On Strength & Weakness

A sapling
*
whose roots have not struck deep into the earth
*
can be easily pulled up;
*
but
*
If it be allowed to become a tree
*
that is when it will be necessary to use an axe to bring it down.

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Bomas of Kenya

The people of Kenya hail from different ethnic groups. Bomas of Kenya offers you “Kenya in a miniature.” It lets you see the wonderful diversity of cultures that make up Kenya.
It is reported that, the Government in 1971 at the Langata Forest started the Bomas of Kenya Limited. The Company was established to preserve and promote Kenyan Culture and to do this through cultural entertainments programmes for Tourists visiting Kenya and residents including school children.

The word “bomas,” meaning “homestead,” are displayed on your tour of the grounds, each represents one of Kenya’s major ethnic groups, and is built to the original traditional specifications as built by the ancestors. You can view traditional villages representing the lifestyle of ethnic groups such as Kikuyu, Kalenjin, Luhya, Taita, Embu, Maasai, Kamba, Kisii, Kuria, Mijikenda, and Luo. You experience different aspects of Kenyan culture. Displays include living styles, crafts, music and dancing.


Performances Dancing, drumming, singing, storytelling and other folk arts are presented in an amphitheatre in the afternoon. The Bomas world famous Harambee Dancers who have been trained and choreographed to perform a cross - section of all the authentic traditional dance songs of Kenya perform daily in a unique spectacular theater which seats 3,500 spectators. You will have the opportunity of seeing a colorful cross- section of the people of Kenya dancing to the pulsating beat of Coastal drums and other traditional instruments. Dancers from all the tribes in Kenya move across the stage in a vibrant kaleidoscope of rhythm and the hue. Proud Maasai warriors vault skywards as they woo their maidens with chanting and twirling spears. Having experienced it myself, I can tell you that the experience is thrilling.


Some Other Facilities In addition to the traditional dances and the villages, Bomas of Kenya offers the following:

• Two separate halls and a large amphitheatre with a sitting of 4,000 persons


• An enclosed open space with amenities ideal for picnic functions


• A large and well equipped children's playground


• A car park for over 3,000 cars
• Equipped kitchen and manned bar with trained cooks, waiters, & barmen
• Traditional African dishes can also be ordered

Some tourist excursion companies charge as much as US $40 per person for a 3-hour tour. But, from my experience, you are going to need a longer stay than that if you are to experience everything.


How to get to Bomas:

Bomas of Kenya is a centre of Kenyan cultural activities situated 10 km from the city centre on the LANGATA / FOREST EDGE ROAD. It is about 1 km past the main entrance to the Animal Orphanage and Nairobi National Park. Bomas of Kenya is adequately served by public transport i.e. Kenya Bus Services and Matatus Services. The Public can board the buses at the Central Bus Station. Bomas is open daily but for more accurate and up-to-date information contact them directly: The General Manager, Bomas of Kenya Limited.



A Point of Reference
A site called Twilight Bridge offers marvelous experiences through his “African Dance” section that the Bomas Harambee Dancers are featured through his numerous albums of exquisite photos.

The webpage designer is Dr. Manaan Kar Ray who professes to be a Psychiatrist from India currently in Oxford, U.K. At his site, it is written:

“To him every photograph is a challenge, a challenge to immortalize a moment in time, not just what the eyes see but also the unspoken emotion that goes into the CLICK as the shutter falls. In his won words: In a world full of chaos, photography is the recess of peace and sanity.”

Here at All About Kenya we thank him for following that Still Small Voice and sharing the fruit of its leadings.

Walk this Way

Wait and see

we will be

back

next winter.

A Requirement for Self-Discovery

You need silence for this conversation with nature so that you can hear this nameless part of yourself, that deepest part of yourself...

(David Whyte)

SunFlowering

Wait! Don't take my picture yet!

The sun is in my eyes!

Good News

East Africa to get sea cable for telecom services
(from UN ECA update newsletter, vol. 2, issue 1, January 2006, page 2)

More than 27 African corporations have agreed to fund a sea cable system which will increase access to Internet and telecommunications services in 15 East African countries by 2007. The 8,000 km East African Sea cable System (EASS) initiated by public and private corporations in Kenya, Uganda, Botswana, Madagascar Sudan, Tanzania, South Africa and Burundi will bring about a major improvement in the speed, cost and efficiency of Internet access, compared to the current system based on access via satellite. The project requires a U.S. $200 million investment

Good Sunday Afternoon

Countless Ways

There is no numbering of the avenues through which supply may come to
you... Your resource is as far-reaching as the universe... You are
to expect your supply through all avenues of contact with life. Not from
one specified point, not from two or more specified points; but from all points
of the universe your good is crowding toward you.

(from Imelda Shanklin)

Nature's Carpet

Oh,

Just Stop

and Smell us.

Limo-Seeing

 
 

A Reminder

Usisahau ubaharia kwa sababu ya unahodha.

(Don't forget what it was like to be a sailor just because you are a captain.)

Alarm Clock

 
 

Natuone ndipo twambe,

kusikia si kuona.

(Let us see then tell.)

It Must Be Eden

 
 

Observation

If you see good in people,
you radiate a harmonious loving energy
which uplifts those who are around you.

If you can maintain this habit,
this energy will turn ito a steady flow of love.
-Annamalai Swami

Nairobi Rotary Club Luncheon

And the food!

Ohhhhh was it every good!

Power

There is nothing more potent than thought.
Deed follows word and word follows thought.
And where the thought is mighty and pure,
The result is might and pure.
-Gandhi

Cloudy Day above the Rift Valley

 

Kenya a Living Karibu Center

Kenya hosts 154,272 refugees from Somalia and 11,139 refugees from Ethiopia and 63,197 refugees from the Sudan. There were in July, 2005 and estimated 33,829,590 people in Kenya with a life expentancy of 47.99 years.

(statistical data from The World Fact Book)

Kenya is said to be slightly more than twice the size of Nevada whose population (according to the 2000 Census) was 1,998,257.


Send your thoughts and ideas on how you would respond to constant visitors in your house.

Nairobi - Down Town on a Sunny Afternoon

 
 

Keekorok Lodge in Masai Mara has Reopened

Masai Mara has been the greatest show on earth. A company of three millions animals migrating over a year, every year, for the past two millions years. Keekorok Lodge is Masai Mara's first lodge, and it has retained its charm and hospitality throughout the years.
Following extensive renovations and improvements, Keekorok Lodge is once again fully open. Keekorok was the first lodge to be built in the Masaai Mara National Reserve, opening for business in 1965 and since then it has attracted a long line of celebrities including Kenya’s First President, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, the Prince of Wales, Pope John Paul II and many others. Particularly well-situated is a base from which to observe the famous migration of wildebeest and zebra across the grassland that accounts for most of the reserve, Keekorok now offers even higher standards of comfort and dining. There is a raised 300m long walkway linking the main veranda with a thatched sundowner bar that overlooks the plains and a natural pool home to a variety of water birds and family hippo.

At the southern end of 1,510 sq km Mara paradise, and right in the path of the annual migration of wildebeest and zebra, lies Keekorok Lodge. There is always plenty of activity around the waterhole but during the migration, the lodge is enveloped by the swarming mass of animals. One need hardly venture from ground to game view. From the verandah and from Kiboko Bar, there is plenty to see. One unfortunate zebra met its end right in front of the dinning room, providing supper for a pride of hungry lions, and 'live' entertainment for enthralled guests at Keekorok.

Accommodation at Keekorok Lodge is in bungalows, single story blocks, and in comfortable shaded chalets. The liberal use of cedar wood, pink and gray sand river stone, and other indigenous building materials offset the green lawns and colorful bougainvillea. After a day in the fresh air, the excitement of game spotting, a refreshing dip in the swimming pool, and the ritual of sundowners by the roaring log fire in the lounge heralds an evening full of traditional Maasai dancing, cultural or wildlife lectures and videos with yet another of those remarkable Keekorok dinners.

Nairobi Cultural Center - Downtown June 2005

 
 

Jumba La Mtwana, Kenya

A huge baobab tree dominates the ruins of the village known as Jumba la Mtwana, its branches reaching out for the sky. Judging by the girth of the tree trunk, it could easily be a thousand years old. The name Jumba la Mtwana means 'the large house of the slave' but, in the absence of written records, it is impossible to tell whether this was the village's rightful name seven centuries ago. The excavation of the site by James Kirkman in 1972 yielded that Jumba La Mtwana was built c.1350 and abandoned about a century later. There are more questions than answers about life in this picturesque little village by the ocean. It must have been a beautiful village in its time.

The main mosque stands by a white crystal beach against which light turquoise waters dance and ripple, catching the brilliance of the golden sun. The mosque is large with a beautiful mihrab (a niche showing the direction of Mecca) in the north wall. There are no roofs on of the buildings - only the old coral stone walls are left standing. For the past 2,000 years people from as far away as the Arabian Peninsula, Persia and even India have sailed down the East African coast. The earliest documented proof is in the 'Periplus of the Erythrean Sea', a guide to trade and navigation written by a Greek traveller in the year 2 AD. At the time, travel was determined by seasonal winds. If sailors failed to set sail on time, they would have to wait at least six months for the next window of opportunity. As a result, many settlements like Jumba la Mtwana sprang up along the coast. Many an Arab sailor found the new land good and settled down, marrying a local Bantu woman and introducing his faith here. The Jumba la Mtwana ruins are situated near Mombasa-Mtwapa on Kenya's North coast.

In addition to the ruins, you may see many interesting species of birds, butterflies and other insects.