Kakamega, like being in the movies

Charlie and the Chocolate factory
Being told that I was the lucky intern chosen to go to Kakamega to support KEEP, GVI’s partner working on tropical forest conservation felt like Charlie discovering the golden ticket in Charlie and the Chocolate factory. It’s been just over two weeks since I arrived at Kakamega rainforest and that feeling like I‘m living in the movies has yet to subside.

Arachnophobia
Just this morning on my daily run though the forest (truth is I hate running but the food is so good here I have to keep the weight down somehow), I came across a ravine, which I swear looked just like the area in the rainforest in the movie Arachnophobia. You know the one at the very start of the movie when the scientists first find the spider. It was so beautiful. Seeing such cool stuff makes me forget I’m even running.

Eye of the tiger
Just a few days before on another early morning run - it’s more of a fast walk or jog than a run - I happened to come across a treetop tower over looking the forest. I know it’s corny but I just happen to have eye of the tiger on my IPod so on it went and up I went. It felt just like that scene in Rocky when he runs up all the steps of city hall and at the top feels like he has really achieved something. Getting to the top did feel tougher than the movie made it look but the feeling at the top, overlooking my forest, my new home, really was amazing.

Motorcycle diaries
One of the things I love since coming to Kenya is Boda boda’s (public bikes).

Traveling on the back of a bike on bumpy roads full of pot holes the size of craters is not something I have always enjoyed but have ever since the Motorcycle Diaries. 

The film where a young Che travels across Chile with his mate on Bikes. You may recall the movie poster where they are travelling down a dirt road, dust clouds all around them, wind in the hair and they just look so free. Well that’s the feeling I get traveling down the dirt roads of Kakamega on the back of a bike. Being free… 

Colette Moore from Shinyalu, Kakamega, Western-Kenya

Kakamega, like being in the movies