First days

Hello!

Sorry for the delay in news, Dave and I are now safely at Mwam

ba, in Watamu Kenya! We had very good, though long flights... we went from Winnipeg to Montreal, to Paris, to Nairobi, and then finally on to Malindi! We stayed overnight in Nairobi, as our flight to Malindi did not leave until the next evening, at the Mennonite Guest house. It was beautiful, with huge trees and a beautiful facility. Our flight to Malindi was blessedly short (45 minutes, as opposed to our 6.5 and 8.5-hour flights to Europe and Africa!) From Malindi, we were picked up by the director at the center, Henry, and another volunteer, Nathaniel. We rode the plane to Malindi here with the director of A Rocha Kenya, Colin Jackson (he was in Nairobi for a meeting), and got to get filled in a bit before we even got there!

Yesterday was our first day here, dealing with jet lag made for

some sleepy moments at odd times of day, (we’re doing better today). We have met a lot of people, and gotten a real appreciation for the beauty of the coast region here. There are so many birds and bugs and trees and plants, none of which we know much about! I’m sure we will get to learn though, as everyone here is wild about those things. There are a few main projects we could get involved in during our time here, and they are outlined in the ARK website: http://www.arocha.org/ke-en/index.html

Today we went on our first bird-watching expedition (picture below of Dave and Laura, another volunteer here), and got a daytime view of the closest town, Watamu. After that, we went for a swim in the Indian Ocean, which was very warm and salty! We’ve been doing a bit of everything, getting to know the people here and the center itself, which is made up of several small buildings.

One of my main fascinations so far with the area is the monkeys! They are Sayke’s Monkeys, and apparently very pesky! One of their favourite tricks is to steal food from people eating breakfast when they go in to grab something! I’ve been assured I will come to hate them, but they just seem too cute right now!

Well, I think we are heading off to watch some rugby (part of our "education", with all of the European and Australian volunteers here!) tonight, and I had better get going!

Hannah