Mashujaa (Hero's) Day

Yesterday was Mashujaa (Hero's) day in Kenya, the first official Hero's day since the new constitution was instituted in late August. Hero's day used to be called Kenyatta day in honor of Kenyan's first President, Jomo Kenyatta, but now the Kenyan's decided that it would be nice to celebrate all of their heroes on this day.

The longtermers and I decided to celebrate with a day hike in Kerio Valley.













This was my second visit to this beautiful region (the first was my Tambach field visit). We started with a steep decent into the valley, weaving in and out of cornfields and dodging cows and goats.












After about 1.5 hours, we reached a road that connected us to a trail that followed a river back up the mountain.












(That's Chai, one of the longtermer's dogs, attempting to cross the river!)

After a long climb, we suddenly stopped and our guide pointed to a small steep trail that must have been about a 75 degree downward drop. We made it down by sliding on our knees and grabbing on to whatever roots we could find.

It was well worth it because at the bottom was a gorgeous waterfall!


















We jumped right in!












Group shot


















We found this little guy on the way back...












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