Well, 3 months in Kenya now. It feels like ive been here ages because im settling in very comfortably, and at the same time 3 months has whizzed by because ive been having a blast!

In the last month since my last blog ive been less active and focused more on my social networking! 3 weeks ago I went up to Lake Naivasha, camped for the weekend, great campsite and really cheap! Right on the shore of the south west side of the lake. On the second night a hippo came grazing next to the electric fence beside our tents.... we were 10metres away from him....amazing! Took a gorge walk on the first day in Hells gate National park, one of the spots was where scenes from tomb raider was filmed and another where parts of the lion king scenery were modelled from (the part where mustafa lifts Simba up for all the animals to see!) On the second day I met up with a climbing buddy and we went rock climbing in the park... amongst zebra, girraffe, buffalo, etc. Really cool, one multi-pitch 100m climb right in the middle of the wildlife, looking up to see vultures circling overhead.... does it get any better than that!

The last two weekends were essentially social networking in Nairobi, getting to know more people and places (life is tough!!)

Work has been interesting, plenty to be doin, keeping busy, learning loads. Picking up some swahilli from our staff, soon enough i'll start to learn from the books, but for now just getting the basics and listening to the staff so that when i start to learn properly it sounds more familiar.

Next weekend is our long weekend again, so Im considering a trip to the masai mara (Kenyan side of the Serengheti) as we have heard that the world famous Wildebeast migration has begun to move- 2-3 million of them in one giant mass migration, should be some site to see!

Thats about all to report at the moment, hopefully i'll have some more stories after the weekend!

Tutaonana Badaaye!!

Well, it seems its been a month since i wrote anything here. Things have settled into a more routine fashion. Thats not to say im not busy, just more coordinated about what to do! Mondays usually is food and drinks with the Engineers, Tue I go into Nairobi to meet up in the Mountain Club of Kenya. Wed is a night in wioth the telly, but soon to be a meet at the scuba diving club. Thur is another quiet night, fri is beers in the local, sat im usually out on the piss in Nairobi somewhere and sunday i usually get out climbing.

The week after Narakotmi, I went down to mombasa for the weekend. We drove down with no map and hoped for the best. Got into Mombasa fine, miraculously found the ferry that takes us to the hotel stretch. But as we were on the road we were told just go straight and we cant miss it! After an hour we stopped to ask somebody.... we'd missed it about 50 minutes back!!! Finally got in to the hotel, amazing place.. 4 star hotel for 30euro a night (top end place!) 2 nights there, bit of swimming, loads of drinking! Back up Sunday night.

Since then ive just been in Nairobi. But this weekend its either Hell's Gate in the Rift Valley for some outdoor pursuits, or its back to Mombasa for scuba diving.... see what happens!

Well, just back from a 5 day trip up to the north western tip of kenya. Was offered a spot on a missionary plane by an Irish priest who is doing a masters in conflict resolution, and theres a conflict up there that he's using as a basis for his thesis- asked if i wanted to go along for the trip.... naturally i said yes! So, thursday morning (after being out on the piss the night before) we arrived at Wilson Airport. I was to pretend that i was a priest in order to get on the plane! 2 hour flight to a strip of cleared land that was apparently a runway! We arrived at the main camp of the Spanish Mission located in Narakotemi, this was where we were provided with transport to our base for the next 4 days. So I jumped in the back of the pick-up truck with 5 other people, 2 trees, all our bags and two goats for the journey. Goats were pestering me, chewing on my jeans! We arrived to Todenyang, a very desolate landscape almost desert-like for a late lunch of Nile Perch fish caught locally in Lake Turkana and wasted no time in getting down to business. First stop... Nairobi (not the capital) a village of 35 inbred locals (Turkana's) who were one of the conflict tribes, we talked with them, listening to their problems, etc. Back to the Missionary Camp for dinner... i got my own back on that feckin goat at this point as i was presented with his ribs cooked over an open fire pit!!! Few drinks with the missionaries and then off to bed in the safari style tent's with a bed, desk and everything inside!

Up early the next morning to go and talk with the other tribe, the merilla's. Only problem was they were in Ethiopia, so we took one of the locals with us for translation purposes and went up into Ethiopia illegally by border hopping through dry desert land. Arrived there, same deal, chat, listen to their problems and arrange a meeting the next day for both tribes to talk it out. Went up to the last town in Ethiopia before Kenya, a place that gets no government attention because its so far away (same with the Turkana's) for lunch in a hotel (if you could call it that). A massive plate of "meat" some sort of ethiopian style pancake and eggs, was actually quite tasty! Afterwards, a walk around the town before buying beer and sneaking back into Kenya to the camp for more of that goat and beers!

Next day was the important day, the meeting of the two tribes to air their views on the conflict. It was held in the mission church. All went pretty well, we asked for only 6 (3 men, 3 women) from each tribe so that it didnt get out of hand. They talked, expressed their perceptions of why the conflict was going on. Thankfully, both tribes just wanted to live co-habitually in harmony and have their children go to the same school in order to build bonds beyond generational turmoil. So we ended on a good note with plenty of information to come up with a strategy. Rest of the day was spent putting this info into key points by the priest, i was asked by the mission to design a roof for their construction barracks, so that kept me busy too. With the goat devoured we were given local turkana crocodile for dinner this time, cooked in the same way, another nice dish!

The next day was our last, we were going back down to Narakotemi, but the Irish priest offered to help out with one of the sunday masses in the Narakotemi area, so that was my 3rd time in mass.... very different to an Irish one! Singing, chanting, drums. It was given in Swahilli so i hadnt a clue what was going on. After that we arrived in the Narakotemi mission, very nice place, the priest there had brough loads of plants to create an oasis in the desert, had his own vinyard too (presented me with a bottle, i'll be bringing it back to Ire for X-mas dinner). Dinner with all the missionaries there, then a dvd on a projector under the stars!

Next day we were to fly home, before we did we were shown one of the dams that was constructed by the mission, had a swim there. Then it was back to