back from the bush

If I wrote all my impressions of the last 5 days, I’d be here all day and no one could read it all!

A day in the home of Ole’Salepu was an experience I’ll never forget. His land is at the top of a ridge, with a view 360 degrees around. We arrived just before the cows started to come home, had a wonderful dinner of rice and potatoes and chatted with Salepu and his wife, through Dan and Connie as interpreters. Connie knows a lot of Maa, the local language, but Dan speaks it almost like a local. We enjoyed many cups of chai, the beverage of tea, whole milk straight from the cow, and sugar. As Paige says, we can say was spent the night in a Maasai home, but it wouldn’t be exactly accurate to say we slept in there. We shared beds, but in a different environment, with unusual sounds, smells, etc. our senses had a hard time turning off for sleep. It was SO worth losing a night of sleep to share this experience though!

Another highlight was our day of game viewing. We got up early, took our boxed lunches and headed out to look for wildlife. We found a family of elephants less than a ¼ mile from our camp. The baby was very shy and kind of hid from us. Not much farther away we found our first lioness. She was sitting on a small mound and watching intently into the distance. What amazed us the whole day was how unaffected the animals were by our presence. Other than the baby elephant and the hyena, most of the animals just went about their business. The lioness started calling to her friend, another lioness who arrived after a bit. We probably stayed to watch them for an hour and at one point they walked within 6 feet of the land rover! It was amazing to watch God's creatures in their natural habitat.

The tent camp was neat, we had full bathrooms in our tents, wonderful food and we could hear the lions roar and the hippos grunt or growl (Paige speaks fluent hippo now) while we were falling asleep. The camp had an electric fence around it that at least gives you the illusion of security!

We're paying a good bit for internet time, so no pictures until we return!

We have been negotiating in the marketplace, spending Kenyan shillings by the thousands. I have some vague idea of what things are costing!

We go tomorrow to a Kenyan home and then on Sunday to another Maasai area for worship. What a great culture, we're enjoying soaking it all in.

We are finally adjusted to the time zone and for the most part are sleeping well. What a difference that makes!

We will have great stories and pictures and video to share when we return. We think of our friends and family in the US often!!! HI to you all.