Embu

After about 7 months of asking, I finally managed to wangle a place on a work-trip, to Embu, the provincial capital of Eastern Province. Here's what the guidebook has to say:

Embu is located on the southeastern slopes of Mt Kenya, but is actually the provincial headquarters of Eastern Province. It's home to the Embu people, close relatives of the Kikuyu and Meru. There's little reason for tourists to stay here. 

Hmm. So it's not the most interesting place to visit. Apparently, the views of Mount Kenya can be reasonably picturesque, but the weather was so cloudy while I was there that I never actually saw it. Also, when I asked people where it was, they tended to point in different directions.

We were due to set off on Sunday morning, so I arrived at the office at 11 all ready to leave. Obviously, having still not learnt my lesson, we didn't actually leave until 3, so I just spent most of Sunday daytime in the office. Fun times. Embu's about 2 hours' drive away, but with the Nairobi traffic we didn't arrive until well after 6. Checked into the hotel, met my two roommates:



I call them Nick and Dave, on account of their superficial willingness to get along, despite clearly differing political views (Satire!). It's also virtually impossible to tell which one is which.

That evening we went out for dinner - nyama choma (roast meat) - where one of the Directors foisted many beers upon me and dispensed useful advice on polygamy, the general rule being "Be faithful, be careful, or be Luo". (I suspect that joke works better with a passing knowledge of Kenyan tribal stereotypes).

The workshop the next day finished by lunchtime, so rather than heading straight back to Nairobi, and avoiding the rush-hour traffic, we decided to go on a dam tour (this same Director apparently being a bit of a dam nut). So here are some pictures of a dam, shot right before the security guard started running towards us and pointing at the 'No Photography' sign:



If you're interested, these dams provide about 50% of Kenya's total electricity supply, and are full to capacity following the recent rains, yet our workshop (a few miles down the road) had to be powered by a generator because the power cut out in the morning. Still, at least it gets you out in the open air.