The links to 360 photos under here don't work
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360 photo Kasigau

360 photo Kasigau

360 photo Kasigau

360 photo

another 360 photo

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipP6qGrEfG1T3b5NBieC-dvWDJVdmg6NlacDfryL
360 photo

Safariday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTFgnB5NSJc

Monday morning we headed to the Lumo Safari at 6:30. It was raining all morning but it didn't bother us. The first animal we saw was a buffalo. It was very big and scary. We started to see more animals when we drove across the safari. We saw 4 animals of the "Big five", lion, elephant, leopard and buffalo.

 

We ate lunch at Lion Bluff and after that we listened Lions Bluffs owners speech about the safari. After that we drove to the lions rock and saw couple lions. Jouko and Netta went up to the hill and rest of us had to stay down because our buss couldn't drive up. We were little bit sad. Then we headed back to the research station. 

Our day in family

When we woke up we headed to our host family for that day. The first impression good and we had fun with their two girls and grandmother. First we washed some clothes and dishes and just interacted with them. They showed us their big farm and we ate some fresh sugarcane which was quite sweet. Little bit too sweet.

Ti 24.10.

Viimeinen aamu Taitavuorilla. Sulloimme viimeisiä tavaroita matkalaukkuihin ennen aamiaista. Aamiaiskello kilkatti kello seitsemän. Yöllä oli satanut ja ilma oli raikas. Pirteät opiskelijat ja opettajat pääsivät herkullisen aamiaispöydän ääreen, jossa oli tarjolla hirssipuuroa, paistettuja munia, paahtoleipää, kahvia ja teetä. Aamaisen päätteeksi kiittelimme Tinoa hienosta reissusta ja opastuksista reissun aikana. Olimme kirjailleet Doctor Tinolle paidan eilisen onnistuneen safarin leopardibongauksen kunniaksi. Tino sai bongattua leopardin 20. safarillaan. Leopardi on Lumon safaripuiston rankinglistalla viidenneksi harvinaisin eläin. Kiitospuheen opiskelijoiden puolesta piti onnettaren suosikki Nooa. Nooan nopean valmistautumisen puhe oli hieno! Kiitos siitä hänelle.

Matkatavarat kannettiin auton luo ja pakattiin katolle. Jouko yritti auttaa, mutta hänet ystävällisesti ohjattiin toisiin tehtäviin. Sitten hyvästeltiin aseman väki ja otettiin viimeiset valokuvat. Ensimmäinen pysähdys tehtiin heti Wundanyin kylässä, kun käytiin tekemässä vielä ostoksia, mm. koulukirjoja ja koulupuku reissureppuja varten. Pari kangaakin taisi matkaan tarttua. Kylästä jatkoimme vielä Dariuksen luo katsomaan hänen taloaan ja biokaasuvoimalaansa. Darius olisi mielellään näyttänyt hienot viljelyksensäkin, mutta sateen jälkeen oli niin mutaista, että emme lähteneet pelloille.

Dariuksen vaimo Salome otti meidät vastaan pihalla sylissään vajaa parivuotias Tabitha. Vanhemmat lapset Dorkus (6) ja Noel (9) olivat vielä menneet kouluun hakemaan palkintoja hyvästä koulumenestyksestä. 

Dariuksella on kolme nautaa, jotka tuottavat kaasua hänen keittiöönsä. Systeemi on hyvin kehittynyt lietelantakaivoineen, biokaasua tuottavine säiliöineen ja kompostorikaivoineen.   Dariuksen keittiössä 50% ruoanlaittoon tarvittavasta energiasta tulee bioaasusta ja loput puusta. Darius on syystä hyvin ylpeä kaasuvoimalastaan, niitä on koko Taitalla vain alle kymmenen.

Ja sitten aloitettiin matka kohti Machakosta. Matkalla pysähdyttiin pari kertaa ostamaan vielä matkamuistoja: puisia eläimiä, naamioita, kauhoja ym. Ilma vaihteli auringon paahteesta rankkaan sadekuuroon. Liikenne Nairobiin johtavalla tiellä on hurjaa. Onneksi meillä on taitava kuski Jackan, joka on paitsi taitava myös aika varovainen. Vain pari kertaa pääsi pieni pieni “hui!” kiperissä ohitustilanteissa. 

Perille Machakokseen pääsimme viiden maissa. Majoituimme hotelli Gelianiin, ja ah, kuinka ihanaa olikaan päästä oikeaan hotelliin, lämpimään suihkuun, oikealle kahville! Illalla oli hetki vapaata, ennenkuin siirryimme illalliselle ruokasalin buffetpöytään. Illallisen aikana opiskelijat yllättivät meidät iloisesti, kun Joona piti opiskelijoiden puolesta kiitospuheen meille opettajille. Hienosti ovat opiskelijat napanneet itselleen tämän pienten puheiden pitämisen kulttuurin matkan aikana. Hyvä oppi sekin. Myös me opettajat  vuorollamme kiittelimme - syystä - opiskelijaporukan. Reipas ryhmä, joka on päässyt koko matkan ajan aamulla varhain, siis todella varhain, ylös aamiaiselle, joka ei ole valittanut mistään (vaeltajamuurahaisista nyt voi vähän kirkuakin), joka on keskittynyt tutkimusaiheeseisiinsa kiitettävästi (ainakin keskusteluja ohimennen kuulleena) ja käyttäytynyt kaikin puolin erinomaisesti. Ryhmämme saikin kiitosta myös Mwadimelta, Tinolta ja kuljettajiltamme Jackanilta ja Charlesilta. Ilo olla reissussa tällaisten opiskelijoiden kanssa!

A day in Mwadime´s family

Jonna, Saana and I visited Mwadime´s family in Maktau which is about one hour driving from the research station. On our way we saw different types of wild animals and because wild animals, especially elephants are common in the area, Mwadime has electric fences around his yard so that they don´t get to damage the fields.

Mwadime has a big family: a lovely wife and 7 children. The two oldest girls were in the boarding school so we didn´t get to meet them but the other 5 were at home. They also have animals like cows, goats, chickens and a friendly dog called Taiga. We also met Mwadime´s other relatives because many of them live nearby in the same neighborhood.

Our fist job was to clean animals´corral and then take the poop to the fields were Mwadime grows for example corn and beans. After cleaning we prepared lunch with Mwadime´s wife what wasn´t that easy. For lunch we had rice, meat, salad, bean sauce and bananas. Our last job was to paint the living/dining room. We got to be our own handymen and the end result was pretty good if I may say so :D

The day ended with cups of tea and we also gave water and some medicine for the animals when they arrived home. Just before we left, we visited Mwadime´s brother and saw Kilimanjaro for the first time from his yard.

We had really good time with the family so big thanks to Mwadime and his whole family! :)

Monday 16.10.2017

Jambo! 

Today was our first day in Kenia, Nairobi. We woke up at 8 o’clock because of one noisy bird who decided to sing a little bit. After packing our bags and getting our stuff together, we ate breakfast and hopped to our buss. The buss ride was quite an experience because the traffic in Nairobi is opposite to Porvoo’s traffic. Todays first destination was University Of Nairobi College Of Sciences where we got to know a lot of interesting things about the university, thanks to Masika and other guides. We saw for example cell banks, different kind of human organs, how HIV is researched and animals that are raised for vaccination tests. After our tour we got a delicious African meal.

After the university visit we hopped to our buss again and drove to National Museum of Nairobi. There we got a guides tour too and after National Museum we went to a place where was animals like snakes, turtles and crocodiles. We got to hold f.ex. a baby turtle and a gecko in our hands. After seeing all the animals we bought homecoming gifts from the shops that were in the same area. For the third time we hopped to our bus and decided to take a risk and go to a market where we could buy our snacks. Then we came to our hotel and had a dinner.

It has been a long but an interesting day. Let’s see what happens tomorrow :-)

Fanny & Sara

Family day (Darius)

Today we visited a local family. We learned so much about Kenya and its culture and ofc our main subjects. Netta learn how they use water on farm. Amanda learn about their health. And me ( Cata ) I learned how they use raw materials on the farm and in general about their food. We asked questions about Kenya and people who live here. We also asked questions about our main subject. 
Darius has 3 child. Two little girls and one boy, who is very good at school. Darius has a wife, who is so kind and funny. The whole family was kind to us. 

First when we got to the house we introduced ourself. Then we walked on the farm and Darius showed us the farm and we talked about it. After that they showed the kitchen, cows, chicken and everything else. Then we sat down and drank tea and talked with Darius's wife. We also did some house work. We washed their clothes with our hands and we smashed beans.

When they made food we talked and hang out with the kids. It was awesome to get to know them. 

We ate ourself full and happy. The food was great. We ate beans, bananas and rice. 

We get to do some farm work also. We planted corn seeds.

When we were ready we drank tea and then we took some photos and selfies. 

After that our buss came to pick us up. The family was so nice and we will miss them!

Sunday funday

After having the breakfast we headed to the church. The mess was interesting but when the priest started talking everybody fell in sleep. Maybe because of he was speaking in swahili so we didn’t understand it. After the church we shared some clothes, football shoes and socks to the youngsters. It was nice to see how excited they were about having new things for themselves. Then we went to see the rainwater collection pools and the new future church.

After that we went to Mwadimes house to eat some lunch. It was very tasty. After lunch we hung out and sang and dance with Mwadimes family. Mwadime also introduced us his electricity system and his farm.

Then we headed to the research station and ate some dinner and played cards.  

Eva&Jonna&Amanda

Visit to school

Nooa and Cata

By 7:15 am we were gone from the research station. The day had started  with few pieces of bread and a coffee with warm milk as usual. We were heading towards seacal farm. 

About 8 am we reached a massive farm that was covered in seacal. It was private place so Photographing was strictly forbidden, one photo could have lead to 30 000 hours of harvesting seacal. Our director of operation didn’t care about it and took about hundred photos which would have lead to 3 billion hours time to spend with the spiky leafs of seacal.

10.04 

we left the seacal farm.. we were late.. 

Luckily our crazy buss driver was fast and we arrived to school about at 10.30.

Everyone was staring at us it almost felt like being a celebrity! Surprising and scary at the same time. have they ever met white people before? 

first students of our group and their group introduce our self. then we talked a little with them. After that the teachers of the school came to introduce themselves and told something about their teaching methods.

We devided on 5 sections for every subject. About 6 students from the school came to discuss with us. Our main subject was food but we talked about Finland and Kenya overall. We had great time talking to them. We didn’t know so much about their culture and food but now we are like Kenya experts! 

our group was fun and very kind. it was not a problem if you didn’t know how to say something. We always found our way to explain something. 

About 45 minutes after we talked we had to go to eat.

12.30 

We ate some traditional African food which was beans, meat and rice.

After that we had a little break so we talked with students of the school 

we had so much fun with them and they are so kind! they wanted to carry our backbags with was weird but it was just a mark of honour towards us. 

13.30 

we told the principal and other teachers what we had discussed and learned with the other students. 

Then was our Finland presentations, everyone was stressed out how it will go. 

We had to show it from paper because the powerpont didn’t work... Jaana was our paper holder she was helpful and at the same time got a little shoulder exercise.

Luckily our Finland- presentations went well! 

After our presentations they told us few intresting facts about the history of their school.

15.00 about 

We changed our normal clothes to sport clothes. we played volleyball against Kenyan students. we lost... but we had fun. Jaana was shouting to us and everyone else were laughing to us. 

Our lovely boys had some girl fans cheering to them ;) 

we played one hour then we headed back to our buss. Everyone were tired and dirty after the match but everyone had a great day!

it was interesting day and we had fun! it is good to get to know different kind of people. I think everyone liked the day and we got some new friends! 

So this day started on an airplane from Tanzania to Switzerland. I think we were all sleeping and strugling with the little leg space we had but can’t complain. First we arrived to Zurich and there we waited for 4 hours with only 2 hour free wifi. We ate and rested until the boarding started to Frankfurt. The flight to Frankfurt was super short compared to the first one. In Germany we had to wait only 45 minutes and during that time we were all just using the free wifi :D Last flight to Helsinki felt forever! We got some grappy vegan toast on board. In Helsinki we picked up our luggage and headed for the bus in cold and snowy Finland. Few of us just had shorts and hoodies and even the bus was late! When the bus finaly came we cursed the weather and got in. In porvoo we just went home.

It was a great trip indeed!

Visiting Eli's family (Miina and Nooa)

Today's program was to visit a local family. Me (Miina) and Nooa were at Eli's place. Eli works here in the station and is really friendly. With him lived Eli's wife, their youngest son, son's wife and their 2 year old dother. When we arrived their house the view from their yard was amazing. They grew their own food and also had chickens and cows. First we helped to make lunch. Well we boiled the rice. Eli's son's wife killed a chicken for  the dinner and other ingredients were from their garden. It was the freshest food I have ever eaten. It tasted really good. After the dinner (which took 2hours of making) we helped Eli in the house works. For example we went to get water from the river. It was for them really just every day life. And it was for us the first time, almost in every task. One of the best things was to play with the toddler, who was so cute! She imitaded us and was always hugging us. After the day we learned a lot. It was really nice to see how everyday life looks like across the world.

P.S We had only one almost accident when Nooa saw a huge bug with a spike while he was on the toilet (aka hole in the floor). Nooa luckily survived the attack by blowing the bug away.

Family day at Julius' family

We went to Julius' family where we spent the whole day and learned lot of about their life and culture. Julius' and his relatives' homes located just opposite of our Research station, so the way to his home was just a hill down and up. Altogether there lived 10 families.  First task what Julius showed for us was feeding the goats. He also showed his cows and chickens. After feeding the goats we met one of his sons and he taught us to cut wood. It looked easier than it really was. We tried it but decided to let them him finish it, because we didn't have the whole day for that.
      Next we started to prepare our lunch which was traditional Kenyan food bean-yam stew. It took few hours to poach , so we had time to do other tasks. Meanwhile the food was poaching we washed clothes by our hands and Julius explained about his farming business. He also let us to plant some new plants to his field. When the food was ready we headed back to his house and had a lunch. And the lunch was quite strange experience, because we only had a huge amount of bean-yam stew and it was more dry than the food, what we usually eat in Finland.
    But after we had finished our food we went to see Julius' bee nests and we also met one of his brothers, who was a priest. The last hour was the most memorable, because during that hour we spent time with children and they wanted to braid girls' hair. After that hour we were just smiling and in a good mood. Unfortunately at five a clock we had to finish our day at Julius' home and we went back to Station.

20.10 mission

Today's mission was to conquer the mountain: Kasigau. After early breakfast we left by buss to the root of the mountain. The first few kilometres were really rocky and hot. After we got into the woods it was a little bit easier to climb because the temperature wansn't so high. We saw a few wild animals and the flowers smelled like a perfume. Soon the woods changed into a rain forest and it was something we had never seen before. A lot of huge trees and epiflyts. The guide told as about the history of that place. It was actually been used by the British soldiers to fight against Germany in world war 1. The bath we were walking had really hard parts and steep risings. Finally we were on the top after 4hours of hiking. We were about 2kilometres from the ground. The view was amazing and we were glad that we made it. The steep risings were a problem when we head back. Few students fell and hurt themselves. Luckily the way back didn't last as long as the way up. We made it in about 2hours. Village's women had came to our buss bringing their hand made baskets. We bought them and the village's children sang to us. Then we left back to the Taita reasearch station. The night had already come and it was conpeltely dark when we drove the narrow streats to our station