double mosquito net too so no getting tangled up). If so waking up is not hard but by 7.30 the heat outside is already intense in fact the morning is always the hottest time. Breakfast is self service and slow – after all it’s not like you have to travel to work. About 9am I start trying to do something useful, this will largely depend on whether the ‘volunteer’ computer is free. There might also be an outing to go on perhaps to the forest, bird counting or with Tsofa to take an environmental education class and I’ll take some photos.

The staff members all eat together at lunch, it’s usually rice, maybe ugali and beans and salad. We eat well and I’m not missing my sweet snacks much, you just don’t need them here. In the afternoon you try to keep yourself occupied, there might be some maintenance work – on Friday I painted a sign for the gate – or some admin – I also filed some receipts for Belinda. Then about 4.30 it’s cool enough to go for a jog along the beach or throw yourself into the sea to cool off although the water is as warm as a bath by that time.

For Those Who Pray

I’ve had a dodgy stomach over the last few days although I haven’t actually been sick thankfully. It’s sapping my energy though so please pray it would clear up soon.

Please keep praying for the general organisation and attitudes here at Mwamba. It’s been a really hard week and I’ve felt quite isolated at times. I think there is a lack of understanding about how much cultural adjustment those from ‘the west’ need not in terms of time but encouragement. Everybody means well but there are often failures in communication.

Pray for ARK in general because they really need more money. We're having an audit soon and and there's a chance we'll get some more funding out of it but only if we do well.

Thanks for reading

rx