Guest post by Lynn Pownell

I am now back in snowy freezing North Carolina and missing the warm sunshine of Kenya. Susie and I headed for home two days after new guests arrived. The overlap was fun, highlighted by an invitation to share in a sundowner dinner party. Rehema and Wamuyu cooked all afternoon, we packed the car, crowded into the back seat and, after a slight delay in route to wait for a group of elephants to finish their dinner with a typical teen not willing to give up the tender grasses in the middle of the road until he was good and ready, we arrived at a special place. As we made new acquaintances, sipped cocktails, and ate wonderful food, the sun slipped away from the expansive landscape and the brilliant moon took its place.

This is a landscape I will not soon forget. It is a dramatic backdrop superimposed with more than I could have ever imagined. So much happens out of doors that it is easy to get a little glimpse of Kenyan life. People walk everywhere they need to go, some catching a ride now and then. People work out of doors; herding cattle, shoats, and camels, selling their fruit, vegetables and other wares, pounding boulders into gravel, transporting reeds on their backs or bicycles. On Lewa the animals stay just as busy as people: hunting for food, protecting and caring for their young, exploring and frolicking, always on the move.

A few of my favorite things: bright eyed smiling school children walking in groups to school and studying under an acacia tree, the lilac-breasted roller who sat sentinel outside my window from dusk to dawn on the first night of my stay, Rehema arranging and lighting the logs in the fireplace as we finished dinner, the graceful movement of giraffes, the silly bulky rhinos, and the swagger of elephants, off road adventures that led to amazing experiences (Susie’s quest for cats fulfilled), and the good time spent with friends who no longer seem half a world away. Asante sana Kenya.