Showing posts with label Kisumu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kisumu. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Hippo Hunting on Lake Victoria


Our last morning at Kiboko Bay we went out in a small boat to search for Hippos on Lake Victoria.
Lake Victoria is the largest tropical lake in the world and the second largest freshwater lake, with
Lake Superior, in North America being larger.

The lake was very beautiful....very serene looking, in the early morning.

As we sat outside eating our breakfast, the local people came down to the get their water for the day....for drinking, washing and cooking.
Unfortunately, the lake is very polluted but it is the only water that the local people have to use.

Such peacefulness.......

We piled into our little blue boat and headed out.....

Along the way, we saw local people doing their wash.....

and sailing their boats.



The fishing, which once supplied the local fishmen with a livelihood, is changing since the introduction of the Nile Perch. The water hyacinth is also over taking the lake.
The good news is, however, a group by the name of OSIENALA is working diligently towards the goal of bringing Lake Victoria back into balance.

A fishman sits upon a type of raft used by generations before him.

A metal giraffe sculpture stands guard on the shore.



Our first sighting of the Hippos, amongst the water hyacinths.











And we return.....

Tomorrow travel to the Masai Mara for a Safari!

Monday, November 8, 2010

On to Lake Victoria....

Today we have a long drive. Out of the city and into the country side. Passing villages and people selling whatever they can find to sell.





























































Poverty and people finally give forth to incredible landscapes.
Lush green rolling hills of tea plantations.

































































Along the way we stopped for tea at an old plantation who must have been
quite a beauty in her day.
She needs quite a bit of work to restore her, now days, but in my imagination, she was still glorious. We enjoyed a cup of Kenyan mixed tea....that is with milk and sugar....by candle light.
Electricity in Africa is not something that one can count on.








































We finally arrived in Kisumu at our destination, Inn Kiboko Bay, on the shores of Lake Victoria.










































Tomorrow I would get to meet Pastor Gordon and have one of the most memorial experiences of my trip. Tomorrow's post..."Bottled Joy!"