Pre-Safari

September 27th by Megan

It was almost a week ago now.  The kind of vacation I've been dreaming of for at least 10 years.  We had the most spectacular 2-day safari.  This post will certainly not be complete until it includes pictures.  

We began our Saturday with donuts from the RVA "senior store" fundraiser, including a delicious maple walnut donut and a few chocolates.  Yum.  Mr. John, the best driver ever, picked us up at 9:30.  He drove us down a fairly new dirt road to the bottom of the valley, where we joined a main highway.  The road was put in to improve accessibility of the hospital for people living in the valley.  Along the way we had amazing views of the valley and Mount Longonot.  We passed countless euphobia trees, startlingly large cactuses that are also called candelabra trees because of their shape. John said they are left because they are useless to people.  He remembers when the whole area was completely forested.  We drove past small villages made mostly of sheet metal, always with brightly painted, closet-sized shops, with adds for Coca-Cola or Safaricom or Airtel on the exterior walls.  We passed many fields with sheep and cattle, usually accompanied by a shepherd and rarely fenced in.  These were interspersed occasionally with zebras and Thompson's gazelles.  We passed Lake Naivasha, a huge Rift Valle lake, and one of the few with fresh water.  We plan to stop there for a visit to Crescent Island (where Out of Africa was filmed) this coming Sunday afternoon.  Naivasha is a bustling town,   more like a city.  Felt huge to us after a few weeks in Kijabe.  Banks, shops, restaurants, hotels, etc.  From there we drove through beautiful acacia woodlands.  Marveled at 1950s era cars and trucks, especially a turquoise one loaded down with cargo, and piki-pikis (motorcycles) carrying up to 4 people, and women walking along the highway with giant loads of sticks strapped to their backs.  

And then we arrived at Nakuru.  That story will have to wait for another typing session, as this one is being interrupted by a sweet, precocious, almost-3-year-old who is licking my shoulder.