Rainforests and Reptiles

June 1st is a national holiday in Kenya. It's called Madaraka Day and celebrates gaining initial independence from the British. For us, this mostly meant a long weekend. Friday was spent at our favorite destination, Kiboko Bay. But on Saturday, Dr. Bailey took us out to Kakamega Rainforest. It is the last remaining rainforest in Kenya and home to lots of monkeys, birds, and butterflies. It is about an hour and a half drive outside of Kisumu and just slightly north of the equator (I can't believe I've been south of the equator for 2 weeks and have yet to document this!).  We arrived and took a three hour hike through the rainforest, while Dr. Bailey gave us a little tour of our surroundings since he apparently was an anthropologist in the 70s and lived in the Amazon and the Congo studying primates. There was one point where he made us stop and stare at a pile of shit and I felt like I was in Jurassic Park. 

We hiked down to the Yula River.

Here I am looking like a dude. 

Gazing at the forest. 

Awesome looking plant. 

This part of the forest really was this heavenly.

We had lunch at this little English cottage retreat. 

This is an alarm tree. Hit it and someone will come and find you.

Hiking

"Everything the light touches is our kingdom." 

We spotted a red-tailed monkey. Apparently hard to find. 

Afterwards, we went to a nearby NGO that specializes in conservation and saw some snakes. 

They were in 8 ft deep pits, which was still too close for comfort. 

Also, friends that were hoping I'd come home with braids: I told Bailey that Janet offered to get my hair braided and his response was "that is the dumbest idea I've ever heard." So, that's the end of that.