Hippos and Mega City

This past Saturday goes down as one of the weirdest days I’ve ever experienced. We wanted to explore the area around Kisumu and Lake Victoria, and we ended up seeing the wide spectrum that is the developing world.

I’ll keep things short this time – no history lesson.

Our day began with a cruise of Lake Victoria. Although it was no Royal Caribbean, we had a great time on the water. We saw some hippos. We saw some birds. We saw some boats. We saw some Lake Victoria. I’ve realized that our “vacations” will not be the usual safaris that most people travel to Kenya to experience. That is mainly because those are crazy expensive, but it is also because we are here long enough to enjoy the small things. No guidebook will highlight watching the fishermen sail home every afternoon on Lake Victoria, but we have the time and famished budget to stumble upon that sight. Well worth it. We also got to walk around a local fishing outpost, where all the fish is brought back and sold. Very simple life – worlds away from what I am used to in NYC, and even in downtown Kisumu. Along the way, we saw tons of people having their afternoon bath in the lake. Didn’t take any pictures, but it was refreshing to see people doing their thing.

After the cruise, we went to what is called Mega City. This is the perfect example of eerie globalization. Mega City is a warehouse/shopping mall. There is a huge Wal-Mart-esque store as well as other shops. Half of the spaces were vacant, and the ones that were full reminded me of Carolina East Mall in G-vegas (right before it was bulldozed). It was just a very strange strange place. You saw locals in traditional attire buying cases of Fanta, or flat-screened TVs. The weirdest part was upstairs where the ‘food court’ was. It was a large space full of rows and rows of empty tables with chairs. A few people were eating, but generally it was just creepy. [Ok, so there is also a theater here, which will be showing Harry Potter, so I can get my fix of western pop culture once that comes out, although I know it will be an experience laden with guilt and general discomfort. Luckily for HP, I am a die-hard fan, so I will endure it.] Overall, this place was bizarre. It’s also worth noting that there is a smoldering landfill directly behind Mega City, which adds to the creepiness of it all.

Photos of Hippos and Mega City