Hidden Mount Kenya

To circumnavigate Mount Kenya and making pictures from the area was the goal. But i choose the wrong time for it. Or the gods sitting on the mountain didn’t agree to get pictured. It started, like mostly, with the traffic jam in Nairobi. Passing Thika, up north to Nyeri, visiting the memorial park and grave of Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the boy scout movement.

Just south of Nanyuki my Land Rover crossed the equator line from south to north. The first time since i drove to the southern hemisphere at Gabon in 2010 (http://photoglobo.blogspot.co.ke/2010/03/gabon.html). But also on the northern and eastern side of Mount Kenya it’s hiding from my camera. There are few nice spots though. The eastern side surprised me with lush green forest, coffee plantages and waterfalls.

Back in Nairobi i knew, i have to go again. Next time with more time and less clouds.

Photo Shooting In Forest

A nearby forest was a quite and perfect location for a short photo shooting with Marie.

kitchen stuff

Just a few photographic impression all around kitchen stuff in my camp and nearby 🙂

No Shit: Hollywood In Nairobi

A friend called me, there are need of people joining as statists for filming. There is some money offered, but surely i wanted have a glimpse behind the scene of movie making too. The location was held on Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), an impressive building complex, especially at night. Inside that futuristic looking building is a big conference room, called the Amphitheatre. Rows of empty seats around a red carpeted centre when i get there. Just a few people sitting and standing spread around. No camera or film team in sight. A busy looking lady giving out a form which claims all right on filming on that spot. An amount of money for compensation is promised by that form too. To my surprise i’m told, it’s not a Kenyan production but Hollywood itself shows up, making a science fiction movie. Around 30 people gathered this evening to pretend being members of a parliament or council. Due the delay of the film team, we got coffee and sandwiches first, got fitted in suits and dresses and finally seated in front of the camera, which arrived meanwhile. The next three hours or so, we shifted from row to row, from box to box, from level to level. In the movie, the 30 people of us will appear as around 300 people in the council. Before midnight, the film director was happy with the take. With the welcome cash in my hand and new experience in my head i stepped out in the nightsky.

times of repairs

On travel, there are times of joy ..and there are times of repairs. Happy to see my Land Rover again, but there was quite few things to repair, to improve and to test again. The clutch must be replaced, as the pedal didn’t work properly too. To replace the word battery seemed to be an easy thing, despite the narrow place under the seat, that’s why i also put some switches and wiring in different places. Wondering why the new board battery won’t charge lead to a problem on the controller of the dual-battery-system. We took it out and put a manually switch between the batteries instead. Now the fridge didn’t work anymore. A few coffees later, and after i took some cash in hands, Gabriel could fix my precious fridge. There was more small things to fix, including a photo lens (fixed quick by Nikon Service in Thika Road Mall), but meanwhile i learned to be patient on traffic jam too. There seems only one rule on Nairobi’s streets: no rules! The start of rain season didn’t make it easier to navigate trough the city, especially at night. On the camp of Jungle Junction soaked the terrain to a muddy flat.Just right to test the couple new Maxxis off-road tyres i got here. 🙂

Ngong Hills Photo Shooting

Ruth, who showed me around, was keen on a photo shooting on Ngong Hills. I was just as excited to fulfill her wish. Here some shots from there.

Kenya; Ngong Hills

Just out of the city of Nairobi are the Ngong Hills covered with windmills, satellite antennas and communication towers. Can’t cost anything to hike there around, i thought. In the village on the way to the hills were children playing. Some hide shyly, other ones showed up curiously about the stranger passing trough. Just a few adults were around, as curious as the young ones. A father peeks over the fence and ask me to take a photo from him with the kids. Over the village circling the blades of the massive windmills, making a sonorous, deep sound. You get used on it, the villager told me.

Despite the forest is almost gone, replaced by a wide access road and the wind generators, it’s called still a conservation park and a fee is to pay. With Ruth, a new friend and model, i entered the park and hiked around the huge generators. Some women and children followed along a trickling creek. Near the source of it they scooped water into buckets and carried them back to the huts.Three siblings got curious about the white/black couple doing a photo shooting. The youngest got scared, start to cry out loud, but got then overwhelmed by his own curiosity. With the support of the older sister he dared to get closer and play with the cam and the looked at the photos i made of him. At the end we all had a laughter about funny pictures.

Fun Group Hiking At Mt.Longonot

Mount Longonot a quite volcano about two hours drive out of Nairobi, is the destination for a group of friends for a hike. I got invited and joined it with pleasure. Too long time i didn’t hike, and with that funny, open minded and nice people it’s pure pleasure too.

There’s many photos in purpose of giving the people of the group the chance to see them and download it. Have fun along the „photo story“  …and many thanks for the group letting me join in for that day!