Kwaheri Mwamba na Kenya

On Friday the 29th of January 2011 we left Mwamba Field Study Centre. It was quite an emotional time to farewell the unique place we had called home for the past 6 months. Not only were we leaving the beautiful Mwamba, we were leaving behind many new friends, most of whom we will probably never meet in person again.
Two days before we left they threw us a special outdoor dinner party with all the tasty Swahili food that I now miss – chapattis, especially. Kenya really left its mark on us, as we did ours.

Our farewell feast - volunteer corner

Lynton’s A Rocha Kenya Top 10 (in no particular order)

• Beach – magnificently warm and practically private white-sand beach. We swam with the fishes at least 3 times a week.
• Ringing – holding amazing birds in the hand, removing them from nets and releasing them back into the wild. I even got to ring and measure a few. My wing lengths required the formula: x + 2 mm to give the true measurement.
• Food – chapattis, coconut beans, michicha, pilau, kachumbari, coconut with green grams = delish
• Epilogue – active, faithful, worshipping community: our church.
• Sailing/Snorkelling – swarms of fish, piles of coral and the odd turtle
• Safari – Twice at Tsavo East NP. Camping amongst the wild animals was cool though a little scary
• Volunteers – hanging out, laughing, and as Francis would say 'chatting'
• ASSETS – experiencing the programme first hand and seeing the good it does
• Visiting Francis and Janet’s families out in the villages, especially staying at Janet’s house for one night
• Managing Mwamba over the Christmas/New Years – So much fun with our awesome guests. We certainly could do more of that