Weekend at the Lakes

"The most dangerous worldview is the worldview of those who have not viewed the world." 
- Alexander von Humboldt

Wedged between my trip to Mogadishu and my trip to the US on holiday was a quick family weekend to Lake Naivasha and Lake Elementaita. The former is a rather popular destination just a couple hours northwest of Nairobi. We’d been wanting to go for a while but hadn’t been able to carve out the time. Most people in Nairobi to whom I mentioned the trip were a bit appalled that we hadn’t done it prior to now – sort of low-hanging fruit when it comes to exploring Kenya.

We left on a Saturday morning. Traffic wasn’t bad but it’s sort of a pain in the butt driving on these roads. There are lots of trucks and people taking risks to pass them. Even if you’re not in a huge hurry, you still end up needing to get around slow moving vehicles from time to time. It can be exhausting. Then, coming over the pass and overlooking the Rift Valley, we came to a complete standstill for nearly an hour. Still not sure what it was but we heard there was some sort of accident.

nice place to go for a walk

Our first objective was to visit Lake Naivasha though we would not be spending the night. It was just to have a look around before continuing on to Lake Elementaita, which was another hour or so up the road.

waterbuck

We arrived in Naivasha late morning. It really is a beautiful place, highlighted by the fact that there are giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, etc. roaming about. Apparently since they don’t have any predators in this area they are quite relaxed. They don’t seem too agitated by the presence of humans unless you get too close. As such you can pretty much hang out amongst the animals. Very cool.

restaurant with a view

We had a cup of coffee at a small restaurant on the lake, went for a walk and then decided we’d best head up the road and get to our hotel at Lake Elementaita for a late lunch.

our lodge on Lake Elementaita

We checked into our hotel, ordered lunch and went to the upper floor of our hotel for a look at the view. 

beautiful weather; beautiful view

It too is an amazing place, though quite different from Naivasha. The most obvious difference between the lakes is the wildlife. Elementaita has hundreds of flamingos that tend to stay mostly on the southern part of the lake. On the side where we stayed, there were not too many animals other than birds and the occasional heard of cows and goats that roamed by. The wild animals were apparently on a protected area on the other side of the lake. Nonetheless it was a beautiful location.

the hotel with a storm bearing down

flamingos

love birds - monogamous to death

view from the lodge

The girls were less interested in wildlife anyway and spent most of their time on the trampoline or in the swimming pool. We did go for a nice nature walk with a guide who was also an ornithologist. I don’t know if it’s a sign of age but I feel like the older I get, the more fascinated I am by birds (it’s nothing I’ll admit very often though). It’s worth noting that there are more than 400 species of birds recorded in the area. It’s a soda lake and, in spite of the apparent inhospitability due to the high alkaline, it’s a surprisingly productive ecosystem with loads of fish and wildlife.

After two nights at Elementaita, we headed back towards Nairobi. The plan was to once again stop at Lake Naivasha on the way, this time to visit a protected sanctuary called Crescent Island. It appears to be an island from time to time, when the water level is high, but most of the time it’s probably more of a peninsula. Contrary to Elementaita, Naivasha is a freshwater lake. It’s more developed, probably due to its closer proximity to Nairobi. We were told that it was common to go back and forth easily during the day. With traffic nowadays it makes traveling to and from more cumbersome.

Crescent Island

In the 1940s when air travel first came to Kenya en route from England to South Africa, the four-engine Flying-Boats landed on Lake Naivasha and the foundations of the terminal and customs shed can still be seen today on Crescent Island. According to the lady who owns/manages the island, it was Nairobi’s first airport. Unfortunately for us, our visit was shorter than we intended. Both girls had meltdowns and it was all we could do to walk around the island with a guide for a bit more than an hour. We eventually cut our losses and headed back to the car. It was a shame. It’s a pretty amazing place, walking around the animals in such a pretty setting. We’ll need to go back when the girls are a bit older. 

Quick Trip to Mogadishu

In the two weeks before we left for the US, I fit in a trip to Somalia and a long weekend away with the family. I don’t travel as much as I used to but I still spend quite a bit of time moving around.

Mogadishu - June 22

This recent trip to Somalia was pleasantly uneventful. It started off the usual way with the armored vehicle and armed escorts to go from the airport the kilometer or two to the office. Once inside the compound I made the rounds, greeting staff and getting general updates from the team regarding the current situation in Mogadishu. The office was far more empty than normal given that Ramadan was just ending and many had taken time off to be with family. Nonetheless, it was good to be back in country and keep in regular face to face contact with staff.

Africa Union peacekeeping force (AMISOM)

From the office I was off to an external security meeting with other international NGOs. Given that I’m based in Nairobi, it’s harder for me to establish tight connections with counterparts who are based in Mogadishu. For the time being, most country directors for INGOs are still based in Nairobi but over time that is expected to change. Even for us the plan is that by 2020 our headquarters will make the move to Somalia – security permitting. It’s no small feat to make the switch. The international community is a common target for terrorist groups and security is expensive. There are other concerns as well. Logistical support for a multi-million dollar international NGO is complicated in the developing world. It’s an underappreciated part of what humanitarian actors do. Bringing in large quantities of medical supplies, water and sanitation materials (water tanks, bladders, solar panels, etc.) is expensive and unnecessarily complex. Manufacturing these items in country is obviously the ideal but we are far from there yet. If stability were to take hold and the environment for private investment to improve, we will likely to see more of this start to happen. 

tough to take good photos through bullet-proof glass

The security meeting was at a hotel that had been hit by a massive attack in January. Security cameras at the time captured footage of a truck heavily laden with explosives that somehow made it past police checkpoints and then was detonated in front of the gate of the hotel. Such buildings in Mogadishu are heavily fortified and this building, because of its location near the airport (green zone) and the fact that it regularly hosts government and international organization officials, is particularly a target. Given the massive radius of the blast zone (apparently damage as far as a half-mile away), it’s amazing that only five were killed, not counting the terrorists.

the ubiquitous Hescos

Now, the hotel has further reinforced its security. When you enter the compound you go through a maze of walls made of massive one-meter sand cubes (referred to as "Hescos" after one of the companies that produces them) and multiple boom gates as you work your way inside. When you are finally inside, it’s surprisingly peaceful and normal. I would like to think that one day all this security will no longer be necessary but when you look around the world, airports, malls, schools, etc., we seem to be heading the other direction. It’s too bad but it’s likely here to stay.

Belgrade

Been a while. I’m going to do what I can to get caught up. Won’t be easy given all that has transpired since the last posting but, given that I use these posts as a bit of an archive of what I (we) have been up to, I need to get back to the pen (laptop).

This particular entry was begun back in June. I returned from Belgrade, had to make a quick trip to Somalia and then was sucked into the vortex of vacation. Now that I have been ejected from said vortex, “normal” life can resume. 

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Belgrade - June 3-10

One thing I regret about my rather extensive past travel experience is how little documentation I have from it, particularly that which transpired during the 80s and 90s. A lot was going on but there isn’t much to show for it except what is inside my head. I have a few bad photos and a few notes. For the latter, however, I have somewhat of an excuse. At one point while traveling with a friend in northern Spain we were robbed. We had stepped in a café to have a quick breakfast before hitting the road. In less than an hour someone broke into the car and stole everything. My journal, where I had a couple of years’ worth of handwritten notes, was in one of the bags that was stolen. Needless to say I felt violated. We figured that either the journal would end up in a dumpster or a chapter of my life would end up in an obscure Spanish movie. 

As such I was burned by the fleeting nature of handwritten documentation of my experiences. I stopped keeping a journal at that point and never picked it up again. When blogging became a thing, I eventually began using that as a means to record my experiences, more or less from the time that I arrived in Africa in 2005. It’s likely that it won’t disappear as easily but it does require a keyboard (at least for me) to enter my travel thoughts. I realize that much of the world can draft stuff on two thumbs at breakneck speed but I’m not one of them.

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view from my room

So yes, Belgrade. It seems so long ago now. I went to Serbia for meetings. It may seem an odd destination for such things, and I sort of thought so prior to going, but in the end it worked out quite well. It’s not overly expensive. It’s beautiful. The hotel was a very good host for such a thing. It was more flexible than many countries for visas (we often have problems with such things due to the fact that we have people on staff that come from countries are often on other countries’ restricted visa lists).

some of the great architecture not destroyed by war

some that was destroyed-in this case the Min. of Defense building hit by NATO forces in 1999

I had been to Belgrade before. If I remember correctly it was around 1990. I drove through there with a friend of mine on our way to Greece. I don’t remember much about it. It was still Yugoslavia at the time and it seemed considerably poorer than it is now. This time I was able to spend some time, when not in meetings, to get out and walk around. I was impressed, I have to say. The weather was perfect, which helped, but there are a lot of things to like even if the weather had not been so good.

view from the Belgrade fortress overlooking the Sava and Danube Rivers

On my first day there I ventured out on foot to explore some of the key sites I found on my tourist map. It’s a very walkable city and I found that getting an early start gave me plenty of time to see the key things before retreating to my hotel room to get caught up on some emails. 

lots of people playing chess

St. Mark's Church as seen in reflection

yep, they have some Nazis too; fortunately all they could afford was chalk

I’ll refrain from going into details about what I saw. I suggest you go there yourself. But I’m including photos. They’re not great but that’s how it goes sometimes. I think I was more fixated on learning about (or re-learning about) the history of the place and less on taking photos. However, as is my nature, I did take quite a few.

sunset on St. Micheal's Cathedral

Belgrade by night; lots of wonderful traditional music

Cathedral of St. Sava - world's largest Orthodox church