Work Hard, Play Hard, Sleep Hard

Sarah writes about our game drives -

Our drivers, Young Moses and Jonathan, have seen us safely through the dirt paths that pass for roads in the Mara. Both are Maasai, both have an endless supply of goodwill, and both are friends of John Sankok. They are also very supportive of our work at the clinic, and try make our days more enjoyable. After taking us back to the Mara camp one day this week, when we were all very tired from a full day of work, Jonathan told us to sleep hard. If you work hard, it would stand to reason that you should sleep hard, too.

This week hasn't been all work and sleep, though. We have had the chance to play hard and go on what you'd call a safari, but are known here as "game drives." They have nothing in common with a cattle drive, but you do drive out to see the game.

Giraffe herd with distant rain

Sunday afternoon we drove out, passing herds of Thomson gazelles, zebras, and wildebeests before finding a group of giraffes. After that, we were lucky to see several lions, a large group of hippos in some foul-looking water, and many beautiful birds.

The other drive was early Wednesday morning when we woke before the dawn, driving out for a short trip as the sun rose over the Mara and the animals were busy getting breakfast before the heat of the day. The team saw all but one of the "big five" animals -- elephant, lion, cape buffalo, leopard, and rhino -- with rhino being the lone hold-out.

The circle of life

We have one more day of game drive on Monday, when we'll be out all day, and John assures us we'll be in an area where we should see rhino, in addition to the massive wildebeest crossing of the Mara river, known as the migration.

With just two days left on the trip before we head to the airport on Tuesday, I find it hard to believe how quickly the time has flown by. When people we've met have asked when we'll be back, I don't know exactly what to say. I've blown through most of my vacation days with this trip, but I'd happily do it again next year if we could make it work. There's so much to be done, and so much more to see. And Rich has a never-ending supply of ideas for the Kenyans: new things the women at the craft and textile workshop of Amani ya Juu could make to sell, a new factory for standardized hammers and long-handled shovels, or star tours of the Mara where we can see millions of stars and the Milky Way far more clearly than we ever can in the light-polluted US. We're still trying to figure out if we can make it to the Kenya Museum and their exhibit of the Leakey's amazing discoveries of early-humans. Maybe on the way to the airport. Or maybe on the next trip.

I said before that I'm bringing home the red dirt of Kenya in my shoes. But I also have the black dirt of the Rift Valley that we dug through to build the waste incinerator. And the memories of all those we have met. We may not see the fossilized footprints of early humans, but I have the imprints of many new friends in me.

The elephant herd made us late for breakfast