K E R I O V I E W

31. Jan. 2016 - Kerio View

The day starts very nice, just my back is hurting and from this side I feel pretty much uncomfortable. We fly to the south first. Today I cannot hold Edi at all - he is able to fly a lot faster than I do. When I reach the corner at kmN23 I have to fly a second attempt to overcome it, then I see Edi getting real low and my hurting back dampens my vibes additionally and I decide to give it up for the day and to fly back and finish the triangle a lot faster and shorter than possible. I take a hot shower and organize a massage including the application of pain relief medicine onto my back. If it will help, it is the right decision as Edis flight of the day would not show up in my actual six best flights of the season.

http://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:fritzdornat/31.1.2016/04:43

http://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/air-buddies#joint_flights=fritzdornat/31.01.2016/04:43@flight_multi=797725|797828

http://www.findmespot.com/spotadventures/index.php/view_adventure?tripid=342086

30. Jan. 2016 - Kerio View

As the day is forecasted to be perfect for a long distance flight we plan to start in Nyaru an hire a private matatu to go there. But the take-off is in thick condensate. I am the only one who prepares for launch and luckily one short spot presents itself letting me out with ground view. I cannot enlarge my flight to the classical southern turnpoint as this one is not to be seen under the clouds and have to fly on the valley side of the ridge edge condensate until I finally can close up to the ridge. But arriving at the Tambach corner I face rain from Iten northwards. 9 days ago I sat on the ground after coming up from Nyaru and I have learned from that. Today I turn around and fly back as far south as possible, but as I reach the Samich Resort I see huge cloud towers building up in the area of the Nyaru take-off and the valley corner, just south of it, where the km43S-turnpoint is laying. So I turn around once again and fly back to Iten. As I reach Iten, cloud building all along the ridge and also northeasterly winds get stronger and stronger. So I calculate another homeopathically one and as soon as I am sure to have 100km recorded I land on the Kerio View take-off. My fellow pilots have arrived by matatu in the meantime and another recreational afternoon with beer, stories and future flight plans takes place on the hotel terrace.

http://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:fritzdornat/30.1.2016/04:55

http://www.findmespot.com/spotadventures/index.php/view_adventure?tripid=342085

29. Jan. 2016 - Kerio View

Very, very soft day. I start to the south and fly down just to km30S, from where it is not a lot of serious work to fly back, even under those conditions. Coming back to Iten while overflying the Tambach falls bend the day changes into a rough day. Now it is a shame, that I did not fly down to the classical southern turnpoint at km43S. This day now looks to me like one with potential for a big triangle ! But to late ! At km20N I turn over safe ground for one more homeopathic 100km-flight and fly back to the hotel. The day is more or less one, which is comparable to the days of january 2015 and the forecast for tomorrow is even better. So I relax my bones today, hoping for a big flight tomorrow and plan to start from Nyaru.

http://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:fritzdornat/29.1.2016/05:32

http://www.findmespot.com/spotadventures/index.php/view_adventure?tripid=342084

28. Jan. 2016 - Kerio View

Motivated by yesterdays adventure into the north my initial plan is to fly to the southern valley end to explore this region similar to a flight, I did last year and which is nicely in my memory. But even from the take-off in Iten the valley-ground can hardly be seen. It is this kind of white-in-white dust, that reduces the visibility significantly. We are watching that phenomenon now for the last two days and also yesterday, when flying up into the higher north this was the biggest disadvantage in an otherwise fantastic experience. Also the winds are not in favor of a southern end flight and so I decide to start into the north first, to be honest, not really having a flight plan. Coming close to the corner at km23N this one does not look like to be overflown easily and so I turn at km20N in save territory. To me it looks like the power of the sun is limited by the same reason as the visibility. I fly towards the south and turn as soon as the waypoints are surely 50 kms apart, which means a flat triangle with at least 100 kms of free flight is on the instrument. I spend some airtime, flying wingovers above screaming kids on the schoolyard and return to take-off to spend the rest of the day sleeping in the hammock between the shady trees of the hotel park.

http://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:fritzdornat/28.1.2016/05:56

http://www.findmespot.com/spotadventures/index.php/view_adventure?tripid=342083

27. Jan. 2016 - Kerio View

Still high pressure meteo with dominating westerly current just allows a late start. Edi suggests flying to the north first. From km13N to km23N we use different paths, Edi flies over the valley edge, I fly the classical ridge - at km23N we arrive at the same time and fly on together. At the highest point of the ridge extension at km71N we decide to fly on to the north for adventure reasons against the easy way to just fly back to Iten. As I carry no radio with me and the visibility here is extremely bad because of air floating particles I loose the eye contact to Edi. He crosses a bit earlier to the back laying main ridge to the north and I keep looking for him in front of me, but at that time he is always above and behind my back, what I could not imagine. Flying above this ridge a big side valley crossing against the headwinds, coming out of the Turkana region, has to be done. I do not have to much confidence, that it will be doable and as soon as I get to deep I turn around. In the meantime I have flown about 100 kms, so at least this 100k-distance-fllight will add to my records. Back on the ridge I thermal up and realize, that the road into the side valley must be the asphalted main road leading to Kitale, coming from the northern regions like Turkana, Ethiopia, Sudan. From the entrance of the side valley into the flat, into the north it turns into dirt road. As usual on asphalted road there are matatu connections, on the dirt roads transports are rather casually. So I decide to follow the main road towards the southeast as far as possible and to land close to it, if possible. On the eastern side of the valley thermalic lift can be found, but my motivation is rather low now, because 100kms are already on my instrument and 250+kms cannot be reached in any imaginable scenario. So I do not fight to hard and as soon as I get into the valley wind I am just looking for a save landing spot. On a field, next to the river of the valley I land and this time the kids stay far away and only men in the age of about 20-40 come closer. As soon as I try to talk to them or do a step towards them, they move back - I am very surprised about this behavior as I know from other kenyan regions just warm welcoming and close body contact, especially with kids. But soon arrives Maggie; it is her meadow, where I have landed and she talkes a very educated and eloquent english and starts to interview me right away. Where I come from originally and where I started, why I came to this valley, whats about flying in general, a.s.o. and she translates, what I tell her into the local language and everybody moves closer, wants to touch the lines of the glider, asks Maggie, what she should ask me and the the situation changes into relaxed and nice, just as usual. Suddenly the crowd screams : another paraglider can be seen on the other valley-side - it is Edi. But he does not have a chance to see us, as my gliders colors are camouflage, not just in Chile, but also in this arid kenyan landscape and soon we cannot see him any more. A motorbike rider takes me to Ortum, which is the closest location about 2 kms away and whereto regular matatus come. In Ortum the local police welcomes me, but also asks me to come to their police-station as they feel sorry, but have to ask me some questions there. As a white foreigner, coming through the air to their town, they have to report my passport to Nairobi to find out, that everything is o.k. with me from the sight of the Kenyan immigration authorities and they have to ask me, if I would transport drugs and if I would belong or have contact to some islamic terror organizations. As soon as this ends in fun and laughter, they confirm once more, that I am welcome in their town and bring me back to the matatu, which was not allowed to leave the place in the meantime. Crowds of people want to see me or touch me and even elderly and handicapped, who are not able to go distances by themselves are brought to the open matatu door to be able to catch a view of me. I get the impression, that white men are really seldom to be seen in Ortum, maybe especially those, who come from sky … In the meantime Edi has landed close to to Kapenguria and we phone. My matatu takes me to Kapenguria, but we miss there and travel on in two different matatus, some ten minutes apart. From Kapenguria another matatu is used to Kitale and from there another one to Eldoret. In Eldoret we are to late for matatus, as they drive from the time, when the night enters into the morning dawn, but also just until the evening dawn enters again into the night. Luckily we get in contact with a matatu driver, who has just unloaded in Eldoret, but lives in Iten and has to drive back anyway. He takes us with him and delivers us to the hotel, where Roberta had arranged with Joseph, that a supper has been placed aside for us. This day carries many aspects for my future flying. First it renews my wish to fly into territory, not typically used as flying ground by pilots, where also people on the ground are not used to paragliders. And overall I really want to see the continuing ridge into the north on a day with good visibility.