Paradise Found

Traveling throughout Kenya last week was amazing!!! This is another beautiful land with friendly, welcoming people.

We got very lucky with the weather. For the past month there have been heavy rainfalls, turning the countryside a lush, bright green. But we had zero rain -- just day after day of bright sunny rays piercing down from the huge, blue Africa sky I've totally fallen in love with.

The animal sightings continued to be successful here too. In fact, our first sighting in the Maasai Mara was a leopard (chui in Swahili), so yes, I've finally seen my chui, and this completes my sightings of the Big 5 (leopard, lion, elephant, buffalo & rhino). Another of my favorite sightings were the flamingos at Lake Nakuru. I love their soft pink hue, and its sharp contrast with their black beaks, and when flying the black tips to their wingspan. Very beautiful sight to catch a cluster of them wading in the lake (unfortunately, there was an equally moving unpleasant odor the closer we got, but hopefully that part of the memory will fade with time!).

I think my favorite sighting in Kenya was the mighty Mt. Kilimanjaro. We were treated with 100% clear views from Amboseli National Park in Southern Kenya. Our driver, James, said the Gods must be pleased with us because it's rare for the mountain to show itself off so clearly (it's generally under heavy cloud cover, as it was each time Julie & I were near it on the Tanzanian side!). The mountain is just beautiful - Africa's highest peak. At 19,000+ feet it is snow-topped even this close to the equator. And seeing it, I took several moments to think about all my friends who've climbed it, and how proud I am of them (Krantz, Indri, Kathleen & Mike, John & Ginny, Candace & Kelly) - wow! Maybe one day I'll return to attempt it myself.

The place we stayed in Amboseli, had Earnest Hemmingway's old hunting lodge on its grounds. Inside were photos of him with his big-game kills, photos of him with the local Maasai people, etc. And one afternoon, one of my fellow travelers leant me a copy of "Snows of Kilimanjaro" which he wrote from the lodge. It's a collection of short stories. I just read the first one - the title story. Didn't care for it much, as the main character wasn't likeable, but got a kick out of reading it there on the spot of inspiration.

Mere