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Kenya 2004 - GA Magazine Spring 2006
All photographs on this page © Roger Nash
Find out what Roger Nash thought of the 2004 Study Tour to Kenya and view full size versions of the photos featured on pages 14-15 of GA Magazine. Find out more about this and other trips on the study tour pages.
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With nineteen others, I arrived at Heathrow for the start of the 2004 Kenya Study Tour. I knew no one, but by the end of three weeks travel, I would have many friends. Indeed, it was generally felt that this was one of the best tours, ably led by Dr Kevin Cook.
The experience of sharing our three minibuses with geographers from NQT to retired, from primary to university level, from tour veterans to first timers like me, and with knowledgable and competent drivers provided by Lets Go Travel was magic. The hotels were excellent with good food. Several birthdays were celebrated in style.
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At year-end, we were able to unwind in Mombasa. The hotel pool, beach and coral reef were studied with due diligence. Visits to disabled workshops and a home for street girls opened our eyes to Kenya’s problems, but for those of us using a popular secondary textbook it was fascinating to see first hand the wildlife at the sustainable Baobab Adventure.
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There would be plenty of wildlife later in the Rift Valley Parks (flamingos and much more) and Masai Mara, including a heart-stopping lion kill at dawn, but this introduction filled me with anticipation.
Every day brought its high point, but a year on the memory of meeting and learning from individual Kenyans stays with me. Visiting an Akamba family farm near Machakos, hospitality was genuine, and agricultural progress impressive.
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Later, at Marich Pass Field Centre on the escarpment of the northern rift valley we were guests of David and Hidat Roden, with whom we got to know the Pokot people, investigated successful local development using scarce water resources and more dubiously the Turkwel Dam, creating electricity for distant Nairobi, with negligible local benefit.
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Development workers explained with patience and impressive understanding a variety of OXFAM funded projects, including two in Kibera, Nairobi where we were humbled by the needs of a slum community of possibly a million, having no government schools and a desperate need for dealing with the consequences of widespread HIV/AIDS.
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Kenya proved an inspired choice. Having once taught in West Africa, it was very special to return to the continent, where on the one hand little has changed, but on the other, it is possible to get mobile phone signals widely and bottled water makes travel healthier. However, the state of the roads constantly reminded us of their need for investment.
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Roger Nash, Formerly Head of Humanities,
The Holy Trinity School, Crawley, West Sussex
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