Preface: I would like to start by dedicating this blog to Kelly-Lyn Webster, my beautiful sister-in-law. Kelly, I am quite sure that you could have far greater things dedicated to you than one of my amateur blogs, but this is what I have to offer! After hearing that my blog inspired you to start a blog of your own, you in turn inspired me to want to step up the effort I put into writing. Thank you!
Two weeks ago, Vincent (my Kenyan colleague) and I were issued a mission to complete. While some may grumble at the extra work, they clearly don’t understand the adventure associated with mapping “ground truth points”! For those among you who have never had to make a land use map from a satellite photograph, let me tell you a bit about ground truth points. When you take a picture of the earth from space, as with any other photograph, it saves the image as pixels, with different land uses on the earth resulting in slightly different coloured pixels in the satellite picture. If you want to use that picture to make a map that shows how land is being used in a given area, you have to be absolutely sure which pixel colour corresponds to which land use. That’s where we come in. Our mission is to drive around the Lake Naivasha catchment and find areas where the land use differs, take lots of pictures of the land use and record the corresponding GPS coordinates. This way, someone much more well versed at mapping than myself can plot the areas we visit on a satellite map, confirming that the land use there corresponds to a given pixel colour.
Do you see how this job could be kinda cool? For my own research, I may never have had to venture more than a few kilometers from the shore of the lake, but it is now my job to explore the far-reaching, isolated areas of Lake Naivasha’s catchment. Let me tell you a bit about what I’ve found there!
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| This is the 4 x 4 we get to drive. I have now driven a manual transmission, 4 x 4 truck on the opposite side of the road, on the opposite side of the world. |
This Thursday, we collected ground truth points in an area called Korongo. Because the Korongo area is home to 3 large flower farms, the workers of those farms have settled in an informal settlement called Kasarani. As compared to Karagite, the slum across the road from my house, Kasarani seems much more structured. There is less garbage littering the ground, the dump sites are smaller and the homes seem “warmer”. Maybe that’s because Kasarani is only a fraction of the size of Karagite, which is the largest of Naivasha’s slums.
After only a few minutes of working in Kasarani, it became evident that muzungus are a far more rare occurrence here then in more metropolitan areas. As we parked our vehicle across from the primary school, the school’s two classrooms emptied and I found myself worried that the fence surrounding the school would not have the strength to support the weight of the 100 chanting children that pressed against it.
“MUZUNGU!!”
“How are you?!”
“How are you?!”
“How are you?!”
“How are you?!”
“How are you?!”
“How are you?!”
“How are you?!”
“How are you?!”
“How are you?!”
“How are you?!”
“How are you?!”
(It was absolutely necessary for me to write it that many times to give you a glimpse of how often that phrase was repeated.)
Vincent is stunned. He cannot believe that the children here are so taken by a muzungu. As we continue walking, I find myself starting to resemble a broken record.
“Very fine, how are you?”
“Very fine, how are you?”
“Very fine, how are you?”
“Very fine, how are you?”
“Very fine, how are you?”
“Very fine, how are you?”
“Very fine, how are you?”
“Very fine, how are you?”
“Muzuri sana” (Occasionally, when I get tired of feeling like the muzungu I am, I respond to the children’s chant in Kiswahili.)
As we walk around the periphery of the settlement, we are followed by a mob of children. They are so curious about what we are doing. I show them our GPS and explain that we are making a map. They are fascinated and they all want a turn pushing the GPS buttons. It seems to be a fair trade to allow a few children to push GPS buttons, as one little boy did let me play with his toy car several times. As we near the end of our work in Kasarani, I start to become bored of exchanging the traditional two lines (if you have somehow forgotten what they are, please refer to the above dialogue). Three little girls, all holding hands, look at me and say (you guessed it):
“Muzungu, how are you?”
I respond:
“Muzungu?? Where is the muzungu? Are you a muzungu?”
The children erupt in laughter and the 3 girls all point at one another, each insinuating that her friend is a muzungu.
When we reach the vehicle and attempt to leave, Vincent is terrified of running over one of the children surrounding the vehicle. He drives hastily until we emerge from the crowd, and then accelerates quickly. A few of the more ambitious children sprint beside the vehicle until they can no longer keep up, but then we are free.
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| A typical street-scape view in Kasarani. |
While it’s true that it is usually the children who are the most outwardly fascinated by muzungus, we get the occasional adult interest as well. Today, our ground truthing adventures brought us to an isolated area in the upper catchment, where there are no flower farms, only small scale agriculture. As my colleague, Melissa, and I got out of the vehicle to investigate a fascinating water harvesting system that we stumbled across, a crowd of several men flock out of the bar where they were relaxing. They are very interested in engaging the two muzungu women. We try really hard to ignore them, but when one man pulls out his camera and asks if he can take our picture, we stop. Unsure exactly how to react to being the photographed, instead of the photographer, I propose a trade.
“OK. You can take our picture, but only if we can take your picture.” (That seems fair, right?)
He seems a bit hesitant, but he must have decided it was an acceptable deal because he lifted his camera to take a picture – so, I lifted mine too! An interesting photo that I won’t soon forget!
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| A photo for a photo - - fair is fair! |
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| This is typical of the agriculture we saw in the upper catchment today. |
However, perhaps more intriguing than the photo exchange was water collection system that Melissa and I originally got out of the car to investigate. Naivasha is located in a rift valley, where there is a long history of volcanic activity. In many places, the lava is near enough to the surface, that groundwater is heated until it becomes steam. In this area, they have found that by drilling as little as 10 feet into the ground, they can tap into the steam. They use a barrel to catch and condense the steam before funneling it into a holding tank. What a good idea!
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| This picture shows the entire apparatus used for collecting steam from boreholes and condensing it for drinking water. |
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| This picture shows the condensed steam being funnelled into a holding container. |
Other adventures of today’s ground truthing expedition included mapping several isolated bush land areas, where it occurred to me that I really don’t know what to do if I see a lion (oh well, I’ve seen the Lion King. Most lions seem pretty personable) and visiting the Great Rift Valley Lodge, one of the most natural, beautiful tourist traps I have ever seen.
I hope that by this point in the story, you are convinced that my extra workload definitely has some perks. What a ride!
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