Mention Kenya today and everyone thinks of riots and mayhem. Judging by the media, Kenya is not a place you would want to be for your relaxation around now. Last January, Mayke and I faced the choice whether to trust the media and cancel our visit to my sister, or trust my sister’s info and get on the flight. We chose to fly and arrived in the Kenya as I’ve always known it, only improved in some ways (more modern mostly). Everywhere we went we met people who were strongly opposed to the violence and basically just wanted to get on with life. Which is what most people seemed to be doing: try to go about business as usual. Unfortunately, a small elite of power-crazed self-centred ugali-for-brains doesn’t seem to care about te country one bit and has chosen to fight out their differences at the expense of the 99% innocent standers-by.
It was a strange sensation to on the one hand have a thoroughly enjoyable time with my sister, her husband & new-born daughter around Nairobi, a few days in the Masai Mara and a few days at the coast, while on the other hand you witness first hand the complete drainage of tourists and the subsequent closing down of most tourist-related businesses. A heart-wrenchingly large number of Kenyans that work in sectors such as tourism are all losing their jobs and income because Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga are both too selfish to put their own people first. One can only hope that sense will come to them soon and Kenya will return to the beautiful and peace-loving nation it’s meant to be.
Check out some photographs taken while our media would have us believe the country was in flames.

After years of resistance I finally capitulated and bought a digital SLR body. Upside: my old Zuiko lensen will fit once the adapter ring arrives in the mail. Downside: it’s such a complex piece of work!
Anyway, many hours of messing about and a very enjoyable workshop given by Marcel Kentin (great photographer! check out his site) further and the digital photography world is starting to make sense to me. I’m beginning to grasp that once I get the hang of it this may actually be an improvement compared with my trusty old Olympus OM-2. Here’s a fun picture shot during the workshop in Marcel Kentin’s studio (click photo to see larger version).