Kenya Energy Blog

In the past few weeks, we did not undertake any trips, at least not of the magnitude as climbing Mt. Kenya. A lot of small events happened though, and this blog entry attempts to summarise and describe the most important of those events.

Firstly, the long rains finally started about a week ago, which is way too late. Over the past ten years, Kenyans in this region have started complaining that the rains start later every year. In a area as arid as this, this brings many problems. In fact, it seems that the effects of global warming are quite significant here. This year the entire maize harvest has been lost due to the drought and drinking water was very scarce these last few weeks. After some first-hand experiences with these water issues, it is hard to describe the feeling when the first rain pours down. It is funny to feel very happy because of a few raindrops. However, all is not well since the country will probably experience national hunger within a few months due to the failed harvest.

Secondly, Mt. Kenya experience a major forest fire before these rains appeared. The lack of rain and the starting of this fire are closely related, although in a different manner than one would expect. According to Kikuiu (the tribe living in this region) belief, a god lives at the top of Mt. Kenya. Since the rains were taking extremely long this year, people set fire to the mountain in order to force this god to send rains to extinguish the fire. Before the rains started, it burned away a good part of the rainforest and the wildlife on the eastern flank of Mt. Kenya National Park. This side of the mountain is the back side from our point of view, but nevertheless the fire was very noticeable. There were such quantities of smoke coming from the fire that it clouded and changed the sunlight during the day and left a big orange glow around the entire mountain at night. Even though this situation provided us with some nice pictures, this situation is completely ridiculous. In fact, the rains came only a few days after the fire was started, creating the illusion that it ‘worked’. Whether you believe a god lives on Mt. Kenya or not, setting fire to one of the biggest National Parks and a major contributor to the Kenyan economy is just plain stupid. Especially now that the financial crisis is having its effect on the amount of tourists visiting Kenya. Luckily, most Kenyans agree.

In the mean time, we have completed our feasibility report for placing a windmill next to the Guest House at the HSHC compound. The conclusion was rather positive, so we can continue our project by actually building the windmill. For more information about the project and for downloading the feasibility report, please visit our ‘About the windmill project’ page on this website. Anyway, the completion of the report and the outcome of the corresponding presentation seemed a good occasion for a small party. One of the other interns came up with the idea of going into the rainforest by horseback. Horses in Kenya are still a very suitable way of transport, especially in the forest since they can outrun both the buffalo and the elephant. These two animals prevent free walking in the forest since they are often very aggressive, even compared to Kenyan driving style. In any case, the horses allowed us to get deeper into the forest than before, but (un)fortunately we still did not see any elephant. And although it felt rather awkward at first, going through a beautiful forest at 40 km/h on the back of a horse is a nice thing.

Afterwards, we visited the Trout Tree restaurant mentioned in an earlier blog post and found that the Columbus monkeys were still there. Surprisingly, even these funny monkeys can have problems with their balance as you can see in this and this movie.

Furthermore, we visited a few farmers on the slopes of Mt. Kenya on the 6th of April. Contrary to the farmers further down the mountain, these crops were not wasted because of the drought and most of this area looks stunningly nice. In order to get there, we had to crawl through the rainforest. Many of the farmers have stories about their farms being attacked by elephants living in the rainforest surrounding their farms. But, most of the farms are in very good shape. A lot of relatively new things are also applied here. For example the manure of cows is fermented into biogas and this is used for cooking as well as for driving a machine for cutting the food for the cows. The main purpose of our visit was to persuade farmers to also start growing sunflower and canola in order to provide a steady stream of raw materials for the biodiesel factory. Many of them were very interested and will be growing these crops as of the next season so that the biodiesel factory can increase its production rate. All in all, it was a very interesting trip and we made quite some photographs. They can be viewed from here or through the photo gallery.

Our activities in the coming weeks will mainly exist of assembling and crafting parts of the windmill as well as a few more small trips to local villages and other areas. For a regular update of our activities on the wind turbine, please see the project page.

Tobias Culture, Experiences

This story is a continuation of Mount Kenya Part 1 that you can find below.

Nights in Kenya are pitch black if it weren’t for the moon. During our trip to the top we were lucky that the moon was quite clear and that we all had proper flashlights. The ‘path’ was the same as before although now there also was a lot of loose gravel and small stones that could make use slip. Fortunately, nothing of that kind happened and we got half way quite easily. In the mean time the temperature had been dropping gradually. During the night it had been around freezing point and with no heating system in the huts we had been forced to sleep with at least a shirt and long underwear.

But now, half way to the top we began to realize that even this tropical country had its colder moments. Temperatures got to -10 degrees and at the top even below -15. To make things worse we were too quick, meaning that we had to wait at some point. We were supposed to arrive at the top at sunrise, somewhere around 5:50, but now we had to decide where to wait. We decided to stop halfway since it would be less cold. And so, we stayed in the hut most technical climbers use for nearly an hour. The hut did keep us out of the wind, but nevertheless we were rather cold when we started climbing again.

The last part of the climb was tough as far as terrain is considered. Large rocks and very steep grounds made progress slow. I reckon we needed more than an hour for the last few hundred meters. But the reward was spectacular. Through the orange sky we could see another small, dark grey, peak. This actually was Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, nearly 500 kilometers to the south of Mt. Kenya. After a while, the sun rose above the equator and the three peaks of Mt. Kenya were bathing in sunlight while the lands around the mountain remained dark. We waited for a bit to allow the sun to rise high enough to light the entire valley so that we could make our descend without having to use our flashlights again. Of course we took loads of pictures, as you can see in the second Mt. Kenya photo gallery.

The descend was very fast, the gravel slopes of the peaks allowed skiing down the mountain as you would do on snow. The only downside was that you would fall a lot harder. Within 1,5 hours we had descended to MacKinders hut, where the water was still frozen from the night while the temperature was back on 20 degrees or even higher. It is a strange thing to be walking around in a thin shirt when the water around is all frozen. At MacKinders the porters, who had stayed put for a good night’s sleep, had prepared breakfast. We allowed for one hour rest and would then make our descend back to the Met. Station.

When we started the journey, the guide and porters told us that we would have most trouble climbing. Descending would be easy. Although in a way they are right, the descend is surprisingly exhausting. Again it can best be compared to walking stairs with irregular steps at a very high speed. In a way, this puts way more stress on your muscles than climbing does and we were glad to arrive at the Met. Station without twisted ankles, knees or other limbs. It was good fun though.

Back at the camp we decided that it would be nice to spent the evening searching for animals since we hadn’t seen much of those on the way. Except from some hyraxes near MacKinders camp we hadn’t seen much that day. We also wanted to see at least a buffalo or something big. The best way to find the animals would not be looking for them as they could probably see or smell us long before we would notice them. So we settled for a big rock and sat still for a while. After having watched some birds through my binoculars (thanks a million for those!) there suddenly was a commotion among them. A quick look showed us an animal that is rare and very shy indeed. A cheetah made its way through the bushes only 25 meters away from us. It was astonishing to see how quickly the pack of monkeys around the camp became quiet and made their refuge into the trees. The cheetah disappeared as quickly as it had shown up though. Afterwards we were told by the guide, who noticed the silence of the monkeys and also saw the cheetah, that we were extremely lucky to have seen it since this was the second one he had seen in this park in his entire life. Unfortunately it was too quick to make a proper photograph of it.

In the morning we got up early since we still hadn’t properly seen a buffalo or an elephant. It was no use though, we got to see some other small animals and some bushbucks but no buffaloes or elephants. The sunrise was very nice though. After a while we set out for the final part of our journey back to the gate. On the way our pace was slowed by the effect of the previous day’s descend on our muscles but we made it by 10AM.

All in all we were really impressed by the scenery, if you ever have the chance to climb Mt. Kenya you should definitely do so. We were surprised by the quality of the food we got, it was really very good. Also, the journeys were less heavy than we previously expected. The scenery just makes you forget that you are walking, although you get a little fed up with it on the third day when you do 21 kilometers. It is a pity that we didn’t see the African elephant yet but the cheetah definitely made up for that. And we will make sure we see the elephant on our next visit to a national park.

Tobias Experiences

On 6 march we left the HSHC compound for four days to visit Mount Kenya National Park. This national park contains rainforest, regular forest, alpine vegetation and, most importantly, the three highest mountain peaks of Kenya (in Africa, only Mt. Kilimanjaro is higher).The lowest of these peaks, Point Lenana at 4985 meter, can be reached by foot instead of technical climbing and thus was a goal that could be reached by us non(-technical) climbers. Though even this trip was to be carefully organized, you can’t just walk to the peak by yourself.

Basically the first thing we needed was a guide to make sure we wouldn’t get lost, eaten or frozen. This guide would then use his contacts to arrange porters, a cook, transport to the gate, food and accommodation in the park. He would also make sure our gear were in order. Since other interns in the compound had not yet climbed the mountain as well, we ended up with a party of 5 interns, 7 porters, one cook and one guide. Bigger parties are also better for your credit card.

And so, in the morning of 6 march we were picked up by a bit more luxurious matatu than usual to bring us to the gate of the park. The gate is only a few kilometers from the HSHC compound but the area is already very different. All of a sudden there was dense, green forest instead of brown-greyish farmland that hadn’t seen water for a long time. Also, we immediately noticed a pack of baboons running around the gatehouse and one of the porters informed us that there were elephants nearby as well. You would think that an elephant is easy to spot because of its size but during the trip we haven’t seen a single one. Sometimes we heard them though. Oh well, maybe they can change into something really tiny when they think we’re nearby.

From the gate, it was 9 kilometers to the first encampment, the Met. Station, build near and named after the Mt. Kenya Meteorological station. We got there pretty soon as we did it in 3 hours instead of the usual 4 to 5. This would be the only day that we could walk that fast though, for the other walks could easily give us altitude sickness if we would be moving at the same pace. Also, this was the only day that we would be walking on a dirt road instead of in the wilderness. In the 9 kilometers from the gate to the Met. Station we climbed from 2000 to around 2700 meters. The next day would then take us from 2700 to 4300 and in the night of that same day we would make it to the top at 4985. That is, more than 2 kilometers in less than 24 hours. But first it was time to rest a little at the camp. The huts are wooden sheds with 10 to 12 small beds each and no electricity or whatsoever. Luckily we went at the supposed start of the raining season, so we had the hut to ourselves. We got a surprisingly good meal that included soup, rice, beans, maize, potatoes and cabbage. There even was some beef included. This all indicated that we would be having a tough day tomorrow.

Around the camp is a mixture between forest and rainforest, with lots of bamboo, exotic birds and loads of small monkeys that try to pry the food from your plate or steal anything that’s in your bag. They keep running around the roof of the hut and only disappear when it gets really dark, around the time that the buffaloes come out of the forest to collect their food from the small open spaces such as the area around the hut. Buffaloes are dangerous animals though, we heard stories of them attacking trekkers and the only way to keep them at a distance is to shine a flashlight into their eyes. Moreover, that is often the only way to spot them when they are still in the bushes at sunset. You see the blinking of their eyes between the green, that is all.

The second day was indeed the toughest of the four. We got up early, got another very good meal for breakfast, and set out for MacKinders camp, in the valley just before the peaks of the mountain. Mount Kenya is an interestingly shaped mountain since it is a very big hill with a round top upon which three very sharp peaks are placed. The trip to MacKinders camp would be 14 kilometers and the most dangerous part of the trip because of the altitude sickness. It took us from the rainforest into the alpine zone, where there are hardly any trees. We found paths between rocks, grassland and bushes while walking in a manner that has the most resemblance to climbing irregular stairs. Add to that the fact that you do so at a rather high altitude, so you have trouble breathing at anything else than a rather slow pace and you begin to understand why we were rather exhausted when arriving at the camp. However, during the walk you hardly notice that you are getting tired because the scenery is simply amazing. As soon as we got out of the rainforest, where we also spotted some bushbucks and the like, we could see the entire landscape around Mt. Kenya as if it were a photograph taken from a helicopter.

When we got to the flat top of the hill we had to descend a little into a valley that sort of divides the flat top of the hill into two parts. In this hill we also found a small stream, coming from the Mt. Kenya glacier. This refreshingly cold water is of a quality you won’t even get from a tap back in Holland and tastes very, very good. The valley was interesting in another way, though. Because we got to an altitude of 4300 meters, the clouds are very near. Clouds usually mind touching the earth’s surface and so they are forced in flowing through the valley. This provided crazy scenes as much as a awkward feeling of having touched the sky. We managed to get a short movie of a little less amazing cloud passing by, feel free to watch or download it (link coming as soon as possible). Another thing that is awkward about alpine heights is the fact that the trees are replaced by plants. These plants start their life at ground level, but during the years they don’t shed their leaves, allowing them to grow a little higher every year. After many years, they have become tree like structures, though not taller than we are. From a distance however, our mind mistakes them for real trees, one of these habits the mind has on misinterpreting the eyes’ information. The result is that the trees that are actually not so far away from you seem to be rather far since the mind thinks that trees close by should be much bigger. Hence, the impression of the mountainsides, the places riddled with these ‘trees’, is that of an enormous wide space, much bigger than it really is.

The next two days of the trip will be described in a following blog post, since we now have a major power outage and should dedicate the remaining battery of our laptops to more important tasks. There is a photo gallery concerned with this trip and although it is still incomplete, you can already have a look here. A post on the week before this trip is also in the making.

Tobias Experiences

Addition: During the day a chameleon stopped by for lunch and we were able to make a short movie of it while lunching. View or download it from here.

This morning we visited Solar Ranch Natinal Park. It is one of the smaller wildlife reserves in Kenya, but it is located very close to Naro Moru and thus we can easily spent a few hours there every now and then. There are many large animals, such as elephants and african buffaloes, but also many big birds such as cranes. We woke up rather early, 5 am, to be able to witness the sunrise. The park offers a nice view of the sun rising behind and eventually above Mt. Kenya.

We arranged for a taxi since matatu’s do not operate this early in the morning. We were dropped of at the far end of the park and then started walking back to Naro Moru. Along the way, we would experience the rapid transition between darkness and full daylight. We also spotted a few animals. There were many birds that we do not know the name of and some cranes as well. Moreover, we saw zebra’s, warthogs, giraffe, buffaloes, impalas and ostriches. Most of them we managed to get a picture of, please see the Solar Ranch National Park photoalbum for those.

Interestingly, there was one impala that had managed to escape through the parks fence. When we were walking it approached us from behind and dared to come really close. We have some very nice pictures of this event, although not digitally. Some of the other impalas inside the fence approached the fence, as if trying to communicate with the one outside. When they noticed us they fled, with some very high jumps (sometimes around 2 metres).

We will use the remaining hours today for preparing our fieldwork for the project. The coming week, we’ll be interviewing the local farmers and other businesses around Mt. Kenya. Hence, during this week the project page will be updated to contain information about the progress of the project. If you’re interested, please take a look. Comments and additional information on the windmill project is always welcome.

Tobias Experiences

Note: This story is the continuation of an earlier, not yet published story. It is on hold until we agree on how it should be published. In short, the following happened. A new machine arrived at HSHC on saturday evening that needed to be unloaded from a truck. The thing was rather heavy and it took a lot of effort to get it off. As you might see in the photo album, we finally did get it off. For now, that is all.

The machine for removing the shells of the biodiesel seeds that arrived last night was still there this morning. Luckily it hadn’t fallen of the wooden pallets it was more or less standing on. The trick now would be to move it from these pallets to its destined place in the factory. Or, better, next to the factory since it will be expanded to accommodate the new machine. Anyway, it meant moving the machine from its unstable location 50 cm above the ground to the main wall of the factory. After much debate, it was decided that we would slide the 650kg piece of metal down from its pallet. Very remarkable is the Kenyan approach to such activities. Often, they would start pulling and pushing individually or in different directions. It was as if every single one of the six ideas we had to get the thing down, was performed simultaneously. By the way, none of these ideas involve anything else than some timbers, a few metal rods and human strength. There is simply no equipment for lifting or transporting something this big. In the end we managed to get it against the wall and it was time for a very late breakfast.

Yesterday evening we decided we would spend the rest of the day in a city near Naro Moru, named Nanyuki. This is the place we will be going to for getting money, additional supplies and occasionally some lunch. The city itself is really a mixture between Nairobi and the smaller villages near Naro Moru. There are many shabby houses but there are some of the nicer buildings as you would find in Nairobi as well. The Kenyans for one thing are very different here than in Nairobi. We spent the entire day walking around Nanyuki with a presumably 7 year old child and two older Kenyans that considered it their duty to protect us. In the beginning this felt a little threatening, but contrary to Nairobi, they mean no harm and are very interested in us. The smaller children keep asking for things to give them though.

The trip to Nanyuki was our first experience with a so-called matatu, a small van (Toyota HiAce mostly), that is stuffed with chairs and people. This is how old European vans end up. At all time, there are about twenty people stuffed into the van, although sometimes they manage to squeeze 25 in. It is amazing how they always manage to free some more space. The matatu does not have fixed stopping places, you just mention where you need to go along the route and they stop for you. There is loud, local Kenyan music playing and driving is Kenyan style. All in all it makes for a very entertaining trip. At places where many matatu’s leave, such as in Naro Moru and Nanyuki, we couldn’t walk an inch without being asked where we wanted to go and every matatu driver wants to take us anyplace. When we do, they are very happy and we somehow got the impression that it helps them get past the many police checks on Kenyan ‘highways’ more easily. Fares are very small, we paid around 100 Ksh (1 euro) for a 50 km trip.

At the moment, the landscape around Naro Moru and Nanyuki is mostly savanna, although Mt. Kenya adds some more flavor to it. The earth is extremely red here and most of the vegetation is yellowish, although all of this is due to change as soon as the rains start. It is very dry at the moment, when a matatu drives by when you’re walking along the dirt road, it’s probably best not to breath for some time. When the rains come, the area is supposed to turn into a lush green carpet, although that is hard to believe at the moment. It hasn’t rained for more than a month.

We don’t yet know what tomorrow will bring, maybe we’ll visit some farmers around Naro Moru.

Tobias Culture, Experiences