Last week I visited all the schools in Biliqo Bulesa, a conservancy northeast of Lewa, large in area and small in population. My driver, cook and I packed up our camping gear, food for a week, plenty of water and headed out. One hour of tarmac road and four hours on dirt found us in Merti. We spent the first night in a small hotel. I had the expensive room, Ksh 600 ($7.20) with indoor plumbing. Simon, the driver, and Faith the cook stayed in the Ksh 300 rooms. They had the better deal. Their board walls with gaping holes, paneless window openings and thatch roof let in a cool breeze while I sweltered in my block construction with sheet metal roof which absorbed and retained the daytime desert heat.
My room was in the white building in the background. Simon and Faith stayed in rooms to the right of the shaded terraces. Faith cooked us a dinner of canned corned beef and shredded cabbage. We didn’t get to share in the goat the man was skinning.
The next two nights we camped. Simon wanted to stay in towns (not in the bush) so he asked people he knew if we could pitch our tents in their backyard. Read “towns” as a collection of 50 to 100 mud and stick manyattas scattered on either side of the dirt road.
Here is the front of the house where we stayed one night.
The primary reason for saying in town was security. The week previously raiders had stolen a herd of goats, been tracked down, and five of them killed. The surviving raiders were threatening revenge on the security rangers. It wasn’t a good time to be in an isolated camp site.
The houses in Biliqo Bulesa actually fit the environment well. They are not sealed up with openings between the roof and walls, no glass in the windows and only cloth for doors: so the ventilation is good. The mud and thatch provides shelter from the noon time sun. The women weave sun porch roofs for al fresco relaxing and dining.
Simon sitting in the shade porch.
We, on the other hand, were camping in the backyard, in single person bug tents, next to the trash pit, a few yards away from the pit toilets, serenaded much of the night in stereo by braying donkeys in the yards to either side.
Our backyard camp site.
And finally we shared the yard with the ugliest chicken I have ever seen.
The chicken who shared or campsite.
It was fun.
Its all an adventure.. Is that a tabby cat in the goat picture?
Glad you enjoyed yourself. You are far more adventurous than I am.
Wow. Can you package this experience for intrepid tourists interested in learning how to weave a porch? And come on. That chicken is kind of cute.