Tues., 27 Apr.
We have learned that a Mr. Bruce Foley will be arriving the week of the 2nd of April to take over as administrator when we leave. Mr. Foley is an Australian. The time between his srrival and our departure will give lots of time to do his orientation.

The 2 day power outage we had last week is a good excuse for not updating the journal/blog as we got way behind in some of the work we had to do. But it’s just an excuse. The day after the long outage it went off for 5 minutes and when it came back on, the UPS, (uninterupted power supply), began to smoke. We’re having it checked to see if it can be repaired.

Jotham and Dick erecting frame for stove shelter

Jothan and I started to put up the shelter for the fuel conserving stove I would like to introduce. I bought the steel roofing and poles for the frame. We got the frame up and Jothan will probably work on putting on the roofing while I’m away.

The wall across the front of the property is coming along well and they were plastering when we left. The welder was to arrive Sat. With the steel bars for the opening in the walls but he still wasn’t there when we left about 9:30 am Sunday.

We have been working on getting uniforms for the guards consisting of 2 monogramed shirts, boots and socks. Having a lot of trouble getting the shirts and one of the day guards fitted with boots, then I found out Sat. night that one of the night guard’s boots wern’t fitting. I’ll have to get that corrected when I get back.

Jan is returning to Austraila on Monday night so on Sunday, 25 Apr. we left for Nairobi. We have crossed the equator before on an aeroplane but this was the first time by land. On the way to Nairobi we stopped at Nukuru National Park. It’s a very large park with a lot of wildlife to see. I’ll leave you to look it up on the WEB. It was dark by the time we left the park, having gotten a lot of photos, and we decided to stay in Nukuru for the night. On Monday morning we drove 4 hours to Nairobi, had lunch, then went to the “Bomas of Kenya” for a cultural experience including traditional dances and replicas of homes and homesteads of the different tribes of Kenya. (www.bomasofkenya.co.ke)

Eva and I stayed in a downtown hotel while Henry, the car owner and another Kenyan (John) who was driving in Nairobi, (I don’t blame Henry for not wanting to drive in Nairobi), stayed at Henry’s sister’s house. Our room had a very comfortable queen size bed with about 16 inches to the wall at the end and 2 feet on one side. 0" on the other. The bathroom had a sink and toilet, and shower on the wall that sprayed water just in front of the toilet. Very ‘compact’.

This morning we left Nairobi and drove to Nanyuki near Mt. Kenya. Eva and I are staying at the fabulous Fairmont Mt. Kenya Safari Club. (I understand Prince William proposed here last year.) We are in a 4 room suite with all the amenities, even a real fireplace. It was raining when we arrived but it is expected to clear tomorrow morning.

Mt. Kenya Safari Club is is right on the equator
The Safari Club had a demonstration of Kenyan folk dancing just before supper. The two dancers had the daughter of the manager, about 5yrs, join them in the first dance. For the second dance they invited us to join them. We then went into the dining room for a delecious steak dinner which neither of us could find room to finish.

Fairmont Mt. Kenya Safari Club

Eva and Dick with Safari Club native dancers

Wed., 27 Apr.

We are here at the Fairmont Mt. Kenya Safari Club and throuroughly enjoying the stay. This morning Henry and John picked us up at 9:30 am and after refueling the van, we headed to the Sweetwaters Game reserve, part of ‘Ol Pejeata Conservancy”, a 90,000 acre game preserve. Although expensive, ($65 each for each non-residenset), we saw a lot. Various types of antelopes, elephants, geraffs, wart hogs, and we even got to feed a black rino. One of the park rangers, Patrick, accompanied us and made the trip much more interesting. The 18 km drive into the entrance was over a very rough road and the roads in the park were marginally better. We were there from about 10am until 3pm when we returned to Nanyuki where we had a light lunch before returning to the ‘Safari Club”. Tomorrow we return to the orphanage at Bungoma. I’m sure we will miss the pampering and luxury here at the Safari Club.

Eva feeding a black rino