Thursday, October 2, 2008

Weekend in Kakamega rain forest

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go to the rain forest in Kenya, near a town called Kakamega. It is about 2hrs drive from Eldoret along a very bumpy road. The road was paved most of the way but the potholes were so significant & it was extremely bumpy. Myself and three colleagues who are staying at the IU House went from Friday evening until Sunday afternoon. It was such a peaceful & relaxing weekend. We stayed at this retreat center called Rondo in the rainforest, far away from anything else. It was amazing! The pictures don't begin to do it justice. Below are just a few of the pictures that I took.

In the thick of the rain forest in Kakamega.

Relaxing on the veranda at Rondo Retreat Center.

Our cottage at the Rondo. It was so quaint!

Beautiful roses in one of the many gardens at the Rondo Retreat Center.

We took a sunrise hike to the highest point in the rainforest to watch the sun rise over the mountains. It was beautiful! You can see the evaporation coming up off the river (in the middle, right of the picture).

Field of tea growing - tea plantations are popular in this part of Western Kenya near Kakamega.

My colleagues, Dan, Susan & Lauren (all from PA) along with our hiking guide, Ben.

Me, standing in front of the rushing, muddy Yala River.

This is fig tree growing on top of another tree in the rainforest. The original (larger) tree will eventually die from being suffocated by the smaller tree.

This is a large "banana" tree. It does not grow edible bananas but the leaves are so enormous they can be used as umbrellas.


This is the reception house at the Rondo Retreat.

1 comment:

Kris said...

yay, I get to see what you do! and where you are at. Good to check in on you:)