A Day in the Life - Kenya
"I usually wake early, around 7am, when the rising sun breaks over the gorge and seeps into the small tin shack where the 12 members of our Madventurer team live. It is situated on a plateau on the outskirts of Hell's Gate National Park, so when I stumble out for a cup of tea, the first thing I see is the gorge and the park in the early morning light.
Hell's Gate is quite small and individual in that it is the only National Park in Kenya that you can cycle or walk through. It is filled mainly with giraffes, zebras, various types of antelope, buffalo and warthog as well as hundreds of birds and bats. The only predators in the park are leopards, which are very shy, so it is perfectly safe.
At this time of the morning a few of the Maasai from the community we are working with are usually milling about, as well as a few goats. Leonard, our resident Maasai master-chef will be working hard at our breakfast so I'll chill with our leader, Paul, before everyone else appears at about 8am.
After breakfast we'll head to the work site, a ten minute walk down the valley. We're working on a primary school for the Maasai who live in Hell's Gate, which has involved building a toilet block, a veranda for the two classrooms, and other finishing touches like plastering, painting and glazing. The community is based around the Ol Ookarian Cultural Centre, five minutes away from the site. It is very remote and the closest school is 1 ½ hours walk away. The completion of this project will therefore be very significant for the children of the village.
We'll work until 11am, when tea is served and we have a 20 minute break. Work continues until 1.30pm when we take a longer break for lunch. At this time of day it becomes very hot (the National Park was named Hell's Gate for a reason!) so we rest in the shade before continuing cementing or bricklaying. Knock-off time is 4:30pm, when we sometimes head down to the nearby hot springs or go on a game drive before dinner.
The weekends provide an opportunity to explore the surrounding area; we have spent time at Lake Naivasha, in Nairobi and on the beaches of Mombasa. We have also spent one weekend in the 'Meat Camp' with the Maasai - a cave further down the gorge where the warriors train before going out to rustle cows from other tribes.
One of our team is a Mad Medic, so I have spent a few days in Naivasha with him and another member of our group observing in the local hospital. This was an incredible experience - we even got to sit in on a caesarean section.
After dinner we'll usually hang out by the fire, sometimes with a sample of the local tipple (nicknamed 'horrible'!) or a beer. Some Maasai are always about and never take too much persuading to perform a traditional song before we retire for a well-earned nights sleep."
Katherine Croft
14th March 2005. Mad Maasai Kenya Project
Destination - Kenya
“Being tempted out from under my sanctuary within my mossy net by the smell of mandazi’s for breakfast was always a great way to start the day. A quick application of sun cream and then out into the searing heat of the Kenyan morning. The day always started with a small exchange of Swahili and hand shaking all around as we met our friends and work mates, the fundis. The plan for the day was discussed and we were soon knee deep in cement mixing, brick laying or opening the paint for the next mural. There was always different jobs available so everybody could find something to suit there own preferences or skills.
Work usually lasted till about 12 before the heat became unbearable and we had to retreat for a delicious local specialty for lunch. Around two we would venture out again and continue working away with the guidance of the local builders. Often we were given the chance to be creative and start our own projects. This meant we might have been carving a large log into a chair or perhaps painting a world map on the wall. Finishing work somewhere between four o’clock and five we may have had a football match arranged against a local village team. This helped us to gain acceptance within the local village and allowed us to become good friends with the fundi’s who played in our team. After football it was home for another local speciality dinner often fish or beans with plenty of chapattis.
Evenings were always very relaxed and sometimes included a couple of drinks at a local bar. After a hard days work the safe haven of my mossy net was always a welcome sight. What is the most important thing that you have learnt/experienced from your time on the project? Just experiencing the African way of life, often so simple but rather refreshing when compared to the stresses of the western world.”
Greg Clark, Likoni Orphanage project,
Mad Builder, Shelly beach, Kenya, March 2003
“Not all endangered species in Kenya have four legs”. Michael Mugo and his two companions, Bob and Martin, are heading up a local Kenyan conservation initiative and myself and fourteen other Madventurers are here for five weeks to do what we can to help.
Conservation is one of many activities that Madventurer gets involved with on its expeditions. This particular project involves working with ASACDOK, which is an abbreviation for the rather convoluted, Arid And Semi Arid Conservation And Development Organisation Of Kenya. Today is day one and Michael is explaining what we will attempt to achieve over the course of the next 5 weeks.
One of ASACDOK’s major concerns is that the Sahara desert is moving south at 11kms per year turning what was fertile workable soil into infertile unworkable sand. This is happening mainly because of ignorance by the farmers as to how to use the land’s resources sustainably. Being ‘green’ is for the most part a philosophical luxury reached by societies living in relative financial wealth. In other words, conservation concerns normally only come to the fore in a environment where you are not worried by questions such as: where will my next meal come from? It is for this reason that indigenous developing world conservation organisations are rare. ASACDOK is different and so has attracted the attention and support of Madventurer.
Education is key for ASACDOK and they set about doing this by establishing ‘conservation clubs’ in schools. Children at the school are then encouraged to join these clubs where they learn how to grow trees. Once the trees are mature they are sold by the clubs at the local markets at a cheap non-profit making price. The revenue raised is enough to buy more seeds, tools etc. making the clubs financially self-sufficient.
ASACDOK careful chooses the species that it domesticates. Prunus Africana is a rare species that has been earmarked for domestication. The bark from this tree is a valuable remedy against a prostate disorder, called benign prostatic hyperplasia. Unfortunately Prunus is being harvested unsustainably at a staggering rate. According to research carried out by ICRAF under the current conditions, Prunus has 5-10 years at best before it is extinct. ASACDOK, with the help of Madventurer, is trying to raise awareness about this problem and slow the depletion rate down by growing the species in the school nurseries.
Rupert Pate, Madventurer, Kenya, 2002
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