Nakuru National Park

.



We spent two relaxing days on safari in Nakuru National Park. (The word safari actually means a journey or trip.) The permanent tented camp that we stayed at was called Flamingo Hills Camp. It was the perfect place for us: a small camp with only 28 tents. Since it was the low tourist season, there were very few people there and we got the deluxe treatment.

Nakuru National Park is most famous for lesser flamingos. At one point in time it was estimated that over 2 million, 1/3 of the world's lesser flamingo population, lived on the lake. Lake Nakuru doesn't have an outlet, so its water level fluctuates. This causes the birds to migrate to other nearby lakes when there isn't enough food in this soda lake. Even today with a greatly reduced flamingo population, it is still an impressive site to see in the distance pink water, water covered with flamingos.

It is a beautiful park with plenty of wildlife. On our two game drives we saw impala, baboons, vervet monkeys, Rothschild's giraffe, both black and white rhinos, waterbuck, cape buffalo, warthogs, jackals, zebra, dik-dik, Thomson's gazelles, malibou storks, and white pelicans.

We'd recommend this park and tent camp to anyone.

If you'd like to see more photos click here.

MKLM Regional Meeting

Once a year the Maryknoll Lay Missioners in Kenya have a regional meeting in Nairobi. Kitale is an 8 hour bus ride northwest from Nairobi while Mombasa is 9 hours to the east.



Back row: Judy, Curt, Russ, Susan, John
Middle row: Margaret, Anita, Cindy, Coralis, John
Front row: Rhema, John

Each evening we had entertainment written and produced by the younger members with a little help as extra cast members.

The first day and a half we had a retreat led by the Maryknoll Peace Team Sisters that live in Nairobi based on conversations. It was an outstanding two days spent on spiritual reflections and conversations. All agreed it was probably the best two days of our time in Nairobi.

The Peace Team Sisters are Therea from the US, Sia from Tanzania, and Giang from Vietnam. They work in areas where people are in conflict helping to bring about dialogue and understanding. Currently they are spending quite a bit of time in the Tana River delta where the two tribes are shedding a lot of blood over the issue of land ownership.

The final two days was spent discussing MKLM business. This is the only time of the year where the two MKLM communities are able to get together and spend some quality time. I think everyone enjoys it as much as we do.

Thanksgiving with the Nuncio

It is traditional that the Maryknoll Lay Missioners celebrate Thanksgiving with the Maryknoll Fathers, Brothers and Sisters. Guests are also often invited. Father Lance, who can be quite funny and irreverent, sent an email about two weeks that said the Nuncio would be joining us saying the Mass and for dinner. (A nuncio is an ambassador from the Vatican to foreign countries.) The email told us that he could be a hoot, but we needed to be on our best behaviour and act Catholic. Now, what exactly does a Catholic act like?

The nuncio lives just down the street on the same block as the Maryknoll Fathers. When the Fathers celebrated the centennial of the Maryknoll Society two years ago, the nuncio came, said the Mass and joined for the meal afterwards. At that time the nuncio was from France, a very formal and conservative man. You did need to be on your best behaviour.

Recently an new nuncio from the US had been appointed to Kenya. None of us knew what to expect. It was probably the most memorable Thanksgiving we have ever had.

We first heard this deep booming voice outside the chapel.

As you can see from the photos, he is a large man. In fact, you could say he is larger than life. He had a very nice Mass with humour and laughter telling stories about growing up in New York.

After Mass we had the usual Sundowner at 6:00 that included snacks and drinks. It was a beautiful evening sitting outside with all the guests. Everyone could hear the nuncio's voice laughing and telling story after story during this time and during the dinner. He was thrilled that there was turkey and pumpkin pie!

It has been a nightly activity for Rhema and Bethany, ages 7 and 8, to have a show in the library after dinner. The nuncio wasn't in any hurry to leave and was glad to continue the evening's ambiance.

After the girls' Thanksgiving puppet show, they wanted to play Musical Chairs. The nuncio was an eager participant.

Then the singing of songs began. We haven't laughed so much as a group in a long time. The MK priests and well as all of us couldn't believe how informal and down-to-earth he was.

As he left for the evening, we all joined in singing "So long, fare well, auf Wiedersehen . . ." from The Sound of Music. What an amazing evening.