Monday, June 1, 2009

The hills are alive with the sound of buffalo...

Today was Maharada (sp?) Day, a national Kenyan holiday to celebrate the establishment of a republic here. So, since none of the girls had school, all of us volunteers and many of the older girls went to hike the Ngong Hills. We hiked four of the hills (although the first hill seemed like four hills in itself!) but couldn’t go beyond that because there were buffalo--and apparently if you come across a buffalo, particularly the ones that wander alone, you’re done. Even if you manage to climb a tree, the buffalo will urinate on its tail and flail its tail around to fling the urine on you while you’re up in the tree. The urine is so acidic that when it lands on your skin, you will ultimately fall out of the tree. And the buffalo wins.

The view from the crests of the hills was just gorgeous. We could see for miles. The two sides of the hills, though, looked like completely different countries. The wind-ward side, which is the side we are staying on, is green and lush and moist and thus highly populated and developed. The lee-ward side, on the other hand, was dry and brown and had very signs of habitation.
Unfortunately, there was a lot of trash up there, so Lindsey and I filled bags with garbage we picked up on the way down, but there was more than we could carry. Some people appreciated it and said so as they passed us--we hoped that they would pick some up as they came down the hills, too. Others laughed at the sight of two girls picking up other people’s trash. I’m not particularly educated on all of the effects of trash on the environment, but I know that if the trash stays there, it will get into the groundwater, which will in turn become contaminated and unhealthy, which in turn will make US, the people who have to drink water to survive, unhealthy. Litter doesn’t just do that here in Kenya, though. It does the same thing in the US, where litter is just as much of a problem. And if you and I don’t pick it up, who will?

1 comment:

  1. That's crazy about the buffalo. I definitely did not know that!!

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