Hippos and Cheetahs: Our Weekend in Sultry Kisumu

Kisumu is only 42.5 km. from Kakamega.   Yet this third largest city in Kenya  differs noticeably from agricultural Kakamega.  In a different province, it is a port city on Lake Victoria, at sea level, humid (sultry hot all weekend), intense and bustling, with Luo versus Luhya people.   A local hero is Barack Obama whose father was a Luo.  We really had the sense we “got away”; the road trip took a surprising 1.5 hours, longer than the flight to Nairobi.

 

 

We will remember it as the place where we spent the 2011Canadian Thanksgiving weekend.  No turkey.  Kisumu is famous for fish:  tilapia, catfish, lungfish, sardines, and the infamous Nile perch (see photo) which has sadly decimated many species of tropical fish that apparently were unique to Lake Victoria.  

 The highlight for me was our boat trip on Lake Victoria.  Staring at this inland lakes for many years on maps, I knew it was huge – and it is visually enormous when you stand on the shore, even in the bay where Kisumu is located.  As we were told more than once, it is second in size only to Lake Superior.  But how to get onto the lake?  By a series of happy coincidences, we wound our way through town to a ferry jetty.   Although there were no ferries in service – the Tanzania/Uganda/Kenya run has been halted, temporarily or otherwise (for years?  Wasn’t made clear)  – we were befriended by  Paul who tours school kids around the jetty.  He hailed a small local boat and joined us for a two hour excursion.  

 We floated in and out of a small island full of bright yellow with black weaver birds and their nests, watched fishermen cast lines and spread their nets, and – best of all – sighted the heads of three (!)  hippopotamus families.  We were told they emerge from the water at night time, and no longer inhabit the waters of Hippo Point as there are too many people there now.  

We visited the local hot spot, Dunga Beach; the natural beauty has been overtaken by the shanties and fisherpeople frying up fresh fish.  

 

The boat dropped us off near the Impala Sanctuary run by the Kenyan Wildlife Service.  Paul left to watch a football match while we paid $15 each to enter the park.  As in many other places we’ve travelled to, non-residents pay more. 

The impala are graceful, shy creatures, lovely to watch.   Unexpectedly,  there were also cages of some of Kenya’s finest:  lions, a beautiful leopard, ostriches, monkeys, water buffalo,  and a pair of cheetahs.  As I was having my photo taken outside their cage, one of the workers offered to take us inside the enclosure  -  for just  a small gratuity.   I couldnd’t resist.  Although the display sign read that cheetahs are no threat to humans, it was quite intimidating to scratch one behind the ears and surprising to hear this really big cat, my gosh, purr....

 

On Sunday, we spent two hot afternoon hours trooping around the huge Sunday Kibuye market.  HUGE.  There was WAY MORE of everything that is in the Kakamega marketplace including bales and bales of used clothing, mounds of food and, ah ha,finally, colourful fabric to admire.  I now have a better understanding of purely functional markets.

 

In the big city, we even had pizza at the Green Garden Restaurant that was worlds different from any other eating place I’ve seen for weeks.  Kind of fun, especially when the heat and humidity were high.  

 

It was a refreshing relief Sunday evening to climb up to the highlands of Kenya,  cross the equator again, and return “home” to Kakamega.