Blogs from Nairobi, Nairobi Province, Kenya, Africa - page 18

Hello! Well a lot has happened in the past week or so. Firstly my filling from Zanzibar fell out after less than a week so that was pretty annoying. Additionally it came while flossing of all things. I have since spent 12000 shillings and went to the US Embassy dentist here in Nairobi. Since leaving Zanzibar as far as major events we spent a few days in the Ngorogoron Crater/Serengeti area of Tanzania and a few days in the Masai Mara section of Kenya. I am one folder behind in my photo posting as all of the photos in this blog are from Malawi or Tanzania. Also my super cool braids or "plats" fell out after around 10 days. While on safari we saw some amazing things including a cheetah killing a gazelle. He moved as ... read more

When Americans hear the term “Lost and Found” they may envision a place where there are perhaps books, jackets, a notebook, an old pair of tennis shoes and odds and ends that someone has misplaced. The possession may have been missed and usually the owner is glad to have them back. That is what I used to think of when I heard the term. Now that I live and serve in Kenya the term has a much broader meaning…It comes to mind where I hear stories like that of Mercy, Pinky and Obama. These are siblings that got “lost” when their mother started deteriorating due to cancer. Children in the Masai village where they lived are not allowed to watch a parent die. During her sickness the children didn’t go to school. With no father around ... read more

Amboseli is famous for its enormous herds of elephants and it has a magnificent view of Mt. Kilimanjaro whenever she chooses to show herself. Often, she hides in the clouds and haze as she did when we arrived. I have a picture of Greg and Lizzie with the mountain behind them. Unfortunately the mountain chose to hide from the camera. It’s right behind them. Here’s the picture anyway. The elephants, though, don’t hide well and on our first drive they were around as were Wildebeest, Thompson’s Gazelle, Grant’s Gazelle, Impala, Zebra, Buffalo, Hippos, Jackals, Ostrich and a zillion kinds of birds, including Flamingos, Egyptian Geese, falcons, herons - we were overwhelmed. The place teemed with animals. But if you asked me, as our guide, Godfrey did, to say a single word that describes Amboseli, I’d probably ... read more

I really enjoy writing about our travels, but I have this fear that readers; my friends, family and colleagues, find the postings, boring or narcissistic. I’m not paranoid. The fear reflects the fact that blogging is narcissistic and often it’s boring. So I humbly acknowledge that the writings are for me and not for you. However, I will do my best to provide some semi-accurate information and something that might interest some of you , at least. This blog will be different from the one that I did from India in that I didn’t, as John Steinbeck termed it, write hot. My writings and descriptions of this trip were made after reflection and after having subsequent experiences that had to influence my perceptions of the earlier ones. I hope you enjoy them. After four days in ... read more

Uhuru Peak, Kilimanjaro - 5895m, the highest peak in Africa, the largest free-standing mountain in the world. I made it! On the first day of our climb, we set off from Marangu Gate and started our trek through a rainforest. It was a beautiful place, and thankfully not too wet. It was mostly a gentle climb, and our guides constantly told us to go "polepole" - slowly. We were to hear this phrase an awful lot over the next few days! After hiking for about 4 hours, we reached Mandara Huts, where we were to stay for the night. The accomodation was very basic, but there were beds which were a welcome change to tents! After settling in, we did a short acclimatisation walk to the top of a nearby crater to become used to the ... read more