Lake Magadi

Cary and I woke up, gulped coffee and headed to the home... only to find the bus we hired waiting for us at the Whistling Thorns gate. EARLY. Early? Yep!! This is unheard of in Kenya. As the saying goes: you foreigners can keep your watches. We already have the time. How true.... anyway, we got to the home and the older kids came flying out of the gate {{{ready}}} 25 minutes early. I guess the stern warning last night - if anyone isn't ready, we leave without you - was enough to get them motivated. Cary sandbagged me, knowing that the young children would be sulking about not being able to come, so she stayed in the bus while I went to the home to tie up lose ends. The little ones ignored me. GAI! They wouldn't even talk to me, much less look at me, except to give me a pitiful look, as if to say: how could you?

We got on the bus, headed to Kiserian for the bank and then the grocery store to get 3 cases of water, a case of soda, tons of bread and mondazi, lollipops and Cadbury bars (special treat). I had been warned that Magadi is HOT. Well, OK! Hot? It's always hot! How much worse could it be? Chores complete, we headed west, across the Great Rift Valley, to Magadi. It's only 80km away, but as we got closer, we could feel the heat. Once we spied the Lake, we knew we were in for it.. you could see the heat. Magadi is an alkaline lake (producing the world's largest supply of soda), recharged by hot springs that turn into lagoon like pools. It's dry season now, so 80% of the lake is covered by soda, surrounded by salt flats. The lake is rich in food, which makes it the perfect environment for flamingos and numerous other birds. The area is completely isolated and surreal...it doesn't even look earthly. Once we arrived at the production plant, we got out of the bus, and were hit with a wall of heat. The kids, all of whom were completely excited about this trip, and commenting about the beautiful landscapes the entire way, suddenly looked stunned: what are we doing and why are we here - this was the look everyone had, including Cary and me. Cary, who had been burned the day before (under dark clouds) wrapped herself in a scarf for protection. Problem was, there WAS no protection. We used the facilities (no comment) and headed to the hot springs. I kept thinking : hot springs? how can they be hotter than what we are experiencing? Once there, the boys shed their clothing and actually got in the water. It must have been 105 degrees, and the air was at LEAST 115. GAI! Get me out of here!

As we headed back to Kiserian, Linet connived us into going back to Whistling Thorns instead of going back to the home. I called ahead to order chips and ice cream :-) Once there, I noticed they had all planned on coming here anyway, as each of them had brought along something to swim in, knowing I wouldn't say no. Sly little devils :-)

So, once again, we had a wonderful and adventurous day. When I asked the kids: would you go back to Lake Magadi or would you rather come to WT? They all said WT! Adding, of course, how grateful they were to take a field trip, and how much they enjoyed Lake Magadi.

Lala salama ~ tatuanona!!