Visit to Kenya

The past two weeks have been very hectic over here! As well as continuing my work in the lab we have been lucky enough to be brought on not only one adventure but two in the one week! The first of these outings was to Mount Elgon National Park with a group of Americans from the Walter Reed Institute and the CDC. Mount Elgon is an extinct volcano on the border between Kenya and Uganda. I must admit I was a bit reluctant to go as it involved camping and I said to Richie ‘Camping is not my cup of tea’. As it turned out I didn’t have to worry as it rained so much we had to rent a guesthouse in the park! The national park is known as the ‘loneliest park in Kenya’ and it certainly lived up to that description. For our whole stay we did not see another person! We had the whole 169km² Kenyan side to ourselves! On our second day in the park we decided to try and reach the summit of Mount Elgon. This involved driving around 26 miles uphill to a base camp from which you could then start walking around 6km to the peak.

After hearing we would be driving the 26 miles I was extremely relieved! However that relief was short lived as I saw the state of the roads we would be using. Pure mud!

 In that region of Kenya it rains nearly every day and there had been torrential rain the evening before. I can honestly say that I have never been so terrified as I was in the car on the way up the mountain!! The best I can describe it is like driving on black ice, up a mountain! Luckily Josh was driving and he has had courses in terrain driving as part of his military training. Aside from once when we got stuck in mud everything went ok! The 6km trail that we were using to reach the peak was questionable. It was like walking in a bog in high grass with lots of holes to fall into (which I did several times)! It struck me that not a lot of people must visit the park to even make a trail, which surprised me because the park is one of the most beautiful places I have been so far. It was like a rainforest at the base of the mountain but almost an alpine environment on the top. It also struck me that in Kenya you are really left to your own devices in parks like Mount Elgon. In Ireland the muddy roads we took would have most definitely have been closed! We did not make the peak since time was not on our side and the weather had begun to turn. Typically, it started to rain when we were nearly at the cars, so we got absolutely soaked just in time for the 3 hour drive back down! I spent most of the drive with my eyes closed silently praying as did Jennifer beside me! Near the end we turned a corner to find a giraffe standing on the side of the road. At first I thought it was a huge statue but no, it was real! I have seen giraffes in the zoo but this was actually living free in the mountains! It was very surreal but brilliant!

On our third day in the park we visited the caves. The most famous of these caves is Kitum cave which featured in the book ‘The Hot Zone’.

Basically the author suggests that Marburg virus resides in the cave as two separate people came down with Marburg after visiting them. However, an investigation by the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases did not find any evidence of Marburg. It is all very X-Files! I decided to risk Marburg and go into the cave! It was probably best it was dark in there as there were thousands of bats hanging from the roof! Again we were the only people at the caves. The whole park feels totally unspoilt; I hope it stays that way for a long time.

On the project front I have been working through the objectives that Dr John Waitumbi set for me. The first of these is to determine if the genus-specific primers are more sensitive than the species specific primers for detecting malaria parasites. Initial results suggest that the genus-specific primers are more sensitive. I am also still working on trying to optimise the multiplex Real-Time PCR. Optimisation is tricky and takes time but hopefully it will be possible! Everybody in the lab is very enthusiastic about what they are doing and they really know their stuff, which creates a really good working atmosphere. I really like the fact that some people in the lab are working on vaccine trials that are happening in Kenya right now. It is all very current and I can see why they are passionate about it as the incidence of malaria is very high in Kisumu.

This week Dr Waitumbi arranged for us to join Duke and George from the lab on a trip to an AFI site in Marigat. AFI is a project which Dr Waitumbi is undertaking which involves investigating what causes fevers in children who have been diagnosed as malaria negative. We were to tag along and would get the opportunity to see the lakes nearby, Lake Bogoria and Lake Baringo.

The journey up to Marigat took 6-7 hours. I did not notice the time going by as there was so much to see out the window. It was some of the nicest scenery I have seen in Kenya. There were lots of school children walking and playing along the roads; the majority of children walk to and from school along busy roads without any supervision. I could see the look of total surprise on their faces when they saw us ‘mzungus’ drive by! In Marigat we stopped at the district hospital with George and Duke. For a district hospital it was small and could in no way be compared to a hospital in Ireland, but the staff were very nice. The lab we were visiting was located a short walk away from the hospital. Along the way we were swarmed by local school children. Every one of them wanted to shake our hands! They were so full of life and even knew where Ireland was, so I was impressed! The best way of describing the lab is that it is like my secondary school lab - old and not very well equipped. However, it did have the basic equipment they needed to carry out tests. The staff again were very friendly and they were doing the best they could with what they had. It is hard to imagine that a lab in an area where diseases are so prevalent could be so basic. We had brought with us a big centrifuge so George and Duke were training the staff on how to use it. The trip to the hospital and the lab was a bit of an eye opener. I knew facilities were not great but I had to see it to believe it.

The lakes themselves were lovely! Lake Bogoria is home to millions of Lesser flamingos! There are also hot springs by the lake. Along with a fellow visitor we tried to boil an egg in the hot water, but it wasn’t left in long enough and it was just runny when we cracked it! We saw on the sign-in sheet that there were other Irish people in the park that day so we kept an eye out. We joked with the others that there is always some way to connect yourself to another Irish person. Well I didn’t have to try too hard because it turned out I recognised one of them from my undergraduate years in college! It’s a small world! Lake Baringo does not have the flamingos but it is just as nice! We decided to stay in a “banda” on a camping site by the lake. We were so tired from the day that we just wanted to sleep. However, Richie soon spotted a scorpion on his bed! Needless to say we were less than keen to fall asleep after that! On the way home Chicken Choma (barbecued chicken) was on the menu - Duke knows the good places to go! We also stopped off at the Equator and bought some souvenirs!  

I learnt a lot during our trips this week, especially in the Marigat District Hospital. It was an eye opener but I am very gratefully to have been able to experience such things. With the adventures over for now we can really concentrate on our projects!