Thanks for the posts

Good to hear that you folks are all having a good time and seeing wonderful people and things!

BTW - - -what happened to the luggage? Don't leave us with the mystery of whose was lost and/or when did it all arrive?? :-)

Hope you continue to have a great trip!

Ray Voss

Greetings from Africa 2

Tuesday, June 10, Samburu, 9:30 a.m.

I had to check my calendar to verify the date and time. As I look at
the computer info, it is 1:30 a.m. CDT. Hope you are having a good
sleep while we are living our dreams.

We just finished breakfast after our 6:30 a.m. adventure into the
animal kingdom.

Our guide is Edwin, a pleasant and knowledgeable gentlemen who
expertly drives our van over various terrain. As is generally expected
on group trips like these, we have grouped up with either family and
old or new friends and we stay in the same van for our trips and
excursions.

Edwin can drive the van, spot game, consult his map, contact other
vans and explain what we are seeing all at the same time. He is
amazing and we greatly appreciate all we are learning from him.

At Samburu so far we have seen monkeys, baboons, elephants,
crocodiles, gazelles, cape buffalo, oryx, dick-dicks, impalas, and so
many more creatures. I would have to consult our photos to remember
them all. The birds are colorful and plentiful. I am sitting on our
little patio now listening to their beautiful calls.

Housekeeping has just straightened up our little room and explains
that it is important to keep the door closed so that the monkeys do
not come in. One of the little critters grabbed a bag of peanuts from
one of our party this morning. A warning sign near our cottage warns
us not to "feed or encourage the monkeys" as they may bite. We are
happy to follow the warning.

My plan to perhaps lose weight in Africa was for naught. They are
feeding us like royalty. I won't even go into details.

My mantra for this trip is "Never pass up a flush toilet!" I say this
because tomorrow we begin a journey into the hinterlands -- through
the dessert over non-existent roads up to Marsabit where we will visit
with students and their families. Br. Chuck has warned us of the
primitive conditions we will experience while there.

Yesterday we attended a dance program featuring Samburu tribal dancers
doing some of their native dances. It was very entertaining.

We will have another outing at 4 this afternoon. It is too hot here
during the day for animals and people. Our goal for this preserve is
to see lions and cheetahs. So far no luck. This morning, however, we
were in the midst of a herd of elephants, not quite close enough to
touch, but amazingly close.

We are going to attempt to send pictures, but so far we are not having
the best of luck posting on the blog. We shall see.

K

Greetings from Africa 1

You may have noticed by blank blog yesterday. I thought I was so smart to type my long message in a word doc since we have limited time to send info. However, the blog would not allow us to attach the document. We are trying something new today. Hope it works!

"Okay, why are we doing this?" I ask myself as we approach 20 hours on an airplane that is still two hours from our destination.

Well, we made it, and now I know why!

We left Lenexa at 4:30 a.m., Friday, June 6, and arrived in Nairobi, Kenya, at 11 p.m., Saturday, June 7! Whew! Even though I was able to sleep most of the way, it was still a trying trip. Our hopes for upgrades to business class were dashed at the Chicago airport, so it was coach all the way. Fortunately, we were not in the middle section of the planes.

Arrival in Brussels was welcome accompanied by the dread of stepping onto another airplane for the longer leg of the journey. Expect delays when flying and never be disappointed. And we were delayed.

Our first "sighting" took place in the Brussels airport. However, it was a celebrity and not a wild animal. Anderson Cooper was in our gate, traveling to Rwanda to do a story on the gorillas. Anderson was not flying in coach with us! 

So, yes, our flight was stopping in Rwanda, about an hour and a half from Kenya by air. Refueling in Rwanda is much more reasonable than in Nairobi where a huge tax is levied on gasoline. 

The flight over Africa in the daytime was amazing. My window view showed sand, sand and more sand, accompanied by blowing sand which created a dusty cloud over the northern part of the continent. By the time we came to green country, it was pretty dark, so we did not get to enjoy that view from the air.

Africa IS the Dark Continent in so many ways. Looking down from the sky at night, we see no lights of a city any where. Eventually, when we get to Kilgali, we spot some signs of life, but even then lights are sparse.

Surprisingly there are many passengers departing the plane there and several getting on for the flight to Nairobi. An unwelcome message for eight of our party at the Nairobi airport -- bags were lost. 

(As of this posting on June 9, their bags are still missing. Our O'Hara friends will be happy to know that the T-shirts they sent did arrive, a fortunate thing for Br. Raymond and his brother Phil. Brother Raymond is now sporting a 2005 Celtics Seniors shirt!)

From the airport we are transported to our hotel in Nairobi. We are happy to find clean accommodations and a nice bar to calm our nerves. By this time, it is way after midnight, and by the time our heads hit the pillows, it is nearly 3. We are scheduled for an early rising and a journey to our first adventures.

As we are gathering to board our vans, a Kenyan news photographer is wanting to shoot a picture of our travel agent, Rachel, with TOURISTS. And there we were. A group picture was taken and we were off in our vans.

Our first stop was Nyeri, Kenya, at St. Mary's Boys Secondary School. Senior (4th term) boys escorted us in groups for a tour of the campus. Our guide was Eric, a fine young man who leads the Lasallian Youth organization here. He has traveled to Rome in this capacity.

What a gentleman and a scholar. He shows us his school with pride in his eyes and voice. We see a classroom PACKED with desks (50 per room), science labs with sinks and no other equipment, a kitchen where the cook is preparing huge pots of cabbage (the 500 boys who live at the school eat meat twice a week -- sausage on Wednesday and pork on Saturday.) In addition to the academic program, there is an agricultural and vocational aspect to the school. A recent purchase of  two cows provides milk and a slew of pigs and piglets provide the pork. 

At the end of our tour, Eric tells us that St. Mary's saved him. It made him responsible and he intends to live up to his responsibilities. During our visit we also met the street children the Brothers at St. Mary's tend to. These abandoned boys were so cute and so excited to pose for pictures and then see themselves in the camera. Someone explained that the boys are abandoned because their parents think they can survive. Their sisters stay with the parents and may eventually provide an income for them -- think the worst possible scenerio here.

From there we head to Sweetwaters, an amazing and quite luxurious tent camp. Lunch was first on our agenda, followed by our first excursion into the game parks. We saw giraffes, zebra, chimps, water buck and other animals I can't remember. One of the "cutest" was an aging stork that was hanging around the dining room, waiting for some tidbits. 

Foregoing a nighttime safari, we were treated to a gathering of zebras and giraffes as they grazed up near the resort. Once again, I know why we are here.

Monday, June 9, 7:47 Kenya time

We moved to Samburo Reserve, Buffalo Springs today. Our first stop was at Nanyuku to visit a weaving program for women. Interesting to watch and listen. Most of us bought a souvenir rug to support the organization. 

This town, a tourist town, was just as Chuck described it to us -- Hays, Kansas, (my hometown) around 1850, the wild west with unpaved rutted streets and people milling about everywhere. We see lots of people walking wherever we go and lots on bicycles -- no helmets in the country. We don't see tandems, but we see two or more people on single bikes. We see people carrying their heavy water jugs, walking and on bikes. Lots of children are running around. 

Also highly visible are small and large herds of cattle, sheep and goats grazing along the roads, some of them tethered with small ropes attached to their legs. Others are tended by men, women and/or small children. It is a sight to see. Amazingly, there is not much roadkill!

Similar situations exist along the highway from Nanyuki  to Samburo. People are walking and biking everywhere and animals graze the sides of the roads. Isiolo (I think) is a predominately Muslim town on the way and there we see another culture, mostly Somalian refugees who have settled there on the run from even WORSE conditions. 

One of the hazards of being American tourists (I imagine tourists of any nationality) is that the citizens here are trying everything possible to get us to buy their "stuff," mostly jewelry and wood carvings. When we stop at a checkpoint, a barrage of hands full of goodies besiege us. We were told by our fearless leader to say NO and we mostly do..

After rough rides over rocky, rutted roads, we arrive at our destination. A late afternoon safari provides us with lots of sightings. We are awaiting dinner now. I will fill you in later on this day's safari and tomorrow's. 

 We haven't tried this yet, but I am including the website for the newspaper in which we were pictured. It was in today's issue on page 27.

 www.nationamedia.com, June 9 edition. 

Pete and Liz say hi to Ned, Thomas, Mom & everybody else.

We all send our greetings and "wish you were here!"

Kathy

Out of Africa

Good Morning,
We arrived safe and sound! \many suitcases missing, Aunt T & Un L, Dad in our group. It is just awesome!!!!!! Can't beleive we are here....So far, zebra's, water buffalo, giraffe, dik dik(tiny look like deer). You can't believe what happened last night..an ELEFANT right across from our rooms. I mean 4 feet away, with a cement wall in bwtween, HAVE WE GOT PICTURES!!!!! iT HAS TRULY BEEN WONDERFUL. The accomodations are 4 star, and treat us like royalty. They are so friendly, kind helpful, and gracious. I still can't get over the fact that we are actually here... soon it may sink in. I can access my email so you canwrite with ?'s there. Don't know the next time but soon. Love to everyone, Cathie

hello from Samburu

We have been most impressed with the service at these resorts here. \you are welcomed with juice and a towel for washing the dust off as you arrive. There are numbers of people just waiting to carry your luggage to your room and the rooms have been great!
\jim and kathy say hi along with myself and my wife. \\we saw all sorts of animals already and it has been nice and comfortable weather wise.

Jambo ya'll,

Kathy and I are excited and are ready to go...well, almost. Lots of rain and tornadoes here in Cincinnati but 'tis the season. We'll be blowing in to Chicago.

Jim and Kathy Stack

I thought I should try to email a blog just as a test before we arrived in Africa.

 

I have heard from both Brother Michael and Brother Francis. They both indicated that everything is ready and waiting. If it is, it is the will of God, if it isn’t hakuna matata! Everything will somehow work out.

 

Yesterday was the Feast of St. Charles Lwanga and companions, martyrs. The district of the Brothers we will be visiting is named in honor of Lwanga and celebrates his patronage. June 1^st was Madaraka day, the celebration of Kenyan self-rule. A lot of speeches, but after this year’s elections it probably took on new significance.

 

Looking forward to seeing you all in Chicago on Friday.