Kenya

I have been to Kenya a number of times, the first over thirty years ago. Then I was just a mzungu. Now, I write this account as a mzungu mzee. Mzungu, (Swahili) literally translated means someone who roams but it is also used to mean someone with white skin, mzee is old man or elder, so mzungu mzee is used to refer to an old white man.

Peter Drake MBE has led expeditions on most continents, many to Kenya and so it was decided that Central Yorkshire Scouts would utilise Peter’s experience and in-country logistical support to hold an expedition, with the potential for others, to that country.

The expeditions provided adventure and challenge for young people from the Leeds and Wakefield areas and, hopefully, life changing opportunities. This account is written to show what is possible and hopefully inspire others to lead expeditions to semi-remote regions. The expeditions were challenging to deliver; there were eighty-two adults and young people on the first and a similar number on the second along with ten Kenyan Scouts, an expedition total of ninety-two!

Peter and I went to Kenya during 2007 to put in place the logistics for the expeditions which were delivered in 2008 and subsequently a second in 2010. Sadly world events precluded further expeditions to Kenya and so Morocco became a safer option as shown in the further post. I wanted to provide the opportunity to climb Mt. Kenya and also explore options for groups trekking with camels and a community project in Laikipia.

Mt. Kenya's peaks are Batian (5199m) and Nelion (5188m) and separating them from each other is the Gate of the Mists. Point Lenana (4985m) was our target as Batian and Nelion are technical climbs and beyond the capabilities of the young people we intended to take.

There are a number of routes onto Mt. Kenya but the three main ones are, from the west Naro Moru, Sirimon on the north-west and Chogoria on the south-east. We explored all of the options and concluded that the Sirimon route would be best for the expedition, we could utilise Bantu Lodge as a base and Old Moses Camp as our bridge into the Liki North Valley where we would set camp. From there via Shipton’s Camp to the summit of Pt. Lenana.

The expedition's base camp was to be at Ol Maisor in Laikipia, north-west of Mt. Kenya near Rumuruti. This was where the camel trek groups would depart/return and the community project would be based. It did mean that the mountain group would be somewhat distant from the main expedition but there was a cross-country road from Rumuruti to Nanyuki if there was a need to go to them quickly.

From Nairobi Peter and I travelled north to Nyeri. The town has a special place in the heart of Scouts worldwide as the Founder of the Scout Movement, Lord Baden-Powell, is buried at St. Peter's Cemetery, Nyeri, with his wife Olave. B-P went to Nyeri because of ill-health in 1938 and died there in January 1941. He had a cottage built in the grounds of the Outspan Hotel, which was owned by a friend of B-P's, Major Sherbrooke Walker M.C. B-P named his cottage Paxtu and it is to here and his gravesite that an estimated 50,000 people from around the world travel each year. His gravestone bears a circle with a dot in the centre, which is the trail sign for 'Gone Home'. We would bring the expedition here on its route north to Laikipia.

The expeditions would have boys from Starehe School, Nairobi participate alongside our young people. Starehe was founded in 1959 by Dr. Geoffrey William Griffin MBS OBE, Geoffrey Gatama Geturo and Joseph Kamiru Gikubu which started as a rescue centre in two tin huts on the outskirts of Nairobi. The school has a Scout Troop and so provided the perfect link. The school's motto is 'Natulenge Juu' (Let Us Aim High) and is one of the leading academic centres in Kenya.

Peter and I concluded our recce and flew back to the UK having successfully put in place the logistical planning to deliver the expeditions. We had a template for Mt. Kenya with a route that accounted for acclimatisation, routes and camels arranged for the trek as well as a community project at a school in Laikipia. The mountain phase was to be over twelve days from a base at Bantu Lodge ascending via the Sirimon Track to Old Moses Camp and on to high camp at Liki North. Acclimatisation treks to the West Ridge, East Ridge and Shipton's via Mackinder would ensure a safe and successful summit of Point Lenana.

For both expeditions a small, advanced leader team flew out to Kenya ahead of the main expedition to ensure that the logistics put in place by Peter and I were ready and equipment and supplies were purchased and checked. Will was the mountain leader and so he and I, ahead of the main expedition party's arrival, went to Mt. Kenya to finalise logistics for that phase. We sourced porters at Bantu Lodge and confirmed our stay there; we sourced food and equipment in Nanyuki and went onto the mountain. We re-checked routes up to Shipton's and the campsite at Liki North.

Mt. Kenya is relatively easy to access and those doing so are very quickly at altitude. Even travelling north from Nairobi the road reaches an altitude of 2438m. Those accessing the mountain can be at Old Moses Camp at 3340m by vehicle very quickly. I have seen a number of people brought off the mountain with Acute Mountain Sickness through ascending too quickly. Our planning included trekking to Old Moses from a lower altitude to support acclimatisation

After our initial planning and recce Will and I returned to Hillcrest School in readiness for the main group's arrival. The school is near to Karen, a suburb of Nairobi. Karen is where, and to give her full title, Baroness Karen Christenze von Blixen-Finecke lived, who is probably best known for her book Out of Africa, (written under the pseudonym Isak Dinesen) an account of her life whilst living in Kenya. The suburb is named after her and the Karen Blixen Museum is situated at the house she owned.

Hillcrest School was the main base for the Scout expeditions and from where the Guerba trans-Africa trucks would take the groups north to Laikipia or Mt. Kenya. Vehicles would travel along the edge of the Rift Valley with a stunning panorama across to Mt. Longonot, a stratovolcano which it is believed last erupted in the 1860s.

The British built a railway from Mombasa to Uganda, referred to as The Lunatic Line between 1896 and 1901. In May 1899 the railway reached a site 326km from the coast which became its major depot and later evolved into the capital city, Nairobi. From Nairobi the line had to fall 1,500ft down into the Rift Valley. It was a monumental challenge [to construct the line] which cost the lives of over 2,500 workers.

In 2008 the mountain group travelled north from Hillcrest, stopping at the Equator for photographs, and on to Bantu Lodge where they camped. From there they travelled to the Sirimon Gate where they off-loaded equipment which was then portered up to Old Moses Camp. Walking from the gate to camp the group passed through the differing vegetation bands of coniferous plantations, giant bamboo, Afro-Alpine moorland and above 3300m the land of the giants; giant heather, giant groundsel and giant lobelia. Elephant and buffalo are ever-present in and amongst the bamboo. It gave the group an opportunity to acclimatise as they spent several hours walking the track, listening for the rustling of animals in the bamboo or seeing where elephants had used their tusks to excavate the banking for salt.

The group camped at Old Moses from where they trekked, with porters, over the ridge and dropped into Liki Valley North where a camp was set. From there a number of treks were held to acclimatise further before summiting Pt. Lenana and watching the sun rise over Africa. David, one of the Kenyan boys, was from Nyeri, near Mt. Kenya. He had seen snow on the mountain but never touched it. It was the first time he had thrown snow-balls.

It was cold on the mountain with some snow fall. Weather patterns are fairly predictable with cold, frosty [freezing] nights, cool and clear mornings, which warm through to mid-day. Clouds then begin to rise up the mountain reaching the summits in late afternoon.

There is an accepted way of diagnosing Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS), the Lake Louise Score (LLS). This is based on a rise in altitude within the last four days, the presence of a headache plus other symptoms. These are listed and scored against and indicate mild to severe AMS, with the resultant action then being taken. The LLS questionnaire was completed each day, in conjunction with a pulse-oximeter reading, by each person. Whilst there were some mild symptoms most coped with the altitude, although gastroenteritis affected some more so!

The 2008 mountain group successfully summited Point Lenana and had the experience of watching the sun rise over the African plains, a memory that will remain with them for life. The later expedition did not climb Mt. Kenya as most of the young people chose to participate in the community project or camel trek.

The first expedition had two groups trekking with camels whilst, due to higher numbers, the second had three. The trekking took place from Ol Maisor Camp and went out onto the Laikipia Plateau. This area has a significant amount of wildlife including elephant, lion, buffalo, giraffe, hippo, leopard and hyena. It has more than 70% of the world's remaining Grevy's Zebra. The groups had Turkana and Samburu camel-men as well as an armed guide. They trekked a pre-planned route camping in the bush overnight. During the night fires would be kept and everyone took a period of watch. Each group had an experienced Leader-in-Charge, who had led treks into the African bush before.

The groups carried, on pack camels, their food, supplies, equipment and cooked on fires. They were generally up and moving from 5am, resting up during mid-day. They would look to reach a suitable camping area in the afternoon to have ample light to set camp, have food and prepare for the night. Wood for the fire would be collected travelling into the camp so that it would not be necessary to walk far from the campfire during the night if more was needed. During the night lion could be heard bellowing, hyenas were never far away nor were baboons.

The groups walked past elephant, giraffe, hippo and other big game. If the elephants were particularly close everyone would walk on the side of the camels opposite to the elephants so as not to spook the herd. The groups returned to Ol Maisor Camp in good spirits, singing loudly as they came down the track having had what can only be described as a unique and unforgettable experience.

The 2008 community project was to construct a building at Ol Maisor School that could be used as accommodation for the schoolteachers who when at the school had nowhere to stay – one actually lived at the local police station!

We had arranged to have supplies ready at the build site and so soon after arrival we began the construction of a school building. Using shuttering with local stone and concrete we began the process of building the walls. At the same time, we also refurbished an existing wooden building housing classroom, repainting, repairing internally and externally. Guttering was reformed and refitted. The outer walls and roof were constructed and the building was usable when the expedition departed for the UK with a promise to return and complete the additional work.

On returning to Ol Maisor in 2010 the expedition members continued the work on the building as well as supporting Island School, Rumuruti by repainting classrooms, external walls and making good some of the adjacent land used as a playground. It was hard work in the heat of the day. Stone was hand collected, loaded onto a trailer and taken to site.

The British Army trained in the area and the Ghurka Regiment completed, and complimented, our work. We can now proudly say that Central Yorkshire Scouts has a lasting legacy in Laikipia, Kenya.

After the trek and mountain group returned and the expedition headed, via Hillcrest School, to the reserves of Masai Mara (2008) and Amboseli (2010). On the first we travelled to the Kenya/Tanzania border, to the Mara River. It was full of wildebeest carcasses with vultures and other predators feeding. The sky above was like Heathrow on a busy day with vultures circling and waiting their turn to land and feed. The annual migration of the wildebeest is often shown on wildlife programmes with huge numbers trying to cross the Mara River without succumbing to the very large crocodiles lying in wait. We were witnessing the aftermath of that crossing. Annually more that 1.5 million wildebeest migrate in an enormous loop around the plains of Tanzania and Kenya in search of greener pastures. The expedition saw lion hunting, herds of elephant and zebra as well as wildebeest, in fact most of the big game.

n Amboseli we camped at the edge of the reserve with Kilimanjaro as a backdrop.

The expeditions went to the Carnivore restaurant in Nairobi for a final dinner before flying home. I thought I had covered most things in the risk register, but not for one of the Kenyan boys falling into the pond at the restaurant, walking backwards for a photograph.

The Kenyan boys did not have adequate footwear when they joined us so I took them to the shoe store in Karen and bought each a pair of desert boots. It was the first time they had been into such a shop and had their feet measured. They were very proud of their new footwear. They are 

cherished moments.

It is a challenge taking large numbers of young people on an expedition but the rewards out-do the task. To have the young person for three weeks and hand them back (in one piece) to their parents as changed young people is the reward for all of the leader team's hard work.

Kenya is a magical, inspiring, awesome country.