Hiking

As during our morning jogs, setting out for a hike draws quite a bit of attention.  Equipped with water bottles, backpacks and wearing tennis shoes instead of flip-flops, we must look like a bunch of clowns going out to look at nature as if we'd never left our American suburbs.  But just like in any place, you get accustomed to the views and extraordinary features of your landscape, until someone shares their amazement with you.  As soon as we got off the main roads and into the countryside, we acquired children who knew we were out to explore.  It's a good thing John had nothing better to do this Sunday afternoon, without him my friend from the clinic, Caroline, would have taken a few wrong turns.  Although I think we got the most direct route possible to the falls and that meant descending trails with much more caution than the kids floating ahead of us.  We were headed to the waterfalls of the Mara River and caves in the vicinity.

 John was 13 years old but much smaller for his age in American standards. He was in the 8th grade and could tell us the species of every tree or bush we passed, in English and kimeru- the local dialect, still similar to Swahili.  He told us stories about seeing "indians" kill a lion years ago in a neighbor village and about how he has seen elephants near his house and maybe he could take us their one day!

John

From here we make our way back up the hillside and further down the river to where he remembers the caves being.  The trail is about 6 inches wide as we clumsily descend to the river again.  Only once we were down there did John tell us we just walked across the river on a huge land bridge.  I can't imagine the size and speed of the rapids that once carved out this passageway (shown below).

Caroline, Timo (med student from Germany), Christine, Dave

This was the caves right? Of course not, we had to cross the rapids to get there! John tears off his shoes and wades over with ease, expecting his little ducklings to follow without pause. We scrambled up and down the riverside looking for the most comfortable route to take across the slippery, hidden boulders beneath the water's surface. There was a huge vine extending from the top of the land bridge down to the river and trailed off in it for several meters, now there's a tempting way to cross! Water up to our thighs, we made it safely, and didn't even consider if aquatic predators were near. Under another section of the land bridge was the entrance to the caves. Water dripping from the black roof a foot above our heads was so refreshing on our necks. John crouched as he neared the entrance and said the water had risen too high, it had obstructed the narrow passage. No caves today, but I ventured around the edges of this cavern and before I noticed the other entrance a swarm of black butterflies zipped past my head from their secret crevasse. This too was another dead end, so we called it a day and prepared ourselves for the treacherous climb up.