Sawa Sawa

The hippo and I at the Fairmont

Maasai huts

Me and a Maasai 
(not as red and beaded out as they normally are!)

Baby giraffes

Cheetah on the prowl, little cub was following behind

Clearly -- these are elephants (ndovu)

This would be me with the RHINOS!

Zebra -- I think that is an Eland in the background. 

MUFASA

Thirsty little lions -- I didn't really know the women are the hunters

Buffalo before he got scared and ran off

My tent

Maasai Mara – Absolutely AMAZING! My friend Letizia and I ended up finding this really great deal through Tenweck Hospital for almost half price. Now, since we though we were paying half price we literally though we would be camping in tents – um, NOPE! We stayed at the Fairmont Mara Safari Club! Rivals for the nicest place I have ever stayed. After a 4.5 hour trek across Kenya with a short car change to meet up with our new friends Lyle and Stephanie who were doing mission trips at Tenweck Hospital and the craziest/non-roads ever – we were greeted with warm wash clothes that smelled delicious and some tasty mango juice! Breakfast, lunch, and dinner we all free and all delicious! Lunch and dinner had dessert and dinner was a five course meal. The ‘tents’ we stayed in were way different than the ‘tents’ we had expected. Our beds were turned down at night and prepped with warmers, we were served coffee and tea with our wake up calls in the morning…well, actually the hippo snorts from the river that ran right by the tent usually woke me up before tea! There was a swimming, a library, bar, an super huge, awesome fireplace that made me want to make a brick oven pizza! All the people were so so nice. You never passed anyone that didn’t say JAMBO (hello).

The rhino brothers

Ok so now for the good part! THE SAFARI! We got in on Friday and had an amazing buffet style lunch. Afterward we hopped in our Land Cruiser with safari tour guide, Wilson for 3 hours on the Mara (which means “spotted country” because when you look at it from above all the trees make it look spotted). Wilson would always stop for us to take pictures of animals and whenever we were done we would just say "sawa sawa" meaning okay, okay – thus the blog entry title. We saw tons of zebras, all kinds of antelopes, giraffes, warthogs, monkeys, wildebeasts (ugly and probably my least favorite), 1 hyena, ostriches, and then we stopped for a walking tour with Maasai warriors where we saw RHINOS! THEY WERE SO BIG!!!! I could not believe how beautiful the Mara was and how numerous all the animals were. It is crazy to see all of them just out grazing in the wild hoping they didn’t get eaten by lions that night. God’s beauty and presence was just EVERYWHERE – just a magical place! After the evening safari we headed back for a Maasai lecture. So Africa is made up of tribes and the Maasai are the largest tribe (I believe). They wear red garb so they are easily distinguishable – apparently they where this because back in the 1500s or so when they were crazy warriors they decided it would be good for hiding blood so their opponents would not be able to tell as easily when they were injured. Some other interesting Maasai facts – they are cattle herders, polygamists, cows blood is a big part of their diet, their children are now attending school to bring knowledge of the western world to them although they are very proud of their culture, they are circumsized at age 15 and must stand during the procedure with no anesthetic and cannot move at all our show pain, and they fight with spears. After lecture was a delicious dinner with crème brulee dessert and then bed time!

Mommy and the little cubsters

Rough night for Mr. Lion 
(bloody left side of his lip with a chunk out of it)

6:00am Saturday, Letizia we woke up had our delivered tea and coffee and walked outside our tent to check out the hippos. We got to see them come down the cliff back into the water. I couldn’t believe they didn’t just slide down the steep cliff with how massive they were. It was so cool to see them out of water. The snorts they make are so gross, but they are pretty cute when they fight with each other! We left for our morning safari which was super successful we saw ELEPHANTS! LIONS! CHEETAHS! HYENAS! We saw one male lion injured in battle from the night before and a female lion with its little cubsters. The cheetah we saw was with its little cub going to look for food. I really really really wanted to see the cheetah run (obviously) but no such luck. Hyenas are actually really shy, like warthogs (which run with their cute little tails up), but they have the adorable koala-like ears! Back to the safari club for an afternoon pool side and chapel with the staff! 

The crew - Lyle, Letizia, Me and Stephanie

The guy who took care of our room, Cyrus, invited us to chapel so Stephanie and I went and it was so cool! Their worship was just super awesome! I had no idea what they were saying, but they were just praising the Lord and the sound resonated in their little chapel! We read 1 Samuel 13:5 – a story about waiting on the Lord. They asked their sisters, Stephanie and I, to come up afterwards and “say some words”. We thanked them for their hospitality and told them how appropriate their message was because in Africa everything is slower and it is so much easier to be patient and take time out for God and trust and give your control to Him. In the US it is so fast paced and everyone wants everything right away. It was a great lesson for us, AND Stephanie and I had been talking about that early in the day by the pool – which clearly isn’t a coincidence! J Afternoon safari we saw our injured lion friend again look far more majestic (see pictures), buffalo, as well as repeats of some of the animals we had already seen BUT then it started POURING down rain so we went mudding in the land cruiser and then headed back for dinner!

Hippo kisses, i.e. fighting (the river outside my tent)

5:45am woke up to the hippo snorts. Sat outside by the river with Letizia and had tea. Morning safari offered no new finds but some splendid repeats and a gorgeous sunrise! AND Wilson go the land cruiser stuck so we had to call our buddy cruisers to pull us out. Back to the lodge afterward to eat breakfast, pack up, and head back to Kijabe. – Note about the trip home: I had my Hayes Carll CD which I offered to our Kenyan driver and his friend to play on our drive home – THEY LOVED IT! Their favorite song: I’ve got a gig. Shout out to Braz!

Golly – there is so much more I wish I could write, but it will have to come in future stories as this blog is already way long. I hope you enjoy the pictures. I can’t believe I only have 9 more days til I’m on a plane back to London and then home! Craziness. I’m so thankful for the time here to just enjoy God’s creation. It is truly a blessing and a un-replicable life experience.

That would be the sunrise this morning!

ROOOOOOAAAAAR. 
Ok so he is yawning, but it'd be sweet if he was roaring!

"You acted foolishly," Samuel said. "You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the LORD's command." 1 Samuel 13:13-14 - Wait on the Lord’s perfect timing. He will keep his promises.

Those whom I love I rebuke and disciple.  So be earnest, and repent.  Here I am! I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:19-20