Still Half Way Around the World- Letter from Susan

Hello Dear Ones!

Thanks so much for yours parayers! Wanted to send 1 more before we get ready to go tomorrow.

We are back from our safari (swahili for journey). It was incredible. The cost was great to get there... the 150 mi. route from Nairobi to the Maasai Mara game reserve was the worst "road" we've ever seen. It took about 7 hours to get there & back. The road was paved kind of, but had pot holes of every size & shape. There were times that we went off road because that was smoother than the road. It was a roller coaster ride. Just like we can see deer outside of Potato Creek State park, we started seeing giraffes, zebra & vultures just 1 1/2 hrs. outside of Nairobi. Once we got to the National park on Tues. about 4:30 we did a game drive & within 1 1/2 hrs. we saw elephants, rhino, water buffalo, impalas, ostrich, & 4 lions that walked right past our van. (The park is 900 sq. mi.). The next day we went out all day & saw wildebeasts, several types of gazelles, zebra, mating lions, hyena, hippos, wart ho g s, many large variety of birds & lots of lions (1 pride of 12). They are all used to the safari vehicles. The only thing we didn't get to see were leopards or cheetas. They sleep in trees in the daytime & hunt at night.

The camping out 2 nights reminded me why we don't go camping. The Maasai tribe of Africans guard the camp ground while we sleep. They are the tribe (I'm sure you've heard of) that maintain their ancient heritage: things like they drink blood & milk, dress in red wraps or capes (to scare off wild animals--I'm not sure how this squares with the Spanish bull fingiting where red angers the bulls)???? The Maasai also stretch their ear lobes (I have pics), & the men compete to see how high they can jump. They said usually no wild animals visit the camp sites, except for monkeys. We did see several of them & laughed at their antics.

Susan