Up to this weekend, the closest I’ve ever been to a rainforest was Rainforest Café. Although being surrounded by animatronic gorillas and experiencing a “rainstorm” every 20 minutes can be fun, the real thing is by far much more exciting.
This week, all the women on the Mbale Mission Team packed up for the week, left the kids with the guys and drove across the border to the Kakamega rainforest in Kenya for a women’s retreat. After five hours of driving along pot hole infested roads, stopping for potty breaks and waiting at the border for an hour, we arrived at the Rondo Retreat center just in time for lunch during an impressive downpour. It was absolutely incredible! We were served an amazing roasted-tomato pasta dish in a beautiful dining room while the skies unburdened themselves for about 30 minutes. It was raining so hard you almost had to yell to be heard from across the table! After the rain stopped, the sun immediately came out and we were free to wander around.
I felt like I was Eve in the garden of Eden- except I was fully clothed. The grounds looked immaculate, with gorgeous trees and flowers popping up all over the place. The scent of fresh rain was more fragrant than any fabric softener I’ve ever purchased by the same name. There were short walking paths venturing into the forest, leading to small waterfalls and fish ponds. While you were walking, you could observe butterflies, birds, and even monkeys!
These colobus monkeys were enjoying their lunch and kindly agreed to get together for a group photo.
The second morning of our retreat, I joined veteran bird-watcher Linda and our guide, Ben, for a bird walk. I’ve never tried bird watching before, but I figured it would be a shame to pass up the opportunity. It was so cool! We walked around the paths in the forest just outside of the retreat center. Ben knew the name of every single bird we saw. Even if he couldn’t see the bird, he could identify it by its call. He could even imitate birds and call them over to us! Once I got the hang of the binoculars, I managed to spot a whole bunch of birds. I can’t find our exhaustive list from this week, but here are some sketches and a few names of what we saw:
After the bird walk the same day, we took a hike up an extinct volcano in the middle of the rainforest. Hiking was a bit exhausting- not that the terrain was difficult, but the altitude of more than 1530 meters/5020 feet meant oxygen wasn’t exactly as plentiful as I was used to. Going through the forest was beautiful and quite informative. Ben was our guide again, and pointed out many different plants that were used for medicinal purposes. He even showed us a leaf with a super rough texture that’s used as sandpaper!
The hill itself was quite steep, but the hike was well worth it. The top is a great place to look out on the entire Kakamega rainforest. Nutrients from the volcanic soil have been washed off the hill, so the larger trees don’t grow there, meaning there’s nothing much to obstruct the view. Check it out!
All in all, it was quite a wonderful week. If you ever find yourself in Kenya, go check out the Rondo Retreat Center! I guarantee that you'll love it!
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