Sue M's Travels: Kenya day 8 - Weekend wanderings

Today is International Bird Migration Day, so Jaap took Peter and me on a celebratory bird walk, starting at 06:30, from Mwamba, through the Nature Trail, across the road and into the villages and palm plantations to the mangroves on this side of Mida Creek, then through a channel in the mangroves to an island. We crossed the island and then walked back round it to the channel and back more or less the way we had come.

Village under a Mango tree

In the Mangroves - chocolate coloured mud!

Wading through the channel to the island

We squelched into the mangroves at one point, and Jaap demonstrated how the mangrove fruits plant themselves: they are long and thin with a heavy end which sticks into the mud as it falls from the tree and holds the seed case upright. The part in the mud grows roots and the bit sticking up turns into the stem and grows leaves.

Self-planting mangroves

We heard lots of birds, and saw quite a lot,including this gorgeous Lizard Buzzard:

Lizard Buzzard

Lily in the island village

Island house - all water has to be carried in through the channel from mainland wells

Orchid?

House wall made of dried mud packed between sticks

The plastic bottle at the top of the tree is collecting sap for palm wine. The palm leaf directs rainwater into the container below, for washing and drinking if it's boiled.

Back at Mwamba, there was a big commotion because of a snake in the kitchen. Jaap grabbed it - it was a Green Bark Snake:

Jaap with the Green Bark Snake in the kitchen

In the afternoon I went to Gede Ruins. This site is the ruins of an Arab town founded in the 13th century. At that time it was on the coast, but it is now a few kilometers inland. It was abandoned because the wells dried up and there was an outbreak of plague. It is an important archaeological site, excavated in the 1940s and 1950s. The buildings include a palace where the king lived, several mosques and a number of houses and tombs belonging to wealthier inhabitants. Big forest trees have grown through the ruins and it is now also an important nature area.

A Rocha has a Tree Platform in one of the big baobabs. Visitors pay to climb up to it and the funds raised go towards their ASSETS project, providing scholarships for secondary education for promising pupils who would not otherwise be able to afford to go. Peter had an ASSETS scholarship and is now volunteering with A Rocha, acting as guide at the Tree Platform.