The Jungles of Africa

Last three days were hectic as.

We all arrived in Kakamega and settled into our thatch roofed bandas (funky grass huts), it was awesome settling in and then sitting out in the deck chairs watching monkeys jump from tree to tree.

Felt good to be back in nature, going for bush walks, seein’ the local flora and fauna, just relaxin’ with friends.

The monkeys were awesome, they’d swing around the tree’s then jump down and run around on the ground, or sit there with curious and quizzical looks on their faces. We watched as a couple of ladies sat outside eating sandwiches then tried to scare the monkeys away when they got too close, ended up with a monkey in a tree munching away and sandwichless ladies.

Kakamega is also famous for having about 400 species of butterflies, so there was a small butterfly farm there and numerous other butterflies always swirling through the air. Our walks through the rainforest we’re pretty cool, our guide always pointed out the different types of monkeys or bird calls and the different species of plants which could be used for medicine or were just plain rad.

One of the best walks we went on was the sunrise walk, we’re we left at 5 in the morning to climb one of the mountains and see the sunrise as the forest woke slowly from the night.

Although we didn’t see the sun itself we did see a spectacular play of crimson red clouds hulking on the horizon, a smashing backdrop for the huge stretches of rainforest from horizon to horizon. The best part of it all was standing quietly down in the jungle and up on the mountain hearing different birds or primates wake up and echo through the whole place.

Just lying in the long grass watching the red horizon blister and bubble as the masses of whispering green giants let loose the calls of a thousand birds is just something you don’t soon forget.

After our experience on the mount, we walked halfway down and into a bat cave. It wasn’t a particularly long cave, but it was pretty neat all in all, some of us were fascinated with the silhouettes of bats flapping at the cave mouth, while others were crouched in corners with the willies scared outta’ them.

All in all I was sad to leave the place and all it’s natural beauty, the endemic birdlife, the wild flowers, the wisping of butterflies and of course the monkeys.

Well it’s off to a place called Mutumbu to help out in the community and see what needs we can fulfill.

much love to all and have fun.

-josh

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