Grandma and Grandpa Came to Chogoria!

We are still enjoying the memories of my parents' visit to Chogoria last month.  We didn't have much on the agenda except to hang out, show them our daily life here, and see animals sometime.  We accomplished all of that and had a great time!

We had started a countdown for their arrival by creating this autumn tree.  A leaf would fall each day until their arrival in Kenya.  The boys loved it, and when the last leaf fell we knew it was the day to go get Grandma and Grandpa!

The first couple days were filled with them recovering from jet lag and me doing homeschool and Eli going to work.  Life as usual.  But it's such a blessing to show people our normal life here.

We also went into the Mt. Kenya National Park one day for a picnic.  The rain stayed away and we had a lovely time walking around and trying to catch a glimpse of the mountain.  Eli plans to hike the mountain at the end of the year, so we're glad to be familiar with the launching point for his hike.

And then to see animals!  Kenya's wildlife never disappoints.  We took my folks to Ol Pejeta, a place we visited in August to see that last two northern white rhinos in the world and to feed the chimpanzees in the chimp sanctuary there.  The boys remembered that last visit well and were super excited to head back, even though we told them we wouldn't be having those experiences this time.  Ol Pejeta holds a special place in our hearts!

Also, the equator runs right through there, which is just cool :)

Brace yourself for tons of safari pics!

We saw so many birds!  Including so many birds of prey!  Check out these beauties:

1) long-crested eagle 

2) fish eagle and marabou stork

3) steppe eagle

4) tawny eagle

And this crested crane family was also rather exciting.  We'd never seen a baby before, and this trio squeezed my heart!

This is a Superb Starling.  No joke.  That's it's name.  And I heartily agree that it is superb!

And a spoonbill!  I was so excited to finally see one of these!  It flew right over us as we watched an elephant in the marsh and it was simply majestic.

And no trip to Ol Pejeta would be complete without seeing rhinos.  Ol Pejeta has a large number of rhinos, both black rhinos and southern white rhinos, and we had the privilege of seeing this mama and calf up close.  Kai was the one who spotted them.  They were quite far away from us but he was convinced he'd seen a rhino, so I pulled out my zoom lens to get a closer look and sure enough, that kid was right!  The baby was nursing when we pulled up closer, which was also a first sight for us, and we were thrilled.

It cannot be stated enough how much we love to see animals in the wild!

The boys were excited to revisit this guy.  His name is Baraka, which means "blessing" in Swahili, and he is a blind black rhino who was born at Ol Pejeta 25 years ago.  Several years ago he got into a fight with another rhino and lost his right eye as a result (no joke), and then cataracts took the sight in his left eye which left him completely blind.  Baraka is now in the constant care of park rangers.  And people like us get to visit him and feed him!  It's a great chance to get up close to a rhino and learn all about them.  The park rangers at Ol Pejeta are wonderful and informative and we've learned so much from them both times we've been there.

On our way out of town we stopped for lunch at this place we'd heard about.  It's called Trout Tree Restaurant and it's basically a Swiss Family Robinson-style restaurant.  It's literally built around a huge mugumo tree, and yes, it was amazing!  It was cold and rainy that morning, but that didn't dampen our excitement.  The boys keep asking when we can go back.  We even got to see colobus monkeys up close!  The animal adventures never seem to stop :)

Finally we made our way back to Nairobi and spent a couple days exploring places in the city we'd never been to.  The first stop was Mamba Village where we got to hold a crocodile and tortoises.  Again, the boys excitement was palpable.  Everyone loved holding the croc...except my mom :)

And the boys were allowed to go right into the tortoise enclosure!  They spent awhile picking them all up and identifying if they were males or females.  Males have a concave belly, while females have a flat belly.

Lastly, we visited the Nairobi Safari Walk, which borders the Nairobi National Park.  It was basically a mini zoo, and although you might think our kids wouldn't appreciate zoos given their experiences on actual safaris, they very much love seeing any animal up close.  So this was a hit!

So we had a wonderful time with my parents!  It was not easy to say goodbye, because it never is, but we are grateful for the fun and the memories made.  And we are now looking forward to a visit from Eli's parents next year.  Goodbyes are a little easier when another hello is coming.