Today I went on a half-day trip with others to Kerio View.
Kerio View, 22 miles from Eldoret and close to the township of Iten, is at 7,546 feet above sea level. From here one can look down into the Rift Valley.
Some of the world's greatest long-distance runners have come from a relatively small region of the globe -- the highlands of Ethiopia and the Kenya Rift Valley.
Kerio View trekking companions and me -- Amy (master of public health student from George Washington University); Crystal (wife of 4th-year medical student); yours truly; Phil (medical resident from Brown University); and Susan (emergency room doctor from Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, Pennsylvania). My companions are all connected to the AMPATH program.
Susan and I hike with the others down to the Rift Valley.
Trekking through maize fields in the Rift Valley. The Kenyan behind me is 39-year-old Francis. He's the head of transportation at AMPATH, which owns a huge fleet of vehicles. At 9 years of age, he left home to live on the streets because there were 13 children in his family and they didn't have enough to eat. At the age of 13, he joined an orphanage, where he spent several years and eventually met Joe Mamlin (AMPATH's founder), who hired him, although Francis had completed only a primary school education. A success story, Francis is married and has two children.
Kerio View Restaurant, where our group stopped for lunch after the hike.
View from the restaurant windows.
Inside the restaurant.
My Adventures in Kenya 