Back home again
Even if I have returned nearly 2 weeks ago, I have not been in a position to write this final blog post about my adventures in Kenya. My flight back home arrived on Thursday the 2nd of May at 6.00 in the morning and after arrival at home and the handing out of the presents to the kids, my working day started again. I am still playing catch-up since my arrival, as some of the work was just building up and and new work has arrived as well.
So not a lot of time for reflection yet, also because I am still working with Save The Elephants, Lewa and Ol Pejeta to finalize some of the functionality changes. It has however really been a life changing experience and one that I would not have wanted to miss. I really appreciate the work that these 3 non-profits are doing to ensure that wildlife does not solely move to the local zoo. It such a great experience to see all these beautiful creatures in their natural habitat, and I feel honored and privileged to have helped these organizations. I will continue helping them out for the foreseeable future as well and I will bring my family back to this beautiful country somewhere in the future as well.
How many people work for a company that allows them to do this sort of work and give something back to the world? Thank you very much Salesforce.com and the Salesforce.com Foundation for setting this up and allowing me to have this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! #Dreamjob
Save the Elephants
I have spent the previous 2 days looking at the work that Save The Elephants is doing in the Samburu and Buffalo Springs conservancies. I must confess again that I felt privileged to shadow them on their work and see what they are up to. Being allowed to get so close to the elephants (within meters, sometimes nearly touching distance) and observe these magnificent creatures on their daily duties. The area where the camp is located is next to a river. They have had some flooding issues here 3 years ago, but when I arrived the camp was actually in good condition.
They have 4 full-time researchers at the camp, a couple of students working on PhD studies and the camp crew that ensure the camp is secure and clean, and food is being served as well. All in all 15-20 people will stay at the camp. It is located on the border between Samburu and Buffalo Springs, the river is the divide between them.
The work being done here is largely related to spotting elephants, listing where they were spotted and identifying them. The researchers know many of them by looking at their ears. Each elephant has a distinctive ear pattern with which you can identify them. Since it currently is the wet season, it was pretty easy to spot them as they were moving along in large groups. During dry season, they have smaller groups in which they move around and could therefore also be harder to spot.
Some of the elephants have tracking devices around their neck. With the data this device sends out, it is possible to identify moving 
behaviors and the results of that could be used to further increase security in certain areas to stop poaching.
Poaching is currently the biggest threat to the survival of the Elephant in the wild. They are still being killed and their ivory tusks taken away so that people can use to carve figurines or other things out of it. But the people that are buying this should realize that they are not buying a piece of ivory on its own, they are also buying the death of an elephant, and sometimes even more if the main female is killed and other elephants become orphans (and potentially die because of that as well). Having seen these lovely and peaceful creatures and having been able to witness what they were doing just makes me mad that people kill them only for their tusks. There are so many other things you can put on display on top of your fireplace, for which you don’t need to kill an animal like this!
Will the 2 elephants below live long enough to enjoy the beauty of Africa? If it is down to Save The Elephants they will be able to do so, but they will need our support in stopping poaching as well.
Ol Pejeta Conservancy
When I am writing this, it is my last day at Ol Pejeta. Another amazing couple of days. The passion that these people here are working with is truly amazing.
When I arrived from Lewa, I really had no idea what to expect. I was under the impression that Lewa had everything (hills, plains, forest, etc.), and I was told to Ol Pejeta was relatively flat. When I arrived however and had my first drive through the marshland, I was completely surprised by the amount of wildlife in such a small space, and the beauty of the place. The heavy rainfall of the last couple of weeks surely helped to make it all look so pretty and green, but even without this I am pretty sure it looks stunning as well.
My next stop was Ol Pejeta House, the place I was staying in for my nights over here. This is really a lovely place, with a great history as well. The former owner of it is a man called Adnan Khashoggi, a billionaire Turkish-Saudi Arabian arms-dealer and businessman. ‘Khashoggi’ was considered the richest man in the world in the 1980s. Since he was not tall, he allegedly created everything very big in the house, including a massive bed and fireplace.
My work over here was mainly to do with minor changes to the system and data cleansing. The system was again in a pretty good state, but the data was in need of a lot of work. This was mainly to do with the fact that Ol Pejeta was using certain objects in a way which was confusing the users. Hopefully I have left them in a better place compared to where they were, so that they can better utilize the data that they have to increase donations and funding for the activity they are doing.
One of the things which in my opinion they are doing really well, is Rhino conservation. In particular the conservation of the Northern White Rhino, of which there are only 7 left in the world. 4 of these magnificent animals are living in an enclosure within Ol Pejeta, with the aim of them mating at some point and creating new offspring. What an amazing thing for wildlife conservation would it be if they could eventually succeed in this, and the hopes are high.
Besides the work here, I have had plenty of time to entertain myself as well. A visit to the chimp sanctuary, lion tracking and a night game drive, I was pretty spoiled again. Especially the lions at night surprised me, so close that we could get to them, without them being disturbed.
I am off to Samburu tomorrow, for 2 days of relaxation as I am witnessing what Save The Elephants is doing with part of their funding and at the same time getting some game drives as well. I will be offline during those days, but will write my next blog whilst back in Nairobi for the last piece of my trip.
Lewa Wildlife Conservancy
Having left Lewa Wildlife Conservancy yesterday, I realized how great the time was that I just spend there, even though it was still very short. Lewa is a relatively small conservancy and therefore doesn’t attract the high number of visitors. The daily entrance fee therefore (for all national parks and conservancies in Kenya you have to pay an entry fee to get around, all that money is used to conserve the wildlife) is not going to be sufficient to maintain the area, and to prevent poachers killing the elephants and rhinos (for their tusks and horns). Even though they don’t have the very high number of visitors (which is probably a good thing, as it would be pretty crowded otherwise), it’s beauty is recognized by a lot of famous people, including the English Royal family, who visits on a regular basis.
So how does Lewa organizes its funding, and where are they using it on? According to their annual report 2012, most of their funding comes via donations and people visiting the park. Most of their expenditure is on Logistics, Security and Education. Whereby Education is really giving back to the local environment with education programs, but there are a lot of other community development programs ongoing as well. All of this is done with a budget of under $5Million, very impressive.
My work during my stay there (Yes, it is true, I have done some work as well, it was not only a safari holiday) was to ensure that the quality of their Salesforce.com system was improved and staff was properly trained on how to use the system. The initial setup that was done was actually pretty good (specifically if you compare it to Save the Elephants, for which I will write another blog once I have visited Samburu and have personally seen how they use their funds), their main issue was in data quality. The training gave them the pointers to stop avoiding duplicates, the free apps from our appexchange ensured that duplicates were also spotted upon entry and could be identified in bulk as well.
According to their feedback I left the marketing team in a better shape with regards to Salesforce.com knowledge, let’s hope they can start using it in a better way and by doing so, raising more funds to do all the good things for both Lewa as well as all the local communities.
A final thanks should really go to Charles, my driver. He did both an excellent job in picking me up on time and dropping me off on time in the locations where I had to be(which I can say is not always the case in Kenya). He also ensured that I could enjoy the wildlife, as he was also the designated driver for my game drives (so yes, besides work, I had time to enjoy myself as well). Chances are very likely that I will have to come back to this place, but then with my wife and kids, so that they can enjoy the beauty of this particular piece of Kenya as well.
Lewa House – A little gem in paradise
During my stay at Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, the people from Lewa ensured I could sleep at Lewa House. This little lodge that is run by Calum and Sophie was actually closed because of the rainy season, but since they were actually present and some of their staff was as well, they offered me one of their rooms.
I must say that I was really amazed when I first arrived here. It already started with the apologies that the thatched roof of their main dining room was being redone, and they hoped I would not have issues with lunch and dinner being served next to the pool. In a place where during the day the temperature rises above 25 degrees Celsius. What a horrible stay this was going to be 😉
Staying in a hotel for me is most of the time a business necessity and I therefore try to spend as little a time in the actual hotel. This time round I was really sad to leave this place after 4 days. Whenever we go away with the family we tend to book our own cottage or something similar. This had a lot of close resemblance to it, since all the rooms are a little cottage with their own privacy, with the added benefit of the fact that all food and drinks were catered for. A lot of it was in the small touches that makes it such a great place:
- A wakening call with a hot pot of tea and biscuits.
- Almost all vegetables and fruit grown in their own garden and used in the food that is being served.
- Callum and/or Sophie joining for the meals.
- The doors closed and the lights turned on for your room when it gets dark.
- A hot water bottle in your bed before you are going to sleep (which I must confess scared the shit out of me the first time around).
And there is probably more that I may have missed all together since I was so overwhelmed.
They for instance grow almost all their vegetables and fruit in their own garden, and use this in the food that is being served. Being awakened by the staff at a time suitable; with a knock on the door, a pot of tea and a small tray of homemade biscuits. I really felt sorry for my wife when I was explaining to her that I was treated like a king over here.
The service is one thing (which was superb), the location and view are superb as well. My room was overlooking a large part of Lewa Conservancy, and all I had to do for that was open my double doors onto the porch. It was great to have my early morning pot of tea whilst watching the conservancy come to life and the sun go up. The whole garden looked stunning as well, with a wide array of plants and flowers.
I can only tell positive stories about this place, and I am pretty confident that one day I will come back here with my wife and the kids so that they can experience this as well. The only negative thing that I can comment about, is that I was only allowed to stay for 4 days and that I have to move on to the next job at Ol Pejeta Conservancy later today. But who knows what the next stop might bring me…
New Friends
I have made 2 brand new friends today. A boy aged 9 months called Nicky and another boy aged 6 weeks who is unnamed so far (Lewa are still looking for someone to adopt this lovely baby boy and give it a name).
Nicky was born blind. They found out after a couple of months, as the rhino was hitting his head all the time and was about to be abandoned by his mother because of this. He now has 24 hour care by his new parents, and will get his own fenced area in a couple of years time, but always under full care because of his lack of sight. The baby girl was found alone as the mother was poached. As she was still so little, they have taken her into the same 24 hour care, until she is about 4-5 years, when she will be fully mature and ready to go back into the park on her own.
I had the privileged to both feed the baby girl and to hug both of them, a once in a lifetime opportunity to do so! After that, they fell asleep and enjoyed their afternoon nap.
Amazing!
Yesterday was my last day at Save The Elephants. It was a long day, since I wanted to make sure that everything I worked on was handed over and also understood by the people over there. I think that the end result was good (even though there are couple of small items outstanding, which I will follow-up on over the coming days). At the end the people at Save The Elephants gave me a very nice shirt with their logo on, I shall wear it with pride.
Yesterday evening it was hard for me to get some sleep. The pumps that were emptying the part that was flooded on the camp were running all night. Once I finally fell asleep, it was
6.00 very quickly, which was my wake-up call. After a very quick breakfast my driver picked me up for the 4.5 hour drive to Lewa. It was a lovely trip, which also included a short stop to buy bananas at one of the stalls next to road. 100KES for 20 of the most delicious bananas I have ever had (wel l I only had two, the rest was shared with people at Lewa and the taxi driver). During this trip I had to pinch myself a couple of times, as I could not believe how beautiful it was. And that was only the start…
After arriving at Lewa, I said my goodbyes to the taxi driver and was taken over in a Land Rover who brought me towards my lodge for the coming days. The trip to the lodge took 1.5 hour, time was standing still at that time. Such an amazing place this is.
Rover, which was going to bring me to my lodge for the coming days. The trip to the lodge took 1.5 hour, time was standing still at that time. Such an amazing place this is.
My “resting” day was well spend and after a delicious lunch at Lewa House (all made with fresh products grown in their own garden), I set off for a 3 hour game drive. In total I have shot nearly 450 pictures, and I shall have a lot of difficulty in sorting them out, as each and everyone shows how amazing and beautiful this place is. You sometimes have those hotel/country brochures which look amazing and are slightly less amazing when you are there. Well this is exactly the other way around, the pictures I saw were great, but being here in real life is even better.
Tomorrow I will start my work with Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, and I am also really looking forward to that. The afternoon has another treat for me, another once in a lifetime opportunity, I will share that with you during my next blog!
P.S. the last picture was at the end of the day, whereby this particular fella didn’t want to get off the road and starting flapping his ears. Luckily my driver had everything under control, but I got a little worried at some point…
Orphans and Respect
After a long and productive day at Save The Elephants yesterday, this morning was a bit more relaxed. After a couple of hours data cleansing in my tent I was picked up by my driver and brought to the elephant orphanage. Here they raise orphaned elephants up to 3 years old. A lot of the small ones are taken in because of poaching.
There parents are killed for their tusk and the little one is left behind. If lucky, it is picked up an brought to the orphanage. They stay there until they are 3 after which they are brought back to one of the national parks to join a herd.
At the orphanage they are fed and also brought into the park during the day to learn to survive on their own. In the evening they will go back to the orphanage to sleep. I have bought a small handmade souvenir for my kids at the orphanage, I hope they like it.
After the orphanage, I had a quick stop at the local shopping mall called Galleria. It bears close resemblance to Europe
The afternoon was very busy at Save The Elephants. This really made me realize how dedicated the staff is and how complex it can be to run a non-profit organisation like Save The Elephants. Respect!an malls and inside you have no idea that you are in Africa. I have had lunch here, and I must confess that I have chosen a pizza. It was however the best pizza I have ever had, and I can recommend the ThaiFrican pizza to everyone visiting the Mambo Italia!
Back to helping them out again and a couple of hours more work to be done. Tomorrow my last day over there, before I go to Lewa on Saturday morning!
P.S. I wanted to post this last night, but you only realize how well connectivity is Western Europe, if it goes down and is patchy over here…
My first full day in Kenya – New Friends
I am just rounding up my first full day in Kenya. When I arrived yesterday at the airport, I had all sorts of dreams about long queues for visas and immigration. With only 5 people ahead of me in the queue and the baggage on the belt straight after, countries like the US can learn from Kenya 😉 It took me less than an hour from touching down to walking with my cab driver to his car.
It was raining a lot yesterday evening and night, but the moment I arrived at Save The Elephants this morning, it had cleared up and the sun started shining. That was a good thing as well, since the infrastructure of Nairobi is not constructed for so much rainfall in such a short period. A lot of traffic jams this morning getting into the town center, luckily we were driving the other way. I learned in my camp (I am staying in a large and luxurious tent the coming 4 days, but do have WiFi) this evening that the government closed a lot of roads in the center today due to a large meeting of ministers. That was adding to the bad state of the roads and causing all these large jams. The people however stay really calm under it, if I were driving to work I probably would have turned around already…
Whilst at Save The Elephants today, I learned more about their aims, how they are using Salesforce and what should be improved. We also had a small little friend walking past our building, even the employees of Save The Elephants hadn’t seem one of them before on their grounds:
Tomorrow is a continuation of todays training. I am looking forward to another great day and potentially even more new friends!
Volunteering in Kenya – #Dreamjob
Being offered to go on an all expense paid 2 week trip to Kenya as part of your work, and share your knowledge and expertise with organizations who use our platform? And whilst being there, also being offered to go on safari’s and follow research surrounding elephants? Who wouldn’t want to do this?
I was one of the people at Salesforce.com that noticed this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity offered by our foundation and expressed my interest towards this trip. I wasn’t the only one and a selection process was started during which we had to sell ourselves first to our foundation, and afterwards the NGOs in Kenya made the final decision. They selected one lucky person and it was me!
I will use this blog to share my adventures in Kenya. Although I realize that I won’t be building houses or teaching to the younger generation of the Kenyan population, I still hope that I can make a difference for the 3 organizations where I will be offering my knowledge:
The above described selection process started at the end of February. During one of our regional all hands meetings we had a timeslot for the foundation, during which they explained the difference that we made last year and we were encouraged to participate the coming year as well. The Kenya trip was advertised as part of participation for this year, and I immediately send out an email to express my interest. Whilst working for Salesforce.com we are all allowed and encouraged to use our 6 days of VTO (volunteer time off) each year, and I have been using that over the last couple of years extensively. I even assisted with the setup of our Foundation Council in the Netherlands, so that our ever expanding team of colleagues has enough options to spend their 6 days of VTO each year.
After my formal application, it went very quickly. I explained as part of my application that I had a connection with Kenya as part of my family, as one of my uncles has been a missionary for over 30 years with Mill-Hill up until his death in 1995. Parts of my family have already visited the country which my Uncle liked so much, and getting this opportunity for me was going to be the icing on the cake of an exciting period whereby I managed to finalize and pass my MBA in November 2012.
April 2013 is going to be a month for me to remember for a long time. It will start with my MBA graduation ceremony on the 5th of April in London, followed by my first marathon in Rotterdam on the 14th of April. The second half of April is completely filled with my trip to Kenya which starts on the 15th of April.
Writing a blog is completely new to me, so any feedback is much appreciated. I will try to provide regular updates in the run-up to my Kenya trip and I might even enjoy blog writing and continue with it afterwards as well…
Vaccinations are already in (painful arm and leg are the current reminder of that), my graduation skull has arrived for the 5th of April and I have spend a lot of time the last couple of months running outside in preparation of the marathon. April 2013 can start as far as I am concerned.
Thijs Bokkers 