Aberdares weekend

With excellent timing the national holiday that falls on the 12th of December fell on a Sunday this year so Monday the 13th was a public holiday, and we took a three-day trip to celebrate my birthday up to the Aberdares, a massive forest in the center of Kenya that is entirely fenced (400+km) and full of wildlife as well as many hills/mountains and the main waterfalls in the country.

We stayed at the Ark, a fairly unusual hotel that is inside the national park, designed to look somewhat like a ship, and the sister property of the Aberdare Country Club. We had lunch at the Country club and enjoyed the pool and horse riding in their small conservancy full of giraffe there before we went to the Ark, which doesn't have many facilities, so most people just stay for the night. The attraction there is the location next to a small pond that is salty so many animals come for the salt in the water, in the mud and in the rocks.

Each of the three floors of the hotel have either an outdoor or indoor balcony right next to the pond so you can be a few metres away from the animals whilst having tea and cake. There are almost always elephants there, as well as other wildlife, though we didn't see any rhinos or leopards unfortunately. It is quite surreal, and simllar to the Salt Lick Hotel in Voi where we went for Andrea's birthday.

After eating dinner, sleeping very well (with hot water bottles due to the relative cold at fairly high altitude), and eating breakfast, we went for a game drive to see more animals and to see the second highest waterfall in Kenya, driving higher and higher from forests to bamboo and then to moorland. On the way we passed Treetops hotel that is currently closed, but which in a previous incarnation was where Princess Elizabeth was staying when her father died and where she became Queen Elizabeth 2nd. The waterfall was nice, though it was quite a long drive to get up there and back.

After lunch at the Ark we went back to the Country club to enjoy the facilities there and have dinner, sleep, and then have breakfast before leaving to go back to Nairobi. Though we stopped off for another wonderful 3 hours of whitewater rafting in Sagana yet again which is always really good fun.

In other noble recent activities, back in October Leah had her birthday party at our house with one of these horizontal water slides that you run and jump onto and slide along, as well as some party games; the kids went trick-and-treating for Halloween in a shopping mall where each shop had sweets; I did the Nairobi half marathon up and down the Southern Bypass along the Nairobi National Park; we fostered 2 kittens and a puppy for 2 months; we went camping with the Travelling Telescope to look at stars at night and also went to their Planetarium in Nairobi another night. Highly recommended, especially the planetarium.

December in Nairobi

December in Nairobi is normally marked by the arrival of the hot dry season; thankfully it has rained instead, because the rains that were supposed to arrive in September of October arrived very late (and in some places, not at all), and so the "short rains" (compared to the "long rains" with the longer rainy season around April-June) have dragged on into December. When it rains in Nairobi it is not normally a major problem since most of the rain is overnight when it cools down, or early morning; though if there are heavy rains it can affect traffic and does start to open up potholes in roads. The ground dries up incredibly quickly, which is nice (for people like me, maybe not for farmers).

It seems now that the rains have begun to peter out, and once the public holiday in the middle of December has passed, Nairobi also begins to empty out as most people make their way back to their villages for the holiday season, or to the Coast where the tourism and transport industry must make a third of their revenues in just a few weeks with crazy prizes. Public schools only get 2 weeks off this year as the calendar is adjusting after COVID closed schools in 2020 so from today onwards Nairobi really will be a ghost town during the daytime, but somehow in the evening people reappear to keep bars busy!

Every year christmas becomes slightly more visible and commercial. Not that it is not important, which it definitely is, as the majority of the country are practicing christians, but more and more shopping malls get built and ply on the Christmas lights and Christmas music, and more and more Christmas markets appear at weekends for middle and upper classes. But it still quite tame compared to more developed countries. There aren't any public Christmas lights on streets, almost no homes have Christmas lights or decorations and Kenyans are not really into any particular Christmas food that I am aware of. There doesn't seem to be a tradition of Christmas cards.

The Christmas markets that often take place at Schools, Public places, Shopping Malls or Hotels are quite good fun, since it is normally warm so one can drink, eat and shop in shorts and t-shirt and enjoy a nice day out. Even in just 5 years here, the number of such markets has ballooned from just a few to dozens although many of the same vendors can be found. At one of the biggest ones I was amazed to see just how many local artisans are making clothes, bags and home items. There are some very high quality goods, many of which are exported with African colors and designs. I finally got some shoes which are really nice (Kitu Kali) and made in one of the slums but to a pretty high quality and very comfortable. They look smart enough for typical work meetings too.

In the past we would go to the German School Christmas Fair, but of course this year we were at the Braeburn Christmas Fair which has a dozen or so stands from eternal vendors and a dozen or so from kids who were selling these they had made (mostly baked goods) along with a band and Carol singers. Braeburn also had a pantomime which was really well done (mostly adults, but a few of the older kids).

Work is usually very busy from October to December trying to get everything done before the holidays and we have had a few big activities in the last few weeks, all of which went very well, and things will be slower next week. After that I should be going to the UK for a week (Andrea and the girls will meet me there from Germany where they went last week), though right now, what will be open, what will I do, and who will I be allowed to see?