Marvels of California's innovations

Our itinerary in Silicon Valley ended without a visit to Apple Inc and a few other tech firms, giving us a good reason to return. 

Driving around Silicon Valley, I felt that such a visit should be a must for educators, entrepreneurs, and innovators, just like Catholics visiting Rome or Muslims visiting Mecca. 

It was now time for nature and leisure. We visited the Golden Gate Bridge. It has two viewpoints, all free. Why are we charged to see waterfalls in Kenya?  

From both viewpoints, a spectacular view of San Francisco’s Central Business District and the bridge awaits visitors.

The viewpoints are cold and windy, even in summer. And there is enough parking in both. It’s not just about tourists but movie makers and photographers, all busy at the bridge.

Why are there no such viewpoints around Nairobi?  The only one near “community” at the back of Uhuru Park is too small. Any high-rise building in Upper Hill that makes money with “views” of Nairobi’s CBD?  

In addition to the San Francisco CBD and bridge, you get a great view of the famous Alcatraz prison, with myths and legends surrounding it. It costs about $54 (Sh7,000) to visit the prison.  

The Silicon Valley innovation spills over into tourism and leisure. Can you imagine tourists seeking to see the Nyali or Nithi bridges?

Curiously, there are eight key bridges in the San Francisco Bay Area, but the focus is on the Golden Gate, because of its beauty, engineering marvels and tourism. Seeing a ship sailing under that bridge to the open sea was spectacular. 

It’s possible to bring innovation into tourism; just market the places. Mageta Island prison in Siaya County, where Mau Mau detainees were sent, was probably inspired by Alcatraz.

Did any Mau Mau prisoner try to escape? Many came from the highlands and were unlikely to have learnt to swim. 

It’s easy to see why President Donald Trump keeps talking about that prison; it keeps the myth and tourists coming. What of Hola and Manyani detention centres? Why can’t we take revenge against colonialism by making money out of it?  

At sunset, we visited Pier 39 to see seals, get another view of Alcatraz and the sunset under the Golden Gate Bridge. Who markets our viewpoints in Kenya? Lake Region is trying with sunsets.  

We spent the night at Pittsburg (the other famous one has “h” at the end), about an hour from San Francisco.

It was time to shift to some leisure on the golf course at Vallejo, 40km away. Hiddenbrooke, a river valley turned into a golf course, was scenic despite the wind. Innovation again, the course preserves a wetland area that golfers enjoy. Think of a golf course along the Nairobi River. The evening was more spectacular; we visited our hosts’ village, or “shaggs” in Rio Vista, about 40km east.

Notice the Spanish influence in the names. The farm is aptly named Mugumo. The owners are Mwangi Maina (from Kangari in Muranga), Gerald Gachara and Sam Warutere (both from Gítundúti, Nyeri). 

As we drive from Pittsburg to Mugumo, one side of the road has newly harvested wheat farms, and the other has wind farms, innovation again. 

At Mugumo, roasted meat was plentiful. And it seems a popular meeting place for Kenyans, either visiting from Kenya or homesick ones from years in the US.  

Goats, a donkey and a chicken made the place feel very Kenyan, except for the wind. We spent the night on the farm, very nostalgic of our own shaggs, with a cock crowing in the morning. Remember my story on one of my host’s hobbies? 

In the morning, I admired the junkers of old tractors and a pick-up from the 1950s parked against a Tesla.

More spectacular were the wind turbines silhouetted against the rising sun.  The junkers are a reminder of our technological humble beginnings before artificial intelligence (AI) and related technologies took over.

I saw the ancestors of AI.  Like San Francesco, Rio Vista is dry, cold, and windy. No wonder the wind farms. 

The last day was another game at the Rio Vista golf course within retirement homes, where you must be 55 years old and above to buy a home.

Another innovation is taking care of the elderly. In their homes by the golf course, they never feel alone.  

As you grow older, you need company. How do we take care of our elderly beyond a monthly stipend? Rio Vista is an easy but windy golf course. 

A quick lunch at Mugumo, then we headed to the airport. The Bay Area (San Francisco area) has three major airports within 100km of each other.

We had time to see the Sacramento River as it merges with the San Joaquin River and crosses, yet another bridge, Antioch.

It was now evident that California, despite deserts, has lots of water. Remember our high school geography? 

In an hour, we got to the airport with a stop at Treasure Island to admire Alcatraz prison from another angle.

The island was reclaimed from the sea by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Another bridge and a hug to San Francisco CBD finds you at the airport.

Leaving one lane for high-occupancy vehicles (two passengers and above) is ingenious. Tolls are paid electronically, with no ugly barriers.  

As I left California, hoping to return, I wondered when Kenya would reach that level, making innovation and freedom our way of life.

With a population of 40 million against Kenya’s 56 million, California’s GDP is expected to reach $4.1 trillion (Sh528.9 trillion) in 2025.

Kenya’s GDP is likely to be $132 billion (Sh17.028 trillion) in the same year, or $0.133 trillion. Simply put, California’s GDP is 31 times ours!  California is 423,370 km², while Kenya is 586,650 km². 

Some may argue that we should not compare California with Kenya. Wait a minute; the framers of our 2010 constitution borrowed from the American one.

Why not borrow its innovation model and adapt it to our unique circumstances? Last week, I posed which Kenyan county can be like Massachusetts, the citadel of American intellectualism? Which one can be California, where innovation is a way of life?