Phil: Evening falls over Addis Ababa. The capital and largest city in Ethiopia, it is also known as the Capital of Africa, due to hosting the headquarters of several international organizations, such as the Organization of African Unity.
Phil: And in the middle of this city, the Lion of Judah. A statue symbolizing African sovereignty and Emperor Haile Selassie, it is from this point that teams will begin the xth Leg of the Race.
Phil: Henry & Jed, who were inexplicably the first team to arrive, will depart at 6:25 pm.
Henry: Fly to Lamu Island, Kenya! Ah, the great tropics!
Jed: Kenya! Let's not collect any specimens this leg, ok? We'd be tried as poachers.
Henry: Oh, relax Jed! "You have 19 USD for this Leg of the Race." Maybe I can barter...
Phil: Teams must now fly to Lamu, Kenya. Nestled on an eponymous island on the shores of the Indian Ocean, this small island experienced a Golden Age during the height of the Swahili Coast. Competing amongst giants such as Oman and Zanzibar, this town is the oldest Swahili settlement in East Africa and is today Kenya's oldest continually-habited town.
All teams depart between 6:25 and 8:00 pm and take the roughly half an hour drive to Bole International Airport. From there, they book passage to Lamu's Manda Airport.
Phil: All teams are now on one of two flights, via Nairobi, to Lamu, Kenya, set to arrive 5 minutes apart.
Phil: When teams arrive at Manda Airport, they must make their way on foot to the Manda Island Jetty. Once there, they must take one of the waiting speedboats across a small channel to Lamu's Museum Jetty. It is here that teams will find their next clue.
Detour: Donkey Routes or Trade Routes?
Phil: As a small island at a once-important crossroads, Lamu has a unique history regarding transportation. In this Detour, teams will get a chance to either help out the main mode of moving goods on the island, or experience the chaos of shipping goods on the once-prosperous Indian Ocean trade routes.
Phil: Cars are hardly allowed on Lamu Island. Therefore, donkeys provide an incredible valuable service, comprising the labor necessary to move material across this historic town. These donkeys are so beloved on this island that an annual festival hosts a donkey race and a Donkey Sanctuary was established here to ensure these animals remain in good health. In Donkey Routes, teams must help fill three feed stations scattered along the ancient and winding streets of Lamu.
Phil: First, teams must make their way on foot to the Donkey Sanctuary, where they will be given three bags of donkey feed. Then, they will select two donkeys and harness them with the feed bags. Using whatever means of motivation they can, teams must guide these highly trained animals to traverse the streets of Lamu to locate three feed troughs. Teams are given a map, depicting the location of the troughs with an x, to aid them, but the donkeys' harnesses do not come with a leash, for donkeys often roam freely through Lamu.
Phil: While the distance and physical effort may not be great, the streets are narrow and confusing, and the donkeys, though accustomed to heavy burdens, may need some time to warm up to newcomers. When teams fill all three troughs and return to the Donkey Sanctuary with their donkeys, they will receive their next clue.
Phil: The town of Lamu is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in recognition of the blending of cultures seen here that arose due to the cosmopolitan nature of the Swahili Coast. In Trade Routes, teams must now pay homage to this legacy of international trade by acting as merchants and unloading a dhow, the boat that made such travel possible, and taking inventory.
Phil: Teams must make their way on foot 250 yards to the Lamu Customs Jetty and select one of the awaiting dhows. Once there, teams must climb onboard and unload the ship's cargo, stored in crates, taking it to an awaiting table. Teams have to carry roughly 200 luxury items off the ship and sort them according to the area of origin- China, India, Arabia, or Africa. Each crate contains 5 to 10 items and weighs between 25 and 40 pounds. Once teams unloaded all the items, they would use the provided chalkboard to submit a guess featuring four numbers. 
Phil: While the task might appear physically demanding, this Detour may come down to teams' counting skills more than anything else. Teams are provided the geographic classifications, but must do all lifting and counting on their own. Once all numbers were correct, they would receive their next clue.
"Travel by dhow to Peponi Beach in Shela Village."
Phil: Teams must now return to the Museum Jetty and board a dhow that will take them down the coast from historic Lamu to the quiet village of Shela. Teams will disembark off of Peponi Beach, and once they wade to shore, they'll find their next clue next to the historic hotel.
Roadblock: Who's cap-tivatingly artistic?
Phil: The sun beats down on this coastal community year round, and to cope, workers often make their own hats out of whatever materials they can find. This spirit of inventiveness is celebrated in the Lamu Art Festival, and the Shela Hat Contest brings hundreds out to Peponi Beach once a year.
Phil: In this Roadblock, one team member must use the provided materials- shells, pipes, paper, coral, plastic, and palm leaves- to create a wired hat of their own. These materials all commonly wash up on the beach, and the Hat Contest never fails to incorporate them as a form of artistic recycling.
Phil: The teams' only parameter is that they must reference Kenya's penchant for safari tourism by incorporating a marine animal- a dolphin, sea turtle, shark, seabird, or fish- into their hat's design. Multiple racers may choose the same animal. Once participating team members finish their masterpiece, they may strut down the beach to show off to the judging panel, comprised of local Kenyan artists. Once the three judges agree their hat's creativity and construction sufficiently celebrate the island, they'll give them their next clue."Make your way on foot to Shela Beach. Once there, find a marked coconut stand."
Phil: Teams must now make their way on foot about 1000 feet to Shela Beach and find a marked coconut vendor. It is here that teams will find their next clue.
"Don't forget to hydrate!"
Phil: As Lamu acclimates to an increasing number of beach-going tourists, local craftsmen are using traditional methods and tools to turn a profit. Coconut juice is incredibly refreshing and is therefore highly sought after, and here in Lamu, there are coconuts aplenty.<![CDATA[<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/riXjiYH3j5k" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/riXjiYH3j5k</a>]]>Phil: Teams must now follow this ongoing demonstration to make one cup of fresh coconut juice.
Phil: First, teams must gather two coconuts and use a machete to split each into halves. They must then grind each half of coconut on this local Mbuzi to produce fresh, grated coconut meat. Since only one person can sit on a Mbuzi at a time, team members must grate two halves each.
Phil: Then, teams can take their grated coconut flakes and pour them into this Kifumbi, which is woven right here in Lamu. They will then pour two cups of water into the top of the Kifumbi and squeeze, producing fresh coconut milk. Once teams have squeezed out one cup of this beverage, they can take a sip and read their next clue.
"Make your way on foot to the next Pit Stop, the Fort of Shela!"
Phil: As Lamu's wealth and prestige grew, it attracted pirates, seeking to ravage dhows and their luxury goods. In order to protect the inner harbor of Lamu town, the Fort of Shela was built on the eastern shore of the island.
Phil: A monument to Lamu's medieval maritime success, this enchanting fortress is the Pit Stop for this Leg of the Race. The last team to check in here may be eliminated.
Judges! I hope you enjoyed this Leg and found some of your concerns from last round addressed!
I had never heard of Lamu before this past week, but I'm very glad I had the chance to design here. I wanted to showcase the island's culture and history, and believe this Leg does so.
I apologize for the incompleteness of the latter two maps, but they're still useful in approximating relative distances. One can walk from Lamu to Shela on the beach if the tide is right, which takes 42 minutes. I figured a dhow would be easier and take a quarter of the time. Furthermore, the map for Donkey Routes is a little tough to see, but blue worked better than any other color and I needed to use an aerial map in order to convey a feel for the streets and town.
Distances and times aren't calculated on google maps, but, using the scale, I was able to provide estimates for distances. As I had mentioned, it's about 1000 feet (333 yards ~ 320 meters) between Peponi Beach and Shela Beach, the location of the coconut stand, and about 2000 feet (666 yards ~ 640 meters) to the Pit Stop. Teams will take between 5-7 minutes to travel between the Roadblock and the ARI and 10-15 minutes to get to the Pit Stop. The island is small and all travel is very much feasible.
Teams have $19 for this Leg of the Race to cover the travel to Bole Int'l Airport (15-18 USD) and the 100 shillings to get from Manda Airport to Lamu (~1 USD). The dhows between Lamu and Shela will be covered by production.
I believe the Detour is fairly balanced. I did quick calculations for each:
Donkey Routes: 3 min to Sanctuary, 1400-1500 feet to all three troughs = 9-12 minutes, unloading the feed at each trough takes a total of 5-6 minutes, saddling & unsaddling donkeys at the Sanctuary should take roughly 15 minutes, and I added "donkey variance" to explain any reasonable expectations of teams' differences in donkey handling, which is about 10 to 25 minutes total. This brings the Detour time between 45 and 60 min.
Trade Routes: 4 min to Customs Jetty, each trip from the dhow to the dock and back should take roughly 1 minute, as the table is right on the pier. Divided by two people making trips, we're at 100 min of everyone takes 1 item per trip. But the items are (mostly replicas of) luxury goods, which are much lighter. In fact, some of the goods will be stored together in small crates. Therefore, I expect the time range to fall between 30 and 50 min, which most teams clustered around the 30-35 minute mark to unload. Teams will probably spend between 5 and 10 minutes counting, bringing the total Detour time between 40 and 64 minutes, with most teams in between.
I found the RB in a description of Lamu's Festival and couldn't pass it up. It seems like a fun challenge, which adds to the whole beach theme. The materials listed are those often used, with bones omitted for health and PG reasons. I added the marine life theme to hammer in the beach relationship, as well as tribute Kenya's safari culture, though Lamu is far from where the bulk of that tourism takes place. Nevertheless, it adds guidance and a tangible criterion for the judges. I expect this task to take between 35 and 60 minutes.
The coconut task fills out the Leg, brings in local craftsmanship, adds an air of beachiness, and gives teams a chance to have fun, I think. Placements may not be shuffled much, unless a team truly screws up or spills their milk (always a chance for that
), but it gives them a taste of culture. The task should take between 20 and 30 minutes, unless a team has to restart or something.
Overall, with teams landing at 11:10 and 11:15, I expect teams to check in between 1:15 and 2:25 pm (boat to Lumu = 5 min, Detour 40-64 min, 10 minute dhow ride, 30-60 min RB, 5 minutes to ARI, 20-30 min coconut task, 10-15 minutes to the Pit Stop).
Before I address prior comments, I do want to mention that this week was rather chaotic; my 10-year-old computer broke without warning last Monday. I lost all designs, image editing software, etc. I bounced back to submit, but I lost all notes and graphics.
Gamer, I worked harder to ensure the tasks were better for tv. Donkeys, spills, and scenery all make for good tv (and maybe drama, too). I made sure that, in my opinion, craftsmanship tasks were more exciting than broom-making. The hats are creative and involve local interactions, and the teams should have fun with the coconut milk.
Pi, I worked to again hone in on the theme, showcasing not just Africa and the ocean, but where they intersect and how that's created the culture of the island.
Kami, I worked on details in my explanations, particularly with the Detours. Like you said, I used a delivery task, but I made it stand out- by involving animals, by involving local routines, etc. Plus, it's much more feasible than having teams be donkey jockeys or administer healthcare to them. I included a map for one Detour and made sure to mention a table and chalkboard for the other. I included a video to really give the judges an idea of what milking coconuts entails.
Thank you all for your feedback, and I hope you see the improvement.
