Reimagined Retreat (Part 3)

The last part of our "reimagined retreat" took us to a resort in the Shaba Game Reserve, which is in Samburuland.  We'd heard about this resort from a couple friends and decided it was worth a try.  It did not disappoint!  We didn't go on a game drive there, in part because we needed to just relax and in part because the resort had enough other excitement for the boys.  We had a marvelous time just hanging out at the resort.

The road to Samburuland is one of the nicest roads we've ever been on in Kenya.  It's smooth with very few speed bumps, and not a lot of traffic.  And there are camels!  We love seeing camel herds along the road - it's such an iconic site in that part of the country.

The resort sits along the Ewaso Ngiro river and, unbeknownst to us, had a "crocodile viewing area" that turned out to be a highlight for the boys.  We passed the viewing area each time we came/went from the dining room, and saw crocs and turtles several times.  While having supper on our first evening there, Eli had to take Asa back to the room (to retrieve his snuggle blanket - can I just say how much I love that he still needs his snuggle blanket so much!).  They passed by the crocodile viewing area just as an employee was throwing meat to some crocs below.  It was a frenzy!  Caleb and Kai were disappointed to have missed the scene and were hopeful to watch again the next night, but feeding the crocs doesn't happen every night.  Oh well.  We still had lots of crocodile viewing during our stay.

The rooms were fantastic.  We had two adjoining rooms that were spacious and the bathrooms had bath tubs!  Taking a bath is such a treat for the boys since we don't have a tub in Chogoria.

Our rooms were upstairs, which provided a great viewing spot for this pair of African Orange-bellied Parrots.  They had a nest in the tree right outside our room and were so fun to watch.  They took turns going into the nest and were active all evening.

The pool was wonderful, and there were so few people at the resort (thanks to Covid) that we sometimes had the whole pool to ourselves.  Despite all our efforts to teach our boys to swim whenever we've had access to a pool in the past, we simply haven't had enough access for them to actually master swimming yet.  So none of our boys know how to swim still.  Kai and Asa are getting close and could probably figure it out quickly if given enough time in the water, but Caleb still needs a lot of time because of his sensory issues with water in his face.  All that to say, we were grateful for the kiddie pool and the shallow parts, made our kids practice swimming and putting their face underwater, but mostly just had fun.

We saw several water monitor lizards in the pool area - not in the pool, but definitely coming right up to it - and the boys were ecstatic.  We saw many of them around the resort, and considering we'd only seen one before ever, it was pretty awesome.  Caleb followed one once and discovered its burrow.  After he stuck his hand in the burrow (to point it out to me), I promptly freaked out and he promptly learned how I feel about sticking hands into wild animal burrows!

We thoroughy enjoyed our two days at Sarova Shaba.  As we left, we saw a herd of Grevy's zebra.  They are lesser known than the Plains zebra and are endangered.  They were perfectly placed against a gorgeous backdrop and I snapped several photos.  I especially loved the clouds against the horizon.  These are some of my favorites:

God redeemed our cancelled retreat in a big way.  We are so thankful for what we were able to do with that time instead, and so thankful for friends who rearranged their plans to join us for part of it, and so thankful for beautiful places to enjoy.  God was very good to us indeed.