Nyeri pictures

Nyeri's main roads are paved but covered with a thin layer of mud.

Here you can see why.  The parking spaces and side streets are unpaved.

It's impossible to stay on the sidewalk so every business gets mud tracked

in. Hotel staff washes the floor and stairway every day.  Floor mats are not

used, probably because they would just turn into another thing to wash.

Moses at the wheel, driving us to Sangare Tented Camp, the focal point

of a 4500 acre ranch north of Nyeri.  A very good place to go.

Impala at Sangare.  They're the size and shape of whitetail deer,

and flick their tails in the same way.  The herd has one male and a 

dozen or so females, but no calves at this time of year.

A Maribou stork and several African Sacred Ibis.  The lake and wetlands

at Sangre also support Great White Pelicans.

A thorn bush.  People plant and shape these into very effective fences

around their property, keeping out man and beast.

Weaver birds.  The colorful males make the hanging nests for

the plain brown-speckled females.  We saw some males spatting

so evidently there's some territoriality within the colony.

Mollie on an acacia tree that blew down

A ranch road

Mollie and the fellow who takes care of the horses

and leads the horse rides

Mushy stuff

Moses knew where to find giraffes.  This male checked us out

while we looked at the herd.

The herd moves on.

We saw a baboon family too.  This is the male.  He made some

grunting calls so that we'd know better than to bother them.

Back in Nyeri, a bicycle courier delivers a load.

This meal was about $7 for the two of us.  The "chipos" -- chips,

a.k.a french fries -- are about $0.75, come with some salad, and

are made from fresh peeled potatoes.  This was at

Nyeri Town View Restaurant, which has great food, real coffee,

country music's greatest hits in the background, and a good man

waiting tables named Charles.

Gardenias, just like in California

Mailboxes built into the wall of the post office for outside access.

Mollie's brother Churchi goes to school in Nyeri and got into town on our last day there to start a new semester.  He saved my bag from a grabber at the Nyeri matatu stage before I learned how to deal with that -- "Hey, who are you!" he said.  Later in Nakuru I showed that I had learned.  I said "Turn loose of my bag!" in a "or I'll punch you" tone of voice.  It worked.  If you let the grabber carry your bag for a short bit, he can act like you owe him a tip for his "help" or even steal your bag outright.  But they know the game, and let go immediately if you're straight with them.  They're just testing to see if you're naive, as I was in Nyeri.  Thanks Churchi!  By the way, this is back at the Town View, which is almost the only place in Nyeri that I want to eat, although a place called Julie's has really good food too.

Mollie and Churchi check out a shot.  It's probably of me, which

explains Churchi's stern look.  :)

I miss a great number of wonderful shots because it's not polite to blatantly

take people's pictures here.  I know the feeling, the paparazzi can be so

annoying at times.  Here's a shot out of the back of the matatu before they

closed the lid, of a man fixing an umbrella.

This girl is such a sweetheart!  The matatu was packed, with

17 adults for 14 seats and 5 children who had to sit somewhere.

I really had to pee but fortunately so did some of the kids so a

mother had the driver stop the van, and a couple of kids and I

headed for the bushes.  After we reloaded this little girl was left out,

so the driver handed her in an open window and she ended up on

my lap.  She doesn't speak English although that will probably be

added to the two or more languages she probably speaks, and I feel

incomplete as a human being only speaking English.  Or Benish or

whatever it is.  :)  Anyhow with no common language I didn't know

what to do but show her the camera.

Here we are in the matatu.  That's the corner of my suitcase, which is sitting on top of other luggage in the "aisle" (less that a foot wide), so that gives a feel for how packed in we are.  The little girl is in my lap and the camera is in my hand, so the perspective makes me look bigger and her look smaller than she really is.  I'd guess she's 8 or 9 years old.