At a tourist stop during our drive
The Riff Valley
In 1942, Italian prisoners of war constructed the road down into the Riff Valley. The Riff Valley is a dormant volcanic mountain.
Some info from a Google search:
The Rift Valley is one of the wonders of the world, stretching from the Middle East, down through Africa, reaching as far as Mozambique. Some 20 million years ago, the earth's crust weakened and tore itself apart creating a jagged rift, thousands of kilometers long, across the African continent. The land on either side erupted creating great volcanic mountains, while the valley floor gradually sank into a low flat plain. This geologic phenomena, dubbed the Great Rift Valley by the Scottish explorer John Walter Gregory, divides Kenya neatly down the length of the country essentially separating east from west. Today's Rift Valley is characterized by uninhabitable desert and fertile farmland, flat arid plains and steep escarpments.
James tells us that he has 2 girls - a 10 year old and a 2 1/2 year old. The 10 yr old started in public school but with 40-50 students per teacher, she was not doing well. So, they sent her to a private boarding school - at 10 years old! In Kenya, students have classes for 3 months and then have 1 month off. With the boarding house, she comes home for her month off, but lives at the boarding school during class months. They are allowed to visit for 1 day half way through the class months (after 1 1/2 months). James says that will be on Feb 12th and he will go visit her. He talked of it very matter-of-factly. That is just what you have to do to ensure good education for your children. You are fortunate if you are among those that can afford it. It's so hard for me to imagine sending a young child to boarding school at age 10 and not seeing them for 1 1/2 months.
After about a 5 1/2 hour drive (with a few stops), we arrive at Maasi Mara camp, just outside of the Kenyan reserve. We get checked into our accomodations / tent. This is not as deluxe as the one we stayed in last night, but it's still nice. Last night, we didn't need mosquito nets - our tent was well sealed. Today, with our tent ... well, there are holes "stuffed" with some Kleenex. So, we got to work getting our nets in place over our beds. We had a couple of hours to rest and then headed out for a few hours of safari tour. I am so excited to see African animals in their natural habitat!
Later ... simply AMAZING!!
Giraffe, gazelles, elephants, buffalo, cheetah, lions, wildebest ... there is a pop-up on our van, so the best view was standing and looking out the top. Before we headed out of the park for the evening, we watched the sun set. Words can't describe the beauty.
Once we reached our camp, we had dinner and met up with a couple from Australia, Kim and John and also another gal from Alberta, Canada who had come to Kenya for 3 months to travel and meet a boy she had been sponsoring for the past 3 years through World Vision. Right before 10pm, another guest informed us that lights/power would go out at 10pm and would resume at 630am. I'm glad I have my booklight so I can still get in my reading before bed! Tomorrow is a full day of safari, so we pack it up for the night.
SARAH's JOURNAL
Is it Sunday night? I have lost my sense of day and time again! It's an awesome feeling! This trip has been everything and so much more than I had hoped for =) Being with my twin sister, Miriam has been the cherry on top! The icing has been (or will be) the safari and the cake is the mission (MCF) and the initial reason we came on this trip. I'll forever remember this trip and we decided that every 5 years we would try to do a trip together.
Today, we drove approximately 5 hours to Masai Mara - where we will stay until Tuesday. After checking into yet another deluxe campsite and had lunch and a rest, we headed to the reserve. We saw gazelles, giraffes, elephants, cheetah and many other animals. Although I have seen many in zoos, it's so different to see them in nature. I'm excited for another full day of safari tomorrow ... going to fall to sleep tonight and listen to the crickets and the hyena's!
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