The Woods Family in Kenya

Garden outside our AirBNB cottage      Come morning, we see that the owner of this little cottage has made the place very lovely.   There is a gorgeous garden right outside the front door, with a small table and chairs for drinking coffee and enjoying the scenery.      Off to Naivasha!   And here Joan and I experience our first big-time culture shock.   It's 50 miles of a narrow, 2-line, bumpy highway, jam-packed most of the entire way with pedestrians, animals, carts, motorcycles, bicycles, fume-spewing trucks, buses, plus just about anything that could walk or roll.   The congestion is terrible.   There are no shoulders on the road; the side is just dirt and red clay, and garbage is everywhere.   Oh, and they drive on the LEFT here, which further added to the anxiety of us newly-arrived Americans.      Facing the road were all the local "businesses", most of which were just ramshackle shacks made from all sorts of discarded materials; they looked as if the

  The local giraffe     Early the next morning we walked down to the lake to see the local animals.   There was a lone giraffe, working his way along the lake shore, nibbling on treetops.   Giraffes are kinda shy and hard to get close to.   There was also a group of about five zebras.   Zebras are rather calm, and you can walk up rather close to them.   And there were some impalas, but they were rather skittish.      The residents here must take extraordinary measure to keep the animals AT the lake and AWAY from their homes.   There are stone walls, steel gates, and electric fences.   Hippos, in particular, are very dangerous, aggressive creatures.   Horror stories abound in these parts of people killed by hippos, and it takes a lot to keep a determined hippo from coming into your yard in the middle of the night in search of green foliage.   Water bucks are also big, dangerous and aggressive.   To live here, one must learn how to identify and avoid dangerous animals. Zebra

  Fish eagle.  When he squawked, you could hear it for a mile       There is a rehabilitation center in the neighborhood for birds of prey, run by Sarah, the bird lady.   Birds come here who have been injured, separated from their parents, or given up by owners who attempted to keep them as pets.   The goal is to rehabilitate them wherever possible so that they can be released back into the wild.   Some, however, will never be released, because their injuries were too severe, or they have spent too much time with humans.   (Kai the owl falls into that category.)   For those, the center always attempts to breed them, where possible.     Falcon       We went for a tour of the bird center.   Our guide was Carolyn, a native Kenyan.   She was knowledgeable, friendly, and clearly loved the birds greatly.       The center had eagles, owls, vultures, falcons, and many other avian creatures.   Carolyn explained that a great challenge in Kenya is dispelling superstitions about

  Local businesses     On Saturday we went into the nearby village, allowing me to see first-hand the Kenyan community.   The village was a densely packed place, with people everywhere.   The road was narrow, bumpy, pothole-infested, and clogged with cars, trucks, motorcycles, buses, carts, sheep, goats, donkeys, dogs, bicycles, and pedestrians.   All along the way were these ramshackle businesses which made or sold everything imaginable.        Garbage is everywhere.   Evidently, there is just no place to put it.   The biggest perpetrators:   plastic bags, and plastic water bottles.      But oh, the dust, dust, dust!   All alongside the road, and all the side "streets" (if you can call them that) were just dirt.   And the wind blew incessantly, stirring up thick clouds of blinding, choking dust.   Whenever a vehicle would pass, those nearby would cover their faces with a scarf till the worst of the dust settled.         The buildings where many of the people a

The inspiration for Pride Rock      Hell's Gate National Park lies a few miles south of Naivasha.   Comprising about 26 square miles, it is named after a break in the cliffs that is visible for miles around.   The park was the inspiration for The Lion King .   There is a tall pinnacle of rock from which Pride Rock was modeled. Warthogs     Emily, Joan and I took a day trip to go and check it out.   Most of Hell's Gate is wide-open, dry, scrubby plains, but with steep, dramatic cliffs in the background.   There is wildlife in abundance: zebras, giraffes, wildebeests, warthogs, gazelles, antelope, buffalo, baboons, all sorts of birds, and much more.   The park also features hot springs, as there is also much geo-thermal activity.     This guy hopped up on the hood and would not get off!     As we entered the park and were driving along the park road, we see a baboon up ahead, sitting right in the middle of the road.   We stop and honk the horn.   But then the

"The Treehouse".  That's a fake bronze hippo out front       Sanctuary Farm is a large wildlife preserve right on the shore of Lake Naivasha.   Joan and Emily and I had a lunch reservation there.   To get there, Joan and I got a couple of motorcycle taxis.   These are another well-used transportation option for the locals.   The cost was the equivalent of about one U.S. buck apiece.   The ride was fun - if you could ignore the choking dust.      In its earlier days, Sanctuary Farm was a polo club.   There was an old clubhouse building called The Treehouse that has been converted to a restaurant. It has a huge acacia tree growing right up thru the middle!   The upper deck features a balcony with a panoramic view of the plain, all the way to the lake.   There were no fences here between the lake and the Treehouse, so you had to be eternally vigilant of the animals, which included hippos and other nasty beasts.   We sat there on the balcony deck, and looked out and wa

  All aboard with Capt. John      Joan and I take a boat safari on Lake Naivasha with a young Kenyan who went by the name of Capt. John.   He, and all the local fishermen, use these fiberglass-hulled long boats.   They are about 20 feet long, narrow, flat-bottomed, painted blue, and have a single outboard motor.     Pod of hippos, snoozing in the lake      Out on the water, Capt. John took us to see some wildlife.   There was a pod of about a dozen hippos sitting in the water.   Only their backs and the tops of their heads were visible.   Occasionally one would raise a head and look at us, maybe snort, or flick its ears.         Hippos are very dangerous beasts.   They are extremely territorial and protective of their young.   They have enormous jaws and teeth, and can easily bite a person in half.   And they can swim incredibly fast!   Capt. John knew how close he could get to them.   He positioned the boat so that, if a hippo made a move toward us, he could make a qui