Trips

Mon., 8/7/2017 – Overland to Amboseli, Kenya
         Today was a very long drive back south around Nairobi almost to the southern border with Tanzania - from Lake Nakuru to Amboseli National Park.  Along the way we stopped at a regional market that sold vegetables from the local farms to middle-men who truck them to local villages. Three-hundred pound bags of potatoes, corn, carrots, and cabbages and sacks of spinach and kale were loaded on top of buses for transport.  We walked in the mud among the sellers and buyers.

Local market	Local market
Local transport	Local market
Local market	Local market
Local market	Local market
Local market	We also stopped and walked through a Maasai goat market.  Some goats were bought by herders and others were going to the butchers.  For $1.50 US the men could buy a lunch of rice and beans, a banana, and tea.  Women set up “restaurants” in canvas or plastic lean-tos.
Maasai goat market	Maasai goat market
Woman selling crafts	Maasai goat market
Maasai goat market - Full House!	We passed several water stations.  People walked, rode bikes, used donkey carts, or motorcycles to cart containers of water to their homes or villages.          More election posters were plastered all over and we passed through a check point with temporary spikes set up on the road.
Water station	Water station
More election posters	Interesting way to stop traffic!
Our picnic lunch, of way too much food packaged at our last lodge, was at the roadside “Paradise Garden.” After we ate, the owner, who was a rescued Maasai woman with genital mutilation, spoke to us about her ordeal.  Her father sent her at age 13 to a person who cut out her clitoris so she could be sold off to an elderly husband.  This was to make her a “mature” woman.  No sterilization or anesthetic was used.  This is a cultural thing that women are fighting here in Kenya.  The woman, Jane, ran a shop of souvenirs made by other rescued women who were also taken from the men and educated so they could make a living on their own.         On the road again, we left the nice highway and began 70 km of washboard gravel road into Amboseli National Park.  Before we got there our Toyota jeep got a flat tire.  Steve and Witress had it changed very quickly.  These vehicles get very hard use and carry two spare tires and many other repair parts.	Lunch under the trees
The road was VERY rough!
Supervisors!	The Land
Our lodge	Sunset
Tues., 8/7-8/2017 – Amboseli National Park          Once in Amboseli National Park we saw lots of birds and animals and a number of ALT = animal like things, usually a stump, rock, or bush.  This part of Amboseli is savannah with flat, open grassland.         We saw lots of elephants including a family of three females with four young ones.  We are amazed at how many species share the savannah at the same time.   They are interspersed and don’t mind being around each other.  We even got to see the tip of Mt. Kilimanjaro above the clouds.
At the entrance gate a group of five Maasai women asked to have their picture taken. I thought they just wanted a picture until they asked for $10.00 US for posing. Needless to say, they didn't get $10.00. I won't make that mistake again!	Maasai women
Wildebeests	Ostrich
Maasai Giraffe	Korhaan
Wildebeest	Zebra
Animals at the marsh	Animals at the marsh
Elephants and Egrets	Sacred Ibis and an Egyptian Goose
Baboon examining elephant dung	Baboon and Wildebeest
Momma and baby	Grey-headed Kingfisher
Impala	Dust Devil
Ostrich and Impala	Scratching an itch
Top of Mt. Kilimanjaro (if you strain your eyes)	Top of Mt. Kilimanjaro (if you strain your eyes)
Animals and birds in the marsh
Warthog	On the grassland
Thomson's Gazelle	Saddle Stork
Saddle Stork with a fish	Saddle Stork - down the hatch
Hippo - the most dangerous animal in Africa	Hippo and friends
Fish Eagle	Vultures
Elephants marching across the plain
Waterbuck - showing off his toilet seat markings	Double-banded Courser

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