Bumps in the Road, Part 2
Posted at 4:52 pm October 10, 2006 by Bill TooneBill Toone, a conservation program specialist for CRES, helped implement a teacher training program in Kenya. In blogs, he shares his experience as he works with Dan Rubenstein, a Princeton University scientist, and Louise Bradshaw, the St. Louis Zoo’s education director, to inspire the next generation of Kenyans to work for wildlife conservation. Read Bill’s previous blog, Bumps in the Road.
Okay, off to Nanyuki. But of course we have to go to the research station first to get empty bottles to trade back in. Then it is about an hour of painful, rutted dirt roads and rocks. One good thing about the town of Nanyuki is that we do know a place to get cold drinks.
By the way, we were supposed to buy the goats on the way to Nanyuki, but because of the late start they were already out grazing and you ” cannot buy a goat unseen.” You have to look at it, pick it up, complain about it, and negotiate a price. So we decided we would look into goats on the way back.
Things took a long time in town: buying large amounts of beverages requires filling out a form and paying for the drinks. Then, apparently, you go to lunch while they get your order together. You come back, drive to the back of the store, and the order is slid out through a little door in the bottom of a normal door. Very high security. By the time this is done we are very late and we have to get back because the class needs the vehicle for a game drive. It is decided we will get the goats later when we go for the game drive.
We get back to class and Shem says we are late for our game drive and we have a long way to go. Turns out he had decided to go to Sweetwater, which is beautiful, but it’s right near Nanyuki. This means I am now driving a carload of students down the same awful road I just spent nearly three hours going back-and-forth on. To make it more interesting, we had a flat tire on the way. Fifteen people collaboratively changing one tire is a funny sight (see above), but they did it.
Check back for the conclusion of Bill’s last full day in Kenya.
Bill Toone is a conservation program specialist for Conservation Education/CRES.
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October 10th, 2006 at 6:33 pm
Bill, I’m enjoying your blogs so much. Can’t wait to find out whether or not you finally get the goats. What you are doing out there, educationally that is, is so very important (as is the driving). Thanks for being such an informative and interesting ” blogist,” and especially for your expertise and caring!
October 11th, 2006 at 9:46 am
Reminds me of when we broke down on the road between Nairobi and Treetops, near the Thika turn-off. Fortunately, we were near a small village market (we couldn’t see the village or the market – just people going back and forth), and a few of the men were self-taught mechanics who couldn’t wait to get their hands on our Escort. They took with them to Thika the one man in our party (my father), while four of us women (ages 16 to 72) sat on the ground and waited. One young man appointed himself our guardian, and when we asked when we could expect to see the car back, he kept saying, ” Not too long.” Well, it seemed pretty long, but sure enough, the car did come back, with a repaired accelerator cable, and my father had his story to tell of his adventure in Thika. But I will cut this comment short, only adding that one of the sweet moments of our stay by the side of the road was when a young mother stopped by to show us her newborn, snug in a sling on her back. She didn’t speak either English or Swahili, so I couldn’t tell her how pretty the baby was, but I hope she understood. There were goats, but we didn’t get any.
October 11th, 2006 at 7:12 pm
Bill, I really enjoy your blogs. In addition to being a great scientist, you are an excellent educational and entertaining writer. You keep us entralled in your adventures. I too am waiting to see if you get any goats.