Wazungus* in matatus

*Mzungu is the term for white people - wazungus is the plural

We got a touch of the African wildlife today as we walked among baboons.

At 7 am a matatu was waiting for our group of 11 girls to take us to a baboon herd a 45 min ride from Daraja. Matatus are like buses or taxis or a little bit of both. Matatus will have routes like buses, but can also be booked like a taxi. And the size of them is something in-between – well, closer to a taxi size than a bus really. Think of an ordinary size van and add seating for 12 – or 14 perhaps as it does seat 2 people in front with the driver(the “death seat” according to Lonely Planet). I’m sure it’s a sight for sore eyes to watch a matatu full of wazungus at 7 in the morning being shaken into a state of awake as the van speeds along the dirt road shaking and rattling. It’s quite an experience.

 Adding to the awesome fun it is to ride a matatu in the first place, is riding in it with certain types of girls. The kind of girls who wants to take pictures of everything and needs the driver to stop for the yet another group of donkeys. Or the kind of girls that scream at the sight of a giraffe or a zebra. Granted it is a spectacular view to see these animals almost roaming freely(there was some kind of enclosure, although it did cover a vast majority of land), but do you really need to scream? I think not.

Baboons hanging out in a tree

Oh well, as said, that just adds to the experience. We made it to the baboon place having only stopped a few times for cows crossing, giraffe sightings and to pick up our guide. After climbing down some rocks we came upon the herd pretty fast and spent about an hour or so just tracking them a little while further down. They didn’t seem to mind us and let us come pretty close.

Male baboon taking a nap

We were back at Daraja around 11 after another bumpy ride and stops for animal and rock sightings(don’t ask). Most of the others went to the closest town, Nanyuki, while Charlotte and I stayed back and spent most of the nice and quiet afternoon reading, taking a shower(the water is really only warm after 3pm when the sun has heated it) and getting a briefing on our internship situation by the local coordinator.

These beautiful blue birds are everywhere at Daraja. Here one is feeding the other.

We knew before leaving Denmark that Isiolo most likely would not be safe to go to right away due to a re-surfaced tribal conflict, so we arrived in Kenya not really knowing where we would end up. But Teresia, the local coordinator and real cool lady, talked to us and told us that it’s hard to get decent intel at the moment and to be on the safe side, we were to start out with another branch of the regional office in a different town until they are sure that things have died down enough for our arrival in Isiolo. I feel very secure in the hands of ActionAid and MS as it really feels like they have things under control. Besides, they have absolutely no interest in sending us somewhere it is not safe for us to be. So there will be no going close to Somali borders and no going to Isiolo until they are sure the situation is under control.

We don’t worry, so neither should you.

Hakuna matata.

African lilly