Trip to Lake Kamnarok and Kerio Valley

Michael was visiting from Kisumu, and we took a trip with Taxi Max to Lake Kamnarok and Kerio Valley. My haggling skills are improving. Originally he was going to charge 12,000 KSH for the trip as we needed a 4WD due to the weather and road conditions. I tried to haggle him down to 6,000KSH, and in the end settled on 8000 KSH (£55). Taxi Max begins by telling us we are going to Paradise (eek – is his driving that bad?!). He says Kerio Valley is so beautiful, he compares it to Paradise.

So, we learn that there used to be elephants in Lake Kamnarok, but they were pushed out because of the humans building. There is a lot of soil erosion, caused by the rains. We also saw how the rivers have eroded the lands. The soil is red because of the high iron content. Michael thought the children were malnourished because they had red hair, but Max explained it was dust from the soil. The termite homes are amazing! 

We didn’t spend a lot of time at Lake Kamnarok, since Michael needed to get back to Kisumu, but we saw a stork, and had a small walk around the Lake.

On the way home, I learnt why Kenyans aren’t as susceptible to malaria as whites. If you are a carrier of sickle cell anaemia (which white people are not) i.e. an abnormal hemoglobin cell from your father, but a normal hemoglobin cell from mother, then you don’t display the characteristics of sickle cell anemia, but it means that the parasite doesn’t like the “taste” of the hemoglobin cell. Interestingly, given evolution, in more predominantly malaria areas, the number of sickle cell carriers is greater (For ex. In the highlands, where malaria is not common, carriers are around 3% compared to the lowlands where it is around 20%).

Can you spot the stork?

View of the lake

Also, within 6months of birth, you have the antibodies from the mother, so if you get bitten, you might display mild malaria symptoms, but not fully blown. So if the baby gets malaria several times when young, they develop their own resistance, I guess like the chicken pox parties we have back home. All very interesting!

When I arrived home, worked on slides for tomorrow's teaching session, and sent out a reminder text to the group about training. There was nothing “express” about Michael’s “express” shuttle back to Kisumu, as he didn’t get him home until 10pm.