The Great Rift Valley II: The Sounds of Life on Earth

Astrid and Erick, a French couple aged (by my estimates) in their ‘50s, manage a 25-acre plot of land in Subukia, which is a place in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the planet. I know it’s in the middle of nowhere because I’ve been there. I know it’s in the middle of the planet because we crossed the equator five times in the last couple of kilometers leading to their property.

[Astrid’s English is stronger than Erick’s, though his is not bad either. On occasion he struggles for a word, but only ever so momentarily, before simply replacing the offending word with a whistle and proceeding. We wondered, for instance, whether we could mountain bike up to the view point. “You can,” he said, “but it’s dangerous, you know, because the matatus they come like this and then they… [whistle]… and you might get… [whistle].”]

On this property, this couple has built half-a-dozen traditional bandas, dug a man-made lake and introduced a range of farm animals to complement the few wild animals that already exist. It really is a veritable animal farm, complete with horses, cows, dogs (both of the playful-docile and vicious-guard variety), chicken, sheep, black monkeys, white colobus, and various species of insect, bird and fish. On the lake sits a cozy little restaurant where head chef Charles prepares an array of delicious, gourmet-standard dishes. While eating, if you’re lucky, you can spot a river otter hunt for fish.

This is a wonderful place to get away from it all for a few days.

The experience that lingers most is hearing the sounds of life on earth. When you’re in the middle of nowhere you can hear these sounds around the clock: crickets chirping, creeks rolling, birds squawking, insects buzzing, cows mooing, sheep bleating, and roosters cock-a-doodling. You can even ‘hear’ a fresh breeze. It’s an orchestra of nature that stands in stark contrast to the sounds of life in the urban metropolises – cars honking, phones ringing, engines revving and televisions blaring – that have largely informed my life to date.

Living in urban centres one, of course, takes a lot of things for granted. Like electricity. Then Erick explained how he got electricity for this property. Upon request to the local authorities he was quoted 8m Kenyan Shillings. He refused and as he walked away the price fell to 2m KES. He continued walking and instead installed a series of solar panels. For $0.5m KES he was able to put it all in place and do a great deal of good for the environment.