Asante sana for the pole pole lesson Kenya!

After not enjoying the short, cold, and dark November in Poland we finally got to Kenya. I got a job as a kitesurfing instructor (what else yeah?) in a school based in Diani Beach. To be super precise – almost Galu Beach. We arrived at the very beginning of December when the rain season was supposed to finish soon and the wind was supposed to kick in mid-December’ish. I’ve decided to test my skills as a video blogger. You can find all the episodes of karoVlog on my YT channel and links with short description here!

Ep01 #karoVlog is just a bit of info about kitesurfing, how we get to know the place, and first impressions.
Description: We arrived in Kenya a few days ago. It is still before the wind season, we are waiting for the Kaskazi to kick in! Some extra days for settling in are always good. This place has a completely different vibe than any other. Dynamic but pole pole at the same time. Mango and coconut abundance, animals and insects kingdom, beautiful white beach and ocean. This space. It’s so easy to breathe deeply with this view every day. Soon both the rest of the kitemotion.pl team and our students will come!
language: Polish

Ep02 #karoVlog shopping, arranging communication, gifts from Poland and the beach!
Description: Slow life, pole pole. We are getting settled in. Got ourselves sim cards, more contact, we know more and more about the prices – not only for Muzungu ;p Easy life. As far as I am concerned it’s not possible to do more here due to temperatures and humidity. This place forms a way of living. You just stop being in a hurry. I do appreciate it a lot.
language: Polish/English

Ep03 #karoVlog shopping, arranging communication, gifts from Poland, and the beach!
Description:
Everyday life. Take a tour of our house. Walk with me from work. Look how beautiful it is here.. The wind switch was turned on and pole pole pole life got tuned. The Christmas and New Years’ time was busy. Very busy. Every kitesurfer was waiting for the wind. Every future kitesurfer was waiting for the wind. Locals say that the whole of Nairobi comes here for holidays. It was a mess. It was a lot. The schedule was packed every day for almost three weeks. During that time only riding I got was when going upwind for the students. Spot at kitemotion.pl works as a classical IKO spot. The wind is side-on / side shore a good combination. Add 3m amplitude of tides to the equation and enjoy. Even with tens of people bathing, ten kiters and eight lessons out it was manageable and not as crowded as some places I’ve worked before. Just simply annoying. We got our space/spot back just after New Year and a few days ago it got very loose. Lots of time for riding. Time for lessons for Joanna – look at her go! Little things fun. As for kitesurfing time and progress, I’ve become really confident with small uh and mastered the art of not crashing and getting back to the same place (even upwind) on my foil. It took me about 3h. Now it’s fun. (there is a video of my first session out here). We played a bit, we played at a Christmas party, and we had a gig planned but Jo got food poisoning and we dropped it. Though we had a great rehearsal at home. After 1,5 months here for me, Kenya is a simple life, simple food, no worries, and easy. Me like that.
language: English

Ep04 #karoVlog shopping, arranging communication, gifts from Poland, and the beach!
Description: We decided to rent a motorbike. With help of one of the “mammas” here, we got a really good price. Since then we were exploring the dirt tracks here. Visit Bora Bora Wildlife park was one of the destinations. The biggest surprise was the crocodile paddock… With people and crocodiles in it! Our guide also went in to pick almond leaves to feed “kwale” – free range giraffe. It was an animal time with monkeys in the house. And then a Safari… But this is another episode!
language: English

Description: GoPro bite mount is great but it is harder to spit when in the insane salty water of the Indian Ocean. When the wind started just after Christmas it doesn’t stop. This was the lightest day, I did a session on my 11m (twintip+surf), did some teaching, and a sunset session on the 9m. The spot is 6/10 but a review will be done after the whole season. The more wind the more chop but still bearable. I’m so happy about starting to uh. The view is amazing. The beach is beautiful. The water is so, so warm!
Wind: 14-16knt /smooth/
Direction: NNE /about/
Spot: Kenya Galu Beach /Diani Kite: Core GTS5 11m
Board: Nobile 50/50 Harness:
Rideengine
Neoprene: Prolimit
Unfortunately, I did a low quality export, didn’t notice that, and deleted the source material later that week. I’ve learned to always double-check!

I don’t actually know if video blogging is for me or not. Please tell me. Sometimes I think writing is my jam. So often I forget to take the camera, forget I have the camera, or just leave it thinking nothing special will happen.. and then it does!

Getting back to the subject. Kenya was AMAZING. We enjoyed every minute there. We knew we will miss it and we do miss it. It just doesn’t get any better than this. People we’ve met, places we’ve visited, pure nature and the joy we’ve experienced there will always be a part of me. This experience did redefine/define the meaning of #easylife and #slowlife for me.
Let’s not forget the kitesurfing part of the trip! Hot water, stable wind, easy and safe spot, no crowds.. like.. does it get any better?

Jumbo my friends!