Month: March 2012

Kenya

Today, while driving up Wayaki Way to work, I saw a matatu driver reach out his window and wedge a folded up 50 shilling note under his door handle; he was anticipating being stopped at the semi-regular police traffic stop near Mountain View (about 10 kilometers outside of Nairobi).

As I imagine it’s quite hard to picture, I took a few minutes to recreate the scenario in the Sarit Center parking lot…

Alan with a 50 shilling note
Alan with a 50 shilling note

50 Kenyan Shillings is only about 75 US cents, but if you imagine that the cops stop hundreds of people in a day… wow. And that’s only at that ONE check point, out of hundreds of other ones operating on any given day in Kenya.

Animals, Kenya

I walk past this paddock all the time, but today I noticed something special: Ankole cattle. This breed of cattle, native to East Africa and known for its peculiarly large horns, is absolutely beautiful.

I remember seeing them years ago when I was driving through Uganda. Little did I know I would come to work in the International Livestock Research Institute and be surrounded by scientists studying to understand, improve, and protect indigenous breeds of cattle like these Ankole!