Kenyan Weather

When most of us think Africa (myself included before this trip) we think hot and arid, something along the lines of a safari poster. Kenya also lies on the equator, again something we American associate with dense rain forest and intense heat. The thing about western Kenya is that its high elevation drastically effects the climate. Here in Kakamega, we're about four thousand feet up, which also the case in Nairobi. Days here are usually in the 80's and sunny, building up heat until about 2. By the afternoon the rain clouds start to form, and they usually break right when were finishing work around 4:30. Lately at night it's been really cold, sometimes dropping to the low 50's. This is very cold to most of the Kenyans, and you see a bunch of winter coats come out at night. July and August here are part of the lesser rainy season; everything is green, though the Kenyans start to really worry about maleria when we get this much rain.

Below is picture of a Matatu, the main way of getting around East Africa. Each is supposed to fit 14, but they routinely run with a lot more; our record so far has been 24 people and a couple of chickens. If they see the police, they just bribe them to let them through the check-point. I acutally got to see my first Kenyan bribe the other day: the conductor of a Matatu payed the police 100 shillings to get an overfull bus through.