Agnes and her boys

Duane and Zach having lunch

Adu (Anderson) and Agnes

Zach holding an empty box of cookies

Agnes hanging clothes on her line

Zach, a tired little boy at the moment

Duane with some of his clay creations

He gets the clay from a drainage ditch near their house

A rare and fun meal out - chips and soda!

Agnes showing me one of the parcels of land she's rented for this year's crop

... and the other piece of land

Tony goes to school

Tony finished Class 8 last November, but had been unable to join secondary school in February. Thanks to some generous friends of my son, Zach, he is now is Form One! These are some of the things we purchased during a couple of days of shopping.

Tony (on the right) with Pope and his mom, just as we left to take him to school

While Tony and Pope purchased one last thing, I had a cup of chai. Ahh!

Inside the shop where we bought Tony's uniform

Tony proudly wears his new uniform :)

We hired 3 motorbikes to carry us and all of Tony's things for school

Milo Friends Boys Secondary High School (near Webuye)

He's been admitted! Can you see the gleam in his eyes?

The new student!

Road to Magadi

One fine Saturday morning in late April, Kim, Emily, and I headed out for a day-trip to Magadi town and lake. Both of them had been there in the past, but I had never seen it. We were all excited to spend time together on a mini-adventure.

To reach Magadi from the part of Nairobi where I live (and where we met), you drop 4,000 feet in elevation and descend down into the Great Rift Valley. The slopes are quite steep; both the terrain and climate change drastically! We left the lush green and landscaped compounds of the Karen area and were soon in a hot and  semi-arid land.

All started out well, however... soon our plans changed...

Apparently just a few hours prior, a flash flood had roared across the highway

We passed by several of these signs.

One of two vehicles that adamantly insisted we turn back!

Debris that had been violently deposited along the road.

  

Curious Maasai children, excited with the bag of potato chips we gave them

This was apparently a donkey ranch. First time I've ever seen such a thing.

Everywhere we looked, the scenery was stunning

After the occupants in the second of two cars insisted it was not safe to go any further, we had to face the facts that we would not reach our destination of Magadi town and Magadi lake on that particular day. Flash floods are actually quite dangerous. In fact, many people died in Kenya during this year's long rains... due to flash floods.

So... we disappointedly turned around.

 and stopped at 'plan B', instead - Olorgesalie Prehistoric Site

Pretty neat land shapes, huh?

It was quite hot out under the sun. I made good use of my umbrella!

Our guide pointing out the leg bone of a hippo, that was unearthed at the site

There's always room for one more in Africa, right?

Kim and Emily having a cup of coffee at Whistling Thorns. I had tea.

While enjoying our hot beverages, huge black clouds rolled in and unleashed a downpour. Emily wasn't very excited about driving back to Nairobi in the dark and in the rain! Alas, by the time we got to Kiserian - foiled again - there was another flash flood and the road was again blocked. We waited it out in the parking lot of an overcrowded bar/restaurant for about an hour. Eventually the water subsided and the - quite congested - traffic was able to move again.

Lions!

During my 10 years living in Kenya, I had yet to see a lion in the wild. I longed to do so, though, and every now and then, would ask God if he couldn't somehow arrange for it to happen.

Well... once again, God proved himself faithful! I had the privilege of going to the Nairobi National Park with Joanie, and her friend, Carla. Not only did I get to see one lion... I got to see SEVEN!

Isn't he a beaut?!

We woke up at 5am and had paid and were in the park by 6:15! This foggy scene is what welcomed us.

Stopping along the road to get a photo or two

Beautiful swamp, isn't it?

Our first lions were these two females; there ended up being a third one, too...

... and then.... this male stood up from laying in the grass! Were we excited!

Here he is apparently determining whether or not one of the females was far enough along in her heat cycle to be able to mate. They have sensory glands inside their mouths and he's smelling the area where one of the females had been lying in the grass. He did this gesture (or pose) numerous times in succession. Very fascinating!

Lion #5, lying on the road

He eventually got up and moved and laid down SO, SO close to us!

All three of us were thrilled with the lions we saw! We were the first to discover the first four... and all seven were so close to us! God is good.

Giraffes and Elephants

Besides the seven beautiful and stunning lions, we did see some other animals :)

Thanks to Joanie sharing her photos with me, I think you'll enjoy these giraffes, one of God's most elegant creations (in my estimation) -

We also went to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, where they are world-renowned for rehabilitating orphaned elephants and reintroducing them into the wild. ALWAYS a delight!

Again - Joanie's photos.

 

We rounded out our time together, with dinner at China Plate.