Friday, December 19, 2008

Almost home


In heathrow now. Eight hours away now from Kenya. I miss the place a ton already Paul was/is a good host and awesome friend and i'll miss the good times.

I'm still excited though to get home and see friends i haven't seen for over a month. Also can't wait to see my dog Syd.

See you all when i get back.

Pauls parents both have/had surgery so keep them in prayer for the procedures/recoveries.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Amboseli

Had a nice last 2 full days in Kenya at Amboseli. Probably will just touch a few highlights as it was a long time and i think the pictures will speak for themselves.

We stayed at Ol Tukai lodge and it was incredible. great atmosphere, great food, a pool (oh man so nice), and nice service. Probably the most posh place i've ever stayed and it was like seventy dollars a night.

Biggest highlight of the trip though was seeing a female lion run 3 cheetah off a fresh kill and seeing her dragging the corpse of the antelope and eventually calling the rest of her pride and eating it. Probably one of the coolest things i've seen.

I have more stories but i'd have too much to write so ask me in person. :) Got around 600 pics from the park alone. O.o

Excited to be home but sad to leave. See you all soon.

P.S. Paul is looking for a bride and he's pretty much incredible. so ladies. i'll give you his number. :P

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Nakuru National park

Went to my first game park today. My knees are scorched. Spent the whole day, roof off, sitting on top of Pauls SUV cruising the park, photoing game, and just relaxing.

First thing we did when we got there was buy tickets to get into the park. That was our first sighting of animals. Just a few feet away there was a monkey running all over someones car. All the people were inside and it just sat there. They tried to scare it off by turning on the windshield wipers and it just stood there resting its hands on their windshield when they werent moving.

After that we made our way into the park. Even though there hadn't been much rain the place was beautiful. Much more green and lush than the camp. Almost as soon as we entered the park there was a herd of about one hundred buffalo. Not even 30 feet off the road next to us was a lone hyena. I yelled at it, it looked up and i got some decent shots. Went a bit farther and closer to Lake Nakuru and saw a whole horde of flamingo, pelican, and various other water fowl. Also spotted some various antelope, gazelles, waterbucks, and a rhino.

Took another route and headed up a huge cliff to a humongous over look. It looked over most of the park and especially the lake area. It was breathtaking looking down and seeing animals and seeing the great vastness and beauty of the area from above.

Made our way into the bush. It was beautiful lots of animals lots of beautiful scenery. Even spotted a lions leg. Unfortunately couldn't even get a full shot of the beast. Only the leg and the belly of the the 2nd lion.

Looking forward to going to ambiselli on monday .

Those first shots that i'm uploading are of the semi active volcano longonot.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Goodbyes


Camp is officially over and i said alot of goodbyes. I'll miss alot of the good people i spent time with. One dude in particular Julius Juma was the man (pictured) well it's not working now so later it'll be up lol.

Got a nice letter from the neighboring orphan kids thanking me for befriending them. It put a smile on my face.

Went to jane's house again and had another great time. I took some pictures this time some of her house which are uploading as i'm writing this. Also a vid of me quad riding in there. Also she took us into her house and saw a huge bunch of trophys. Tons of tusks and skulls and a huge lion skin on the wall. Quite incredible.

Leaving tommorow for some game parks and really looking forward too it.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

AHHH HUGE THINGY

sorry that was just to get your attention. last few days have been good. last full day of camp ended tonight.

Dad caught an egytptian cobra today. luckily it was too young to even bite. I thought it was a mamba but paul was convinced it was a cobra.

Also caught a lizard the other day too. He was running. i grabbed his tail. Of course being a lizard it popped off and started bleeding and he ran under a desk. i finally wore him out and grabbed the little bugger.

Paul baked us a cake today. It was real sweet of him. He's pretty much my cooking rolemodel.

next week getting ready to go to some game parks. WOOO HOOO

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Climbing mount Lukenya

First full day of camp today and finally got a chance during free time to climb the mount.

It was a great hike. Lotsa uphill of course but fun and definetly not a cakewalk. There was lots of cow poop everywhere. Apparently the maasai who are a nomad cow herding tribe take them up the mountain. Don't ask me how i dind't think cows were that nimble but they do.

Man o man the view at the top was incredible. We climbed onto this rock jutting off the mountain and could see for miles and miles in almost every direction. The elevation was i want to say around 7000 feet. I think we just sat there for around fifteen minutes. it was that beautiful.

Dad was panting all the way. but he made it :)

After we got down the mountain there was a nice sized rock face that we could freeclimb so me and paul did that while my dad stood at the bottom taking pictures. Was a good view as well. Not quite as high but still a fun climb.

I'll post a couple pics in this post and some more on my album later.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Start of the last week

Last week of camp is starting today. Have around 100 new kids and quite a few new counselors all of whom it was a pleasure to meet.

One of the new counselors this week, mark, is only twenty five and is already a doctor. Maybe i'm out of touch but that seems really young.

My padre is here and having a good time. he's taken lots of pictures and videos and had some good times i hope.

Talked to my mom this morning over skype. Even used videochat. It's pretty amazing. If both people have the skype program it's free computer to computer calling and something like 2cents a minute for computer to phone. Definetly worth a look into.

I'll be posting some new pics shortly.