Fun Day!

Shauna Simmonds, of makeyouthink.tv, has been at Rosslyn Academy this week as the Spiritual Emphasis Week speaker. She leaves tonight to return to Toronto. On her last day in Africa we took her to a couple of our favourite spots!
We started out at the Giraffe Centre (one of our very first adventures when we moved to Kenya). The Giraffe Centre houses Rothschild giraffe for the purpose of educating the Kenyan population about giraffe and their habitat. We learned that giraffe only sleep 30 minutes in a 24 hour period! They can be 5 metres tall and live for about 27 years in captivity.
We were able to pet, feed, and kiss Daisy the Giraffe. Shauna would not kiss Daisy…. even though we explained that the giraffe saliva has antiseptic properties. Simon, Max, and Tim did indeed kiss Daisy! Lisa preferred to have a close chat with Daisy.

After the Giraffe Centre we went to the Kazuri bead factory. Kazuri is Swahili for "small and beautiful". The factory employs over 300 women in the making of handmade beads for necklaces, bracelets, earrings, wall hangings, and pottery. The beads are beautiful and Lisa owns many!!
Most importantly is that the factory recognizes the value of creating employment for Kenyans. Much of the work could probably be mechanized -- molds for the beads instead of hand-shaping every one, dip a batch of beads instead of hand-painting every one. But by giving the women meaningful work and providing a health plan the company is making a REAL difference to Kenya.

After Kazuri we went to lunch at a creperie called Le Rustique and also visited a Kitengela Glass Shop.

Safari

We had the pleasure of our first family company here in Kenya! Tim’s brother Alan, and his wife Tricia, came from South Carolina to spend a week with us. Last weekend we drove to the Maasai Mara on a safari. August is the peak season for the Mara’s Great Migration.Every year 1.3 million wildebeest move in a clockwise direction from the Serengeti to the Mara in search of water and fresh grass. They quite literally eat their way across the plains. The cycle began in the 1960s when the numbers of wildebeests swelled to over a million.
We viewed the tail end of this year’s Migration. We saw great long lines of wildebeests, gazelle, and zebra, walking in a slow march and leaving the land behind them looking dry, trampled, barren.And anytime you have a million herbivore strolling by, you have carnivores looking for a easy meal. We saw 28 lions, 3 cheetahs, 3 hyenas, and 1 leopard hanging around.
The most intriguing thing about these ferocious animals was that we saw them in very natural moments: a lioness nursing her cubs, a family of lions strolling across the plain carrying the runt of the litter, a leopard napping in a tree, a young male lion drinking from a stream, another lion cleaning its face just like a domestic cat, two brother lions resting after a full meal of wildebeest.There were also giraffe, elephants, hippos, and ostrich looking for some green grass in the parched land. Spectacular sunsets, delicious food, and luxury tents completed this once-in-a-lifetime trip. Although a second trip to the Mara is not out of the question…..