After being chased from the lab…| Rant

I went for a Samburu Road trip+Overnight Camp +Game Drive +Bonfire experience for nearly 7,000 shillings and I hated it. However, I am glad I did go.

Currently, I am in the campus bar. I was headed home when I was told that I need to do an annual medical checkup in the Ilri hostels. Nice hotel rooms and kitchenette but I honestly don’t get why they are that expensive. Since the only place in my body that works is my right arm, I asked for an extra sample of blood to take for a covid study going on I am participating in of which in this months study I wasn’t to get a blood sample.

After that, I felt I needed energy and came for some chips only to discover that the Heinz ketchup wasn’t there. I hate the Peptang thingy. Good salad though. Three or four people around and music ain't loud. As I enjoy this, Let’s talk about the positive side of things first.

Positives

1. Considering this was a mixture of three companies who have different cultures, the people were good with ages starting from 1.2 months to ’40s.
2. As much as the conversations people enjoyed more were sexual from the fire chat, I loved the one question that sparked a candid and more vulnerable conversation — What is your recent success? It made me see people in a different beautiful angle of what they are that is more than loud or quiet people they were.
3. Good food. I love food though the skuma wasn’t good, the ugali was well done, The beef had too much tangawazi and the potatoes weren't as good as they looked. However, the branch was fantastic esp the two salads and the chicken stew.
4. I learnt how to pitch a tent. This was big for me. An important life skill.
5. I slept under a tent in the wild.
6. Loved the climate at night so I didn't have to worry about wearing something on top of a light shirt without arms while doing the bonfire or eating outside.
7. I was able to rest my brain for real. however, I know my supervisor would still not want me back to the lab. apparently, I need real rest and forget science exists for a couple of weeks. I still insisted on coming today to work. I promise I will go. Just this last transformation.
8. I did not have insomnia. Big success.

Negatives

1. I didn’t mind that there weren't any big five animals to see apparently due to the timing which was wrongly predicted but I hated that I couldn’t swim in the buffalo springs since I wasn’t told that I should carry a swimming costume or told just to be mentally prepared. I feel like my time was wasted going around a place with more goat-like and donkey-like creatures than hiking the Olelenku hill. There should have been an option or sth.
2. Why wasn’t there any nyama choma?????? why? Thing is, who do i ask if there are too many cooks in the broth?
3. Waah, the tents were dusty……waah! Okay, this was my first camp. Is it normal??? I even found a pair of earrings in the tent meaning nothing was done after the previous guys used them.
4. The Toilet, Waah! I peed in the makeshift bathroom instead. Come for me if you want. There was no way I was going to pee on top of a heap of shit that I can see yet there is no bush inside the camp to hide behind. I held my poop until we got to a cleaner toilet on our way back.
5. It was so hot. I had to do another shower that I had ignored in the morning when I woke up late to a cold face. I didn’t need my towel and no sooner….I was hot again. Samburu is so hot.
6. I didn't have a sleeping bag to put on top of that hard micromattress, so I was advised to take carry a masai shuka or light duvet. I took four sheets with me and a towel that I never needed. Someone should have told me that I only need two sheets, one to cover that stupid micromatress and one to cover my face. I overpacked!!!
7. The noise the noise the noise!!! There was a group, separate from our merged group that nyamachomad and played music all night long just a few metres from my zipped door.
8. We got to town too late. The damn overland truck came back too slowly. 22km/hr. Even if it's a safety issue, that was fishy. Never again will I finish a road trip on an overland truck on the day before a workday.

Lessons from the Samburu Trip

1. Don’t get kids. Yeah. Just don’t get kids.
2. Don't go on a vacation with your partner.
3. Swimming is a life skill
4. Don’t go on trips from different companies.
5. Rest is as important as working.
6. Kenya is beautiful especially Nanyuki and Timau,
7. Learn foreign languages
8. Road Trips are fun.

Now the music is loud and too many people around indulging. Feel like taking a shit and far from my favourite washrooms.

The hiking photos are not out yet so enjoy the blank thingy for now.