And on that final descent – boy does the cold beer at the lodge go down well !!

almost as well as the swim

Walking in the bush, finding beauty all around.

A regenerating olive tree

cattle wallowing in the river lines, and after an eight miler up and down the hillsides, our view of our campsite at Ol Osur

After five wonderful days trecking through the greatest forests in Kenya, we’ve arrived – it feels like we’re on top of the world.

Lake Natron below us at the bottom of the rift, with the pink of the flamingos clearly visible.

Now just the descent into the rift tomorrow morning

Looking back – we have been so lucky on this trip, from the Mara with the wildebeest migration all around us along with their attendent carnivores,  to meeting the warriors (Maasai Moran) by the the giant cedar trees in the highland forests of Ngare Nanyuki, and now to looking over the rift valley before our descent….

A final steep ascent, with some of the first forest butterflies playing around our heads in the late afternoon sunlight – and we make our first campsite – at Ol Osur.

I think I spy a bees nest high in a podocarpus – and having had the sweet honey go missing at Olashe, am keen to mark it out for a possible attempt on the sweet honey inside this nest.  It turns out to be wasps though.

The wonderful friendliness of walking in Maasailand, such that the few Maasai we come across all made their way over to greet us, while any children we met made to greet us, offering their bowed heads for us to cup with the palm of the hand.  Human connection in such a wide landscape is so important, for someone to walk past and not offer a greeting, would mark them out as someone not to be trusted in the community.  Thus small exchanges, of what news from where we came from, news of any common friends or family members is all briefly exchanged before we set off again.  The greeting of the children allows a sense of respect and affection to be generated istantly, and remains with these people as they grow to full adulthood, respectful of each other, and particularly of those older than themselves.

We spent time at a walking pace, able to ask questions about the wonderful trees and flowers we passed, and try a few dried Esinoni berries.