School Break & Nairobi National Park

Our daughters have been on break for the past two weeks. The French system, like the Swiss system where I taught for several years, divides the school year into trimesters. There are 2-week breaks in October, February and May which serve as separators between each term. It’s a positive and a negative that the May term is separate from Easter. A negative is that our vacations don’t mesh with those of our friends whose children attend other schools. It’s often nice for the kids (and parents) to go on holiday together – particularly since siblings tend to tire of each other after a few days of life with no school.

2025 Easter eggs

 

The upside of the different schedule is that it’s much easier to book travel when you’re the only school on break. So much changes in this country during the official school breaks. Traffic in Nairobi decreases noticeably as thousands of people are not ferrying their kids to school, often sending the kids "up country" to stay with extended family. National parks and hotels on the coast experience sharp increases in bookings. It’s always worthwhile to consider this phenomenon when planning anything involving travel in Kenya.

* * *

mountain biking

This May, all of that was less of an issue for us. As the humanitarian sector has taken a huge funding hit over the past few months, thousands of jobs have disappeared. The positions that so far remain are less certain. Financial prudence is paramount for anyone in this line of work, particularly until the dust settles a bit more. So we continue to tighten our belts and try to be more careful in the weeks and months ahead.

laser tag

For the kids, this translates to a bit less excitement than they are accustomed to this time of year. I have to say, compared to some kids, our girls do quite well when they are afforded some down time. They have non-screen-related hobbies and interests that sidestep the abyss of social media. But it does take some creativity to infuse some much-needed physical activity each day. 

girls' first every cake made all by themselves (for Mothers' Day)

 

* * *

Nairobi National Park

As the past two weeks wound down, we were able to find some time to venture out to Nairobi National Park. Each time that we go, we wonder why we don’t do it more often. It’s reasonably inexpensive and the gate, in the wee hours of the morning, is about ten minutes from our door. It’s an amazing gift for residents and visitors to Nairobi.

We have our game drive routine down to a science. We’re out of bed in the dark of early morning. Coffee is brewed. Hot chocolates are prepared and thermoses are filled. Priya usually focuses on the drinks and snacks and I assemble cameras, binoculars, wildlife books, etc. The girls tend to enjoy these outings so they are pretty good at dealing with the early morning and the stagger down to the vehicle. They get more excited as we approach the park, pass through the gate and head out into the green countryside.

It's not always verdant, of course. We are in the midst of the rainy season so the vegetation was at the peak of its lushness. In fact, we had had a couple of days of heavy rains and we had some concern about the roads. Some of the minor roads in the park can become impassable, or barely passable, either because of thick mud or the deepness of the streams or both. Generally speaking, however, if you stay on the main roads you usually don’t have any problems.

* * *

At first I thought this was some kind of owl given that it had a wide head. Turned out to be a black-winged kite.

It was a beautiful morning. The sun was up by the time we were in the park. Dawn is often a good time to be on a game drive since you can sometimes catch the tail end of the night’s activity. Dusk is often good as well, but the parks close at 6pm and limit you from staying out until the sun fully sets (remember that we’re near the equator so there isn’t much variation in the timing of the setting/rising sun year-round). An exception to the rule about being in the park at night is when you are on an approved, guided night safari which I’ve done only once.

male ostrich - Masai race

I’ve mentioned before that there are positives and negatives to being on safari without a guide. The positives are that a) you can leave the driving to someone else, b) you can tap into some interesting facts about the animals, c) they know the parks better than you and there’s less guesswork when coming to forks in the road, and c) since they carry VHF radios, you can benefit from their networking regarding key animal sightings.

African spoonbill

We’ve done a lot of both, but I tend to favor being guideless. I like the freedom of being at the wheel and making my own decisions. I know some of the parks quite well by now and can navigate fine without a guide or map. As for the interesting facts, having done this for two decades now, even the kids are steeped in knowledge about the animals. It’s not that we don’t have anything to learn. You can always expand your knowledge on the animals and their behavior. But it’s not like it was twenty years ago when we were hanging on the guides’ every word.

giraffe - Masai race

The challenge is always the last point about awareness of animal sightings. That’s the one that can put you at a disadvantage compared to the vehicles with guides. We did find out, however, that there are some limitations to the information sharing. In most parks, guides tend to communicate more with other guides from their respective company or, as we experienced in Masai Mara, guides from their own tribe/language. Multilingual guides can broaden their awareness on the radios if they’ve learned to understand other tribal languages.

wattled starlings on a rhino's back

* * *

great white egret

Within fifteen minutes of entering the park, we saw our first lion. Shortly thereafter we saw our first rhinos. Nairobi National Park is a home to the highest density of black rhinos in Kenya with about 76 indigenous black rhinos and 13 white rhinos. We saw some of both.

white rhinos

As you might guess, rhinos are neither black nor white. In fact, they are not distinguishable by color. They’re all some shade of gray. “Black” rhinos are browsers, with a pointed, prehensile upper lip for grabbing leaves and twigs, while “white” rhinos are grazers, with a wide, square-shaped upper lip for feeding on grass. They also differ in size, with white rhinos generally larger and heavier. You can see that the ones in these photos are white rhinos given the shape of the upper lip.

white rhino

We were told by a friend that the rhinos in this park are doing so well that they have begun relocating some to other places. Part of their survival depends on them having enough territory of their own. As big as NNP is, there is a limit to the numbers of certain animals.

savanna baboon

We would be out for about 3-4 hours before we decided that we would head out for some food. I could spend all day hanging out in the park but we all had other things that we needed to do that afternoon. We generally go to the same restaurant not far from the gate for a late breakfast. As I said, it’s such a great way to spend a morning. Hopefully we won’t wait so long before we do it again.

Nile crocodile

Ramadan

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan finished recently. I don’t generally spend much time in Somalia during this month, partly because we have reduced work hours. We don’t have a lunch break and we allow people to return home mid-afternoon (when they are experiencing low blood sugar levels). In places like Somalia, the prohibition of drinking water is often more of a challenge than the lack of food given the heat and humidity.

A second reason that I avoid this season is that a lot of meetings are postponed until after Eid, the celebration at the close of the month. It can be difficult to get meetings with government officials so there is less incentive for me to invest in the cost of being in Mogadishu.

A third reason is that I don’t want someone to prepare food for me while they are fasting. I generally don’t eat lunch, particularly when I’m in Somalia, but I normally do eat dinner. Given the security restrictions, I can’t go out to restaurants after sunset and join in on the breaking of the fast (“iftar”). I’m always told that it’s not an issue but it makes me uncomfortable.

All this is sort of a moot point given that our organization is under a travel freeze due to funding cuts. It means I wouldn’t have been able to travel there anyway.

* * *

Ramadan is an interesting time of year. It is a time of disciplining the body as well as deliberately turning to Allah. As with any religion, you have those who take it more seriously than others. But I’m always surprised at how seriously people respect these rituals. Many Muslims will read a chapter of the Qur’an a day and so read the entire Qur’an in the month of Ramadan. I have several colleagues that even continue fasting after Ramadan is over given that this supposedly provides adherents with additional blessings.

One of my female staff was telling me recently that for her, the fasting is less of a challenge than the sleep deprivation. Evenings are generally very full with the necessary time at the mosque as well as iftar meals with friends and family. In addition to the fact that these events can go well into the night, people need to wake early to have a robust breakfast before sunrise that will enable them to make it through the day.

Generally, throughout the month the streets are less crowded during the day. By late afternoon, the roads get very busy and people walk quickly to try and get home in time to prepare for Iftar. Tempers can increase. I was in a meeting a couple weeks ago and one of my team was uncharacteristically short tempered. He lashed back at someone who was on the call and a tense exchange ensued by two people who are normally rather mild-mannered. It’s not uncommon and I know that when I have low blood sugar, I can be short-tempered as well.

When the call to prayer comes, it’s time to eat. Many break the fast with a light meal consisting of gentler foods like water, juice, yogurt, fruit, or salty foods to replenish what was lost during the day. This prepares the stomach for the main meal. They then head to the mosque before having the big meal afterwards. 

Jemaa el-Fnaa

Priya and I happened to be in Morocco in 2007 during Ramadan. We were out in the famous main square of Marrakesh (Jemaa el-Fnaa) and restaurants were almost all full. People, mostly men, patiently sat at the tables with food in front of them awaiting the call from the towering mosque nearby. The moment that the call went out signaling that the sun had set, they dove in. No gentle breaking of the fast. 

mussels in Marrakesh

* * *

Ramadan is now behind us. My team has more or less returned to normal, though normal is not what it used to be. We continue to grapple with the effects of the massive budget cuts. We brace ourselves for more cuts coming from our European donors. It’s a strange and difficult time that we are living in. I have former staff who were terminated due to the cuts that spent Ramadan without an income. It’s terribly sad. And we’re not out of the woods yet.

Idaho

The idea of traveling to the US in March came to me as early as December. At that point, I figured the chances were slim that I would eventually go. In addition to concerns about our cash flow, remote work for two weeks is not easy to schedule given obligations to attend meetings and participate in work events.

Things changed when the US president announced that he was going to take down USAID, the largest humanitarian and development donor in the world. While our program in Somalia was not heavily impacted directly, indirectly the ripple effects began almost immediately. I won’t go into detail, but one of the impacts on my job was that I would see a dramatic reduction in funds to travel to Mogadishu. From a personal standpoint, the result of spending more time with family is welcome. It also allows me to gain more time in my week without the time-consuming treks to the airport and all that the commute entails, not to mention less exposure to insecurity as the situation in the country becomes more concerning. The downside, of course, is that I get less time with my team, with government counterparts and with other international stakeholders. I am prevented from visiting projects and meeting with people that we serve. It’s frustrating and, I hope, something that will not continue for too long.

In any case, given that I would be unable to travel for work, I returned to the idea of traveling to the US. The Muslim holy month of Ramadan throughout the month of March, was an additional factor. I’ve spent time in Somalia during Ramadan but it’s not ideal given that everyone is fasting and work hours are modified (no lunch break and shorter workdays).

The third motivation for travel was that I recently noticed that my US driver’s license would be expiring within the next couple of months. Having an expired license would be problematic. And there were other reasons as well that I won’t go into.

* * *

Thus, I made the call that I would travel assuming I could find a ticket for a somewhat reasonable price. I went online and, given that it is not a busy travel period, I found a relatively cheap ticket and proceeded to lock in my dates. Though I would continue to work full-time while I was there (waking in the wee hours to overlap with East Africa time), the effort to make the trip was increasingly making sense.

The first week of March, I would be on my way. My flights would take me through Brussels, then Chicago and finally to Boise. During my layover in Brussels, I was reminded of the Belgian culinary delights. It’s possible that there are lots of people who disagree with me, but one thing that stood out during my two years living in the country was the wonderful food, some of which is on offer in the airport.

Kimberly

I landed in Boise late on a Tuesday. The next day, somewhat jet lagged, I would pick up some things at our storage and by late morning my sister and I would be off to spend a few days with my parents.

I wasn’t sure what to expect. When I am there, I try to tackle projects like pruning trees, yardwork, cleaning (ex. like the garage we cleaned last summer). This time of year, there was less to be done. As such, after my 2am-10am workday, I would get a workout in and then spend time with the family. We would participate in on a couple of outings where my parents like to go as a part of their routines. Though not for everyone, I do like these drives. It’s a dose of nostalgia, often taking me back to my youth and to places of significance for our family history. I would probably go crazy if I lived there, but visiting is quite enjoyable.

 

the Hagerman Valley

Boise

By Saturday morning, we would return to Boise. My sister took me straight to the airport where I would pick up a rental car and I could regain some autonomy. I took full advantage, beginning to run errands to take some pressure off the errands I would need to run later. After a couple of quick days in the city, I would head north to New Meadows.

East Boise and the foothills

New Meadows

I went to college in northern Idaho for a couple of years and I barely remember driving through the small town of New Meadows. At the time, it was just another small town along the eight-hour or so drive from my parents’ house to my campus in Lewiston. I probably stopped there on a few occasions to refuel or use the restroom (my car was notorious for breaking down on these trips but I don’t remember breaking down there. But I never would have thought that someday I would be a property owner in Meadows Valley. Though I have wanted property in the mountains since I was a kid, this area wasn’t on my radar.

Since then there has been a gradual migration of family to the area and, when I was finally in a position to consider real estate in the mountains a few years ago, this valley made more sense. It’s less expensive than some mountain areas. It’s beautiful. And when I spotted the property we would eventually buy, it seemed to be a rather logical thing to do. Though the completion of the house was not smooth sailing, in retrospect, it was a good decision.

* * *

I would stay at my sister and brother-in-law’s house in a wooded area a few miles from town only about fifteen minutes from the property that we purchased. It’s a gorgeous log home with a driveway that can be tricky to navigate in the winter. With my relatively small rental car, it wasn’t clear whether up to the task. I will say, I’ve always made it up in previous years driving front-wheel drive rental cars, so I was cautiously optimistic.  In the end, I didn’t have any problem. Admittedly, I was aided by some sand that they had poured towards the top just before I arrived.

My brother arrived not long after I did. We would settle in for the next several days hanging out, watching college basketball, eating yummy food, cutting wood, skiing, etc. I still need to deal with early bedtimes and early wake up but, given the circumstances, I was happy to be able to get it all done. 

the Intersection

Wood

One task that was on my list was to attack several slash piles on my property. The piles of wood were created about a decade ago when the previous owner cut down all the trees across the 16-acres of land and milled the wood. It left a barren landscape and piles of leftover scrap wood that are a bit of an eyesore. When talking to people from the area about where my property is, it’s not uncommon to hear, “Ah, that property with the slash piles.”

The felling of those trees was a tragic event. Some of the remaining trunks are over four feet wide. They must have been massive and majestic. The job left for me as current owner is to clean up what remains.

While I was in Boise, I picked up a new chainsaw. I already had a cordless one, hoping that my environmentally sound alternative would be powerful enough to do the job. But after taking a stab at it last summer, it was clear to me that I needed something far more robust.

After a somewhat failed attempt to attack one of the piles on Wednesday, by Friday I was there again. I was out the door relatively early, braving the sub-freezing temperatures. At first it seemed like a ludicrous thing to be doing. We had made a trail through the deep snow just to access the pile. The south side of the stack was accessible but the north side, exposed to less sun, was still covered with a thick layer of snow. Some of the logs were frozen to each other and impossible to move. But as I fired up the saw and began to have some success, I began to feel good about the decision to push on.

the piles are bigger than they look in the photo

Very quickly, it became apparent to me how massive these slash piles are. After three hours of cutting and amassing an impressive heap of cut timber, I was less than halfway through the first pile. Some have suggested I just torch the piles. Though it would be much easier, it’s environmentally problematic and wasteful. There is so much fuel in these piles that the fires would be massive, burn for a long time, and benefit no one. Having said that, it is inevitable that I will torch some of it, especially the smaller limbs. I assume that over time it will become clearer to me how much. So the plan for now is to extract a few tons of wood that I will stack behind my shed and provide more firewood than the family will ever need.

Skiing

When I set up the trip, it did cross my mind that by mid-March there still may be an opportunity to go skiing. And yes, it is one of my favorite things to do. But at a time when we are trying to save money, the idea seemed a bit self-indulgent, and I did want to get work done on our property. As it worked out, the weather would dictate where I placed my focus. Not only was snow continuing to fall and creating fantastic ski conditions, it was making my wood cutting plans more complicated. On top of that, my brother would be unable to ski due to an injury and he made his equipment available for me to use. The gods were politely encouraging me to spend some time on the powdery slopes. I accepted their invitation.

fresh powder

My sister and brother-in-law are now retired and have spent an enormous amount of time skiing this year. They offered to take me along and I joined them on Thursday and Saturday. On both days, we arrived early and made sure we were among the first to board the chairlift. The reward was untouched fields of powder.

Admittedly, deep powder is a challenging way to start given how seldom I ski. But muscle memory kicked in and before long I was carving my way down the mountain. Though I’m in pretty good shape, I did find that I need to stop from time to time to catch my breath and give my thighs a break. It’s a good workout. But the views were stunning, and it was wonderful just to be on the mountain.

The snow on Saturday was amazing, but the wind picked up by mid-morning and there were blizzard conditions on the top of the mountain. I was planning on returning to Boise in the afternoon, and the lack of visibility was making it easier for me to decide to make my exit. By late morning, we skied to the lodge. I had a quick bite to eat and then headed down the road.

Return to Boise

Once in Boise, it was time to continue running errands and wrapping things up on the trip. Work was less demanding given that it was the weekend which facilitated my ability to spend time with family, squeeze in workouts, do some shopping and make my final trip to the storage.

Overall, I can’t complain. It was a successful trip and a good time with family. Having said that, I was anxious to get back to my wife and daughters, my routines, etc. 

San Francisco on the way back to Kenya (a bit of a detour)