Weekend in Nakuru

This past weekend I went to Nakuru, a town in the Rift Valley, with James to visit his home and his family. Having visited the Thompson Falls on the way (http://www.africapoint.net/local-sites/waterfalls/139-thomsons-falls-nyahururu-kenya.html), we arrived in Nakuru just in time to join another family gathering in celebration of the pending wedding between James’ Uncle and his wife to be(the one’s from the dowry celebrations back in July). The big day is the 4th December and I am sorry to say I will miss it as it looks like it will be a corking bash!

Nakuru is well know for its Safari Park which we also visited. Lake Nakuru National Park (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Nakuru) “specialises” in Black Rhino (which we saw) but as the park surrounds Lake Nakuru, its real claim to fame is as the location for one of the greatest bird spectacle on earth - myriads of fuschia pink flamingoes whose numbers are often more than a million maybe two. They feed on the abundant algae, which thrives in the warm waters. For some reason which eludes me, there are no elephants in the park…maybe they just don’t like it.

After visiting the park we strolled to the nearby Menengai crater, the remains of one of the many long since extinct volcanoes that sit in the middle of the rift valley. It is massive. It is also renowned for strange things that happen there such as people disappearing without trace, others losing directions for hours (or even days) only to be found by their relatives wandering around in a trance. I tripped over a rock … though I’m not sure that qualifies.

As we walked back home we decided to stop into a small school along our way where we were welcomed by the head teacher. She happily showed us around and introduced us to the (incredibly well mannered) orphans. They are struggling even more than our kids here at St. Anna, and when the head teacher asked me how can I help, it was all I could do to stop myself blurting out “I’ll be back to help you next year”. Writing this now, I am ashamed to say I didn't blurt it out though but I will endeavour to find a way to get some assistance to them. I think I could happily spend the rest of my life building a school or two a year in remote parts of the world. By my calculations it would only take 10k or so for each one: a couple of rooms and your done really. Hmm?

We got back yesterday evening to see that the library is progressing nicely. The architect is due tomorrow morning to sign off the latest work and from there things will continue skyward. And now I am into my final 7 days :-(. Next week, on the 24th (the day before I leave), I will be unveiling a foundation stone on the library. The great and the good of the area will be coming so I am preparing a Churchillian speech … blood, sweat and tears, that kind of thing.