Kenya Safari Part XII continued

Finally, I'm posting the end of our Kenya safari. I'm using this opportunity to thank every one of my readers for enjoying this trip with us! I also want to try and answer a few questions which have arisen over the weeks. Arija, the Goliath Heron is the largest heron in the world and stands 154cm tall. I'm 164cm so it would reach up to my shoulder. It's a very graceful bird and although we didn't see any young, it was thrilling to see these birds on the top of the tree!  BTW, I couldn't resist posting my favourite photo of it again!

Goliath Heron seen on Lake Baringo on our tour in December 2011

Dearest Betsy, I'm sure my Christmas card from you will arrive via the mine office shortly. It goes to Eldoret where it waits at the Posta (Post Office) until a driver goes to town for business and brings it home. I'll let you know as soon as I receive it!

Fred, thank you for reliving Kenya with me through my general posts and recently in my meanderings through the Kenyan Parks and lake resorts.  

Eileen, re the lion's injury around the eye area: I think this is an old male and he's been pushed out of the pride by a younger stronger lion.  Perhaps he'll be OK, but he might starve to death having no females to hunt for him. Sad and cruel, but that's nature...

After a delicious Christmas dinner at the lodge, we rested until late afternoon when we went out for a last ride around the park. We still firmly believed we'd see a leopard, but sadly didn't! We did see many many birds on the lake, storks, comorants, gulls and of course, pelicans. We also saw a small family of flamingo. As the other 999,997 Lesser Flamingo had flown off the Lake Natron, their natural breeding ground, I was thrilled that I managed to photograph these three remaining flamingo.

The only pair of Lesser Flamingo at Lake Nakuru...

...and their offspring - a juvenile flamingo!

The next morning arrived all too soon and then it was time to leave the park.

Even leaving Lake Nakuru National Park is a pleasurable ride through fever tree forests

I managed a photo of a baby buck (fawn) with the herd before the mother walked in front of it, concealing from view

And a baby baboon catching a ride!

Incredibly, as you exit the Lake Nakuru National Park gates, you enter the town of Nakuru.

Every house along the road just outside the park has murals of wild animals

 I loved the artwork on the walls with washing on the lines and life in Africa going on as always

Soon we were on the B24 heading for home

And the final 24 km into the valley!

Although it's almost a month since our holiday, I still remember every animal, bird and experience. I will be posting about birds over the next few weeks. Thanks for joining me on this wonderful safari across Kenya.

Ambrose in training

For more pet posts, click here

Blogging friends

Thanks to everyone who wrote kind comments on my blog about my late mom. Thank you to those who  visited my friends' blogs which I linked to mine yesterday.For the readers only seeing this post today,  I know Diane will enjoy hearing from you, so do pop over and visit her blog here. By the same token, if you visit Penny, not only would she be pleased to hear from a fellow blogger, but I'm sure she would appreciate any support she can get for a mission she supports here in Kenya.

As an expat who's lived in West and North Africa and currently living in East Africa I can personally testify first-hand to the abject poverty among the masses in these countries.  In most third world countries, for every 100 people that are fortunate enough to have employment, there are always tens of thousands who merely subsist and eke out a living; some by farming and selling vegetables, eggs or milk on the market; others by collecting scrap and transporting it to the cities with great difficulty to sell it; others even breaking stones and selling it. I've seen all these but not one moved me as much as the latter; women sitting on the roadside with a family of children playing nearby while they chop stones by hand. Backbreaking, muscle-aching and and skin-tearing agony!

To anyone who may be thinking I'm using my blog commercially, you're wrong. On the contrary. We've all, at some time,  shared tragig stories through our posts; I often read about prayer requests for victims of natural disasters, someone with a terminal illness or a person who's had a serious accident. I always add that request to my already-long prayer list and then petition it to God believing that He will offer comfort or provide protection or peace.

However, faith (believing) without works is dead, as we see in James 2:14-16 :  "What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?"(New King James Version Bible)

If there's a disaster relief fund or some worthy cause that I feel led to donate towards, I do it. Not much, a few dollars at best, but every bit helps. I calculate that if I entered a supermarket in between monthly grocery shopping days, (we don't do it, as we can only go shopping once a month, thank goodness!) I'd spend anything up to KSH4000/US$46 on not-such-necessary items.  So I feel I can spare half of that for a worthy cause without breaking the bank. Above all, remember to only give if you feel convinced and happy about it. 

If you feel in any way inclined to help, even with as little as twenty dollars, please visit Penny's blog and chat to her. Your contribution could make a world of difference to a Kenyan family.

I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend.