Nganyi Indigenous Knowledge Adaptation Project

We were assigned to do this project by Jamie Herring, our Cornell grad student boss, so this video will hopefully be used in a few Cornell classes next year. We had a small budget for the video so we were able to fly out, stay in nicer hotels than we're used to and eat better than we're used to, which was pretty exciting at the time. It was a pretty fun project, and we feel quite honored to be the first white people to ever talk to the Nganyi people about what they do. 

Nganyi Indigenous Knowledge Adaptation Project from Will Miller on Vimeo.

KENVO

KENVO from Will Miller on Vimeo.

Young Explorers Video

We received a random phone call one day and were asked to do a small video for a children's organization called Young Explorers. We thought it sounded cool, and it wasn't a big commitment. The whole idea was to bring some kids together at a mall, do some "fun" activities, and watch a movie. As volunteers, we like to think that our work is at least a minutely valuable contribution to the world. Because its not for the money, we can choose what we do based solely on how much it will help. This project didn't really help anybody in need, and was a good learning experience on what kind of projects we should politely decline. 

Young Explorers from Will Miller on Vimeo.

St. Philips School Mathare-Video

St. Philips School Mathare - African Children's Haven from Will Miller on Vimeo.

We shot this in just 2-3 hours and produced it for fundraising purposes. If you'd like to donate, please visit www.africanchildrenshaven.org

KENVO

Being the intrepid adventures that they are, Alex and Will have had very little time for blogging. They apologize. Their first work trip (four weeks ago) took them deep into the heart of rural Kenya where they documented the efforts of the Kijabe Environmental Volunteers (KENVO). They spent a week living with Bernard, the chairman of the group, bouncing from project to project in the back of the KENVO pickup truck. 

Upon arriving at the KENVO office on day one, Alex and Will were quickly ushered into the pickup and swept off to the site of a forest fire overlooking the Great Rift Valley. Forest fires like this one, they learned, were becoming quite frequent due to the drought plaguing most of East Africa. The rainy season was long overdue. 

The next couple days were spent tracking down elephants in the Kereita Forest, filming tree nurseries, tea farms, income generating activities such as beekeeping and fish farms, community forums, youth debates, and much much more. 

The highlight of the trip, however, had to be the trip home from the funeral service of the founder of KENVO's mother. Squatting in the back of the old pickup, Will's face told it all. Sheer agony. Instead of using the toilet at the funeral service, Will valiantly decided to suck it up and hold it until they got home. The ride was longer and bumpier than anticipated, and Will was brewing at a rate faster than anticipated - it didn't look good. Finally in Kimende, the town closest to Bernard's house, Will had one more obstacle to overcome... speed bumps. Kenyan speed bumps aren't your average humps in the road either, mind you. In it's most literal sense, Alex and Will can think of nobody to whom the saying, "You're making mountains out of molehills" better applies than the architect behind these monsters. Once at home, Will hopped out of the pickup, sprint-waddled over to the outhouse (a simple hole in the ground), and let loose. A few minutes later, he emerged from the toilet with a wild grin on his face. Due to the lack of any light in the outhouse, Will was forced to use his phone as a light source. After doing his duty, he proceeded to throw his toilet paper... and his phone down into the abyss below. Since Will had his phone on "flashlight" mode, a dim light could be seen twenty feet down through the small hole in the floor for the next couple days. But enough bathroom stories. 

Will and Alex had a great time at KENVO and were truly inspired by the work they've been doing. The primary objective of KENVO is the conservation of the Kikuyu Escarpment Forest , some 1590 hectares. The most remarkable part of KENVO is that they came into existence purely through community action, and their realization that something had to be done about the rampant deforestation plaguing the forest. 

The office

Walking up to the fire

climbing...

Another forest fire sprang up inside the crater of this dormant volcano

A funny mural at one of the schools we filmed with KENVO. Click on it if you can't read it. 

The tea farms were quite beautiful

Quilted hillside

A woman picking tea

Will hard at work

Family Vacation

Will and Alex would like to sincerely apologize for getting so behind on the blog, the truth is they're starting to get really busy and have been away from their computers for quite some time. Two weeks ago the whole family went on vacation because Ben had a week off from school. They rented a big, manly Land Cruiser and headed off for a week of safari and lounging on the beach. 

First stop was Tsavo West National Park. The park is considered one of Kenya's most beautiful, although it is not as iconic as Masai Mara or Amboseli. The family rented bandas for two nights, and spent almost three days in the park on game drives. Some of the megafauna they saw include giraffe, impala, zebra, hippo, crocodile, ostrich, buffalo, elephant, wildebeast, oryx, baboon, white monkey, roan antelope, ground hornbill, warthog, lesser and greater kudu, kipspringer, dik-dik, guinea hens, hyena, gazelle, waterbuck, hartebeast and wild dog. Sadly missing from the list are lions, leopards and rhino, which all eluded us. 















After Tsavo West, the expeditionary group headed down to Mombasa, Kenya's biggest coastal city. After a delicious lunch and many complaints about the suffocating heat, they boarded the ferry off Mombasa island and continued south to their true destination, Tiwi beach. Their cottage was set on a picturesque stretch of white sandy beach, with crystal clear water and hardly anyone to share it with. To the boy's disappointment the waves were a low point, breaking far from shore and providing sub-par bodysurfing. Additionally, much of the ocean floor was covered in sea urchins, pointy bastards that made it impossible to thrash around without impaling oneself. Instead, they had to settle with relaxing on the beach and playing in the pool. They did visit nearby Diani beach, which is more of a tourist hot-spot (desolate by American standards), and participated in a few recreational activities there. The three boys went snorkeling, guided by local fishermen (Ben immediately lost his snorkel of course and had to sit in the boat for most of the time). Later, Alex rented a windsurf and spent an hour awkwardly surfing down-wind for about 100 meters and walking the cumbersome board back up. Will and Ben gave it a quick go, but had little to no success. After three nights at the beach, the family headed out and, taking a shortcut, made their way back towards Nairobi.

 














The vacation was not quite over yet however, and the last night was spent at Tsavo East National Park, the less popular, less hilly side of Tsavo. We went on a morning game drive the next day and saw an incredible amount of elephants ("heffalumps" according to Rebecca) and not much else. That afternoon was spent driving back to Nairobi, and everyone satisfied with a great family vacation.

Back to Nairobi

Mt. Kenya

Introduction:  Climbing Mt. Kenya or Kilimanjaro was an interest of Alex and Will's from day one, so when Rebecca informed them that Paulo Duarte, a neighbor, was planning an expedition, they jumped at the opportunity. The two quickly got in touch and met up at the local Java House to see what the plan was. At the meeting, Alex and Will were introduced to Kath, the short but lovable twenty-something Brit; Luke, the tall lanky Belgian, constantly lusting for a cold beer; Nick, the Aussie with a great sense of humor; and Paul, the friendly guide. After borrowing a tent from a "seasoned mountain man," buying some boots, salami, and smoked cheese, the two decided they had all the necessary supplies, and set out for the mountains.

Day 1: Driving

Alex and Will packed their bags Friday morning and crammed 6 people into the cab of Paulo's pickup truck for the three hour drive to Nanyuki, a small town near the mountain where they shopped for food and stayed our first night (at a hotel). The two ate an overpriced dinner and went over our plans. Afterwards, they retreated to their rooms and watched a hilarious kung-fu movie before getting their last good night of sleep for a week.

Day 2: Old Moses Camp [3300m; 10,800 ft]

Alex and Will re-packed the truck, this time with food as well, and headed to the park gate (about 45 minutes). They met Paul and the porters there, and paid their park fees. Although their residency visas are still in processing, they got ILRI to write them a formal letter and were charged the resident fee, saving them about $600. Relieved, they began their trek in high morale.
It is important to note that while everyone else only carried day-packs and handed off their heavy cargo to the porters, Alex and Will insisted on carrying their own packs to ensure that the trip would be manly enough for them. The porters did admittedly carry all the food, but the packs were sufficiently heavy due mostly to the bastard-tent we took. More on that later.
The first day was short and easy, climbing about 650 meters over 9km. Will found an excellent bamboo walking stick before reaching camp just above the tree line. The walk was beautiful but not spectacular, and mostly wooded.
Some friends of Paulo's met up with the crew at camp and just stayed for one night. They were Scandanavian, somewhat drunk, and very funny. Alex and Will could hear them laughing and snorting around the fire long after they retreated to their tent.

View from the gate.

Paul, the guide.

Paulo's pristine pickup.

The salami and smoked cheese came in handy quickly.

Day 3: Likii North Camp [3993m; 13,100 ft]

Today, Luke and Nick split off from the rest of the crew. They got up early and were on the trail before Alex and Will even woke up. Luke and Nick took the basic Sirimon route directly to Shipton's camp, a 14km, 900m climb from Old Moses. With more time, Alex and Will took the liberty of taking an extra day to acclimatize and essentially took two days to do what Luke and Nick did in one. This proved to be an excellent idea, as both Luke and Nick got altitude sickness.
Paulo's friends saw the group off and Alex and Will climbed poli poli (slowly). The hike was relatively short but steep, and at camp they began to feel like they were really in the mountains. The scenery was far more impressive, and Alex and Will had a clear view of some of the lower peaks. The camp itself was very charming, a small rustic mountain hut with broken floorboards. Alex immortalized himself by carving his name on the wall alongside dozens of climbers from years past.

Setting up the tents at Liki North.

Day 4: Shipton's Camp [4200m; 13,800 ft]

Alex and Will's hike today was longer and tougher than the day before (8km), despite only gaining about 200 meters in elevations overall. The two actually covered considerably more vertical, but lost most of it climbing down a steep ridge. The coolest part was walking through a forest of assorted plants that seemed to have been directly transplanted from a Dr. Seuss book. Unfortunately Alex and Will were smothered with a medley of rain, hail, sleet (in that chronological order), so they were tragically unable to photo-document them appropriately.
The precipitation stopped only briefly after the two had emerged from the land of magical flora, only to start up again in the form of heavy snow. They got to camp wet and cold, and quickly got wetter and colder. By the time the snow began to fall they had already pitched tent, which provided only a very temporary sense of protection. Shivering in their sleeping bags, the two focused on resting for tomorrow morning's attempt at the summit. Probably 30 seconds later, they noticed the water streaming into the tent and forming puddles around their clothes, boots, and sleeping bags. The snow was weighing down the fly, causing the water to drip through the mesh walls. Soon the tent collapsed on them entirely, and Alex valiantly braved the storm to fix our fallen shelter while Will scrambled to mop up the puddles with his used T-shirt.
The snow eventually stopped and the sun emerged, revealing stunning peaks rising in their faces. The duo's excitement was rekindled and they hit the sack early, their dreams of the summit now tangible.

A poor example of the Dr. Suess plants.

The tent.

Wet

View from Shipton's camp.

Day 5: Lenana Peak and Summit Circuit [4985m; 16,355 ft]
Our heroes awoke at 3:00 am to a quick breakfast of tea and biscuits before heading out in order to reach the summit by sunrise. Will was unprepared for the darkness, forcing him to mooch off Alex's headlamp as they ascended in the dark of night. At this altitude they were forced to climb slowly - one foot barely in front of the other. Occasionally they got overly excited and took too big of a step, only to have their heads begin thumping violently. The climb (and the rest of the day) was made infinitely easier by the fact that neither Alex nor Will had to carry their heavy packs. Their comrades, who were previously able to skip ahead, were suddenly surprised by their ability to keep up with them. After three hours of climbing, the group reached a small enclave near the top and stopped to appreciate the colors beginning to bleed into the sky. From there on it was more of a scamble up the the rocks than the slow, laborious trudge up the hill it had been for the past few hours. They finally hit the summit at about seven o'clock. The view was absolutely breathtaking, and, with the sun just beginning to rise, it was the perfect climax to the trip. In his dazed and oxygen deprived state, Alex managed to mess up a very good portion of the pictures (but Will forgives him). Alex wasn't the only one who felt the altitude in their lungs though. The shrieks of an overweight middle aged British woman pierced the thin air. "Ahh! I can't breathe! Seriously, I can't get any air into my lungs right now, they just don't seem to be inflating!" she screamed as she plopped her extensive derriere on top of the mountain. Obviously nobody was too quick to run to her assistance, seeing as any lungs that could emit a sound at that decibel level surely didn't need any more air. To see her on the summit (and listen to her friends pose for pictures) definitely made Alex and Will rethink the extent of their manliness in reaching the top. For the sake of their dignities, we assume and hope that the lady Brits took a shorter, easier route to the top. The descent was made far more exciting, in a life-threatening sort of way, by the potentially deadly combination of happy-go-lucky teenage boys, precipitous falls to either side, the dizzying and disorienting effects of the altitude, and a sprinkling of snow and black ice. Luckily, our heroes made it down without incident, thanks in large part to their trusty walking sticks. Will is sad to note that just after their descent, during a lunch break at the Austrian Hut, he fell victim to a most heinous crime... grand theft walking stick. Following lunch, Alex and Will made their way around the rest of the Peak Circuit. The hills proved to be far more grueling than expected, even with their light packs. Calling them hills doesn't really do them justice. Small mountains would be more appropriate. After a long day, they finally stumbled back to Shipton's camp at about five o'clock to a hot lunch. Both Alex and Will ate to their heart's content, and retreated to their pitiful excuse for a tent for a nap. They woke up briefly for dinner and went right back to bed, tired and proud of their accomplishment.

3:00 am hiking doesn't make for excellent pictures, but you get the idea.

Night 5: Altitude gets the better of Alex

Will awoke at two thirty in the morning to the loud and steady stream of liquid hitting the tent floor. Uuuuughhauck-splat, uuuuughhuack-splat. Vision still blurry, he discerned that the source of this liquid was Alex's mouth, and the liquid was, unfortunately, vomit. Alex consolidated the offensive matter with a T-shirt, and Will lazily moved his legs to avoid the pile. Will fell back asleep easily, but Alex was back at it ten minutes later. After five solid minutes of heaving and up-chucking, the damage was extensive. Alex's sleeping area was covered, and he even managed to spill some on Will as he tried to clean up. He decided to quarantine himself and relocated to the cement floor outside the porters' rooms. After puking countless times in this new location, some of the porters came outside to investigate what the commotion was. At this point, Alex was convulsing in shivers, completely drained of both energy and liquid from his constant vomiting. Paul guided Alex generously from the floor into his own bed, sharing his warmth. Alex finished off the night there, and awoke to the exclamations of the porters as they realized the impressive extent of previous night's carnage.

Day 6: Back to Old Moses (Alex)

With his stomach still in a state of civil unrest come morning, the group decided that Alex should take a shorter route back down, and stay an extra night in Nanyuki to recover. Francis the porter was appointed to be his escort down the mountain, as he was a professional driver in his spare time and could take Paulo's car into town and back. The two started down the mountain at the poli-est of polis. The one upside was that there were no water or food breaks, since neither substance was granted more than five minutes access inside the warzone of Alex's gastrointestinal tract. Francis turned out to be an agreeable character, and Alex thoroughly enjoyed swapping life's stories as they strolled leisurely down the mountain. Francis' passion was fixing cars, and was saving money to get a degree and eventually become a mechanic. It wasn't until about six hours later that Alex would realize just how ironic this was. When the two got to the bottom, Alex gave Francis the keys to Paulo's car and hopped in shotgun - a decision he almost instantly regretted. Somehow, some way, he had managed to get stuck with the single worst driver in all of Kenya. The statistics alone speak for themselves. The car stalled five times, got shifted into reverse on the highway three, and crashed twice. It was inevitable, really, that the car would crash at some point during the journey. The laws of physics and probability simply wouldn't have it any other way - this guy was destined for a life of fixing cars, alright. The first incident, which is relatively minor in comparison to the second, occurred when Francis stalled the car trying to get over a speed bump (he refused come into them at less than 60 kph and slam on the brakes within meters of the bump). They stalled, and continued to roll back about seven or eight meters into a truck stopped behind them. The metal frame of the truck collided with the pickup's hatch, crumpling a portion of the metal. They quickly pulled into the Ibis hotel's loading station and Alex fell out of the car, relieved that this was the only accident. He paid for the rooms and went down to let Francis into the parking garage - the final obstacle. Francis quickly proved to be equally erratic behind the wheel in a closed space as he was on the open road. Attempting to maneuver the truck into a space only twice the car's width, he managed to swipe a massive pole in the process. Obviously this wasn't his fault, however. How was he supposed to see the huge pole when the parking attendant didn't point it out? He lept out of the car, furious. After Francis sufficiently scolded the parking attendant, Alex politely stepped up and asked him if he could park the car for them. The parking attendant jumped at the opportunity to show Francis how it was done, and proceeded to park flawlessly with six feet on either side. This did not make Francis happy. He stormed off to his room, but managed to spend the next 3/4 of the night in Alex's room explaining just what he thought of "that stupid-dumb-stupid-idiot-man in the garage," and trying to convince Alex to support an elaborate excuse to release himself of blame.

Day 6: Chogoria bandas (Will) [2950m; 9,678 ft]

After seeing Alex off, Will's hike started with a very steep climb to 4600m, which culminated in a marvelous view of the back side of the mountain and the long route to the bottom. It was pretty much all downhill from there (and often steep), descending through a series of dried up lakes, a beautiful valley with snow-capped peaks rising all around, and later a landscape of rolling meadowy hills. The hike was 24 km all told, leaving Will's legs burning and sore, and his back a knotted mess. He didn't even notice until the end though, as the majestic scenery distracted him throughout the actual hike. It was awesome to feel the effects of altitude loosen their grip as the day progressed, and by the end Will was skipping around foolishly oblivious of the toll it would take on his muscles. He had to fill his water bottle with hot water and awkwardly massage out the kinks just so he could sleep that night.

Day 7: Chogoria gate and back to Nairobi

Will and the clan woke up early, on a mission to finish the hike and get home to a hot shower. Paulo, having heard that his car was "scratched," was not it a particularly good mood. The walk was a gentle downhill for 22 km, passing through bamboo forest and thick rain forest. They saw hyena and elephant tracks, and massive quantities of elephant droppings. They heard baboons fighting, and heard elephants walking nearby but couldn't get a glimpse of them. They saw massive quantities of elephant droppings, and saw some small monkeys flying through the upper branches. Despite all the excitement, the group didn't stop once and made it to the gate by 11 am (sorry no pics). Alex and Francis were waiting for us with the beat up car, and Paulo got to see the alleged scratch. Oh boy, was he mad. The 'scratch' was a deep dent on his hatch, and another huge dent spanning across two doors. How this was accomplished in a parking lot was beyond Will. After a long awkward period and some convoluted explaining, the group tipped the porters that weren't involved in the incident and headed back to Nairobi. There wasn't much else to do. They stopped at a Belgian bar to relax and vent, and also reward themselves for an otherwise very successful trip. It was too bad that it had to end on a bit of a sour note, but overall everyone had an excellent time, exceeding their expectations and bringing more excitement than anticipated.

Parking garage...

Truck collision on the road...