Snorts under the Stars

Doing a little catching up, here, but last month we finally went camping! It was big on my list to be out under the big sky far away from city civilization. When school got out we drove up to Lake Baringo, one of  several lakes that dot the length of the Rift Valley in Kenya. We took a boat ride, which revealed birds and crocs while we floated over submerged lake islands - there had been a lot of rain. We didn't have to venture further than the shore edge, a few dozen feet from our campsite, to see the hippos.

Yes, this is where we camped. The closest hippo was just to the right of the sign... but too much in the bushes to get a good picture.

After dinner at the covered-patio restaurant (gotta love roughing it in Kenya!), we gazed at the stars, demurred on the campfire, and crawled into our sleeping bags as the deep and rumbling hippo snuffles and snorts carried us of to a 9PM sleep (yeah, we've been tired!).

The next day we drove to Lake Bogoria. We were very impressed with the state of the tarmac. (Yes, tarmac, and it was in great shape!) We went in the northern gate of the park and were almost immediately treated to lots of flamingos, beautiful scenery, and hot springs.

Flamingos, mountains and lakes, oh my.

Despite what the ranger had said, the road to the south gate wasn't actually passable (at least, we weren't willing to try without having a winch, and someone to winch us). Instead of backtracking we decided to go out the western gate. It was on the park's map. It was on the GPS.

Note to self: If you find yourself saying "This road should work" when you already know another road is perfectly good, DON'T TRY IT. Just suck it up and backtrack.

After a journey that resembled a cartoon car going up and down hills, on a very rocky, bumpy, dirt track, we finally made it to the gate. Which was at a wee village. The gate was closed and locked. And the wee village was very, very quiet. Andrew got out of the car, and walked around looking interested in the gate. This process sends up the muzungu alert. Soon enough, a little boy came running up to Andrew, and stood there looking at him. Andrew pointed at the gate and asked a question. After a bit the boy smiled and went running, and soon enough an older man came to the gate, reached down and unwrapped the chain and still-locked steel padlock from the posts, and opened the gate. Er, thanks.

Note to self: If you find yourself saying "How do we get through this locked gate in the middle of nowhere" always try to simply open the gate. It just might work. 

After what seemed like hours and hours, very few cow/sheep/goat sightings (which just shows how middle-of-nothing we were for a while) and several exclamations that went something like "This is really on the map?", "This isn't a road, it's a river bed!", "You've gotta be kidding me!" and repeated renditions from the back seat of "are we there yet?", we finally reached the highway. Another four short hours through death-defying traffic and we would be home. Andrew would have kissed the tarmac if he wasn't so anxious to push the car above 15 km per hour.

And then, I got to deliver the news to the wee one that 1) yes, she could watch a dvd now, and 2) when we got home, we were going to babysit two kittens. After 5 weeks with us the kittens went home last night amid many tears (from the child) and sighs of relief (from the curtains and my office chair).

Cutie faces, loud purrs, funny pounces, sharp claws.

Running

It's been one of those months...hence, things have been quiet on the blog. A few things have kept us running with feet spinning around like cartoon characters.

1. End of school year / beginning of "let's keep the kid busy and make ourselves crazy in the process" (sign up for camp, get a schedule, pay the money, and expect it to happen...? Not in Africa!).
2. A long-awaited camping trip! Which totally rocked except for the fact that the roads on the map really shouldn't be on the map if that's what they are calling a road (a future post). This resulted in a very long drive home.
3. The Great Sandbox Debacle (I'm not ready to talk about it).
4. Piloting of the training I've developed on temporary contract with a locally-located WHO office (develop materials, enlist participants, and carry out the training...? Not in Africa!).
5. Andrew's scheduled travel to a conference, it's on - off - on - off - on! (and so is his work on the paper he is to present).
6. The CATS, which we are kitten-sitting, adorable as they are, with their kitty boxes and their kitty claws and their penchant for climbing, disrupting the normally (un)productive evening working hours. 
7. Three people, sick for two weeks.
8. The child, who loves the cats so much, that she barely lets the poor things' feet touch the ground.

This weekend I am looking forward to actually running, paying some attention to my kid, and, best of all, picking up some of "our people" from the airport!