Haller Park-A Perfect Serene Jewel

A foot path in the Haller Park-so serene,so natural

The coastal strip of Kenya is the surest place to be in Kenya supposing one ever imagines of a place to have time off from the hustles and tussles of life.It is not the the five star tourist hotels with the finest accommodation ,the rich myriad cuisine,the brimming urban night life in the hottest entertainment spots one can ever imagine of;not the tumbling beautiful girls of the towns-for the gents, but the

MOMBASA town-the famous Elephant Tusks

glamour is as a result these and what one has to see:the sceneries.Thesandy magnificent beaches,the landscapes and the wildlife is quite refreshing and amazingly breath taking.The combination of nature's providence and the product of human effort to make the coast a place to be has resulted in one of the most beautiful places to be in the world.I can think of the world's most amazing tourist destinations where the rich and the poor alike would like to be like Miami,the Bermuda or the exotic Dubai fancy city but the  coastal region of Kenya is the place to be.

Arriving in Mombasa town is such a hilarious experience.It is the finest relaxation and fun spot.There are just more than places to be with uncountable things to do worth making you feel like you never have the other side of your life with demands that make your head spin 24/7 .However,this can be a little  deceiving when you have to imagine that there can another  a paradise somewhere in town that is amazingly beautiful,the the Haller Park at Bamburi Nature Trail hidden from the obvious sites and joints you fast take notice of.

Haller park would be my perfect idea of a paradise on earth.The feeling of being at Bamburi Nature trail is one of those feelings that language fails to gives us enough words to describe.It is nature beyond nature's mere providence of artistic labour.It is ecstatic!

Adorned with varied species of wood that feels with the heart with the healthy green which is a symbol of nature's vitality,the heart swells with pleasure on arriving at the place.It is not only the trees but the wild growth on the floor of the wooded park with demarcated paths  winding around this rich greenly growth with towering trees above shielding the sun whose rays fall in beautiful patterns on the ground that makes it touching to the heart.

The varied configured floor of the nature trail,gives it a scenic quality,a mark of an artist curving a beautiful artwork form the land surface just to create that which will be appealing to the eyes.Trees and vegetation jut in on the slopes and raised grounds with water and flowering water plants in the basins below that are scattered through out the area.

The park is quite tranquil land the air more than just fresh.You close your eyes and let it rush in the lungs and the teaming with more than enough species of birds,nature's beautiful music wraps it up you feel like you are feeling your lungs with life itself.You open your eyes and the peace of the park reaches your soul and as the elegant plants from the ponds below,up the competing slopes and raised mounds  dance in the cool breeze wafting through the park hit your eyes,the least you can do is to let your heart loose and feel the serenading touch of nature at play.

The varied animal species kept in the park from fish in large ponds,to giraffes,hippos,snakes and birds is jewel that adds glamour to this already captivating place.It is the finest place to reach out to your inner-self; a perfect moment to hold your loves hand and tell her/him those little things he/she wishes to hear but life's rush never allows you to.It is a palace to experience nature's noble offering.Being here remind you of the value of being alive.It activates your self worth and the need to, like the showering eleganance around,unleash the talented and beautiful you and touch the world in same way as what you experience in the park.

The interplay of nature's beautiful workings at Haller park looks so real beyond nature's mere providence.It has the human touch with finest landscaping job having done.Looking around the park you never get to imagine that this a reclaimed derelict land once robbed of its beauty by marauding heavy quarrying machine in search of limestone for the cement company not so far away from it.This should be a wasteland where no human being would wish to be.It is supposed to be death trap with wide gaping holes filled with water enough to drown souls that trespass here.I would be a perfect reminder human's mindless destruction of what they never created.But it has been turned to be a glorious life-giving joint so welcoming you never think of what it was and the labour given unto to its creation

But the quest of Bamburi Cement company to make the place useful again is an all time proof our other side,the ability to create,nurture and improve what nature has provided us with.Haller who engineered the whole project is an amazing brain worth recognition.Being here is like walking in the trail of his winding vision and imagination.I love paintings,the finest that can ever be made but this is more than the feeling of staring at captured lifeless beauty,but being here is an experience of its,the walk I had on the paths in the shadows of the trees a jewel round my memories that make my existence so rich.

Next time you go to Mombasa,don't miss out to be here;not just as a tourist but also for a wide other functions such a retreats,team building,and above all....WEDDINGS!I can't think of  a perfect place to have a brush with love other than this place;to promise to love while the birds sing and others watch in disbelief.

Satire in Ngugi wa Thiongo's "The River Between"

Ngugi wa Thiongo in the novel  The River Between presents a society on the move to find hope and restoration in the face of a clash of two cultures, that is, the tribes culture and the culture of the white man, which has brought so much confusion and division in the tribe.However,the real threat  is not only the two proud cultures but also institutions and individuals who fail in certain ways.Ngugi,however,points out these failures in a subtle way by mocking them in the way he constructs them and their circumstances.

Ngugi mocks the leadership organ of the tribe, the Kiama. The Kiama being made up of elders would be presumed to be a cluster of wisdom, a source from which the tribe will get its guidance in its attempts  to preserve the  purity of the tribe and proper ways of handling the white man.However,it proves to be a group of ignorant and more confused individuals just like the rest of the people. It becomes a revenge machinery for ensuring that Waiyaki does not achieve his mission. Kabonyi uses it to revenge on Christian converts who are members of the tribe. More critically, Waiyaki is put in the hands of the Kiama to be judged, but  from the foregoing, the situation is awkward since the Kiama too needs to be judged for causing more hatred, harm to its people and creating more confusion in the tribe.

Kabonyi is equally on the spotlight. He parades himself as an alternative leader, somewhat better than Waiyaki who through his evil traps has managed to pull down. He hates Waiyaki for being the one the people sing his name yet he too, Kabonyi ,has provided leadership to the people.However,he is a scum, Since he is a mean individual who is so obsessed with getting power. He is no better position to lead since he has no idea of where he wants to lead the people to and he is ignorant of the fact that people want to be led to a different future different from the past where Kabonyi wants them to stay.

The people of the tribe have been mocked by Ngugi wa Thiongo.They are presented as a people with great respect and love for the young leaders. They love him and sing his praises for his demonstrated commitment to serving their interest like championing foe education expansion and getting more teacher for the created schools. However, this support and love for Waiyaki is a plastic one that does not wait to disappear the moment problems arise. They are first to judge and convict Waiyaki in the court of public opinion for being guilty even before placing him in the hands of the vengeful kiama to be judged. The people are in no better position to point a finger at Waiyaki for they too are responsible for the division,mistrut and hatred that id fast eating the tribe.

Joshua is the ultimate man of God, a faithful servant of God who must triumph in the face of all challenges. He cannot compromise. He is the ideal Christian to serve as a stepping stone to Christianity for the rest of the tribe who worship the “prince of darkness, Murungu”.This a crafty presentation of Joshua by Ngugi.He is no better than anyone yet he parades as a self righteous servant of God. He is a man whose faith and understanding of Christianity is shallow. He preaches Christianity yet he lacks love, compassion and forgiveness as Christ demonstrated to his followers. Joshua is a sycophant of the white man whose misconception and contempt he readily takes up as God inspired assertion. He does not have a mind of his own but is subject to accepting and implement all the white man says; so if the tribe’s culture is sinful, then so be it. It is no wonder when Joshua fails to save his daughter Muthoni from getting the claws of death and her death seem not to move him since she compromises Joshua’s self righteous and image as a “man of God”.

Traditionalism and Christianity are also satirized. These two religions are responsible for the whole mess in the society that has placed the tribe on the brink of destruction. The two are too proud and arrogant to co-exist. Traditionalism and its believers believe that Christianity and Christians led by the white man are responsible for interfering with the tribe and thus responsible for the calamities befalling the tribe such as the unpredictable coming of the much loved season of Njahi. The Christians on the other hand view traditionalism as an ignorant and sinful way of life. The Christians led by Rev.Livingstone and Joshua wage a war against some of the rituals of traditionalism such as circumcision without knowing the harm it can cause the tribe. Little do these two religions do to attempt to critically look at the other and themselves before making judgements.All these two religions have negative aspects and positive aspects and thus could accommodate and tolerate each other on this basis, something they fail to do.

Waiyaki after his father’s death rises to become the leader of the tribe and attempts in his only known way of fulfilling the prophesy, that is, giving the people the magic of the white man, formal education of the white man. As  a leader he is to be in a constant state of analyzing the circumstances of his people and searching for solutions .However, he gets detached from the people in his pursuit to get his only known solution to the problem of the interfering white man. He fails to notice the people’s immediate need of sending away the white man. This is made worse by the fact he himself has no better idea of what he is supposed to do as the savior of his people.Thus,his failure is not any obvious than it is since he has no vision of what to do nor his people’s many problems.

Rev.Livingstone has been satirized too. His conclusion on the tribe’s culture is that it is immoral and sinful. This misconception is based upon the fact that the songs he heard and words he heard people say during the dance on the eve of circumcision were vulgar. He does not understand that there are social codes that only allows such words to be said only during such an occasion; that other than during this event it is a taboo, a forbidden thing to say or dance in the manner people dance.Thus,his notions that injects into people like Joshua who uses the same to mistreat and look down others are a bunch of lies yet for him he holds them to be true. He ought to have looked beyond the song to understand the dynamics behind the performance. He is thus ignorant of the tribes culture without knowing it.

Thus in conclusion,Ngugi manages to point out the shortcomings and their undergoing of the individuals, groups and even religion which in one way or the other pose as the clean, the good and the perfect yet blatantly assuming they have no mistakes or no shortcomings. This he does in clever way that is the hallmark of satire in the novel.