Next stop.... A town like 2 hours north from Kisumu.
Kakamega has a very small towncentre and doesn't seem too exciting at first sight.
Although the town is surrounded by a continuosly shrinking forest.
That's the reason why I always wanted to visit Kakamega.
Before mankind started cutting down the forest it used to be a huge rainforest.
It used to be part of Africas western tropical rain belt.
These days all the habitats have their own problems of sustaining as much as possible.
Most of the ground of the Kakamega rain forest got transformed into tea plantations, meadowland, villages.
Another reason for going to Kakamega was a children's home I wanted to visit.
 |
| kicheko tena = laugh again |
I'm glad I got the opportunity to experience a different environment in the "Little Prinz" children's home!
A very small and cute place, built up with so much love.
20 children, most aged between 2 and 5, found their rescue there. The "Little Prinz" doesn't accomodate orphans in first place but children being affected by jigger (http://www.littleprinz.org/lang/de/projekte/jigger/).
A parasite, which lays eggs under the skin causing pain and movement disorders.
And I met another volunteer from my neighbour town Tübingen in the children's home.
coincidence
Welcome to the jungle!
On day two of my stay in Kakamega Marie (the other volunteer) and I decided to take a tour through the rainforest before the sun rises.
So we woke up at 4.30 and made our way to the forest with a guide.
The aim was to climb a hill to watch the sunrise over the forest...
Unfortunately our cameras couldn't take sooo amazing pictures :(
In real life it looked a million times brighter, more colorful and intense.
In real life it looked a million times brighter, more colorful and intense.
To be honest, I was a bit disappointed about the whole tour.
We only went up a hill, down again walked a bit around and that was it...I expected a hike for half of the day. And I was so eager to see snakes... I never did.
The Kakamega rainforest habitats over 330 different bird and 400 butterfly species. At least I saw some of them.
 |
| this is batland |
Btw: Butterflies can still fly if you touch/hold them in the right way.
Waldes, the baby in Heritage, couldn't pronounce my name for a long time.
So he was saying "Nyani" instead of "Imani".
This means monkey. You can imagine how quickly all the children adapted this "joke".
Two days weren't a lot but I can still say Kakamega was fascinating! I've seen a lot and I have learned quite a bit.
Nature is fantastic here and should be seen at least once!
Not for nothing does Kenya have almost all climatic zones and therefore varies flora and fauna!
That's what I love this country for and makes me proud most!
This time I've travelled west, next time's gonna be north. Rift valley and Turkana, hot and dry!
I enjoy the fact that I don't have to stress myself seeing everything at once.
One step at a time....
Last but not least: I'll miss the kids from "Little Prinz", very adorable, respectful and disciplined... It's crazy how quickly you can get used to each other. Next time I'll visit them they'll have grown so much!
See where the journey continues to... Blogpost coming :)
No comments:
Post a Comment