Next I headed to Lake Navasha . I wasn't sure what to expect but Stella assured me it was good.So I got the bus and headed there. It was a quiet little town and all the accommodation was right on the lake front. I checked into a banda and head to the lake front. The lake was surrounded by a huge electric fence but there was a gate that was open so you could get to the mooring end. When I asked a local what was the fence for he replied sharply, 'the hippos of course!!' It turned out that at night the hippos come on to the land looking for food. There had been an unfortunate incident where a couple had gone for a late night walk on the front and had come between the hippo and the lake. This as I had learnt to previously is something you never do. The doomed couple were found later both ravaged by the hippo, they never stood a chance!!!

Having asked a few locals as what I could do around the lake I was told that there was an interesting safari park nearby that you can walk or ride a bike around. The locals had removed all the dangerous animals so it was safe to have a look round. I headed there the next day and had a really good time. I decided to hire a bike for about $5 for the day. It was really good I got within 10 metres of some giraffe and almost on top of a herd of zebra. It was a great way to do safari and you could really get up close to the wildlife without being a threat to them. The best bit was the price to the park, just $25 which is very cheap for anywhere in Africa.

Already I had noticed there was a serious lack of backpackers in Kenya and this really was the same for the rest of my trip in Africa. Every place I went to there were foreign people but when I asked them what they were doing there, I always got the same answer, volunteering. This was such a contrast to Ethiopia where I had such a great time socializing with people from all over the planet. I remember thinking at this point in the trip; it could get a bit lonely from here on in.

Luckily for me the next place I went to change my mind on this. I arrived in a place called Kisumu. The moment I arrived I knew I was going to like it here.It seemed more laid back than Nairobi and even though it was busy it never felt it. Kisumu is on the shores of Lake Victoria which is the biggest lake in Africa and one of the largest in the world; it's also the source of the mighty Nile river. I heard that this wasn't though the best place to experience Lake Victoria so didn't really go down and have a look at the shore. What it was good for was a good night out and it fresh fish dishes. I was having only one problem, getting accommodation. This was a very popular place for Kenyans to go on holiday, especially this time of year. I found a place in the end but it cost $15 a night, this was a lot for me as a backpacker but it was nice to have a hot shower and watch some good American TV.

The hotel I was in had a really good bar so I went down that night for a drink. The bar was a famous bar where Barrack Obama's dad used to drink. I must have been the only backpacker in town I think so I didn't think would do much socializing, how wrong was I. I only sat at the bar for 2 minutes before a local started talking to me. He spoke really good English and was very well dressed (which made me feel a bit awkward as I wasn't!!). It turned out he worked in a refugee camp in the north west of Kenya. Of all my travels this was the most interesting conversation I'd had and sat there for the next 5 hours drinking and having a good laugh. His name was Chris and he told me of all the refugees that were pouring into Kenya from all the neighbouring countries, mostly from the Sudan but also included Uganda. This worried me a bit as I was heading there next but Chris said not to worry as I wouldn't be heading into any of the dangerous areas.

The biggest thing that hit me was when he started to explain about refugee camps. Now we have all seen the pictures on CNN about refugee camps in Africa, which general show poor starving people fleeing their own country. However when people flee, it's not just poor people that have to leave, there are rich people too. Chris explained that within the camp he worked at, you could buy anything you wanted, including plasma TV's. He said there were refugees with brand new Mercedes cars which contained thousands in US dollars. This amazed me as I'd never thought of refugee camps containing these types of people. I started to realise how naïve I was to Africa and all the hidden stories it contained.

I've probably already mentioned this already that Africa was so much more developed than I thought. Internet, mobile phones, imports from China all flooding in and changes the fate of thousands of people over night. Chris mentions about the new system of his mobile phone called M-Pesa. The only way to describe this technology is it's like PayPal. Its enables you to send money to another person who has a M-Pesa accounts instantly by SMS message on your phone. This means you can pay your bar bill or send money to your friend instantly. Now I'm quite sure we don't have this technology in Europe or America. This is very forward thinking and maybe works in Africa as everyone has a mobile phone but not the internet. Chris explained that banks were finding it hard to get people to open new accounts as you could have your wages paid into your M-Pesa account. For me I think this will be the future, that no more will you have a credit card, merely use your phone to pay for things. It certainly seems easier, as for the security I'm not so convinced. After that night I felt so much more confident and comfortable about going into local bars on my own, this I think looking back really did changed my trip.