Kory and Chris flew in Sunday night with Kilimanjaro AND Mount Kenya in their sites. Last night, with their gear strewn around my living room, I realized that very soon David and I will be doing the same thing! They left early this morning for Tanzania and should summit Kili next Monday or Tuesday. Then they’ll be back at my place to regroup before heading up to Mount Kenya later next week.

Over the weekend I went camping with some friends from the Mountain Club of Kenya (which I became a member of last week). We had a smashing time at a lodge overlooking the Great Rift Valley, and we managed to find some rock to do a few climbs as well. Below are a few pics.

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Interesting fact for the day:

An ultra-prominence is a peak with a prominence of 1500m (4,921ft) or greater than its surrounding topography. There are 84 ultra-prominences in Africa.

The total ultra-prominence count for the continent is:

1 - - - 5,885m
0 - - - 4,000-5,000m
9 - - - 3,000-4,000m
22 - - 2,000-3,000m
52 - - 1,500-2,000m

The top five ultra-prominences are (note: they are not ranked by elevation):

Peak ———————- Country ———- Elevation ——— Prominence
1 Kilimanjaro ————– Tanzania ———– 5,895m/19,342ft — 5,885m/19,309ft
2 Ras Dejen (Ras Dashen) — Ethiopia ———– 4,533m/14,873ft — 3,980m/13,058ft
3 Mt Cameroon ———— Cameroon ——— 4,070m/13,354ft — 3,931m/12,898ft
4 Ngaliema (Mt Stanley) — Congo/Uganda —– 5,109m/16,763ft — 3,951m/12,963ft
5 Mount Kenya ———— Kenya ————– 5,199m/17,058ft — 3,825m/12,550ft
6 Jebel Toubkal ———— Morocco ———– 4,167m/13,672ft — 3,755m/12,320ft
7 Volcan Karisimbi ——— Rwanda ———— 4,507m/14,788ft — 3,312m/10,867ft
8 Mount Meru ————- Tanzania ———– 4,565m/14,978ft — 3,170m/10,401ft
9 Piton des Neiges ———- Reunion ———– 3,069m/10,069ft — 3,069m/10,069ft
10 Pico Basilé ————– Equatorial Guinea — 3,011m/9,879ft —– 3,011m/9,879ft

Mount Kenya rates as the fifth highest on the continent when it comes to measuring its prominence, though second in terms of total elevation.

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Congruence [kŏng'grōō-əns]. What a great word. I’ve been realizing how much I value this trait in people, in living life; recognizing how much I seek it in my own identity, though often unconsciously. I wonder how much of who I am matches what I’m doing, how I spend my time, where I find myself?

Take this blog for an example. Why is the title Wayfaring Wagner? The ‘Wagner’ is self-explanatory. I’m not so sure about the ‘Wayfaring’ part. It might have been true, to some extent, as over the past five years I have lived nowhere longer than nine months. But in June of this year I began a job that locks me into a place and role for at least the next two years. One place to stay unpacked. 24 months. That is wayfaring no longer in my mind. So I may be purporting something about myself that is no longer true.

Also, now that I think about it, even when I was more actively traipsing about the planet, the term wayfaring still remains an external modifier and not truly congruent to who I was. My frequent border traversing and continent criss-crossing didn’t reflect my inner me, which was actually quite fixed on certain goals and desires that simply brought that lifestyle to life.

Hmm, maybe I’m taking this too far. Choosing the term “wayfaring” did provide a nice alliteration with my surname.

On the other hand, I may now decide on a more congruent name for my blog…one that more accurately reflects my direction, ponderings and self; not my passport pages, flight itineraries or job responsibilities.

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Following up from my blog post on 07 November, I am now officially back in Kenya!

When Chris flew back into Sudan last week, I sent my passport with him, along with the Kenya visa forms already filled and signed. I am not sure which or how many hands it had to pass through, but upon his return, my passport now bears a current Kenya visa and entry stamp…and it’s even dated for when I flew in several days before! I’m not asking any questions, so you’re likely not to hear anymore about this from me.

Also, this morning I spoke with a South African guy who seems to be a rather motivated climber. That’s good news for me! He told me tonight (every Tuesday) the Mountain Club of Kenya meets. So that’s where I’ll be this evening!

Things just keep looking up!

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Some pictures that I took while in Upper Nile earlier this month are now up. Check ‘em out in the photo gallery!

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I’m just putting a few pictures here now, but will be posting many more soon!

To see them larger, just click on the picture.

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I thought the timing of our trip into South Sudan would prove to be interesting, as it followed, by a few weeks, the withdrawal of South Sudan from the unity government of the North and South (GNU). It has been a fragile peace since the signing of the CPA (Comprehensive Peace Agreement) in 2005. This pull-out signaled what everybody already knows…that the agreement is rife with unfulfilled promises and disregard for what was accorded. The South cited exactly that, namely accusing the North for failures on points relating to troop deployment, contradictions over border areas and oil. Okay, without trying to make this a news/commentary piece, as we flew into Juba at the beginning of our trip, I couldn’t help but think about these current events, while wondering what changes I would see that have been brought about over the span of the last two years since I’ve been away.

Here is the route we flew, stopping in Juba for two nights for several meetings, before continuing on, via Rumbek, to our program base in Malakal, in Upper Nile state.

During the course of the war, Juba, though deep in the south (a scant 125km / 75mi from the Ugandan border), had been held mostly by the Northern government. My first trips to Juba, shortly before and then following the CPA, I found myself in a “sleepy” town with tired soldiers playing checkers on the rusted remnants of war in the dusty, empty streets. There were only a handful of functioning vehicles and absolutely no signs of recently built infrastructure. I had even, on one occasion, been escorted through the VIP section of the airport and had a meeting with the governor. That would hardly be possible anymore. Juba is now overrun by hordes of newly purchased 4×4s, those of the government (flashy Prados sporting the GOSS license plates as the government has deeper coffers now following the implementation of peace), of international organizations (both for-profit companies with large construction contracts, commercial interests, etc., and those with humanitarian persuasions interested in supporting the rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts), of foreign governments (who are establishing consulates and donor liaison offices to oversee their large sums being doled out) and those of the innumerable local businesspersons who are capitalizing on meeting the needs of all those mentioned above. Dust and/or mud and ruts still define the road network, though buildings are being built in every space available…and rent is through the roof! Back when I was there last, a very spacious compound in a central part of town could be taken for virtually nothing; now it goes for thousands…and thousands of dollars. Also, when I was there last, excitement for the future was in the air, hope was high, but nothing had yet changed. Now, at least in Juba, there is a busy-ness everywhere and money flows like water…but I’m still not quite sure what real changes have been made.

I can see how frustrated and disillusioned one could become with “peace” in Sudan if one were only posted in Juba and have to see and deal with this on a daily basis. Fortunately, we were shortly on our way to Upper Nile to see some things that were actually being accomplished.
I read a recent article referencing some insightful comments from local Juba residents; I noticed some truth in a statement: “Yet, for all the hardships southerners say they are happy; they are surviving more on the glories of the historical peace agreement with the north rather than on any material gains from it as yet.” That’s one view.

I couldn’t help but notice the differences between the Juba I saw just a couple years ago, and the one that exists today. I think much also remains the same, but there are many façades propped up by the presence of $ to veil that fact.

As I sat on the bank of the Nile during my first evening back in Juba, a few words popped into my head (yes, the clichés are intentional…I saw nothing original happening in Juba):

visions of grandeur
visions blurred

pieces of the past
peace in pieces?

dust in the eyes
dust kicked up by the winds of change
shifting winds, crosswinds

today. yesterday’s tomorrow
turned upside down
ride the wave
grab what you can

food for work for free
in days gone by

pay your pretty penny now

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My trip into South Sudan was a good one. I returned to Nairobi last night. The trip length ended up being extended, so I was able to stretch my time to 10 days so that I was able to travel to more of our field sites. It was great to be able to meet more of our great staff who are doing all the work, and to see what is being accomplished.

However, I’m not exactly legally back in Kenya yet. Allow me to explain. I jumped on a 15-seater Caravan out of Malakal yesterday morning. I needed to get to Loki (aka Lokichokio, the most northern access point into Sudan from Kenya, about 30kms from the border with Sudan) to catch a commercial flight at 5pm to Nairobi. We ended stopping at three different bush airstrips on the way out, landing in Loki with about 8 minutes to check in for my flight. I made the connection! However…since I didn’t fly into Sudan on a commercial flight, and since I was rushed through the check-in process for my connection (literally doing that on the airstrip), I never got my re-entry visa and stamp back into Kenya. Then, since Loki is already in Kenya, when I landed in Nairobi, I came into the domestic arrivals terminal, meaning I didn’t have to go through customs. You see what I’m getting at?

I didn’t think of it until later in the evening, but this could cause me some problems for the next time I try to fly out of Kenya…I have no proof that I ever entered. It just so happens that my roommate is flying into Sudan via Loki today. So I filled out the visa application and gave it to him, along with my passport. Now, when he comes back into Kenya later this week, he’ll attempt to pull the right strings and get the right stamps. Ah, what are political borders anyway!?

Anyway, over the next several days I will be unpacking some of my experiences from the last week and a half. So don’t go too far.

Also, if you’re interested, and have Google Earth (which there is not reason why you shouldn’t have it!), then you can download my flight track from yesterday. Get it here (right-click, and choose ‘Save link as’).

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