You can’t come to Kenya without visiting the equator! So me and 2 other volunteers set off to find it! We finally got there and although it is really just a sign in the middle of nowhere, we had fun taking pictures with our feet on 2 different hemispheres. Then this guy came over and filled up a bucket of water and dropped a stick into it. He showed us how in one hemisphere the stick swirls clockwise and in the other it swirls counter clockwise. And if you drop the stick in the water directly under the equator sign, it stays still. I don’t understand how all this works but it was cool to see!
The guy demonstrating
After the equator we went to Thompson Falls which is a nearby waterfall that you can hike down to. It was beautiful! It reminded me of the falls I have hiked in Oregon. At the start of the hike there was a big sign saying DO NOT PROCEED WITHOUT SECURITY PERSONNEL. We were very confused and this lady with a huge gun comes up to us and says mugging is very prevalent on this trail so we would need to pay 1,000 shillings (10$) to hike with a guide. None of us wanted to pay it but we also didn’t want to get mugged! Just then a huge group of school boys came walking past and we decided just to stay with them so we wouldn't have to hire anyone. The problem was, they were literally running down the trail! We were going so fast laughing and tripping and almost spraining our ankles over wet rocks just to keep up with them! At the bottom of the falls they all asked to take pictures with us. We were like “okay why not.” Then it suddenly became a mob of like 20 people wanting to take pictures with us just because we were white. It was funny at first but after awhile of all the boys and even some girls pushing each other out of the way to pose with us it got a little annoying. I will never get used to the fact that just because you are white you suddenly become a spectacle here! All in all it was a great day. It still amazes me how one day I can hike a dusty volcano and the next I can hike down to a luscious green waterfall! Only in Africa!
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