1 June 2014
An incredible day. Late Saturday we received an invitation for breakfast with the Governor of Nakuru. This was in light of him hearing of our work in the region and to thank us for still coming despite the recent tourists restrictions being held over Kenya.
After arriving at a local hotel, we were shown to a conference room awaiting his presence. After a 5 minute wait, he arrived accompanied by many other people, including a television crew and newspaper journalist. He greeted everyone and then he decided to sit next to me with his deputy on the other side of me. We had conversations about his military career, history of Kenya and marathon running.
Then to our surprise, we had many speeches from African Adventures founders, the head of tourism of Kenya, the deputy to the Governor, an associate of the president and the Governor himself. They were all thanking us for our work in the town and how Kenya is still a safe place to visit, apart from a few places, and that the British and other nations should continue to visit the country. Our final role was to have a group photo with the Governor for the Nakuru website which is currently under construction.
Our next destination was to Lake Nakuru National Park to see the wild animals. This is on my ‘bucket list’, so I was really looking forward to going. Words can’t describe the feeling of seeing a lion in the wild, where they belong. I was also delighted to see many white rhinos, giraffes, pink flamingos and many, many others. We then stopped at a point which overlooks the whole of the Lake, a truly magical site which has to be seen to believe. That was one off the list and boy was it incredible!
Thomson Falls was the destination for our next stop, it’s a 200 foot waterfall which you can walk down via a rocky and steep walkway. As we set off for our walk we had to make a decision if to continue due to the heavy rainfall which had started. Despite a few turning back, we eventually got to the bottom of the waterfall. An awesome sight. I looked up to the sky, completely soaked, raised my arms in the air and embraced the moment. Our team was delighted with our efforts and it was definitely a group moment. After walking back up to our buses and getting out of our wets clothes, we headed to our final place for the day.
In the dark, we reached the Equator point. One of the local Kenyans showed us a fascinating exercise. It showed us what happens when a piece of grass is placed in a bowl of water in the northern hemisphere (turns clockwise), southern hemisphere (turns anti-clockwise) and on the actual equator line (stays still). Brilliant.
After such a busy day, I’m looking forward to seeing the kids of St.Trizah’s School tomorrow. Missed them today.