Monday, 2 April 2012

A beautiful hike to the Cherangany Hills!!!



Kapsowar hospital has currently 4 visiting  medical students 2 from the UK and two from the US  as part of their rotation in finishing their medical degrees. There are also 3 other visiting specialist plus Andre. Saturday was special because we all had an off day to hike up the mountain. Those two bumps in the mountain were our targets starting in the town of Kapsowar at 6.30am .We knew that this is not going to be easy when we saw our beautiful Kenyan guide Mama Bryan, she looked like one of those long distance Olympian runners . We were rewarded with a spectacular view of the Rift valley below once we reached the top.It was a good 9.5 hour hike there and back with about an hour lunch break on the top of an overhanging rock. We had a brisk glimps of 3 monkeys and squirrels but no leopards or other wild African animals. This area is protected and have beautiful big trees but we found traces of human and cattle presence  very high up the mountain.  The peak of the mountain is about 3300 meters ( 10500 ft ) high and the high altitude  is the part that none of us are used to and sapped our energy  because we started at the bottom of the valley.

 



Andre and Mama Bryan - our Kenyan - guide at one of our lookout spots.


Our lunchbreak on an overhanging rock , for some reason we are not on the rock!!!!! Mama Bryan was even taking a nap  on the edge of the rock while we all  were nervously waiting for her to wake up and not turn over in her sleep.


Ezekiel , Priscilla and Dan's adorable 9 month old son  only sleeps in this position ,like the traditional way the African women carry their babies. We took turns to carry him in this sling and it is surprisingly easier than you think.



At the bottom of the mountain we came across three Marakwet women who were carrying huge bundles of wood with ease. The task of finding wood for the week's cooking sessions is left to the women and children to do.








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