Where it all began.

Trip Start Oct 01, 2011

Trip End Jan 06, 2012

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Where I stayed

House of Waine Nairobi

(Nairobi hotels)

Flag of Kenya Nairobi, Kenya
Wednesday, November 30, 2011

I have come full circle after 8 weeks in Kenya. It definately hasn't seemed like 8 weeks mind, but I am back in Nairobi at the House of Waine, my first destination when I arrived in Kenya. It has had me looking back over the previous 8 weeks and my time at Elsamere and Carnelley's in Naivasha and the friends I made there, my stay at the guest house in Kericho particularly the hospitality of the caretakers at the house and the manager Marcus Keane, my triumphant return to Naivasha (didn't really achieve much but 'triumphant return' sounds good) and of course last week in Nanyuki.

The week ended without much incident apart from continued heavy rainfall. On Saturday morning Brian Allen took me up to Siraji which is another finlays farm in the region which grows roses. I was eager to see this as my time with flowers has turned me into a rose fanatic and there were some new varieties (a couple to add to my list of favourites) aswell as a unique feature of the roses here which all had really big heads due to the high altitude here

Odd Aspirations

. That afternoon I didn't really have time to go out and do anything touristy so I just walked into town for a look around and then went for a run around the golf course. The next day I was departing for Nairobi so I never got a full day to myself to properly explore anything, mount kenya is like a four day trip anyway so that wasn't on the cards, Longonot therefore remains my favourite mountain for the time being.

Since I arrived in Nairobi I have spent all my time reminiscing, this week I am visiting outgrowers, which are small (very small compared to the industrial finlays farms) locally owned farms that finlays offer a start with growing some veg (and sometimes flowers) for them and technical assistance along the way aswell. I am just visiting a few since with finlays having over 1500 outgrowers producing for them it would be difficult to see them all. The downsides are 2-3 hour journey's to reach the farms each day and since we need to leave early to be eback in Nairobi at a reasonable time, I only have a limited amount of time at the farms. The upsides are that the farms are so small that I can see everything in 2 hours really, and since the farms are locally owned and run I get more of an insight into how real rural kenyans live and work. This weekend will signal the end of my time visiting farms and also the halfway point of my time with the veg team, the remaining weeks of the placement will be spent within Nairobi (2 at the airport depot and 1 at head office) so I am determined at weekends to see everything Nairobi has to offer, starting with Nairobi National Park this weekend I think.

So next week I will report from the House of Waine again, as I expect will be the case with the rest of my posts before christmas. I will try my best to keep them interesting though!

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