Catching Up: A Safari Birthday

This post is way overdue, but I need to highlight our Kai Guy, who turned 7 last month and who got to celebrate in the best way possible: by going on safari!

What kid can say that?  Only a kid living in Africa.  And it was amazing.  The safari itself was amazing, but just as amazing was Kai's excitement about it.  He felt so special, and I'm pretty sure he needed something to feel special about.  This tender-hearted boy has had to process a lot of grief and loss this year, and he really needed a Win.  Going on safari definitely checked that box!

Not only were we going on safari, but were headed to Samburu - a National Reserve in northern Kenya that's been our bucket list the entire time we've lived in Chogoria.  It's in our neck of the woods - just a few hours away - and has some wildlife that can't be seen in any other part of Kenya.  We were pumped!

We stayed at a safari camp called Samburu Intrepids and it was lovely.  My only complaint were the monkeys, which were running around everywhere and were very bold and quite the nuisance.  Otherwise, it was a beautiful place to stay in the middle of nowhere.  And it was hot.  So much hotter than Chogoria!  We knew it'd be warm because northern Kenya is hot and dry and has vast areas of desert, but we hadn't quite reached the super hot desert region.  Still, Samburu was hot.  I kept wishing I'd thought to pack shorts!

We arrived the day before Kai's birthday, so he woke up in a safari tent on his birthday and we all jumped in a safari jeep for a game drive first thing in the morning.  The Birthday Boy chose to sit in the front seat and have the best view in the house.  His smile still squeezes my heart!

We opted to have our breakfast packed and brought along so we could spend more time driving around looking for wildlife (instead of having to return to the camp in a couple hours just to eat breakfast).  We ended up driving around for 5 hours and we saw so much wildlife!  Our safari guide loaned his binoculars to the Birthday Boy, who took great delight in seeing things up close.

The "Samburu Special Five" are animals that can only be found in that part of Kenya.  It includes: Grevy's Zebra, Reticulated Giraffe, Somali Ostrich, Gerenuk, and Oryx.  We saw all of them and the excitement in the jeep was palpable!

Grevy's Zebra
the largest zebra species;
has bigger and rounder ears than the Plains Zebra;
has an all-white belly;
endangered status

Reticulated Giraffe
has a distinct pattern from Maasai giraffe and Rothschild's giraffe;
endangered status




Somali Ostrich
has a blue-gray neck and legs
(instead of pink neck and legs like the common ostrich);

this particular group consisted of youngsters all together 

and being watched over by a couple mothers

 

Gerenuk
can stand on its hind legs to reach more vegetation;
sometimes called the "giraffe-necked antelope"

Oryx
has distinctive black-and-white facial markings;

both males and females have incredibly long, straight horns;

endangered status

When it was time for breakfast, our driver brought us to a delightful and breezy spot along the Ewaso Ngiro River, complete with elephants grazing just across the river from us.  We were surrounded by hungry and inquisitive birds, waiting for crumbs to drop so they could swoop in and grab them.

Most of the birds were starlings, but a red-billed hornbill stopped by also.  We saw many, many hornbills in Samburu - kinds we'd never seen before, including the eastern yellow-billed hornbill (like Zazu in The Lion King!) - but this particular one was particularly close and we marveled at this beautiful creature as it watched us eat.

And of course we took the customary family photo in front of the safari jeep!  I love doing this so we can remember all the stages our boys have been in on these adventures.  I remember well the very first time we took our boys on safari - we had a 4-year old, a 2-year old, and an 8-month old baby.  The preschooler and toddler were full of excitement and wiggles, and the baby nursed and slept in between being mostly unaware of all the incredible wildlife around us.  It was the beginning of many safari adventures, and now these boys can take care of themselves in the jeep, and know how to be quiet around wildlife without being reminded, and don't need to sit on Mama's lap all the time, and don't need me to bring a diaper bag along.  Everything is just so much easier these days!

An unexpected joy was discovering all the birdlife at Samburu.  It was incredible.  Many were new to us and we got to check them off in our Birds of East Africa book!

juvenile martial eagle

adult martial eagle

grey-headed kingfisher

eastern yellow-billed hornbill

African fish eagle

vulturine guinea fowl

kori bustard

The wildlife never ceased to amaze.  Giraffes were abundant (including a group of 30+ giraffes all together), and we even saw a crocodile resting by the river.

The pinnacle of our safari, however, were the elephants.  There were so many elephants.  We watched them on the plains both coming and going to the safari camp, AND we got to see them by the river, drinking and playing, which we'd never witnessed before.  Altogether there were about 50 elephants that came to the river as we sat in the jeep just above the bank.  Elephants were hugging each other with their trunks, elephants were rolling in the mud, elephants were play-fighting with their tusks, elephants were taking dust baths afterward.  

It was magical, simply magical!

Here's a photo dump of the elephants of Samburu!

And this particular one came so close to our jeep that we could've reached out and touched it if we'd chosen to (but we didn't).  It was surreal to be this close to the earth's largest land mammal!

Because we were so close to them, I could get some seriously up-close shots of their features: their wrinkly skin, their long eyelashes, their ivory tusks, their floppy ears.  Elephants are truly beautiful creatures.

You might think there was nothing else that could make the birthday weekend any better, and you'd be justified in thinking that.  However, we also had the chance to take the boys swimming in the pool, which is always a special treat since they only have the opportunity to go swimming about once a year.  None of our boys know how to swim still, but every time they get in the water is a chance to work on those swimming skills.

And then, to cap off the day, the kitchen staff made a birthday cake for our Kai Guy!  They came out singing and dancing, which was actually a bit overwhelming for him, but it was still special and Kai has since told many people that he got two cakes for his birthday this year - one on his birthday at Samburu and one that Mama made him once we got home.

It was a birthday for the books!  We are so thankful we could celebrate our birthday boy in such a special way.  Kai is an amazing kid.  He's creative and fun.  He loves to play games with anyone anywhere, loves to draw (and is shockingly good at it), loves to bake with me, loves to read about dragons, and still loves to dig in the dirt.  He's super smart (no joke - he's supposed to be in 1st grade according to his age, but is doing mostly 3rd grade material because he's just that smart!).  He's sensitive and loves to snuggle, and he asks big questions about God and the Bible.  And he's eloquent.  Anyone who has the privilege of hearing our boy pray will be blessed and humbled.  We are incredibly proud of Hezekiah and continue to pray that he will live in the strength of the Lord all the days of his life.

Happy Birthday, Kai!

Eli's Birthday

Yesterday was a doozy.  It was Eli's birthday, but we ended up extending the celebration into today since there wasn't much celebrating that happened yesterday.

The power had gone out the evening before and still wasn't on in the morning.  It ended up being out for about 20 hours all said and done.  (It's the beginning of the rainy season, which means we're headed into a lot of power outages.  Whenever it rains, the power goes out.  Literally.)  Without power we couldn't risk opening the fridge, so my plans for Eli's birthday breakfast were derailed.  Thankfully one of his presents was a stash of imported goods, including some granola bars.  Breakfast on the go: check!

The day was so busy at the hospital that Eli had to skip lunch, which he normally comes home for.  Thankfully he did get home in time for supper (which the birthday boy made since stir-fry is his favorite and I still haven't learned how to make it).

Just as I was putting candles in the scotcheroos, the ICU called and needed him quickly.  So we rushed singing Happy Birthday and watching him blow out the candles, but he ran out the door before even taking a bite of his own birthday dessert.  The boys and I chose to dive in, knowing Eli wouldn't be home again before their bedtime.  I felt a little guilty, but just a little :)

The boys wanted to know why Daddy had to work on his birthday?  They always get the day off school when it's their birthdays (a perk of homeschooling!) so it made no sense to them why Dad had to work and be on-call.  Sheesh!  I had to explain that most people have to work or go to school on their birthdays.  That's life!  They're still having trouble wrapping their heads around that concept.

So today we tried celebrating again, and this time we had power so I could make a decent breakfast, and this time Eli was around long enough to finish opening presents.  He received two picture books to enjoy with the kids.  One of them was supposed to be his Father's Day present this year but we couldn't get it over here until recently, and the other is a book about J.R.R. Tolkien as a child which I know they'll all love reading together, especially since Eli is currently reading The Hobbit to the boys.

And there are leftover scotcheroos to enjoy today, which is always a win!

We are so grateful for this man.  Eli is kind and he invests in us.  He wants to be present and he wants to take care of us, and he does.  He is a servant to everyone around him and he encourages people without even trying.  I can't even begin to count how many times someone has told me how much they admire Eli, and I am proud of that.  He's an amazing husband and an amazing father, and we get to call him ours.

Happy Birthday to my Beloved!

Life on the Homefront

Life on the homefront has been fairly monotonous these days, which has been nice as we've settled into a new school year and new routine.  There've been some exciting happenings in the past few weeks, however.

I'd been wanting some kind of shelving in the corner of the boys' room.  We have rapidly run out of bookshelf space in our house (for which there is no real long-term solution since we are book people and I have a problem with acquiring books as much as possible), but having a shelf of some kind in the corner of their room was one small way to address the problem.  It was also an opportunity to spruce up the corner which previously had a lamp on the floor and an old fan hanging from the ceiling with some old twine.  It was functional but ugly.

So after many months of dreaming of something else, we finally changed things up.  Our friend Nathan (who built our outdoor shed and has helped with several random projects along the way) cut some corner shelves and let Kai help him (because he is amazing like that).  Nathan was also the one to suggest that I paint the tree on the wall.  My original idea for the corner was different and apparently unrealistic, so we met in the middle and this is what we came up with.  It turned out rather well and the boys love it!

I feel so good when a project is completed!

In other news, although creature discoveries are a regular occurrence around here, we recently had a new experience: seeing weaver birds up close!

We were given a bunch of bananas from our friends' house, but in chopping down the bananas, a weaver bird nest was dislodged and fell to the ground.  Two baby birds were inside.  They weren't brand new babies but were still in the nest.  So on top of bananas, we received a weaver bird nest to learn about!  Eli pulled out the birds to make sure they weren't injured, then let the boys have a turn to hold them before we put them back and replaced the nest near where we found it (on top of a hedge instead of on the ground where the cats would easily find it).  The parents were still nearby and we weren't sure what they'd do with their predicament, but we did what we could.

Weaver birds are beautiful and fascinating birds.  They live all over and are easily spotted because their nests are obvious in trees.  They often live in colonies, so a tree could be completely full of their nests, which are basically big round balls of grass hanging like ornaments from the branches.  And weaver birds build their nests while hanging upside down!

These are pictures I took a couple years ago of a weaver bird.  It's so fascinating to watch them work.

 

The most exciting thing of the past few weeks, however, are the boys' new bikes!  We debated for a long time whether to get them bikes in Kenya or not.  Bikes can be expensive, and we could easily get old bikes at garage sales in the States next year instead, but we decided it was worth the investment.  These boys all wanted to learn to ride.  Lots of other kids on the compound ride bikes around and our boys were motivated to join them.  So we went to a couple stores in Nairobi to find what would work, then hauled them back to Chogoria where Eli assembled them and began the process of teaching our kids to ride bikes.

My heart was happy!  Biking is my favorite outdoor activity (and one of the things I can still do with my knee problems), and I miss my bike terribly.  Teaching our kids to ride is a rite of passage but also an investment in the future.  I would love love love to go for bike rides as a family.  So we took the plunge to get our boys bikes here, and it's proven to be the right decision!

Asa begged for a bike with training wheels, which we adamantly denied, and within 5 minutes of trying to ride on his own, he was!  That kid's been scooting around on a balance bike for awhile and had the whole balance thing down.  He mastered riding without any help from us.  It was definitely a proud parent moment!

Caleb and Kai needed more help (and still do even a few weeks later).  But Caleb has begun to take off.  He's got the balance thing down and is working on his turns.  This is a huge victory because Caleb doesn't take to new things easily.  He's often unwilling to try new things at all, but bike riding was something he was excited about and has been diligently working on mastering it ever since he started.  Victory!

Kai has struggled the most to get his balance figured out, but he makes progress every time he rides.  He falls the most but gets back up every time, which is a good sign that he'll be a great biker once he masters it.

And Eli has been amazing as he works with them.  He doesn't have as much time as I do to help our boys learn to ride, but my lower back just can't handle the bending over much.  After the first day my back was in pain, and it got worse by the second and third day until I had to give up helping the boys at all.  (It's frustrating since I'd been doing really well in the back department this year and was hoping I was putting it behind me.  But apparently not.  Once aggravated, my back starts screaming at me again.  Ugh.)  But thankfully I have an all-star husband who gives our boys the time and patience they need to learn to ride a bike!

Although school fills up a lot of time, it's been good to have these other activities to capture our attention when school is not in session!

Rural Kenya

Life "in the village" is definitely different than life on our compound.  We love spending time there because the rural setting is always gorgeous and because there's good company to be had and because the boys always find an adventure.  We recently had the privilege of visiting our househelper, Jane Rose, at her shamba and it was so wonderful to meet the rest of her family and enjoy time together there.

This is the view from their home.  I told you it was gorgeous!

Like most shambas, there were animals.  There were cows, chickens, goats, and even rabbits!  The boys had a blast running around and meeting all the animals and Eli received a lesson in cutting napier grass for the cows.

We were also delighted to discover that Joy, Jane Rose's daughter, had caught a chameleon and saved it for our boys!  This was exciting because she (like most Kenyans) was afraid of chameleons before spending time with the Horn boys and learning how to appreciate them.  I always consider it a victory when a Kenyan learns not to be afraid of a chameleon!

And of course we enjoyed chai together.  Asa is still the only Horn boy who will drink chai.  I wish Caleb and Kai would choose to drink it, but alas, that day has not yet come.  At any rate, they ate their fill in chapati and we all tried arrowroot for the first time too.

Perhaps the most exciting thing for the boys was playing in the stream and catching fish, tadpoles, and crabs.  They would've stayed there all day if we'd let them.  And they would've brought home a bunch of creatures if we'd let them!

It was such a wonderful day.  Kenyan hospitality is incredible.  We are honored and blessed every time we visit friends at their home.

This past week we ventured up to the mountain again, and this time we brought Jane Rose's children with us.  They had never been there and were excited to join us.  It was a perfect day for being outside and exploring.  Kenya is a beautiful country and we are so grateful to be surrounded by such beauty. 

We saw a variety of wildlife too.  Colobus monkeys and Sykes monkeys were in the forest, plus waterbuck and birds of prey in the valleys, and bushbuck on the hiking trail.  We didn't see any elephants this time, although fresh droppings were on the road as usual.

Most of Kenya is rural even though it's filled with people.  It's actually hard to find an area that's truly void of people, but the landscape is rural with shambas almost everywhere.  And it's beautiful.  Whether the shambas are filled with maize or arrowroot, or whether you're driving past tea fields or rice fields, rural Kenya is a lovely place.