Karibu Tena means Welcome Back

Today is the 2nd of August.  Sam and I have returned.  So did Jeff, in case you were worried, and we presume that the east coast bunch made it home too.  Daniel is on his way to Rwanda.

We checked into the Entebbe airport, and had to say goodbye to Abel and Sammy, who couldn't come in without tickets.  Sam and I bought a postcard and a fridge magnet, and I was able to chat with a young couple from South Dakota who had just spent 11 months up country in Uganda at a school and a clinic.
The flight out of Entebbe, scheduled for Friday morning at 1 am, took off over an hour late due to mechanical issues.  Something about the engine deicer.  So we sat on the tarmac for an hour and then taxied for 20 minutes.  We took the airline dinner to sleep better, and I think we got 4-5 hours before waking 3 hours before landing in London.  Sam did his best to watch all of the kid movies they had on the plane, and I watched Robocop.  It was kind of dark and left open for more storyline to come.  Sam got me to watch the first half of the Lego movie with him.  I liked that one much better!

The wait in London was about 8 hours due to another aircraft maintenance issue, but for this one we waited in the terminal, not on the plane.  Sam and I strolled around.  Several of the team enjoyed a Starbucks. I think the overall feeling of the team was exhaustion, a little numbness, and, oddly, perhaps a little culture shock coming back to the west.

If you will note, everyone on our team in this photo is working a Sudoku puzzle.

For the astute observer, this photo shows more than just our departure time on the left.  I think it's kind of humorous!

We said our goodbyes to the east-coast team, and then boarded.  I had been "selected" for a security pat-down and delay, and in my mind I was playing out a scenario in which I phoned Jeff, already on the plane, to come grab Sam and get him home because I'd miss my flight, hung up in some dark room explaining my foreign travels and associations to a suspicious airport cop or intelligence agent.  Crazy things happen in your head when your passport is in view, but not in your control.   The pat-down only took about 2 minutes after a 5 minute wait. On the flight, I was able to finish a book I have and start a new one.  Watched Divergent, and SpiderMan 2.  Action movies.  Keep in mind that we were *trying* to stay awake so we'd sleep in our own beds and not be up all night.

Sam didn't quite make it through the flight without zonking out.  I think he got about three hours.

This was a pleasant sight for tired eyes!

Landing in Denver with no issues, Jeff was able to speed through customs while Sam and I waited for our bags.  And waited.  And waited.  And ran more scenarios through our heads.  And waited. We finally got our one checked bag, then came around the corner to find Kathy, Brooks and Grace waiting for us.  What a sweet reunion that was!

The ride home and this morning was trip review with our family, laundry, and organizing.  Starting to-do lists, thinking about work, and starting to distill the more complex reflections from the trip.
Oh, I also read my own blog.  It took me about 90 minutes.   Who knew I could write so much!  Who knew you would read so much!

One final thing, before I go for now.  In reading the blog, I realize that I neglected to introduce all of our team members.  Here's a brief catch up on that.
Hazel Seavey is a pastor at a church in Maine, and ministers to the Sudanese population there as well.  She has been involved in ministering to widows in South Sudan.  Now that South Sudan is falling apart and is closed, she joined us for this trip to Kenya and Uganda.  She is on the staff at Heart of Africa as well.
Martha Henderson is Mike's wife, and my mother in law.  She first came to Africa as a summer intern in 1964 (we heard about that on our trip), and helps run Heart of Africa. Sam was particularly glad to have his Gramma along to play cards with, and she was a big help to the team, especially the new-to-Africa time.
Sam Upham is my sixth-grader son.  Sam did an amazing job on this trip: never complaining, always patient, and helpful.  Sam received many nice compliments from our team members and those we met while on the trip.  He was able to sit through adult meetings as well as be a kid from time to time.

Here is the Heart of Africa website, which should be updated soon with a new look.

I don't know if I'll get to update any more on this trip since it's now over, but I want to say thanks for reading.  I hope you enjoyed it and that it was helpful (or entertaining) to you somehow.  I hope that you might better know another part of Africa for it, and perhaps another part of me.  I think I was most changed by seeing God's work in another part of the globe, and to see the realities of truly changed lives by people committed to Him.

Departure Thursday. See you Friday!

Today is the 31st of July.  I actually forgot that July had 31 days, and I thought someone was playing a trick on me.

Today was filled with travel necessities, primarily getting ourselves to the airport.  We had an extended stop at an American family's home in Kampala, then headed to the airport where I am waiting to board our flight.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  I'm sure you don't want to miss any nail-biting moments of our drive!  So here goes.

We waited some time for our ride to arrive, and while we did, Sam and I took some photos of the hotel and the grounds.

There are a handful of diorama statue displays on the grounds depicting Ugandan tribal culture.

The van did arrive.  I think our tired team was glad for that.

Proud of myself that we packed the bags in the rear of the van so there could be a teensy bit more leg room, eleven people piled into the van (8 team, 2 H&HF, and 1 driver).  Not 3 minutes out of town we had to turn around to get some gas that had been left for us in jerry cans on the roadside.  We suggested that they fill the tank immediately so that we didn't breathe the fumes.

Did I mention the US commando aircraft that had mechanical problems on its way through Uganda to South Sudan?  It set down three weeks ago on the road between Kampala and Kjojo, and here it is as we whizzed by.  We also saw it on the news at the hotel one night at dinner.  Talk of the town!

You would think that I took more pictures from the rest of the day, but instead I was thinking about my knees in my chest and trying to not get car sick.  I predicted our arrival time in Kampala to within about 10 minutes, but that was pure luck.  Traffic in that city is ka-razy.  If you told me there were 1 million 2-cycle motor cycles in that city I would believe you.

We arrived at a nice house, home to Kenneth and Delight Hopson, and their new publish-for-all printshop.  Kenneth is a lifetime printer man, and has been publishing for WGM in Kampala for 10 years, and 4 years in Tanzania before that.

Their two kids still at home showed us the international school they attend while we were out on a walk.  Delight served us a great "American style" beef stew dinner, Zuchinni cake, and coffee.  It was great!

Getting on the road again at about 7pm or so, it took just over two hours to travel to Entebbe.  1 full hour of that was the craziest traffic jam I've ever seen.  At one point, we were stuck in four lanes of van-taxis crammed into two physical lanes, while 10,000 boda-bodas (the little motor cycles loaded with 3-5 people or gear that barely fits in my mini van) zipped by us in a steady stream--like a literal SWARM!  It was totally crazy!  I am planning on writing a Haiku about the boda-boda.

We did finally make it to the airport, and said goodbye to pastor Sammy and Dr. Abel.  

I'll upload now, and add more "J. Peterman" prose later.  

Kyenjojo Day Two (and it was full!)

Today is July 30th.

I think we're not getting used to African culture, time, and their cultural expectations, but we are now not as surprised by it when we witness it.  Without explaining every moment in which we felt that, I'll just leave this observation to stand by itself, and you can mentally layer that in throughout the day and the trip.

Today's agenda included a visit up at Hearts and Hands Foundation to plant some trees on the property.  The holes were already dug for us, and we just plopped them into the holes and threw some dirt on the root ball.  Jeff shared his family's tradition of naming trees, and gave his tree a name.  Ug, I can't remember what it was!  That started the rest of us naming our trees.  I'll tell you how we Sam and I came up with a name.  Sam's instinctual answer for "what do you want to name our tree" was "Brooks", after his brother.  That reminded me of his verse, Psalm 1:3 or Jeremiah 18:8, which is nearly identical.  Both are applicable to tree planting.  I don't remember what the other names were.

Then about nine widows came to meet with the ladies for 60 minutes or so, and the rest of us played soccer and discussed particle physics.  

Then we headed to meet with another project that H&HM supports which helps local handicapped folks.  We heard some tragic stories, but due to the timing of our agenda, didn't get to hear them all.  It was frustrating that those folks came by motorcycle taxi, or on foot, and we didn't get to meet all of them.  As we drove away to our next appointment, more were walking down the road!  One good thing was that as one gentleman was making a presentation to Mike, Mike stated that we are just here to help Mike's frend Abel, ("Ah-Bell") and so he should be making the presentation to Abel, not Mike.

From there we headed to see Victor and Alyssa's huge endeavor: an orphanage, school, and hospital/clinic.  I think I briefly introduced Alyssa and Victor yesterday.  They have 50 children in their orphanage, over a 100 in their school, and the clinic now has x-ray and ultrasound.  They have no doctor at this time, but are interviewing for one.  Her educational background is helpful in how they teach.  One interesting difference I heard was that they don't beat the children when they don't learn, like public schools.  That's good to hear, huh?  Public schools have a teacher/student ratio of 1:150 or 1:200--and that's when the teacher shows up to work.  I think I heard that their ratio was in the 1:20-30's.  The God's Care orphanage, clinic and school are not funded by the government, but by donors.  They are not a Heart of Africa partner currently. 

Our last appointment of the day was to visit another school, known as NOSHIP.  I may have mentioned that that stands for Nyamabuga Orphans Self Help Institutional Project.  It was a ways out of town, "out in the bush", as Mike informed me.  We met with the staff and some kids, and were able to give them some red vines and two balls, a soccer ball and a basket ball.  They were very grateful for the balls.  This school has NEVER had a ball before!!  That being said, this trip frustrated me the most of today.  We had a third ball, a soccer ball, in one of the cars before we rearranged vehicles and split up with some of the team returning back.  It turned out the the driver (hired, I think) took one of the balls for himself or some other group he's in.  I think I'm frustrated that a) the school could really use some more balls (just one will not last long at this school), and b) I think we'd be happy to consider a request made for a ball, but I feel like it was stolen as there was no mention of it leaving our control without our knowing it.  Oh well. [update: it turns out that the ball wasn't stolen, but Anita had been asked and approved it, not telling Abel.]

This is the jungle gym for the little kids. 

The NOSHIP school has 285 students, and many of them, over 100, are orphans.  I don't know where the orphans go when they are not at school.  

The reason this school exists is twofold: a) handicapped (and orphans?) are not allowed at public school, and b) as I mentioned above, the public school is not good--no learning can be accomplished there with an absent teacher and a high student:teacher ratio.

So I think this is a good project, but it's frustrating to hear of the "Africanisms" that have impacted success.  For example, money being given for a specific purpose being re-diverted to some other need with no way to complete the original intent. 

We are now back at the hotel awaiting dinner in an hour.  The team is mixed about going home--some have said they want to stay longer or forever in Africa, some want to go back last week, and Daniel still has another week or more of Africa travel for his business.

The plan is for us to go to Kampala tomorrow to dedicate a print shop, then get on the plane that departs at 01:00 (am) to start the journey back.

Uganda is not Kenya

Today is July 29th.  I took lots of pictures today, but will try to limit what I post due to bandwidth, unfortunately.

Today we interacted with two ministries, and we plan to seem them both again tomorrow.  I went to the ATM with Mike this morning and on the way back we bumped into Alyssa Sande, a Pennsylvanian woman who runs an orphanage, clinic, and school here in Kyenjojo with her Ugandan husband, Victor.  At the hotel, we were able to give them some soccer balls, kids clothing and kids shoes that had been sent with us for them.  They were appreciated.  We will get to visit their facility tomorrow.

Then we drove just a mile or so to the Hearts and Hands Foundation property, where under construction is a building that will be a combination classroom, offices, and training shop to teach practical and marketable skills.  Part of what the folks who run this see is that Ugandans that go all the way through university graduate and can't find jobs, and they are missing skills that can make them money.  We had a fascinating explanation from Arthur about how the attitude of government dependence (e.g. for a job) was intentionally bred/developed in the colonial days to prevent rebellion and maintain control.  

Our meeting with Arthur, Samuel ("Big Sam"), Sam Junior, Abel, and Anita (Abel's wife) was long, but enjoyable.  It started out in their home with the presentation of gifts to them.  

For John and Laura, if you're reading, Anita is the one who had requested a laptop computer.  I had managed to get both working before today, and presented them both to her.  She was overwhelmed and was very thankful.  A few minutes later she then "re-gifted" the extra laptop to the chairman (Big Sam) who was glad to receive it!  So thanks to you two from Anita and Sam!

Jeff shared a message of encouragement with the men, and we were served a very nice homemade lunch.

We waited for a couple of scheduled events, one never materialized (maybe tomorrow) and one was later than expected.  While we waited, we were able to get some exercise climbing the hill behind the property which has large rocks on it.  It turns out that the spot we were on is why the town and district were named for--50-100 years ago elephants hung out in the area and on that hill.  The private property that the hill sits on has a beautiful view.  I was amazed at the price and what it would be in Colorado, but they were asking too much for H&H to afford.

Finally, we met with leaders from a self-organized group advised by Anita, the Kyenjojo Youth Development Organization.  Four young men with degrees presented their co-op type organization in which each buys into to get "shares".  The money is then pooled for micro-loans to start businesses and expand them based on their needs.  They said they were tired on waiting on the government to provide them jobs (what many graduates expect in vain), and shared a success story from one of them--a welding shop that is profitable.

I titled this post "Uganda is not Kenya" because of some observations we first-timers have made.  Granted, we only saw small slices of Kenya, and that will be true of Uganda, too.  But out of the box I was able to understand more of their accent.  I estimated my frustration from the prison ministry day by how much I was able to comprehend.  I don't know what it is, but for some reason both Sam and I have been able to get 80%.  Maybe 60-70% for Sam, and 90-100% for me.  Your whole psyche is so much better when you can understand what people are saying!

Another observation is how green things were.  I was thinking that might have been me, but I've heard it from other team members too.  Being from the Pacific Northwest but living in Colorado, I can get snobby about green.

Another observation is that the roads are much better.  This is one that clearly is based only on my limited exposure to these "slices".  I know that there are worse roads everywhere!

I think the highlights from my day were: off-loading all of our give-away stuff (Sam's highlight); Sam met Monday Lawrence, the 10-year old son of Anita and Abel (Sam's highlight); experiencing the gratitude over the computer gift from J&L; our discussion with the young guys and their organization; a nice chat with Jeff about the space program and sci-fi movies.

The power just blinked out for a few minutes, and if I want to charge this phone tonight I'd better get finished.

There is definitely an attitude of the home stretch, and I'm trying to be careful not to short change the trip even though it's getting short.  Tomorrow we plan to visit some H&H projects as well as see Alyssa's projects as well.

And as you can tell, I put up more pics than I probably should have, but I know they can compensate for my writing!  

Now in Uganda

Yesterday was the 28th of July.  The team made it to the Nairobi airport (sans Daniel, who left on an earlier flight), through checkin, bags delivered (we were concerned over weight), and security.  We boarded the flight after about 90 minutes, and the flight was an hour long--a very short hop over lake Victoria to Entebbe.

We arrived at a very hot and muggy airport, but adapted quickly, found Daniel, and loaded a "14 passenger" van with 11 people and our pile of luggage.  I was compressed from the sides, head to seat, and seet to knees.  For three hours!  It was good to be out finally.  We did catch some glimpses of the Ugandan city and countryside as we motored along at 120kph to make it to Kjojo before nightfall.

Our hotel is a four story round building.  Concentric patio on each floor, and stairway in the middle.  So the rooms are kind of pie-shaped.  We were glad to have the beds!

We rejoined for dinner and met with our Ugandan connections. Anita, Abel, and Arthur, I think.  And one young guy's name is "Innocent".  It tickled some of us when he introduced himself "I am Innocent".   

Our food took about 90 minutes to arrive, so we were really hungry when we got it.  Then a short evening with Sam, working our our devotional workbook about our trip, and we hit the rack.  The building's generator was shut down for the night (no electricity, no water, and no wifi).  Ha ha!  I forgot to mention that there is no wifi when even when the power is on.  Therefore, I'll post some text via cell, but I'll have to keep the photos to a minimum.

Today (the 29th) we'll meet the Ugandan team again at 9 and figure out the order of the day (remember "Semper Gumby"?).

The Hearts and Hands organization is who we'll be working with for all of the projects we'll see in Uganda.

I just looked through my photos and most of them are blurry roadside pictures, so here's one of the 6:45 sunrise this morning (the 9th).  The air is smoky from breakfast cooking fires--I noticed that about 4am.

Random fact, Ugandan shillings to USD is 1:2600.  They don't speak Swahili here.  Two weeks of immersion in Kenya aren't helpful here.  (Smile.)

I hear birds and roosters, hammering, and the occasional horn.

I've been thinking about the folks back at work.  I am witnessing the third world, and seeing projects that are changing lives, and the folks at my company are working hard to get ready for the big event--which will also (continue to) change people's lives.  The difference is two or three orders of magnitude in annual income and standard of living, but I think other things are the same--at the human level.  When Mike introduces me to others in Africa, he uses a dated example of what I do, but he also references our product on the web.  I am amazed at how many people--way out in the sticks even--get it and have even seen it.  There was ONE group of folks that hadn't seen it or heard of it, but I also wonder if that's a language barrier too (could be, but probably not).  Still, for any of my coworkers that are reading, your product is known globally and has already changed the world.  So keep it up!

Jon and Sam

More animals, lots of mud, and 5 hours in the car. Sebina's slumministry.

After a nice overnight rest in the tent rooms, we left early this morning for tea and a 6:15 am game drive.  As Mike stayed behind for yesterday evening's drive, today Martha and Jeff stayed behind.

Elijah our driver handled the van (top heavy with all of us standing up looking out the top) quite well considering the torrential rains we had the previous night.  The roads and tracks weren't in great shape.  I think I mentioned yesterday's driving rain, the slipping in the mud, the doing 180's (accidentally), all in the middle of a large and frenzied herd of wildebeest and Cape buffalo.   We fondly refer to that as bowling for wildebeest.  Thankfully we bowled a gutter ball.

The drive this morning started out with the usual zebras, wildebeest, topis, and gazelle.  We spotted five giraffes that passed right in front of our vehicle.  Still graceful!

Then Elijah took us down a road and Daniel spotted the elephants.  They were retreating, so this is the best photo I got of them.  

We hunted around for a while, finding warthogs and Grants gazelle, then went looking for lion.  We found a cheetah instead.  This one just having had breakfast and knowing full well that the paparazzi were mobbing her from their funny looking vans and land rovers.  I'm glad she already ate!

We sighted several other animals, but this isn't National Geographic or Mutual of Omaha.  So I'll get on with the blog.

We headed back to the Fig Tree Camp for breakfast buffet, pack up, and leave.  What a nice place--I wish we could've stayed longer (maybe another day or two, if I were on vacation).

On the way out of the park, this guy was sighted and shot (with a camera, of course).  He is a Kongoni, or a Hartebeest.  

Next was our 5 hour drive back to Narobi.  We passed a few Masaai villages on the way and I saw many wearing bright colors, standing in a circle, and jumping up and down.  Martha said they were dancing, probably for a church service.  It was only then that I realized that today is Sunday.  It still doesn't seem right because we are in another universe, upside down, and we have been going to a lot of church, if you've not been keeping up!

Speaking of things, above, named Hartebeest, I thought my friends Dave and Mike would appreciate that beast and this photo below.  This is the Intelsat station sitting in the Rift Valley just west of Nairobi, which we passed by.  I read up on the history of this station a little, and it seems that even this has been impacted by African politics.  It is, however, operational, from what I understand.  Sitting on the equator, and talking up to geo-synchronous orbit, and from this shot looking nearly south, you could look at the photo and fairly easily determine what Intelsat birds (communications satellites) they are talking to.  Of course if you really wanted to know, maybe you could look that up too.  I am suprised that I was able to work in some satellite lingo in a blog like this!  (I have another shot showing them to be about 90 degrees in elevation from each other).

We got to our lodging, Mayfield Guest House, checked in, and left quickly for our meeting across town with Sebina, our friend working in one of the Nairobi slums.  But traffic was hung up in a big way.  

So, remember my post from last week, and I briefly mentioned that a VIP government official was coming to Kericho to visit?  Rumor had been that it was the vice-president of Kenya, or perhaps even the president.  Well, apparently it was the president, because when he flew back to the airport today, they literally blocked all of the traffic so he would have a clear route back to the office or his house or wherever he was headed.  

We made our way around it eventually, only to get hung up in traffic in the slums!  We took a back road to get out of that--good thing we had a 4x4--I never thought we'd need to 4x4 just to get through an alley way in a major city.

Our plan had been to watch Sebina work with a young men's group she has going in the slums, and to give her some clothing and two balls that she could use.  Abandoning that plan, we made arrangements to meet her at a Java House restaurant for dinner.  Here's the meeting group, sans Amy, who took the photo.  We have, left-to-right, Elijah (driver), Jon, Sam, Martha, Hazel, Mike, Sebina, ministry secretary Panina, and ministry chairman John.  Mike explained Heart of Africa's purpose and philosophy to the board, and then we discussed her purpose, vision, and values, (well, my words, but that's what we discussed); and it's to transform people's lives by helping them learn marketable skills, and come to know the Lord.  Something like that, but she's still working on the language with her board.

It's been a long day, and our team is looking for the second wind.  I think it will come after we get to Entebbe tomorrow.  I was just telling Jeff this evening that I like the idea of rough edges being polished off (of me), but it's no fun feeling the sand paper.  I'd rather be back in my element doing my thing and not be changing.  I'm speaking not only of group dynamics, but also of seeing God's church in a very odd-to-me culture.  Being received as visitors here, as a visitor, doesn't mesh with the way I culturally expect to be received.  And that's tough.  I'm constantly thinking "if they only did things our way" or "why do they think this way?", knowing that that thinking has been tried before, and this country can develop with it's own culture.  I keep thinking of my friend Daneen's solo mission to a rough area for a whole year, and what that must have been like.

I think we will make it.

We will be excited to get back next week, but are also excited to find out what's yet in store.  God Bless.

No shortage of pictures today

Today is July 26th, the day we entered Maasai Mara game park.  Yes, I spelled Maasai differently than before, because I've now seen it spelled that way as well.  I don't know which way is correct.

The road from Tenwek/Bomet was paved for about an hour, and was increasingly worse for the last two hours.  The game van we've had for the whole trip from Nairobi thus far served us well, however.  It's a 4x4 all the time.  I think our 4x4 experience rivaled many Colorado 4x4 road conditions I've seen except maybe for the sheer faces on one side and the sheer drop on the other side that you often see in the Rockies.

On the way to the park we saw lots of cattle, sheep and goats. And lots of Maasai herdsmen, children, women.  We were informed that there is a Kenyan law against taking photos of the Maasi without their approval, so we minded that.  Later we were able to catch a photo with permission.

We checked into a place called Fig Tree Camp Masai Mara.  Maybe they have a web site.  Very swanky cabana rooms and tent rooms.  Sam and I are sharing a tent room, which is a permanently located drop wall tent on a platform overlooking a river that supposedly has crocs in it.  The tents are connected to a permanent bathroom building with a shower, toilet, sink.  The tent is electrified, but the power is out from midnight to noon.  No wifi unless you want to pay in the main lodge area.  I would recommend the Fig Tree Camp if you plan to visit this Mara area.

After an afternoon rest for me and exploring the place for Sam, we met at 3pm for an afternoon game drive.  The top was popped up on our van so that we could actually ride standing up with an unobstructed view.  Pretty cool.  It started out with zebras, gazelles, and warthogs.  Yawn.  We'd seen those on the way in.  Hee hee. As someone said (I can't recall who), "I'll never get tired of seeing zebras".  I kind of agree.  But once you see one herd, you do tend to mentally cross them off your list and begin looking for an animal you've not yet seen.  We called it playing "mara bingo".  

Next was the hippo spot, a bend in the river where probably as many as 20 hippos were chilling out playing submarine.  Sam thought it looked like "whack a hippo", since one would surface just as another would submerge.  They stared at us with watchful eyes and we kept our distance.  

Back on the drive, we eventually saw some birds I can't identify (sorry, Ron, if you're reading), and eventually spotted the giraffes.  We were amazingly close when we saw a group of four.  Those animals are so graceful, especially given their design.  I can imagine that if God had a prototype beta version it would have been funny to watch until it was perfected.  Of course he didn't, but with those lanky legs, tall torso, and that crazy neck and horns, you have to wonder if there's even more about that animal that we don't yet get!

Amy was on the hunt for a lion.  After moving through herds and herds of zebra, wildebeast, and a few more giraffe, she spotted the lion at 200 yards.  What an eye!  Our driver Elijah (/ah-lee'-jah/) maneuvered the vehicle very close.  That was the highlight of the whole drive.  We stopped for perhaps 10 minutes as the mother with tag-along cub barked for the daddy to get over here.  We were just about to leave (in fact we were rolling) when again Amy spotted first: the male causually sauntering up to the group from behind.  I bet our team took over 200 photographs with 7 or 8 cameras.

We were very close!  I was ready to duck if they charged us.

The final big animals we saw were hyenas (where is spell check when you need it), and Cape buffalo.   Just about then, the rain picked up and we had to close the top of the rig.  Trying to get back to the main gravel road before the water made too much mud, Elijah was motoring along at a good clip--maybe 45mph, driving rain, and scads of wildebeest scrambling out of our way.  A couple of times we lost control and did a 180--I thought we were going to roll it.  Others had more faith than I.  Smile.  Sorry no photos or video of that.

The Upham tent enjoyed a rousing game of 5-crowns and some silliness. 

Dinner at the lodge was like the lunch, buffet style with good conversation and discussion of our plans and schedule for tomorrow.

This was a fun day, and we look forward to progressing eventually to Nairobi tomorrow evening.