Mbita Camping

Mbita is an island in Lake Victoria. We were invited to go with our Belgian neighbors Shwan, Hilde and their three daughters Helene, Sarah and Maraika. You remember the priest who came to our Seder? Well we were invited to camp in his compound in Mbita over Easter weekend. He has turned out to be quite an interesting fellow. He’s from The Netherlands and has been in Kenya, living on Mbita Island, for 50 years; that’s before Kenya became an independent state! I’m trying to convince him to write his memoirs or maybe I can write it by interviewing him or better yet do a documentary. He has so many interesting stories.

The drive to Mbita is abot 4 hours. 2.5 hours on some of the most pristine roads I have ever been on in Kenya, just perfect and the last bit on some of the most hellish road I’ve ever been on in Kenya. This part was so bad that by the time we got home the rattling in the car had loosened the air ducts in the car and they had fallen out. I am now of the mind to take my car in to have complete servicing after we take one of these trips. What a switch, though, a year ago Max would have begged me to ‘stop the bumps’ but now it’s ‘bring on more bumps daddy’ and Esther is the one saying ‘stop the bumps’!























Mbita is beautiful. Could rival anything I’ve seen in the Caribbean. I think if it weren’t for the schistosomiasis in Lake Victoria they could really develop this place as a resort. Father Tillnan’s compound is right on the lake. Beautiful views, amazing sunsets every night. And birds, birds, birds. So loud you sometimes had to shout. Everywhere birds; thousands! We took a boat ride out to this tiny island where there were so many birds that the rocks and tree had turned completely white, like snow, because of the bird poop. [LOTS OF PHOTOS HERE]