In One Piece

I'm in Nairobi and in one piece. So is my car. At least, for the most part. Try driving on really bad roads for four hours at high speed and you, too, would understand why mysterious nuts and bolts are found rolling around on the floor. It makes you wonder what may have fallen off/out of the engine... These are the type of roads where you regret it if you forgot to wear a sports bra. (Sorry guys if that's TMI for you. It's reality.)

The last time I drove to Nairobi (en route to Rwanda) my car's turbo gave in. Or does it give out? Not sure. But it's no longer working. Which means that when I even just drive up the 30-degree hill to the top of our training center, I have to engage low 4WD. Which I don't think is too good for the car. Well, maybe having to use low 4WD isn't too bad, but you know it can't be good for the engine when there's a constant high-pitched buzz when you're driving more than 40kmh.

The best time to make the trip to the city is now, since I also have a slew of year-end projects to work on for the office. Projects that would happen much faster if I can plant myself and my computer in a booth at Nairobi Java House, and work uninterruptedly.

It just also happened that Zack and Wendy, two guests to Kipkaren were going to take a matatu to Nakuru and hire a driver to take them on a game drive. "Here's a deal," I told them. "I need to go to Nairobi by car. And the road to Nairobi takes me right through Nakuru. You can catch a ride with me."

We left Kipkaren around 10 am, just as the crowds started approaching our center for Sunday morning service. It was 3:30, maybe 4, when we finally rolled into Nakuru. I've driven that route in three hours -- an hour to town, and two to Nakuru. But the shortest road is so full of potholes that it is not good for any car to drive that way. So we took the longer way, through Kerio Valley, stopping along the way only briefly to bananas fruit from Esther, and to enquire about her husband's health.

This morning, we were inside the park by 7 am. And no sooner had we started our game drive, the morning fog still hanging thick in the air, than a vehicle stopped and suggested we go the other way around the lake. "There's a leopard on the road to Lion Hills."

I swung around as fast as you can with a car like mine on a narrow road, and gunned it. She was still there when we joined the party of about 10 vehicles under the tree. There were no fewer than 100 cameras pointing at this beauty (one of the vehicles was a large overland truck with probably 40 young adults poking their heads through the roof), and somehow, we seemed to have the perfect spot for some great photos. (I didn't bring my camera cable with me, so I'll upload photos from Kipkaren. Sorry!)

It never ceases to amaze me how beautiful God's creation is! I sat on the roof of my car for the longest time, just staring at the leopard. And then, the journey continued.

We saw many more amazing sights. A baby white rhino with its mom, the little one nursing happily. Good thing baby rhinos don't have horns yet, I figured, or the mom won't be too happy about the little one poking its nose in under her belly! We saw several Rothschild giraffes. Twelve more white rhinos. A hyena. Lots and lots of cape buffaloes. An amazing number of birds of prey. Tens of thousands of flamingos, and hundreds of pelicans. And then, just as we were heading out of the park, thankful for an amazing four hours of game viewing, Wendy yelled, "Lions!" There were two beautiful lionesses just lounging around this huge dead tree stump on the side of the road! Another 100 photos later, we left the park, thoroughly aware of what an amazing God we serve.

We braved the next part of the journey, bouncing over roads that have more potholes than there are patches of black top. The stretch from Nakuru to Nairobi used to be all of a two-hour drive. Almost four hours later, I rolled into Nairobi. I had dropped Zack and Wendy along the way with a driver who's taking them elsewhere for the next few days.

Tomorrow morning, I'm dropping off my car, trusting and believing that the repairs will be minor. I don't want to have to replace the turbo! It's time, however, to replace my tires. They're all badly cut by the rocks used to fill in our mud roads.

All this to say, I am honestly grateful for life the way it is, that I do get to drive to Nairobi, albeit over bumpy roads, that I got to stop along the way and enjoy God's creation, that unlike most of the Kenyan women around me, I do have the ability to drive, even make decisions about things like tires and turbos, though I know little about it.

And I'm infinitely thankful for places like Java House, where I can go and work tomorrow on the projects on my plate while the fundi figure out how to put my car back together in one piece.

Roads, rain and rhinos

It's late Saturday night, and the rain is falling outside, a strong, constant rain, the type that makes the crops grow and that fills the dams. We use hydro-electricity, I've been told, so drought means power rationing. It makes me like the rain even more.

It's been a full day. I was up by 5:30 after having had little sleep thanks to our hotel being in Nakuru's club zone, it seems. Our hotel? Nakuru? I had taken the three interns on safari.
We left for Nakuru yesterday afternoon so we could stay at a hotel and enter the park as the gates open at 6:30, which we did in fact do. I drove the girls around with both the safari hatches on my car down, so they stood the entire time, appreciating the wildlife. We stopped for chai and a time of debriefing, reflection and prayer around 11:00. (Went to Sarova Lion Hill, which overlooks the lake. What a treat to sit there and talk about "Now what? As a result of having experienced what you had experienced, what do you believe God wants you to do differently when you return home?" This truly is one of my favorite parts of my job: walking this journey with visitors.) After the break, we drove along the lake shore for another hour or so and then headed out, the girls to go shopping, and me to have the car washed... (The lake is very salty, so it's smart to get the underbody pressure washed after driving along Lake Nakuru.) We were on the road to Eldoret by 3 and arrived home by 6, praising God for a safe journey.

Perhaps you'll understand better if I tell you that the journey between Eldoret and Nakuru is all of 160 kilometers. That's about 100 miles. It takes 3 hours because of the potholes and speed bumps. There are sections where you simply cannot go any faster than 20 kmh at the most, constantly zigzagging across the road. It's times like those that I yet again thank God for a good vehicle.

But back to our safari. (I'll upload photos in the morning. Too tired to do so now.) Some highlights:

• MOST AMAZING: It was incredible to see the sun rise and shed the most amazing light on the lake and its tens of thousands of pink flamingos!
• MOST IN NUMBER: The flamingos. They're breathtakingly beautiful. And because there are so many, you hear a constant chatter when you approach them! We also saw lots and lots and lots of other birds, including spoonbills, saddlebilled storks, pelicans, and an African fish eagle.
• CUTEST BY FAR: The baby vervet monkeys and baby olive baboons we saw. The smallest one may have been all of one week old, and it was exploring the world with great courage.
• UGLIEST: The spotted hyenas. I don't like them. They're mean.
  
• NASTIEST: We saw two olive baboons fight. One sounded like it was truly crying. The other one was bullying him...
• BIGGEST: Not sure if the herds of eland (world's biggest antelopes) were the biggest mammals we saw, or if it were the Cape Buffaloes. The heaviest, though, was certainly the rhino. Which leads me to ...
• SCARIEST: There was a lone, male white rhino that mock charged us! As we approached, I stopped, realizing that this male was so close to the road and I didn't want to annoy it. It is, after all, strong enough to tip my Land Rover! We waited, and he showed us who's the boss by first of all stomping his hind legs (kicking up grass), and then spraying to mark his territory. We waited and waited till he turned his back to the road, at which time I decided to go for it. As we got right close to him, he turned around and through his head in the air as if to say, "There! Gotcha!" My heart was pounding. I know rhinos can't see well at all, so that gives us and advantage, but he had the greatest advantage in terms of weight!
• SADDEST: Nothing, really. It's just a pity that the girls didn't get to see any of the cats in the park. The lions were as elusive as ever. Same with the leopards.

It's good to be back in my bed, though. I hope I don't dream of driving...