Rose (dark jacket) and I visited my friend, Meidimi (red t-shirt), in the Nakuru area recently to do some GeoCaching.
Little did we know we would end up also enjoying the company of two Spaniards, and making much use of Google Translator.
Such an interesting experience! By the way, this is my first picture taken by a drone. The gal in orange controlled it with her phone.
There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.
~ Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Italian philosopher and theologian
When I was last in the States, I met Effie at the home of a mutual friend.
She had moved to the U.S. with her family when she was young and was happy to chat with me about Kenya, her home.
We made plans to see Ngong Hills when she visited here in December and that's when I met her friend, Sam.
One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4BC - 65AD), Roman philosopher
When Susan, my missionary friend from Narok, paid me another visit, we once again enjoyed my chimney jiko.
Simple pleasures! And a modified version of a s'more (with no chocolate).
It's always fun to hang out with Joanna and get caught up, as we've known each other for several years now.
This was our last time to see each other (unless the unexpected happens), because she recently repatriated back to the States.
We talked a lot about the difficulty of leaving a place that has become home and re-entering our original home.
Betty, Blessed Jason, Fredrick, and Smith (in the blanket)
Jamhuri Day celebrates the date Kenya became an independent republic on 12 December 1964.
Every year, many Nairobians, just like us, recognize the holiday by enjoying Uhuru Park in the city center.
Jackie, Joshua, Jaiden, Carol, Joy, Cliff, Jim, and Jasmine
Lydia, Duane, and Tony
Masudi, Baby Jason, Esther, and Isaac
Duane, Sam, Tony, Blessed Jason, Fredrick, Moses, Rose, and Smith (inside the blanket)
Emily, Addis, Malakai, and Moses
When things are a bit tense, when life is not going at its best,
that's when God lays out the red-checkered picnic cloth and says,
"Oooh, this is a nice place. Let's hang out here together for a while... just you and me."
~ David Brazzeal, Pray Like a Gourmet: Creative Ways to Feed Your Soul
Enjoying our day together
Betty, Lydia, and Jeremy
Joy, Carol, Linet, and Jackie
Masudi and Isaac serve us our delicious lunch
Rose and Sammy out on the pond while enjoying a paddle boat ride
Adults (including me) and children enjoyed the man-powered Ferris wheel!
Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the beanbag toss, adults and children playing together.
It was a first-time experience for most of them. So much laughter and joy!
You can see more videos from our fun day at the park. Simply click this link.
On this visit, Rose and I discovered a new part of the forest we hadn't ever seen before. There was a lovely picnic area... plus a few swings which we took advantage of. It seems that all of my life, I simply cannot pass by a swing without enjoying it!
I don't always get over to the part of the forest where the waterfall is located but whenever I do, I sure enjoy it!
There's something soothing about the sound of a babbling brook.
I typically carry a few snacks with me, plus water.
But every once in a while I take a flask of chai to enjoy early in the morning, just as the forest is waking up.
The wildlife in the forest is so fun to watch and marvel at, whether it's Sykes monkeys frolicking in the trees, a Duiker grazing just ahead on the path, beautifully colored butterflies dancing in the air right in front of me, or even the nasty Siafu ants marching in formation. God's creation never ceases to amaze me!
Rose enjoys hunting for GeoCaches just like me. In fact, we make a great team -
I do the navigation portion and she spots the hidden objects in a flash!
An absolutely gorgeous papyrus stand, plus a close-up below.
Simply beautiful!
The trees in the forest add their applause, to all who are pleased and present before God.
1 Chronicles 16:33 (Message)
Jacob (missionary friend from South Sudan) and I split up - he did bird watching while I hunted for GeoCaches.
When we met unexpectedly, we sat on a bench and enjoyed the snacks we had brought along with us.
The itch to get away from it all can creep up on me at any unexpected time. And I think Fredrick has the same inclination; always happy for a chance to get off his motorbike for a while.
And so... we headed out again for a picnic on a cliff, this time including his son, Blessed Jason.
We gathered a few sticks for roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. Yummy, yummy!
I'm always thankful for the roof of the banda, to keep the hot sun off of us!
The Great Rift Valley is far, far down below us.
William, the caretaker, was happy to see us again.
View from the back side of Ngong Hills. It's always a stunning sight, no matter the angle!
Another view looking out over the Great Rift Valley
We are ready to bid William farewell and head back to the noise of Ngong town.
Bouncing along the rough 'road', all three of us squeezed onto Fredrick's motorbike and headed home
"I know in my head that usefulness isn’t what the Christian life is all about. God doesn’t need me, and I am not indispensable in the kingdom - none of us are. God delights in us, not because of anything we bring or do, but simply because we are his beloved children.
Additionally, usefulness isn’t for us to measure; God often uses us in ways that we never see or know. This life is not about our glory - the impact we make on this world - but about God’s glory."
~ Vaneetha Rendall Risner, The Beauty of the Dandelion
Carol and Jeremiah's daughters - Joy, Jasmine, and Jaiden
Carol leads the congregation in worship (above) and Joy, plus some friends, dance for the Lord (below).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
On another Sunday, I attended their church service. Then I joined the congregation for a baptism at a nearby school with a swimming pool. Pastor abc first gave a brief talk about baptism.
Jeremiah and Carol with their daughters, including Joy who was baptized, along with Joy's mentor
The youth who were baptized plus other significant adults in the congregation
Four cute girls in pink, including Jaiden and Jasmine (on the left), who are two of Carol and Jeremiah's daughters
I live quite a ways away, on the other side of town, but it's always worth it to make the long journey!
It is a pity indeed to travel and not get this essential sense of landscape values.
You do not need a sixth sense for it.
It is there if you just close your eyes and breathe softly through your nose.
You will hear the whispered message, for all landscapes ask the same question in the same whisper.
'I am watching you -- are you watching yourself in me?'
Most travelers hurry too much but the great thing is to try and travel with the eyes of the spirit wide open,
and not too much factual information.
To tune in, without reverence, idly -- but with real inward attention.
It is to be had for the feeling; you can extract the essence of a place once you know how.
If you just get as still as a needle, you'll be there.
~ Lawrence Durrell (1912-1990), Spirit of Place: Mediterranean Writings
Fredrick, my friend and favorite boda boda driver, standing next to a termite mound
Fredrick chatted with Kuntai. Sadly his responsibility was herding the family's livestock... instead of attending school.
This river was like an oasis in the midst of a stark landscape. Fredrick wants to come back again and go fishing here.
Fredrick looks through my binoculars at all the pink Flamingos on Lake Magadi
I took this shot of the Flamingos through my binoculars
Such amazing colors on the lake!
Lake Magadi is the southernmost lake in the Kenyan Rift Valley, lying in a catchment of faulted volcanic rocks. During the dry season, it is 80% covered by soda and is well known for its wading birds, including Flamingos.
Lake Magadi, a saline and alkaline lake lying in a basin, is just over 1,000 square feet in size. The water consists of a dense sodium carbonate brine, precipitating vast quantities of the mineral trona. In some places, the salt is up to 130 feet thick. The lake is recharged mainly by saline hot springs, with temperatures up to 190°F, that discharge into alkaline lagoons around the lake margins. There is little surface runoff in this arid region. During the rainy season, a thin (less than 3 feet) layer of brine covers much of the saline pan, but this evaporates rapidly leaving a vast expanse of white salt that cracks to produce large polygons.
A single species of fish (cichlid Alcolapia grahami) inhabits the hot, highly alkaline waters of this lake basin and is commonly seen in some of the hot spring pools around the shoreline, where the water temperature is 110°F.
A path is a prior interpretation of the best way to traverse a landscape.
~ Rebecca Solnit (1961- ), Wanderlust: A History of Walking
You can see part of the Magadi Soda factory on the left, plus more birds on the lake
Magadi town is home to the Magadi Soda factory, owned by Tata India since December 2005. The factory produces soda ash, which has a range of industrial uses. 95% of the soda ash is exported, mostly to India and other parts of Asia. It's used as an ingredient in the manufacture of dyes, coloring agents, synthetic detergents, fertilizers, pulp/paper, and glass.
Magadi is Kenya’s only privately owned town where a company virtually owns, runs, and regulates the social and political lives of its approximately 1,000 residents. The town hospital, both the primary and secondary schools, the roads and streets, police station, gas station, and all the eateries are properties of the company. Tata Chemicals Company is Africa’s largest soda ash manufacturer and one of Kenya’s leading exporters.
The world is wilder in all directions, more dangerous and bitter, more extravagant and bright.
Go up into the gaps. If you can find them, they shift and vanish too.
Stalk the gaps. Squeak into a gap in the soil, turn and unlock a universe.
This is how you spend this afternoon, and tomorrow morning, and tomorrow afternoon.
Spend the afternoon. You can’t take it with you.
~ Annie Dillard (1945- ), Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
Weaver bird nests, with the opening underneath
I gave these Maasai children some of my homemade cookies, a nice snack as they headed home from school
Photo at Kona Baridi, when we were almost home from our 8.5-hour adventure
There are women to whom nature has granted the gift of silent emotion,
with the charm of perfect simplicity and truth.
- Sarah Doudney (1841-1926), English novelist
Many are shocked that I rode on the back of a motorbike 60 miles / two hours each way, especially to such a hot place. But I love the sun on my back and the wind in my face! Every day, year-round, the temperature at Magadi hits 90°F by 11am and usually stays at 95-100 all afternoon. (Contrast that to Ngong town's highs rarely reaching over 82°F.)
As Fredrick and I neared the lake and town on his bike, we both suddenly felt the heat at the same time. I live at 6,400 feet at Ngong town. Kona Baridi, where the elevation is 6,660 feet, is 9 miles from my house. From there, the descent is rapid. Eventually we dropped 4,500 feet in less than 50 miles - - down to Magadi's elevation of 1,950 feet. Magadi is the lowest point in East Africa's Rift Valley.
My Mom often reminds me that as a young child, I would say, "Gotta see. All the time gotta see." And that's exactly how I still am at 63; I want to see things with my own eyes! I had tried to reach Lake Magadi three times in the past few years, only to be foiled each and every time by different reasons. Fredrick and I talked about and planned this trip for a long time... and at long last, it happened.
Wanderlust = a strong desire or impulse to wander or travel and explore the world
