Nairobi, Kenya - March 2012

This blog consists of a culling down of 1,200 plus photos and a large number of videos. The photos and videos are grouped by subject and the captions will tell the story.


Flying from Amsterdam to Nairobi, we flew over the Sahara Desert. The first place we went to was where we were staying, Brackenhurst Conference Center, a very beautiful campus. On a later day, some of us went for a hike in the woods around Brackenhurst. One of the interesting things we saw was an ant trail crossing our trail. This video shows the ants in motion. The next day we went to Rosslyn Academy to meet the students we would be working with all week. Here are some team photos. We put on eight concerts, two at a church and the others in various schools in the Nairobi area. We were able to take videos at the concerts and the videos show the audience responses. In addition here is one video dedicated primarily to the orchestra. One of the places we visited was a childrens home where some of the acoustic instrumentalists were able to teach the children about their instruments. Here is a video of the kids singing to us. This video shows the children being shown some of the instruments. Like all other kids, they had to show off for the camera as seen in this video. We did more than concerts with the students from Rosslyn Academy, we also held Master Classes with the sixth grade band students and with the Middle School Symphonic Orchestra. Here is a video of the classes. As with any opportunity like this, candid photos are always good. When the team was not busy, other instruments were picked up, for example our drummer on violin and our sound tech (Nancy) on keyboard, for impromptu jam sessions. On the last day some of the Rosslyn Students had rugby practice, and visible on the practice field was part of our rhythm section. We always thought our kids were the only ones that messed around in pictures but we had one on our trip when photos were being taken. One of the most important parts of a GMP trip is food. In these photos food is the main feature. Here are some photos for Nancy's techno geek friends of various sound systems that we used. Every morning as we left Brackenhurst we went by huge tea plantations and some coffee plantations. The tea plantations were very well groomed, like a large lawn mower clipped them. Coffee trees were a little bit higher and were mostly hidden behind hedges. Both crops are very labor intensive. From Brackenhurst to Rosslyn Academy the main highway went through a number of villages. These photos show some of the store fronts and this is a video as we were passing through. One interesting feature along the main highway was nurseries that seemed to go on forever. Clearly, the plants cannot be put away at night so there is a real honor system at play. From time to time we would see some very interesting things along the road. These photos are a view of a few of them. One place that we were taken to see was one of the large slums in Nairobi. These photos show this particular slum. Obviously between the villages and on our way to Rift Valley Academy, we were treated to the beautiful Kenyan countryside. These are photos of some of the farming areas. On various days we did have time to tour some of the highlight areas of Nairobi. First of all was the Nairobi National Park as seen in these photos. One thing that was of very special to us was the elephant orphanage, because of the strong family orientation of elephants and the orphans require a significant amount of nurturing and care. These are photos at the elephant orphanage and this video shows the orphan elephants being fed. You can read more about this particular elephant orphanage in the October 2011 National Geographic, also online. We also went to the giraffe center where we could feed the giraffes. Here are photos at the center. On the last day we spent time at a Masai market where all sorts of Masai things could be purchased. The fun here was negotiating with the various people selling in the market. Here are photos of the market. And finally, one day we were treated to a view of the President of Nairobi's caravan.