Sunday in the Park

Taking Time Out!

After three months in the country we decided that our Sunday would not be spent trying to sort out the house but enjoying our local park!  It is a serious bonus, I have to admit when your local park is a game park AND it is right on our doorstep.. Well, to be fair it is a twenty minute drive away but by African standards that's pretty damn close! 

That's our baby outside
the Main Gate

As with all safaris an early start is a must and at 05.30am our neighbourhood rooster was already into full swing.  The sun had already bounced into the sky as we mimicked the action and bounced along Langata Road turning into the park where the early morning queue was already building.  Unfortunately the Park shop opens some 90 minutes after the park (TIA) and so we entered the main gate without a map.... 

Suffice to say that our day in the park, if it were possible to recreate it, probably resembled the contortions of a spider on speed.  There are numerous points at which signage gives broad indications of where you are heading, regrettably on reaching the next signpost your planned destination no longer features...

Miraculously, despite our circular wanderings we had a fantastic seven hours of game-viewing.  OK, so it isn't the Mara with predators in abundance but we never travelled for more than a couple of minutes without seeing something!  We understood that there were three lions hiding out in the undergrowth near signpost Number 17 and as we were mere metres from signpost 16 it seemed reasonable to show our respects to the King of the Jungle.  After twenty minutes or so we found the aforementioned signpost, but as their royal highnesses were not available for unannounced subjects it seemed a significantly better plan to concentrate our efforts on enjoying what we could see!

Bordering the City - Literally!

Its surreal - game in the foreground and the city in the background

Whilst the mammals are fantastic we are fast becoming even more entranced by the birdlife.  

Frankly we have no idea what we are doing when it comes to identification of our feathered friends but with the aid of some fabulous books we are slowly improving.   We have been advised, again our thanks to David and Jayne, to describe the bird out loud when we see it in the hope that when we try to identify it in a book we have some chance of remembering what it looked like!  

For the time-being at least
Nameless Bird

This is clearly a technique that needs time to develop....at the moment the best we can manage is....medium sized bird (well you have to start somewhere), umm brownish flecked wings, umm, beige chest, long tail, umm, orangish eye I think, and so on!  Identifying anything from this type of description would be based on luck alone!

Scarlet-Chested Sunbird

The fact that the bird on the right has a name is down to no more than its stunning beauty and our uncanny ability to identify the family group from which he hails.   

The bird on the left is also pretty stunning, at least five times the size of the sunbird, but we have absolutely no idea what it is!  Stanley, our long-suffering safari driver in the Mara would be less than impressed!

 
A Day in the Sun

Some of what we did see...and us, at Mokoyiet, one of the picnic sites...

and then back to reality.....

An exceedingly dirty car and two equally filthy occupants eventually found their way out of the park and returned home to shower using a hosepipe containing water warmed by the sun!  Until our new solar heating is installed, hopefully next week, this is Jon's rather ingenious idea for ensuring we have access to hot water.  Whoever coined the phrase that necessity is the mother of invention hit the nail bang on the head!  


From our little world where paradise rubs shoulders with insanity...

Kwaherini

A Step in the Right Direction

It's finally here!

Given that you, like us, must be fed up to the back teeth hearing us moan about the lack of a container....open a bottle of champagne immediately!  Yes, it is, is really is here!

You can imagine the excitement of actually being able to access a saucepan that was designed for the purpose you had in mind or, more practically, have access to all those gizmos and gadgets that make up today's office!  It was like all your Christmasses rolled into one, and yes, a sleepless night (excitement) preceeded the big day!

"Travel-worn"

It was a glorious Monday morning when we expected the arrival.....it was still glorious, although it was some 15 degrees warmer and early afternoon when the truck bumped its way over every kerb in the vicinity as it backed its way along the road to us. Review "TIA" in a previous blog!

Given that the box itself appeared to have been utilised as a drag anchor during part of its journey, I admit that the state of the box's innards was of some concern. 

In which country could this possibly
be considered modern transport?

So far, so good, the box (sealed) in front of our house....a huge team of willing hands on standby, the big man with a briefcase and the inevitable  clipboard....cats locked in the bedroom, two hyper Armstrong-Wilkinsons trying to keep it together......






YAY!  It's Break the Seal Time!
Sounds straightforward - right?....................WRONG!

Looks easy here...you had to be there!

Imagine the scene....the seal is halfway up the doors (about 3.5m from the ground) on the back of the lorry, no member of the team allowed to wield the saw was over 1.70m tall. Removers don't carry ladders...we have ladders but, surprise, surprise,they are in the container! 
 
After some frenetic leaping by the removers, clearly of Masai descent, one managed to get a hand hold on a handily placed loop from which he precariously swung whilst sawing at the seal.  The seal exhibited extreme stubborness for a good five minutes until, with the help of another intrepid gymnast it was overcome by a semi-sharp blade and some brute force.

Once the doors were open, chaos ensued.  342 boxes filled the house in what seemed like hyper-speed resulting in a maze from one end of the property to the other than no one was capable of negotiating.   At the time of arranging this great shipment it made sense to cater for unpacking on arrival.  Mmmm, that doesn't work quite as planned when you have no furniture into which to unpack!  Who cares?  We have a lot of boxes.......and from our boxes the beginnings of our biggest ever rummage sale!

Who needs a container anyway?
Getting yourself, your family, your food,your possessions from A to B in Kenya is clearly not difficult, just don't look too closely at the actual mode of transportation!

One of all our time favourites...the wood no doubt got where it was going....pedestrians, animals, cyclists probably didn't fare quite as well.    One of the best stretches of road we have had the pleasure to use, the unanticipated finds on the road make it, not quite so perfect!

Lots of something, going somewhere,
in any direction except straight!

More to come in future issues but for the moment let us share the versatility of the humble bicycle!

The ingenuity of owners of any form of transport knows no bounds and regularly results in us convulsing in laughter!  Seen but not captured, yet, Dad riding, toddler lounging in a food crate on the rear (supportive props include a stick of sugar cane for the child); Egg delivery man, needs to be seen to be believed - 24 trays of eggs on a bicycle rack!  On these roads?  We feel lucky if we get home in one piece after five minutes on the road and we are in a 4x4!

I am waiting, knowing that one day it
will happen....this picture will be enhanced
by the addition of passengers
enjoying a comfortable ride!

Lesson Number One

Do not ask how your goods will get to you, it is probably better for your peace of mind not to know!

That's it from the land in the sun, where anything is possible, although it sometimes it takes a little longer than expected!

You can't argue with this one!

                                        KWAHERINI!