Homa Bay back to Nakuru

Tea Plantation
Tire Rolling Expert
Leaky Boat Ride on Lake Victoria

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Homa Bay back to Nakuru

After breakfast at Hippo Buck Hotel, we went back to the pier and discovered that the weed (Anton calls it duckweed?) had floated out of the bay overnight but was still visible off in the distance. This left the bay clear for fishing boats. As we stood on the pier watching, some locals in a boat asked if we wanted a ride, and we said sure! We put our rubber boots on and they took us on a short ride around the bay. It was very exciting, Anton was quite terrified. There was a large hole at the front of the boat, and one of the guys behind us was regularly bailing as they were paddling away.

We survived, and then we explored the open market while we waited for Polykens' brother to arrive. One of the locals started yelling at Frances after she took a picture. He was trying to incite everyone around him but they stayed calm. Polykens told them that they wouldn't like to be yelled at if they went to a strange country. He wanted money for their picture being taken. The funny part was that she hadn't taken a picture of them, just a french fry cooker.

We met Polyken's brother Isaac and had chai at Hippo Buck. Then for the long drive back to Nakuru. Poly let Anton drive through the gorgious Rift Valley. We stopped in to buy some tea leaves, and Poly found Gillian, his wife's sister. She of course invited us to her home for chai. Unfortunately for Frances, after a 45 minute wait it turned out to be chai masala (made with cinnamon).

Back to Nakuru and the evening with Polykens and his family. His daughter Mercy was just arrived home from school.
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Homa Bay

Sunset over Lake Victoria
Children playing on the shore
Rescuing scraps from the fish processing plant

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Homa Bay

Today we left Nakuru early for another driving day. Polykens took us to his home town, Homa Bay, which is on Lake Victoria. It took 6 hours to get there. We drove through a lot of fertile valleys, part of the Rift Valley. We drove through mile after mile of tea plantations. Mature plants are picked every 17 days, with the same worker always picking the same patch. After the tea plantations were the banana plantations. Sometimes you can see small tent villages. These were the people who were misplaced out of their homes during the post-election violence 2 and a half years ago. Their homes are gone, a lot of them burnt, and they have nowhere to go.

There does seem to be some order to the traffic once you get used to it. There are so many slow slow trucks that you need to overtake. If it is safe to pass, the truck driver will signal left. If it is not safe, he will signal right. Passing is done with little room to spare, or sometimes drivers just make opposite drivers wait, and sometimes you can overtake someone at the same time that they are overtaking. Or 3 or 4 drivers will overtake at once, so you just juggle your way into line. Often the one at the back of the pack will overtake first, so you have to watch behind you as well.

Roundabouts are labelled with town names but no street names are labelled. If you want to know where you are going, you just pull over and ask someone and have a nice conversation while you are at it. People are really polite and friendly with each other for the most part.

We stopped at Kisii and there were other wazungu there. White people are so rare, we really feel like we stick out, so you have to talk when you see another one, no matter where they are from. Today Anton was wearing his "mzungu" t-shirt which shows a white man wearing safari clothing and a pack and looking at a map. When people see a mzungu, they stare or greet us. Anton was driving today and other drivers kept honking at him, just because he was white. Today some girls were taking pictures of us wazungu. We are a tourist attraction.

When we got to Homa Bay, Poly wanted to take us to Ruma Conservation area, but it took 20 minutes to go 3 km because the road was so bad. When we found out there were 6 more km to go, we turned around. Foiled by the roads, again.

We instead went right down to what used to be a pier on the lake, and Poly was amazed to see the whole bay covered in some sort of plant. The locals call it papyrus and blame it on the Nile. But it isn't papyrus, it's more like a lily that has gone mad. The locals said the wind had blown it in this morning and would blow it out again tonight. It was preventing any boats from coming or going.

After awhile on the pier, we attracted a little group of watoto (children) who followed us about ("How are you? How are you?") and we walked through a group of stalls where people had hung leftovers from the fish factory to dry. The factory takes what they want and dumps the rest of the fish out back in a huge pile. Then the people race to load up their wagons with fish and then run to their stall to dump it, where someone else is waiting to hang it. Then they race their wagons back for another load. Once the remnants are dry, they can either be cooked for eating or selling, or be used to feed livestock.

Poly thought it would be a good idea if we could tour the fish plant, so we headed that way. Security was extremely tight, it took 10 minutes before they allowed us past the door. Then we were made to sit in a pavilion to wait until the manager was ready. After 20 minutes of waiting, we were shown into the manager's office. He turned out to be from Israel and we learned that most of the fish there is shipped to Israel. He was very busy so we left. We went back to the pier, sat and watched some naked boys playing in the reedy lake, and then watched a beautiful sunset over Lake Victoria. The reeds were really moving at this point.

Dinner was excellent at our hotel, called Hippo Buck Hotel. This is probably the nicest hotel we've stayed at, it is new and clean. When we returned to our room they had put fancy covers on the bed for us, left us some tea, and there were a few geckos running around to keep us company.
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Lake Naivasha

Agnes, Polykens, Frankie and Anton.
Anton hunting Zebra.
Anton hunting Waterbuck.

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Nanyuki to Nakuru.

Hand washing before a meal at a restaurant.
Road Construction.
Great Rift Valley.

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Lake Naivasha

Today we ate at the hotel and Poly picked us up at 9:00. We meant for an early start but by the time he showed us his church and his office and he brought us somewhere to use the internet (but not wifi) and picked up Agnes, it was 11:00 before we left. It was a quick one hour drive on a very good road. Part of this land used to belong to Joy Adamson of Born Free fame. A lot of it belonged to the famous Lord Delamere.

We stopped to eat at a place called Holiday Inn. We don't know if it was really a Holiday Inn or just using the name (which is common), but it was quite nice. The waiter was able to arrange a boat to take us a short ways across the Lake Naivasha to Crescent Island. Right near us in the water we kept seeing hippos popping their heads in and out of the water. While we were nearing the island, there were 2 fish eagles in a tree. Our boat driver whistled and they flew over. He has trained them to come for fish. Crescent Island is the protruding rim of a collapsed volcanic crater, and is filled with wild animals just roaming around. After our boat driver dropped us off, another guide took us on a foot safari through all the herds of zebra, waterbuck, wildebeest, and impala, and we also saw giraffes for the first time today. Part of the movie Out of Africa was filmed on Crescent Island, and all the lions and tigers were removed for the filming and never brought back. Our guide told us that this is the only place in Kenya where you don't have to be in a car to see the animals. We got quite close to them and then they would see us getting too close and wander away. It was quite an experience for Agnes, she had never been in a boat before, and at first she was very afraid of the animals. At one point we were turned back by someone warning us that there was a buffalo bull nearby. The worst part was leaving the rubber boots in the car and REALLY wishing we had them when we were walking through all the gnu poo and impala ickies.

Afterwards we tried driving around Lake Naivasha but this turned out to be a really bad idea. The road got progressively worse until it turned into an unpassable ditch. We had to turn back after 45 minutes. We intend to write the authors of Lonely Planet and suggest that this is something they should probably mention.

Agnes again prepared supper for us, and we were able to meet their sons Zebedee and James, their daughter Mercy is not home from school yet. All 3 attend different secondary schools. We spent the evening with the family. Since the children are away at school on their birthdays, they celebrate when they come home for school break. Agnes had made 3 separate cakes. Tonight James got to have his cake. He cut one piece out, then cut that one into bite sized pieces and fed each person around the table a bite.

Ol Pajeta Conservancy

Baraka the blind Rhino
Cheetah!
Rescued chimps

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Nanyuki to Nakuru

Today we slept in but were woken up by the geese and the roosters. The dogs stayed quiet this time. After breakfast we walked along the waterfall and the river. We saw colobus monkeys jumping around, at which point Frances covered her head for the rest of the walk.

Our aim was to get to Nakuru in 2 and a half hours. It took 6. We are getting tired of all the driving. But there were still many interesting sites along the way. Like the guy who was filling in potholes in the road and holding his hand out for money. Or the guy on the bike with a phone in his mouth and earphones in his ears, with a sheep strapped into a basket being led off to slaughter. Or the construction along the road, where they put bags of dirt and big rocks on the section you are not supposed to drive on. Some of the shops have the funniest names: Plan B Highway Stop; Good Time Furniture Store; or my personal favourite, Double Vision Bookstore. At the petrol station, there was a lady asking money from from Anton, claiming she was "mentally disabled", even producing a doctor's certificate to prove it.

We stopped for lunch in Nyeri and waited oh so long for our lunch to come. Polykens had ordered chicken so we figured they must have had to slaughter it for him. While we were eating we got Poly's car washed, which was a guy with a bucket. We had to pay for that and for the parking fee to park it there as he washed it.

We drove through the Rift Valley and it was beautiful. Lush and green and fertile. We crossed about a dozen Equator signs, only 3 of which were real. The rest were made to nab tourists. Anton checked his GPS and made sure the one where we got our picture taken was actually on the Equator.

We arrived at 7:00 in Nakuru, and Poly took us to our hotel, Hotel Kunste. We were very disappointed to find that they don't have internet. We'll have to find an internet place in town tomorrow. Then Poly took us to his home where we finally met his wife Agnes. She is lovely, so welcoming and friendly. We liked her immediately. She had had dinner prepared for hours, and we all shared a nice meal together. They have a nice large clean home, well furnished, which is a rental provided for them by the church.
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Nairobi to Nanyuki

Frankie and old friend Blacklaw.
Monkey about to jump on Frankie's head (seriously!).
At the equator.

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Ol Pajeta Conservancy

We haven't had internet here so we are late sending all our blogs for the last few days. Hopefully it will be better tomorrow in Nakuru.

Last night Anton was quite sick (today was not a good day for him), so he did not join Poly and Frances for breakfast. Even though this lodge is very cold and damp and what can only be described as "rustic", they have great food, and really cater well to individual requests.
After breakfast we had to drive through Nanyuki to get to Ol Pajeta. Even though it was only about 30 km total, it took over an hour because the roads were so rough. Even the paved roads were awful, more holes than pavement. Ol Pajeta is a relatively new conservation ranch, 90000 acres large. The name Ol Pajeta comes from a Masai word meaning "large burned out area" but this was savanna and bushland. We were only able to cover about a fifth of the ranch today.

We went straight away to Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary. This is a place for rescued or orphaned chimps, there are currently 42. It takes 250 acres of Ol Pajeta. They are given a natural area in which to live out their days. Chimps are not native to Kenya, but there was political unrest in the country that it was supposed to be in. Sweetwaters works closely with the Jane Goodall Institute. Probably the saddest story was that of the chimp named Coco, who was hung in a cage in a petrol station for 8 years, with hardly enough room to move. The sparks from the welding have damaged his eyes, which he kept shaded the whole time we saw him. Five of the chimps were confiscated at the Nairobi airport by people trying to smuggle them out. Our guide took us on a walk through some bush and along a river until we saw a whole pack of chimps, at least a dozen. Our guide knows each chimp by sight and by sound. The babies were adorable, hanging from their mothers or riding their backs. Sometimes the chimps got very excited and put on great shows of bravado, calling out in loud shreaks and scampering. Then came the best moment of the day for Frances. Several of the chimps were going straight up to the fence in order to check out the humans. One chimp named Alley squatted right in front of Frances, picked up a long stick, and reached under the fence to poke Frances' boot with the stick. They played back and forth like this for several minutes. Our guide told us that Frances does not belong in the human world, she belongs in the monkey world. Alley was raised as a pet and is gentle tempered, but picked up a few bad habits from her owners. She claps when she wants something and spits when she doesn't get it.

After the chimps, Poly just drove through the game park looking for animals. At points he was just following tracks in mud. Our first animal sighting was 4 warthogs that ran in front of our car. By the end of the day we had seen so many warthogs that they didn't excite us anymore. One interesting fact we learned was that warthogs are the only mammal who kneel to eat. If you ever look at a warthog, you know that God has a sense of humour.

We had brought lunch and we stopped to eat in the midst of 3 grevy's zebra, some warthogs, thompson's gazelle, impala, and oryx. They just went about their business and ignored us. The one who was put out, however, was the cheetah who had been sitting there eyeing all these animals. After awhile of us being there, he shot us a look and skulked off through the grass.

After lunch we continued driving and saw more animals, including a family of white rhinos. At first they were sleeping, but the parents eventually got up when they saw us. It was very exciting and not a little frightening to be less than 100 feet away from completely wild rhinos! We watched them for a long time, a little nervously!
More safely, we made our way to the Morani Rhino Centre. Here they have an enclosure for one lone black rhino, Baraka (which means blessing), who is completely blind. He lost one eye in a fight and the other from a cataract. The guide called him by name, and Baraka followed him to the stand where we were. The guide gave us a piece of sugar cane, we called his name and banged the sugar cane against the stand, and each got a turn to feed him. At the Morani Centre they also had an information centre where our guide taught us a lot about different animals. It's really worthwhile to get a guide. He taught us several differences between white rhinos and black rhinos. It has nothing to do with the colour of their skin! Black rhinos have a concave back and a narrower mouth.

More driving through the ranch, and some of the other animals we saw included a herd of buffalo, waterbuck, and zebra. Grevy's zebra are different than regular zebra because they have white noses and regular zebras have black noses.

After a really good day of safari, we made our way back to Timau to our lodge. It had been bright and sunny and beautiful all day, and honest to goodness it started raining the second we got to the Timau signpost! So this place is still cold and damp. Poly and Anton went for a nap before supper, while Frances decided to explore by taking a walk. She found a very promising well-used path leading away from camp, that led right to.... the garbage pile. Then she ran into the owner sitting at his cabin who told her to go the other way. She found a beautiful bar and sitting area overlooking a waterfall. Right now it was closed and the river and waterfall were brown. She walked a ways beside the river, the whole time accompanied by one of the lodge dogs who seems to have adoped her. She called him Chico but the owner calls him a swahili word that means "pig". This would be a nice place if it was the right time of the year.
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Mombasa to Nairobi

Wild Zebra (not in a zoo) and a Mosque. Both out in the middle of nowhere.

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Nairobi to Nanyuki

This morning after our Diguna breakfast of bread and chai, we went into downtown Nairobi to meet Blacklaw. Blacklaw was a friend Frances made the first time she was in Kenya. They lost track of each other for 20 years, but she found him again by googling his name on the internet. There was only one mention of him on the internet, because he was involved in a court case and the Kenya Nation newspaper did an article on him with his picture. Since the paper did not list his contact information, Frances emailed the paper and they contacted Blacklaw for her. And that is how they were reunited after all these years. He is named Blacklaw because he was born on the day Kenya got its independence from the British, on June 1, 1963.
We took awhile to find parking, and finally put it in a lot for $2.00. We met Blacklaw (he looks just the same!) and his brother-in-law Simon, and went for chai. We brought many gifts for Blacklaw and his sister Helen, so now our luggage is lighter.

Simon took us to the outskirts of Nairobi because Polykens did not know the way, and we drove towards Nanyuki. Again lots of speedbumps (hills) and some "jams" as Poly calls them. At the bumps or in the jams, there are lots of people at the side of the road selling things, or even walking between lanes. Some guys were walking with big pots and we wondered what was inside, then they showed us that they were selling sausages. There are lots of signs for car washes, which usually mean someone will appear out of nowhere with a bucket of water. If it says "high pressure car wash", it means they will do it in a hurry. As we got closer to Nanyuki, we drove into the foothills of Mt. Kenya, and the scenery changed from savanna to highland lush and green.

Just before Nanyuki, we stopped at the Trout Tree Restaurant. It's very famous, they have built a tree house in the trees and serve trout right from their own farm. It seats 60 people, there weren't 20 there today, and as you eat you can gaze at the beautiful scenery and watch the colobus monkeys play around you. Frances was standing watching one 50 pound guy, when he decided to literally jump onto her head. He had a hard time getting off because he got caught in her hair (it wasn't much fun for her either!). Anton missed the whole thing because he had gone to get his camera. But she wasn't hurt, only startled, and not too many people can say they've had that experience!!!

Just before Nanyuki was the sign indicating that we were crossing the Equator, so we stopped for the obligatory pictures. Then we found a Nukamatt, which is a chain of grocery stores, and got cash and food for our day tomorrow.

We drove past Nanyuki for miles and miles on very rough paved roads, looking for Timau. We finally found Timau River lodge, where we were booked to stay for 2 nights. I think the "River" in their name refers to the very muddy almost impassable dirt road that leads to the cottages. Polykens had to do some fancy driving to not get stuck. At Timau River Lodge there are cute thatched cottages with lots of character, and lots of geese and ducks and peacocks roaming around. The cottage has a large bed on the main floor and a loft with 2 small beds. We thought we would share one cottage with Poly, but they charge by the person not by the room, so they gave us 2 adjoining cottages. It is much colder here than Nairobi, and it is pouring rain. We are wearing layers and layers of clothing. This would be a great place if it wasn't raining, but right now it is cold and kabisa muddy everywhere. Anton has disappeared in search of some rubber boots.
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Mombasa to Nairobi

Today Polykens and Frances cooked their own breakfast using leftovers from last night's dinner. Polykens had enough still left over for a snack along the way. Polykens drove out of Mombasa and into Nairobi, but Anton drove the whole rest of the way (distance between Mombasa and Nairobi 500 km). Anton did quite well, he only missed hitting someone once. It took 9 hours. The roads were slightly less busy because it was Sunday, but the speedbumps were all still there. We got better at predicting their locations today. Along the way we saw baboons and a larger group of zebra today, plus lots of shepherds with goats and cows, and still lots of people selling things in stalls along the road. We stopped at the same place for lunch, Anton tried chapaties. There were fewer police checks. On Thursday Anton got pulled over just because the policeman felt like it, today the police concentrated on trucks and matatus. Occasionally the police will put a roadblock in the road, which is a strip of metal spikes you carefully drive through.

When we got into Nairobi, we drove and drove until we found the Karen Blixon Restaurant, which was recommended to Frances by her seatmate on the airplane. It was much cooler in Nairobi, so they sat us at a table beside an open wood fireplace, and it sparked and sparked so much that Polykens finally moved. The food was good, western. Frances had a salad and the dressing was served in a shell. Then back to Diguna where we waited for an hour for someone to come and get our luggage out of storage for us. The mosquitos are bad here, but tonight we set up our mosquito nets in the same cabin as before. The 2 nights for the 2 rooms cost $50, including breakfast (bread and chai).
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Mombasa

Old Mombasa.
Tortoise at Haller Park.
Croc feeding.

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Mombasa

Polykens gave us quite a scare. He went to see some family members for the evening last night, and never came back to the resort. We felt a little helpless without him, but he came back in the morning. He has been so valuable on this trip!

Once we were all together, we went downtown Mombasa for a tour of Fort Jesus. A very tall man named Fauz (people he met called him "doctor" or "professor") gave us the tour and also walked us around the Old City afterwards. He was quite informative. Fort Jesus was built in 1593 by the portugese. It was built out of the natural rock that was already there, in the shape of a man to represent Jesus. It changed hands several times, and in the 1960's was used as a prison.

The Old City was busy and dirty, and the buildings were crowded with very narrow alleyways. Fauz gave us the history of some of the buildings, and we saw a graveyard which was used by the portugese. That's where Fauz pulled us aside and asked for his fee. But we were happy to oblige, he did an excellent job.

After the Old City, Polykens drove down Digo Road, famous for its huge replica elephant tusks over the road. We only got to go under the tusks because Polykens accidentally drove the wrong way. We made our way to Nyali Beach Hotel Resort. Even though it was a private resort, they let us in for the day. Frances remembered Nyali Beach from her first visit to Kenya, mostly because there was an old ship from Singapore shipwrecked on the reef a mile out, and the ship was broken into 2 pieces. The first time she was there, she went with Polykens in a little fishing boat and they were taken out to the reef and they could walk around the shipwreck. This time, only the small front half of the shipwreck was left. The rest apparently has been taken away for scrap metal, piece by piece.
We waited kabisa long for lunch, we almost gave up. Then it turned out not to be very good, oh well. But afterwards, we went swimming in the Indian Ocean and it was so fun! The waves were bouncing them to and fro, and the water was warm and the view was endless. Polykens stood on a patio overlooking the shore and took hundreds of pictures of them playing in the water.

When we were done frolicking, we drove over to Haller Park. It is a huge cement plant turned back into conservationist land, with lots of different animals. It is most famous for Owen and Mzee, the baby hippo who was adopted by a giant tortoise. There are 12 giant tortoises roaming about, we couldn't tell which one was Mzee. They were very tame, Anton had fun stroking them like pet dogs. There were monkeys everywhere, and some eland. We watched 2 hippos being fed, which brought them out of the water right to a prime spot where all the tourists could see them. Then through the fish farm to the crocodile feeding. The crocs all seemed to know the feeding was at 4:30, they started congregating just before that. But they weren't really being fed, they were being teased. A piece of meat was hooked onto a line and dangled just above the bevy of crocs, just out of their reach. But it made for some amazing climbing and jumping shots for the tourists. We were all happy when one of the crocs finally nabbed the bait.
Then we walked through the Reptile Park and saw a python constricting a chicken, and a bunch of other snakes which Polykens did not like.

We went back to the hotel (almost across the road) and changed for our fancy dinner at the famous Tamarind Restaurant. Excellent food, good service. They made us feel like royalty, including bringing warm wet cloths for us to wash our hands with before the meal. And a table on an open patio directly looking over the bay.

If we thought the driving was bad during the day, it is 10 times worse at night. Everyone goes where they want, when they want. The way they communicate to other cars is by honking or shining their brights directly at you when they get close. The matatus are the worse. They are little public vans designed to fit 12, but more often carry 30 plus some chickens and goats. The drivers are very pushy and aggressive. The matatus and trucks are often painted with their own sayings, such as "God is good" or "I don't want any excitement brother".

A lot of places are gated, and a guard opens and closes the gate for you. Nyali Beach was gated, Tamarind Restaurant, our resort. Our resort is actually double gated, and before we can go in, a guard walks around the car with a mirror on a handle and checks under the car.

The mosquitos are so small here you don't see them or feel them until it is too late. We've been sleeping under the hotel net while we've been here.
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Elisha

Children at the Compassion Project Compound.
Elisha(white shirt) and his family in his home.

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Elisha

Today was the day we had arranged a visit with our child that we sponsor through Compassion, Elisha Kitsao. We started sponsoring him when he was 2, and he is now 17. He has 5 years left in the program. We discovered that we had been pronouncing his name wrong to ourselves all these years. It is pronounced E-lee-shah.
First we were met at our hotel by the visit host James. He gave us an orientation as to what to expect. He had hired a driver for the day, but we sent the driver away (with a little tip) because we had Polykens. James took us to a supermarket and we bought a gift "basket" for Elisha's mother, which included staples like soap, rice, flour, salt, and sugar, etc. I also threw in some Canadian maple syrup.
Then James took us to the Compassion compound to meet Elisha. The compound was completely NOT what we expected! It was in the midst of poverty, with mud filled "streets" that were almost unpassable. The compound was very basic, and run by the nicest most welcoming people. It was very evident that they were so happy to have us visit, and also evident that they loved the children and loved God.
Elisha was such a quiet young man. Very shy. James says that is his nature. James also said that Elisha is always clean, he is never dirty. He had dressed very specially for us today. He took quite well to Polykens. I think Polykens took special interest in him because that is the age of his children.

We started in the Compassion office, a very basic room very small, and waited out the downpour. They showed us all of Elisha's records in a big fat book, which included copies of his letters to us, his yearly evaluations, his goals, and his mother's commitment to the sponsorship. We were quite impressed with the organized and complete detailed records. When we get home we will encourage people to sponsor a child. It is so worthwhile. Several of the children there do not have sponsors yet.

Parents must request that their child be placed on a list for sponsorship. They must prove need. Visits are regularly made to homes. So many apply and only a few are chosen, because each compound is told their number by head office. The compound works closely with the church and with the local schools.

Then the workers and the pastor all gave us a tour of different buildings and different rooms, each with its own grade level. They started off at the cute little youngest ones and worked up to the oldest ones. In each room we put Canadian pins on each child, until we ran out. We had brought about 50 of them, but there were 283 kids in this compound. Each grade greeted the pastor politely "Good morning our pastor" and were excited to see us. We took a picture of each class which the kids loved. They were such sweet kids. We are only the 2nd sponsors to visit this compound since it opened in 2006. James told us that tomorrow Elisha will be the talk of the whole compound, and they will all be wearing their pins and waving their flags and surrounding him with questions. So our visit was very special, very few children ever have the opportunity to meet their sponsors.

After the compound tour, James took us to meet Elisha's mother and see his home. He lives at home and attends school or the Compassion programs during the day, usually once a week. On his reports, the biggest problem is "absenteeism". When we asked James why Elisha had so many absenteeisms, he said it is usually caused by a problem at home. Elisha's father died of cholera when Elisha was 9, and there are 8 children. We only met Grace and Timothy. Elisha's mother was the nicest lady. She was so grateful for our sponsorship of her son. Our pictures were up on their walls. She said she had been praying for a long time that they could meet us. We gave her the gifts, there were many small speeches, and she brought chai and sandwiches for us. Elisha went around with a pitcher of water and a basin and held both while he poured water for us to wash our hands. We gave Elisha a bag of clothing, and they gave Anton a shirt that says "Kenya" and gave Frances 2 kangas, one for the waist and one for the head. The mama put them on for her. Also, Elisha gave us 2 bracelets that he had beaded himself, one that said "Anton" and one that said "Frances" (spelled correctly!) Elisha showed us the room where he slept with his brother, which only had one or two posters and a thin mattress on the floor. This visit to his home was by far the highlight for us.

Then back to the compound. It was only a km away but we had driven because it was so muddy. There we waited in the office and they served us drinks and lunch. There was a big pot of rice, a pot of fried chicken, and a pot of soup with chunks of potatoes. Frankie went back for seconds. Anton is having difficulty adjusting to the food.

After lunch we took Elisha to Mamba Crocodile Farm. Farm is right, because they just keep the older ones around for breeding, and they collect the young ones as eggs or as meat to eat (they take orders.) All the signs led to "Big Daddy", a hundred year croc who ate 5 people in the Tana River before he was caught and brought here. He weighs 800 kilos (1760 pounds). He's fed once a week, which is a big show. We missed that by half an hour, but it was getting late and we didn't want to stay. Elisha asked if he could have a horseback ride, he had never been on one before. Polykens said he has never even touched a horse, so it was new for him as well.
Patrick showed us around the crocodile farm, then a different guide took us through the botanical gardens (we were all quite fascinated with the plant whose leaves close up when you touch them) and he took us through an aquarium (a tunnel with glass cases on each side, the sea cucumbers were cool) and also through an area with snakes in glass cages. They were amazed to hear that we have a snake for a pet, in Kenya that would be associated with witchcraft. We explained to Elisha that we are not witches! The guide took out a fat python and Elisha did not hesitate to hold it, and we did as well, but Polykens and James were kabisa (very) afraid. We finally managed to convince them to touch it, but they needed hand wipes afterwards. It was interesting that we got guides, other visitors didn't. Maybe it was because we are "mzungus" (white). We also paid quite a bit more for our entry than that for the nationals.

After the Crocodile Farm, James dropped Elisha at the side of the road and told him to take a matatu home (!) and went back to the hotel with us to finish the paperwork and collect payment for lunch and expenses.

After James left, Poly took us back to the market and I found an optometrist to fix my glasses for only a few dollars, and we found a bank machine. Back to the resort apartment for the evening. Polykens went to town to visit some relatives. We walked to the beach, just past the restaurant. We walked along the beach and waded in the Indian Ocean, it was only a bit reedy and a bit rocky in spots. We scared up lots of little crabs. Full moon over the ocean. Great day.
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Driving to Mombasa

Our room at Diguna in Nairobi.
Tight squeeze on the highway.
Lunch at a roadside "resort".
The highway to Mombasa.
Mombasa Market.
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Driving to Mombasa

Another early day. Another long day. We woke up at 6:30 Kenyan time (3 hours ahead of England, 8 hours ahead of Canada). As I predicted, it was bread and honey for breakfast, which I couldn't have. We left at 9:00 for a long and busy drive to Mombasa, arriving at our hotel at 6:30 pm. There wasn't a dull moment. The roads were lined with people selling things, almost the whole drive. We spent most of the drive "overtaking" all the big slow lorries, or moving out of the way when someone the other direction decided to overtake their lorry. The road for the most part was in great condition, with a few unfinished parts stuck wherever. Also, there were HUGE speedbumps (more like speedhills) with absolutely no warning, and also, series of little speedbumps all put together. Everywhere you looked there were shepherds minding their goats and cows. Or ladies fetching large containers of water. Lots of "car wash" signs, with no water in sight. Very dry and dusty. Drove through Tsavo National Park and saw baboons scampering back and forth across the road, a flock of camels, elephants so far away only Polykens saw them, and 2 zebras graving right at the side of the road. Plus some lizards. Not bad for our first day in Kenya!

For lunch we stopped at a roadside place and had beef stew and rice. Although, the beef was too chewy to chew, and when you eat your rice you need to keep your eyes open for anything that doesn't belong.

Anton drove for a stint and didn't seem to mind the left-sided driving here, I don't think that even oncoming passers phased him. But no way was he going to drive into Mombasa. In the city, your best bet is to close your eyes and press the gas pedal. I think it was even more exciting than China. Polykens pulled over and we hopped out for a quick jaunt through the crowded markets. We managed to buy 2 mosquito nets for about $15, and Anton picked up a handfitted belt and a pair of leather sandals.

Then we found our hotel, which is actually quite a nice resort run by the Presbyterian church. We have an apartment with 2 rooms, a kitchen, and a sitting room. And there were already mosquito nets in the rooms, oh well. Dinner was a buffet with lots of choices, yippee, but Anton and I were the sloppiest looking 2 people there. Formal dress but they were kind enough to let us in anyway.

When we got here I checked my messages. We're supposed to meet with our Compassion sponsor child tomorrow. I had also inquired about meeting our first child that we sponsored many years ago. My messages today said that they had looked into that and found out that he passed away from TB 4 years ago. Sad. Apparently his siblings still have the pictures we sent to him. Sad.

Well, I hope that our meeting with Elisha happens as planned tomorrow. tired. Exhausted.
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Flight to Nairobi

Oh, 9 hours on a plane is a long time! The gate to our flight was only announced an hour before the flight, with notice that the gate would close in half an hour. We found that odd until we discovered that there was a 10 minute shuttle to our plane. Consequently, 3 people missed the gate deadline and we all had to sit on the tarmac while all the luggage was searched so theirs could be removed. Our flight was also longer because for some reason France was not allowing anyone over their airspace that day, so the plane had to divert over Germany. They had put Anton and me 5 seats apart, so we were moved to be together. But I had to move within half an hour because someone near us was wearing so much perfume it bothered even Anton. They absolutely refused to upgrade us to another section even though we begged and offered to pay for it, AND it was virtually empty there. So we spent the entire flight apart. But I guess after 3 movies and 2 full meals, your brain is too fuzzed out to notice.

Getting through Kenyan immigration was more painful than getting your teeth pulled. SOOO slow! It took over an hour. Our luggage had gone around the carousel countless times before we got to it. Polykens was right there waiting, and he took us to Diguna to spend the night. Diguna is like a camp compound, it is where I did the 4 months of missionary work in 1985. So much has changed, nothing was really that familiar, although the dining hall was the same, and the toilets! Which are best left undescribed in a blog. Anton and I had a room with 8 bunks to ourselves, but I slept quite poorly because of mosquitos. The second I lay down, one landed on my nose, and that was the end of any possibility of any peaceful sleep. We really must pick up some mosquito nets.
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Oxford and Blenheim Palace

In front of Christ Church in Oxford, at The Eagle and Child pub, and Blenheim Palace.
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Oxford and Blenheim Palace

Today Anton braved the driving again, and off we went in Mike's car to the city of Oxford.  Actually, off we went to the Park and Ride.  I had always imagined the University of Oxford to be one big campus, but in reality it's a large number of smaller campuses spread throughout the city center.  We found a do-it-yourself walking tour, and explored Oxford on foot.  The architecture of the centuries old buildings is stunning.  Our favourite was ChristChurch Cathedral, where a friendly priest told us the story behind a particular memorial plaque, of a whole fleet of warships that was drowned when they headed towards a light that wasn't the lighthouse.  And can you imagine, the dining hall where they filmed the Great Hall from the Harry Potter movies was actually closed to the public because it was lunchtime?  No wonder there were so many Japanese tourists milling about.
To top off our time in Oxford, we had lunch at the Eagle and Child pub, which is where C.S. Lewis and J.R. Tolkien used to hang out with their "inklings" crowd.  Unfortunately, my salmon cake was breaded, but Anton's chicken potpie was good.

After retrieving the car from Park and Fly, we drove over to Blenheim Palace.  This is a 2000 acre home built in 1705 (it took 28 years to complete).  It was given by the royal family to John Churchill, the first duke of Marlborough for a military success he had.  It's been passed down through the family, and now the 11th duke lives there.  They are related to Winston Churchill, who was born and married there. We toured through the palace itself, and took the little train over to the "Pleasure Gardens".  They had some pretty lavender gardens and a butterfly house, and a fairly large hedge maze that we got lost in.

Back to Banbury where we discovered that Mike's wife Susie does exist.  In all our back and forthing we hadn't seen her once yet since she returned from the weekend in Scotland.  Wouldn't that be nice?  A weekend in Scotland.  Now to packing up and getting ready for a very long day travelling tomorrow.  Off we go to Kenya!

Cotswolds

A quaint Cotswold cottage and careening down a country road facing death at every turn.
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Cotswolds

Today we took Mike's car and drove all day exploring little english villages which were adorable.  We started by driving through Chipping Norton to Burford, which has a bridge dated 1322. We love going into the old country churches.  All these little villages have such odd names.  Swinbrook.  Lower Slaughter.  Upper Slaughter.  Bourton-on-the-Water.  Stow-on-the-Wold.  Moreton-in-Marsh.  Chipping Campden.
Everywhere in the Cotswolds they have "public footpaths", which are walking trails going through fields from one village to another with interesting gates along the way that keep livestock out.  We took a footpath between the two Slaughters and back, which was quite relaxing. 
What was NOT relaxing for Anton was the driving on the wrong side of the road on lanes half the size of ours back home, along hairneck curves with a stick shift, with no clue where he was going.  I thought he was quite competent, but he was quite frazzled.  He was quite happy to get back to Banbury in the evening.

Sunday Highlights

Exploring Cheltenham and BBQ at Mike's.
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Day One

 

The flight in to London Heathrow was fine.  It was great to be met at the airport by someone we knew and not have to brave our own way to a hotel.   Mike's place is in Banbury, about an hour from London.  He's given us the upper level to his flat which has a large bedroom and its own washroom, given us the keys to his car, and left us to our own plans. This morning we wanted to go to his church in Cheltenham, and he just happened to be preaching today, so we tagged along.  Since there were 2 services, we snuck out of the first service with Hellie, another person from our Israel tour group.   She showed us around the town, including a famous clock that blows bubbles upon the hour.  We attended the 2nd service and met a few other people from our Israel tour, including Lewis and Pete.  Pete is part of a well known band in the UK called the Pendragon.

Back to Banbury for an "official" Israel tour group reunion.  There were 9 of us, which is about one third of us.  It was a great afternoon sitting in Mike's yard chatting while Anton BBQ'd.  There were Peter and Gill, Jan and Chris, and Roger and Carole.  Some of them drove hours for this reunion, we really appreciated it.

Just Boarded

Waiting to start!
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Set to Go

We are at the airport ready to go. Today we will fly to London England where we will be picked up by Mike Fuller, a member of our Holy Land tour from last year. We will stay with Mike until Wednesday, on which day we will fly to Nairobi. Sure will be glad to get rid of all this luggage!
We'll stay in Kenya until August 7, when we fly to Amsterdam. We'll visit there for a day and a half, and fly home August 9, minus 150 pounds of luggage, hurray!

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