Going back to Nairobi

Hello,

In the morning, at Elsamere, we again had a nice breakfast, explored the Joy Adamson museum, paid our bill, and headed off for home. On the way we stopped in the area to get a tour of a long-stemmed rose research greenhouse. We saw roses of many varieties in various stages of growth. The roses are developed in Holland and grown here for testing because Kenya is a big exporter of commercial flowers, especially to Europe. Numbers of pedals were counted, life length of blooms was checked, weight of blossoms noted, and growers came to see the product before ordering their desired varieties.

We saw many people walking or riding their bikes on rocky dirt paths along side the road. These are indeed strong hardy people because they can move so very far using their own power to go up and down steep trails. It seems that only men ride bikes. Over all there were not really very many bikes. Almost all of the people were quite thin by US and European standards. In spite of walking on these dusty trails they often wore dress clothes that looked very neat. They take care of their appearance when they are out in public.

Besides people walking close to the road we also saw goats, sheep, donkeys, and cattle. I guess the animals stayed off of the road because there was no grass on it. Sometimes we did have to wait for animals that were being herded across the road, but that was infrequent. I am still impressed that these animals survive on such a meager amount of grass. The rains were late, otherwise I understand we would have seen a lot more green.

Nairobi is greener than the surrounding countryside in the directions that we went out of town, but even there people were talking about the rains that should come soon. I have been a little surprised and pleased at the small number of insects that have been in the territory. I suppose the dryness contributes to that plus the higher altitude in Nairobi surely makes a difference.

Paula

More pictures are up at http://picasaweb.google.com/psbradway/LakeNaivashaRoseGrowingAndDomesticAnimals#