I forgot to mention in in my post yesterday that there was a little bit of excitement when the bus had to stop to allow an elephant to cross the road. The road at that point goes through one of the wildlife reserves, so it was probably not that unusual an occurrence, but still quite a thrill.
I’ve actually had a few random encounters with wildlife since I have been here in Africa. There is an area along the road from Nairobi to Kitale where large numbers of baboons can be seen almost any time. Adams told me that it is an area where the truckers stop to have dinner, and the baboons come to feed on the scraps that they leave behind. Probably not the ideal baboon diet, but free and plentiful.
Also along that road, on this trip I saw a herd of zebra grazing along the road side. Beautiful animals, and fascinating. I read once that they are able to control their body temperature by raising the hairs of the black stripes to allow air to circulate to their skin, while the hairs of the white stripes remain flat. Custom designed by our amazing God!
And at Victoria Falls there are monkeys everywhere. They are actually considered a nuisance, as they try to steal tourists’ phones, cameras, glasses and anything else they might be able to grab.
As well as wildlife there is an abundance of domestic animals – cows, goats, pigs, occasional sheep, and various kinds of poultry. In Kenya particularly it is quite common to see cattle and goats being herded along the road side.
A cultural observation, not wildlife related, that I thought you would enjoy: as we were driving along during my first week, Adams saw a young boy carrying firewood and said, “Oh, he must have been naughty.” He then explained that when he was a young, if a child was naughty or stayed away from home for too long, he would always grab some firewood to take home with him, in the hope that his mother would be so grateful for the wood (a valuable resource) that she would not punish him for his misbehaviour.
On another note, this trip has been different from any other I have done. Normally I like to stay in the homes of the pastors where possible, as it gives an opportunity to build the relationships that are an essential part of what the Apostolic Network is all about. But this time in most places I have been in hotels, because for various reasons staying in homes has not been possible. It does have some advantages, particularly in the “alone time” that I as an introvert need to maintain my energy levels, but it’s still not my ideal way to do missions. But it is what it is, and God is able to work through any situation.
And to finish today’s rambling, I had an email from South African Airways to say that the first leg of my flight back to Kenya on Wednesday has been cancelled, and they have reassigned it to Thursday. This means that they will also have to change the second leg, and I am waiting to hear back from them on that. Please pray that it will get sorted quickly. (God must be planning something really great for Kenya this time – the amount of challenges to the trip that have come up is amazing.)