kenya: a visit to cucu's
a few weekends ago, we were off for the weekend plus a bit of vacation - our first few vacation days in a long long time, (we had used up all our vacation time on our trip last year) and we were very very excited. even though we werent going anywhere far, but YES!!! we were on vacation. what a wonderful feeling.
our plan was to start of with a visit to cucu's (my grandmother) in elburgon via uncle johns, then the next day back to nakuru to visit with our friends alan and debbie and then cap it off with a couple days camping, hopefully in a newly discovered campsite. that was the plan at least!
on our way, we passed this beautiful, hitherto undiscovered, lookout onto lake elementaita. it was a rocky road up, but we made it and were rewarded by being the only ones there...
we were to meet uncle john at the 'east gate center' so he could show us his house. since he was at work, we ended up getting nyambura my cousin as our guide. we enjoyed her company and ended taking her with us to cucus and to our sunday sign language meeting.
our fearless guide nyambura:
some of you might notice that 'nyambura' is also suzies middle name. yep, because of kikuyu naming tradition, all first born daughters are named after paternal grandmother, so they all have the same name, as do all firstborn sons. heres my cousin, gathuru (also my name) making delicious chapatis for us...
after a very enjoyable night at cucu's (shes doing pretty well for someone of her age, thanks for asking), we set off early next morning for nakuru, about 1 hr back towards nairobi. there is a sign language congregation there which we attended as well as a special pioneer couple who used to be with us in nairobi, alan and debbie. we had a great night with them in their very very cool apartment tucked snugly behind the kingdom hall - you wouldnt even guess its there. the main thing is to remember not to walk into the hall with your shorts on on sundays (there is a door between the hall and the apartment :).
on monday morning we set off once again, this time with the intent of finding a new campsite. we had a couple good leads, the most promising being an private wildlife conservancy. it looked beautifully but unfortunately they dont take groups of less than 10 (to scare off the buffaloes, apparently). the next couple stops were either ugly campsites, or ok looking but 10 times the price of all the others. we ended up going to our old faithful campsite on lake naivasha and we were rewarded with this beautiful sunrise the next morning:
attempted black and white shot of the said sunrise.
another sunrise shot
so feeling deliciously peaceful and rested up, we packed everything up and started on our slow, reluctant drive home. as always, we stop on the majestic rift valley and are rewarded with a beautiful view of the rays of the sun breaking over mt. longonot
our plan was to start of with a visit to cucu's (my grandmother) in elburgon via uncle johns, then the next day back to nakuru to visit with our friends alan and debbie and then cap it off with a couple days camping, hopefully in a newly discovered campsite. that was the plan at least!
on our way, we passed this beautiful, hitherto undiscovered, lookout onto lake elementaita. it was a rocky road up, but we made it and were rewarded by being the only ones there...
we were to meet uncle john at the 'east gate center' so he could show us his house. since he was at work, we ended up getting nyambura my cousin as our guide. we enjoyed her company and ended taking her with us to cucus and to our sunday sign language meeting.
our fearless guide nyambura:
some of you might notice that 'nyambura' is also suzies middle name. yep, because of kikuyu naming tradition, all first born daughters are named after paternal grandmother, so they all have the same name, as do all firstborn sons. heres my cousin, gathuru (also my name) making delicious chapatis for us...
after a very enjoyable night at cucu's (shes doing pretty well for someone of her age, thanks for asking), we set off early next morning for nakuru, about 1 hr back towards nairobi. there is a sign language congregation there which we attended as well as a special pioneer couple who used to be with us in nairobi, alan and debbie. we had a great night with them in their very very cool apartment tucked snugly behind the kingdom hall - you wouldnt even guess its there. the main thing is to remember not to walk into the hall with your shorts on on sundays (there is a door between the hall and the apartment :).
on monday morning we set off once again, this time with the intent of finding a new campsite. we had a couple good leads, the most promising being an private wildlife conservancy. it looked beautifully but unfortunately they dont take groups of less than 10 (to scare off the buffaloes, apparently). the next couple stops were either ugly campsites, or ok looking but 10 times the price of all the others. we ended up going to our old faithful campsite on lake naivasha and we were rewarded with this beautiful sunrise the next morning:
attempted black and white shot of the said sunrise.
another sunrise shot
so feeling deliciously peaceful and rested up, we packed everything up and started on our slow, reluctant drive home. as always, we stop on the majestic rift valley and are rewarded with a beautiful view of the rays of the sun breaking over mt. longonot
