The Treehouse

For the first few days of March Break, we traveled north of Nairobi to a getaway called Malu Farm.  It was a 1.5 hour drive to Naivasha Town and then 11 km on a dirt road to the farm.  That 11 km took 45 minutes.  And we used our 4 Wheel Drive Low.  A regular car would never make it on the worst roads we have traveled in Kenya (so far).  I can not begin to describe the feeling of being thrown around the vehicle, using all the grab bars available, and a back ache that would not quit.  Locals say that the bumpy roads are part of the "charm" of this location.  

We stayed in The Treehouse with our friends, the Pruitts.  It was a large house with a loft and a full kitchen.  Being "self-catering" means that Mom spends her vacation preparing meals for the rest of the family -- much like at home, when not on vacation.... hmmm....   However, this kitchen was beautiful and well-stocked with tools.  But the people who designed it were obviously giants.  Anne Marie and I are actually standing on the floor in the above picture.  Thankfully there was a delicious Italian restaurant on site -- you only had to drive over those terrible roads to get there.

The Treehouse offers little in the way of entertainment -- so we made our own:  watching the hippos in the river; reading; playing SkipBo and Zilch and chess and Yahtzee; eating snacks (that mom prepared); having a bonfire; watching Colobus and Sykes monkeys.  One of the boys' favourite past-times was playing with their electronic DS in "the basket" -- a large hamper that fit all four of them at once.  It was especially popular in the cool mornings (they would take hot water bottles with them).

Malu Farm is in the middle of a cedar forest and the furniture in the cottages is made on site and very beautiful.  Visitors are able to tour the workshop and purchase cedar items.  We also could see the chickens, horses, donkeys on the farm and the boys took a turn milking the cow.
 

During the day, the temperatures got very warm.  In the afternoon we made a habit of going to the "Plunge Pool" to cool off.  This is a hot tub of sorts, made from the hot springs coming from the mountain.  One of the kids called it magical!  It was on a small creek in the woods and was a very quiet escape -- from the roads that you had to travel to get there.

 The trip home to Nairobi was uneventful but interesting as always.  This is one of the vendor stands along the way -- selling fresh fruits and vegetables.  There were also places to buy sheep skin rugs and hats, geese, chickens.