St. Nicolaus comes to Kenya

Believe it or not, Christmas is really big here in Kenya. And, not only at the German School. There are Christmas lights and decorations everywhere, which started going up mid-October. I'll put a few pictures up from around Christmas-crazed Nairobi soon. But first, a few pics and videos clips from the St. Nicolaus celebration at the German School that Sascha took part in.

Sascha's Ballet Performance

The Meercats perform at the St. Nikolaus Feier

Sascha with her classmates before the event.

And St. Nikolaus really came all the way to Nairobi!!! The kids were sooooo excited!

Christmas in Nairobi

A lot of people have asked me if we are getting any Christmas here in Nairobi at all. In fact, there is Christmas everywhere here and it feels like the school has been focused on it since mid October. Nairobi and the western part of Kenya are predominantly Christian. People cook big meals of vegetables and meat (mainly chicken and goat) and go to church. Present giving is not as big a thing since most people have little money to spare. But, just about everyone goes up-country to visit family over the holidays. It sounds like Nairobi will empty out over the next week.

The big news is that St. Nicolaus came to the school in person :).  Improvised Christmas trees have ornamented the grounds for a while. Most are artificial - there are no pine trees to speak of here. I've been told that you can get a real one a few days before Christmas, but I think we'll pass on that. I'm collecting pictures of the christmas spirit here and will keep adding as they come in......

Diamond Plaza, which feels like a quick trip to India, is actually always like this. We go to eat Indian food here sometimes and it's the place to buy electronics.

Mobil Plaza in its Christmas shell. Just down the street from us. We suspect that this might be the reason our electricity has been going at half power or not at all for the past weeks

Sascha and I were invited to join for a Christmas sing-along and this is what we found. As you can see, the Western Xmas is everywhere. But, this was definitely geared for a Christian Kenyan audience.

This woman, who had organized the whole thing, had an extraordinary voice. She sang an aria from Handel's Messiah absolutely beautifully, as well as a more popular song.

Everyone took part somehow.

Christmas baking at home

Even Mimi gets a Christmas card from Sascha this year!

A sampling of typical homemade toys here in Kenya, as seen in the National Museum.

 These are soccer balls and slingshots (a necessity to keep the monkeys away!)

Lake Elmenteita

The Sleeping Warrior

Sascha and I tagged along with Gerard who was meeting Somali colleagues at the Serena Lake Elmenteita Camp last weekend. It was quite a luxurious place with sleeping tents that really didn't have much to do with tents anymore (luxury bathroom and every comfort you could want). Lake Elmenteita is about 2.5 hours drive north of Nairobi, between Lake Naivasha and Lake Nakuru. It is a salt water lake in which little can survive, but which nurtures crustacean and insect larvae that flamingos feed on. The camp is located in the private Soysambu Conservancy which Sascha and I explored with a guide. The pictures below are from that game drive, during which I was driving our 'new' old 4wd car.

Sascha with our guide Gilbert overlooking the lake. To Gilbert's right the hill is called "The Sleeping Warrior". Can you make it out?

The Sleeping Warrior

A male Water Buck

A rare sighting of a black and white Colobus monkeys

...taking a dust bath. The name elmenteita is derived from the Maasai word 'muteita' meaning 'dust place'.

Another extremely rare sighting: a leopard trying to stay cool on a hot sunny day.

Crowned Cranes

Water Buffalo, which are considered the most dangerous animal to humans in Kenya as they kill more people than any other animal. The second most dangerous are hippos. Both charge at the sight of a walking person and both are astoundingly fast runners.

Zanzibar: Life on the Island

Driving around the island, I was able to shoot some pictures from the car to give an impression of what life is like for the people living outside of Zanzibar Town. My general impression was positive. We saw people at work but also playing games or gathered in groups socializing. Food didn't seem to be an issue as there is the ocean to fish, the lands to farm, and coconut and banana groves everywhere. We heard alot of Reggae music and the African version of that - the laid-back island flair was definitely there. Interesting is the contrast of the mud huts hidden in the banana trees and the internet/cell phone savy population living in them. According to one taxi driver, most of the younger generation has a computer with a USB stick internet connection as well as a phone. Like in Kenya, cell phones are more sophisticated than in the Western World: they have amazing reception despite literally being in the bush plus they function as a payment vehicle.

rice patties in the middle of the island

a store

traveling vendor - plastic containers are very valuable in this culture

Is there a place in the World that coke hasn't found yet?

Woodworking company

Livestock and especially cows are a sign of wealth in the African culture and that is no exception here.

Nice tree-lined roads on the south of the island.

Baobab tree

A common sight: young men playing games at the side of the road. This one is like a mini game of hockey.

Daily market in a small town in the middle of the island

a group of family huts

Zanzibar: Sunsets, Monkeys and Spices

We rented a car while on Zanzibar, spending an extra $20 on a temporary drivers license for Gerard. Good thing!! The first time we were stopped by a policeman, Gerard searched frantically everywhere to find that precious piece of paper to no avail. But, he put on a great show and used his negotiation skills plus extensive African experience to force this poor policeman into a position where he had no choice but to let us go. The man just wanted a few extra bucks and wanted to make a deal with us: if we gave him $50, he would not send us to the court for a $100 ticket and a lot of hassle. After Gerard gave him a hard time about the "friendly offer", and reminded him that the friendly and best thing for the island's reputation would be to let us go back to the hotel and get the forgotten document, the guy finally gave up and wished us a pleasant stay. Defeated!! Needless to say, that piece of paper didn't leave Gerard's wallet the rest of the time. And indeed, we were stopped again the next day but left a disappointed cop in the dust that time.

We took a few trips around the island.

Up north to Nungwe - the backpackers' and party mecca on the island. Not only visitors party there. The Zanzibari youth hit the clubs on the weekends, as a young taxi driver told me with a sparkle in his eye.

We visited the Jozani Forest which was created to protect the last remaining virgin forest and its inhabitants, the Red Colobus monkeys.

Watch out for flying monkeys

A monkey crossing

And, the spice tour. Zanzibar is one of the Spice Islands and is famous for its production of cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, turmeric, pepper, vanilla, ginger, and the list goes on. I didn't expet the tour to be so fascinating and fun. While we were going from one plant/tree to the next, trying to identify what spice it might be, two local guys were making us surprises from palm leaves. Palm trees are the most useful plant of all for the locals and they apparently use every last bit of them. We also learned how to climb them and I don't kid you, Sascha came home and is now climbing everything in sight, including our avocado tree. I wouldn't be surprised if she even managed to get up a palm tree by the time we leave Africa.

Cardamon

vanilla vine

The growing vanilla beans

Using the palm trees for yet another purpose: to please the tourists :)

Cutting bark off the cinnamon tree which rolls into the cinnamon sticks you buy in the store.

pineapple

A relative of the star fruit. The locals pickle them - they are very sour!

cloves

Cloves are essentially the flowers of the tree before they blooms. As soon as the flower blooms, the intense flavor is gone

nutmeg tree

The pit of the nutmeg fruit is what is harvested. It's a beautiful pit! The red skin is ground and the pits sold whole.

Climbing a palm tree. This turned into quite a show, but is an important skill and we witnessed young boys harvesting coconuts at the beach.

Meet the royal spice farm family!

The proud coconut princess

And, the coconut King!

Thanks for a great tour!