We arrived back in Kenya at 8:30 pm, Monday, January 6th, our friends Susie and Lynn in tow. All of us were tired, but glad to be missing the polar vortex sweeping through the USA (-20 F. degree temperatures in Minneapolis). Nelson, one of the NRT drivers, greeted us with a cell phone call saying he was waiting outside the international arrivals building.

Passage through immigration, customs, and baggage was uneventful as usual and Nelson, 5’ 10”, solidly built, wearing green fatigues, a beret and a large smile met us at the door. Grabbing Anne’s suitcase he hustled us to the waiting Nissan Patrol and we were soon on the super highway (which means crosswalks and speed bumps only every few miles) heading into Nairobi and the Fairview Hotel to spend the night before the four to five hour drive to Lewa on Tuesday.

Continue reading →

As most of you know, I’m not a birder. What I know about birds rivals what I know about plants. Here’s what I know about plants. There are four kinds; trees, bushes, grass and flowers. Some are pretty, some aren’t. They are usually green but not always. The way I can tell a weed from a flower is that the one I pull up, trying to be helpful, is a flower.

Likewise with birds, there are big birds, small birds, and medium sized birds. Most of them fly, and most of them are pretty. Like people, the size and shape of their beaks vary. Most importantly, when you are in the ninth grade holding a milk shake in the school lunch area a seagull will fly over and poop in the cup. And that is pretty much it.

However, here in Kenya we are constantly surrounded by a huge variety of different birds. They vary in size, color, beaks, and shapes. So perhaps I should re-evaluate my opinion.

I’m posting a bunch of photos of birds that Anne and I have taken. I’ve included comments that I think the birds in the photos might be making and their name, either their actual name (in a few cases) or what I call them for lack of knowledge of their actual name.

Enjoy, and if you want to give me the correct name, feel free.

Continue reading →

Saturday morning we got up to a steady rain. It had been raining all night long and looked to continue. ”John! It’s 7:30, let’s get ready. We’re going to visit Bush Adventures in Laparua this morning.” We began to scurry about when three things happened simultaneously; Rehema walked in, the computer dinged that we had an e-mail, and the phone rang.

All carried the message, “Don’t go anywhere.” The roads were saturated. We were likely to get stuck and even if we didn’t, driving would ruin the roads, creating deep ruts and potholes. We figured that if Adrian, the Lewa logistics manager, cared enough to e-mail, phone, and relay a message through the grounds keeper and Rehema, he was serious.

Continue reading →

The morning I left Lewa to join John in San Diego, Rehema greeted me with the question “did you hear gun shots last night?” “No,” I answered, “were there gun shots?” No one in our valley had heard anything, but the rangers who live behind us had been notified of an incident “over by the Wilderness Lodge,” about ten miles from us, close to the Lewa boundary. Lewa security suspected poachers but had not yet located a carcass.

Continue reading →

First of all, thanks for your condolences for my fathers passing. They are appreciated by Anne and me.

Dad’s memorial resulted in the biggest Knapp gathering in my lifetime. Mom was joined by all six of her children, all but 1 grandchild (8) and all but 3 great-grandchildren (9). It was a four generation celebration of Dad’s life and legacy.

We are back in Kenya and back to work in our newly verdant surroundings. We thought it was greening before we left but it is now absolutely lush.

We will be posting blogs again soon.

This post is mostly about the part of my job that involves working with women to help them increase their family incomes through bead craft. It ends with a shameless pitch for you to buy beaded coasters, key rings and Christmas decorations. Just letting you know in advance. Read on.

Elaborate beaded body decorations have been part of the pastoralist culture in Kenya for hundreds of years. For a young girl, the process of becoming “beaded” starts when she is claimed for marriage; often as an early teen around the time she is “circumcised.” Her future husband presents her with loose beads and she, in turn, creates and wears a beaded neckpiece, bracelets and earrings. Over the course of the girl’s adulthood, her beaded adornments increase until, for some, they extend from neck to diaphragm and include headpieces, ear decorations, armbands, bracelets, and anklets.

Continue reading →

Last Saturday, November 2, we officially entered the rainy season. I heard the steady patter of raindrops begin at about 4:00 am. By 8:00 am we had dual waterfalls cascading off the interior rooflines. A river was running through the center of our common space and out under the French doors. The important parts of the house were dry – the bed, couch and dining table – but for how long, we didn’t know. John vowed to get Lewa to fix our roof. I suggested we buy a good floor squeegee, put a plastic tarp over the bed and live with it.

That was five days ago. It has rained every day since; not steadily but certainly for multiple hours a day. Lewa maintenance came and patched half our roof on Tuesday so now our interior water features have slowed from streams to drips and we’re reasonably confident our sleeping quarters will stay dry. What we weren’t prepared for was how fast everything springs to life with moisture.

Continue reading →

I walked into the office on Friday and ran into Chris Mahoney. He is a project manager for Just a Drop, a charity that builds and maintains water projects for the tribal areas of Africa. Chris is here to fix a water system that Just a Drop had installed in Westgate, one of the NRT conservancies. In Westgate the manyatta (village) is six kilometers from the river. It is the children’s job to go fetch the water each day. Chris was especially interested in this project because the river is a dangerous place. As he explained, “The village loses 3-4 children each year to wildlife. In the year before we installed the water pump at least one child was killed by an elephant and just the month before we put it in a six year old girl was taken by a crocodile.” Installing a pump and piping system had eliminated the long trek and kept the children safe from the elephants and crocodiles, but now the pump needed repair.

Chris stopped me as I walked by. “You’re the head of NRT’s education project,” he said. “I have a case study for you.” The day before, Chris and Dan (NRT’s Chief Science Officer) had been at Westgate when they were approached by the school’s Head Teacher. There was a problem. The Head Teacher wanted to talk about two girls in eighth grade. They were two of his sharpest students and he expected them to do very well on the KCPE (the Kenyan National Exam that determines placement for secondary school). They are both 13 years old.

Continue reading →

Jeff and Joanne Parker recently emailed us a link to a Radio Labs show which talked about the great distance runners that have come out of Kenya. Embedded in the talk is a lot of information about some Kenyan Pastoralist cultural practices. Many of the communities have similar practices, though my understanding is that generally the women are not expected to be stoic and the men’s ceremonies are not as rigorous (No beatings or nettles and an actual knife is used). I think it is well worth a listen.

Thanks Jeff and Joanne.

Here is the link.

P.S. Guys, be ready to wince.

Kenyan Runners

Anyone who belongs to an organization will recognize the essential elements in the following picture and quickly intuit what is going on. There is a cup of coffee, a facilitator, a flip-chart and a presenter. It is an off-site team building and strategic planning retreat. That is where John and I have been for the past two days. Globalization has brought many things to the remote corners of the world; Crest toothpaste, Cadbury chocolates and Chilean wine to name just a few. Flip charts and magic markers should be added to that list.

Continue reading →