A bird sanctuary

I didn't have a lot of time yesterday and didn't bother digging out the keyboard so I could type a story but this morning I have way more time than I need, so you get stories!!

Oh shoot --- I'm not sure where exactly I left off but no worries if there is duplication. The morning after our mini safari, the driver took us to the train station in Voi and we boarded the train bound for Nairobi. It was over four hours by train, but we knew that and weren't in a hurry. I sort of dozed but not really. The tracks went along side the park for a bit and we got to see more elephants. If you want to see elephants, Tsavo East is the place to go. 

There are Xray machine everywhere!! When we got to the gate of the train station, we had to get out and walk through a small building that had an Xray machine like at the airport. Our luggage stayed in the vehicle. Upon arrival at the terminal, we had to put our luggage through the X-ray machine and we also had to walk through another one! 

What are they checkiing for? Weapons? Illegal items (I doubt that as they wouldn't show up on X-ray). I guess guns. Oh well. We were through and had over one hour wait for the train. I'm getting a lot of reading done!!! And so easy to download ebooks when on WiFi. 

Once we arrived in Nairobi, we had a driver to get us to the next destination. We are spending the last couple of days with DH's second cousin once removed and his wife. We had met them at the beginning of the trip and they are wonderful people and DH and them are sort of in the same business. The two men are wheeler and dealers so it's been lots of fun.

Anyway, we are on our last adventure and they are our tour guides or should I say our drivers!!! They own a relatively large car for this area but then he has four children (previous marriage) and he needs something to get them foom A to B. 

So the roads yesteray were not so bad, but the speed bumps --- I swear there are thousands of them and you can't go fast. Oh -- you could go fast if you wanted, but then yoo would have no car left and you'd have whiplash. These bumps are serious!!! 

They tell me that my perception of how the traffic works is skewed as we have not seen many acidents, but apparently, there are enough!! I'll go with the way I view the system!! 

We are on our way to a destination which I won't reveal yet, but in the meantime, we are several hours from Nairobi. OH WAIT --- I should clarify that -- several hours driving in Africa does not mean that you have travelled a great distance. With the speed bumps, and the traffic, it can take a long time to go a short distance!!! 

When we traveled from Moshi to Arushi, the distance was 70 KM but it took almost three hours. That was because of the many diversions due to contruction and the traffic. It's a crazy world here and you just know that you are not going anywhere fast, so you just chill out. They told me that my demeanor would be well suited to living in Africa!!! Hmmm --- when do I move? 

With the help of the internet, it's been easy to find decent restaurants on our journey. We had Italian for lunch and then we were at an open air restaurant for dinner that is ten minutes from where we are staying. Thankfully, they had a fire and I had a sweater. It's winter in Arica and I would bet that its colder here than back home!! My watch is telling me that is 12 degress right now. 

When I say open air -- we had a roof, but no walls. So if it had of been raining, which is wasn't we would have been fine! 

We are staying at an AirBnB which is pretty amazing. OK --- I learned that I have a very positive attitude and I enjoy most things. I do look at the silver lining of everything and I'm happy about that. 

However, all that to say that this place is incredible. It's a very large house in the middle of nowhere with four bedrooms all with ensuites. A massive living room, dining room and kitchen. Of course, there are all the modern conveniences you could want. Stoves, fridges, some of them better than what I have at home. Even a washer for the sheets and towels, but then they are hung on the line to dry!! 

I guess you can have anything you want in Africa --- if you have money. It's definitely a country of extremes. So many people in the areas have nothing or do with very little and then we drove through the rich area (Karen -- how fitting!) and these houses are on acres of land in the mddle of Nairobi. I guess that is the same everywhere, but it just appears more extreme here. 

We passsed through or along The Great Rift again and the view is magnificent. We decided that we would buy a small souvenir or two and since we no longer have to carry it, this was the time. Sorry --- for the disjointed story line. 

This house is in the middle of a bird sanctuary near Lake Naivisha (not spelt correctly) and the house is surrounded by an electric fence which is turned on at 6 PM until 8 AM. The gate to the compound is left open in the day and we had a herd of young zebras wonder into the backyard as well as many water bucks. I also spotted a dik dik, which is a tiny deer like creative. I just spotted him again this moroning, but I didn't get a picure yet. 

Before 6 PM when they shut the gate, they shoo all the animals out and close the gate. 

We took a walk down to the lake yesterday which is incredible. The lake is overflowing with the overflow reaching the backyard of the house. Its a permanent overflow because it's filled with vegetation similiar to what I used to have in my pond at home. 

Apparently, there are hippos in the lake but since we couldn't really get "close" to the lake, we didn't spot any or hear any. 

The animals and vegetation tha we saw was spectacular and I took many pictures. The overflow has been there for a while as the trees are dead. Even the cacti are immersed in water, yet they seem to be still alive. I'm not sure the history of this place or why it's here, but its a great place to stay, expecaly if you had a larger group of people. 

The back porch rivals my gazebo at home, although I've never had zebra wonder past to check me out!! 

There are some very noisy birds and there is one species that sound like ducks, yet they fly into the trees. I thought someone mentioned on Facebook that they are geese. I'll see if I can get more details on that. 

Oh wait --- I forgot to mention -- it's my birthay today!!!! Yeah me --- I live to tell another year of stories and quite happy to be here. Do you need to know how old I am? Of course, you don't. It's all in how you feel and how you look at and perceive the world. In my mind, I'm still 6 years old, but with a lot of experience and a few aches and pains, although I've been perfectly fine here!!!! That's what life is all about. 

Just one more place to visit and then it's time to head t othe airport. While I realize that the strike is over and we were never worried about it since that happened ten days ago, we aren't even flying that airline home!! We have two long flights and neither one of them is Air Cnada, but we are flying with their alliance partners. 

OMG --- we were chatting yesterday about books we've read and Maria mentioned that she read all the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew and Mysterious Five? I'm not sure I got that right. So this morning, when I scouted the book shelves here, I found her some reading material. You'll see in the pictures. 

There is a nice fire pit in the backyard and after we arrived back at the house after dinner, the person responsible for the house had set up the fire and all we had to do was light it. We all sat out back and I was wrapped up in a big blanket - just because that is what you are supposed to do around a fire. It was a great way to end the day. 

OK -- I'll load some pictues of the birds in a separate post. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!