Rick and I arrived in Nairobi (after seven hours to Qatar and then another six on to Kenya) about 3pm in the afternoon on November 4. We (along with another BGR couple) were picked up at the airport and taken to a guest house where we were able to refresh ourselves before meeting nearly all the BGR team for supper at a local restaurant. The next morning we had to be ready to go at 6am. The fourteen of us boarded three vehicles (Land Rovers) for our trip to Amboseli Park (a game park/hotel) where we would have our meetings and FUN time. The drive took about four hours but then we got into the park and drove for another hour in (slowly) as we say MANY animals! I will be describing them all and hopefully putting on pictures but just to wet your appetite – just on the drive in we saw zebras, elephants, gazelle, hippos, giraffes, lions, and MANY others. It was amazing. The land is flat for so far you seem to be able to see forever! In fact, the sky is so big I could hardly open my eyes big enough to see it all. We finally got to the lodge/hotel and were met with cool wet towels and freshly squeezed orange juice! Rick and I got our key (which was hooked to a very interesting piece called a ringu – picture later ) and set ourselves up in Room 9.
Our team had lunch – a beautiful buffet. We were in our rooms just long enough to prepare for our afternoon game drive! Wow, it was incredible! Our truck was very high so we had good views PLUS we all had binoculars! (“binos” as they are called here). Our hosts are two young men (one was from Zimbabwe and the other was from South Africa) who work for a Christian tour group called ACTS. You can find out more about them at www.actsoverland.com. They knew all about the animals and had led tours in this park many times. As we drove along they told us interesting things about the animals that we were seeing. And boy, did we see the animals. We drove right through a herd of hundreds of zebra. A herd of about forty elephants crossed the road right in front of our truck and it was absolutely awesome to watch them majestically parade in front of us. I wish you could have all been with me to experience this first day of the game drive. It really was incredible and I could see the hand of God at every turn.
We returned after about two hours and had a great supper. Then our team met for worship and prayer. When we got back to our room our mosquito net had been drawn and our beds had been turned back. What service! We hit the sack about 10:30. Remember we are still dealing with jet lag so we were more than ready to hit the hay.
