LUNCH WITH SUSCHI 20th of 27 Emails

Greetings to America once again from Kenya!

We experienced a glorious reunion and dinner today in Church and later for lunch in the home of President Jastus Suschi Obediah. He, like practically all of the leaders here, is a convert and now is the present Stake President of the only stake here in Nairobi. He is also the great man whom Corwin and Peggy knew during their first mission here and who they lined up to help Shelly's family during their visit here in 2003 to distribute gifts to the Kasaroni branch, and to an African village and school, and also to people in the large slum here in Nairobi.

Suschi's story is an amazing one that has been written up in two Church News articles. Peggy and Corwin recommended him for a job which subsequently led to another great job doing rural development, including representing Kenya in many trips around the world. He spent about a week in Houston with Shelly's family awhile ago and speaks about them with great love.

The meal was delicious, prepared by Millicent, Suschi's beautiful wife. They are so proud of their home, their three precious children, and their car, one of only 4 driven by members of the branch to Church today. We talked and laughed for hours and later marveled at the deep humility, but strong convictions and abilities of these choice people. Both filled missions after their conversions and before their marriage. The first church article about Suschi represented him as an example of African convert Priesthood leadership and world traveler responsibilities for his country.

The most recent one talked about his being asked by the Kenyan government and, subsequently the Church, to lead the work to research and find President Obama's family's African and American genealogy! It subsequently was presented to the President Obama, who was very appreciative and happy for it. President Obama's father is from the Luo tribe here in Kenya and his mother is an American. We had met previously with Luo tribe people, who are farmers and fishermen in the Lake Victoria area.

When Shelly and Doran brought our 6 sweet grandchildren here to Kenya three years ago, Suschi took them to the poor little village of Boma way back in the hills where they had a life-changing experience. They had gathered funds and goods from others in Kuwait and America, and I suspect, much from their own resources, to give to African people in need. They would be the last to take credit for their work and charity, and might be a bit upset about us even mentioning it in this writing, but I know their family gave up their own Christmas gifts for it and provided a lot of their other money. Anyway, they provided desks, shoes, and uniforms for over 300 children and roofs for 4 schools.

They also provided wash pans, food, etc for the village and later instruments for a slum band in the terrible slum here in Nairobi that has become quite famous and has made CD's of it's music. During our lunch today, Suschi lovingly related how the village people still subsequently approach white men who drive through the village today, hoping they are the return of “Mr. Doran.”

Lawana and I vividly remember Shelly's family returning from that trip and marveling at their life-changing time in Africa. Now that we are here ourselves, we can more fully relate to that. We were so proud of them then and know they are proud of the small good we are doing here now. The Church teaches that you are the most happy when you serve and that when you are in the service of your fellow man, you are in the service of your God. That certainly has always been the case for us here and other times when we have looked beyond ourselves. We are so grateful for a Gospel and Church that regularly provides callings and opportunities to serve on an ongoing basis, and especially for missions and other unique opportunities like these here in Africa. For myself personally, and from my experience as a Bishop, I know that for many, the desire to serve does not come naturally. So, callings are truly a blessing. And, as a person responds to calls, it becomes more natural and the desire to serve within him more strong. And, no matter how hard he serves, he still remains in debt to the wonderful grace and love and blessings of the Lord. What a beautiful plan of salvation the Gospel is and how blessed we all truly are!

Our time here is winding down now. We will be packing up soon after going on safari in the great Maasai Mara for a couple of days . We'll then leave for France for a week and Corwin and Peggy will head back home to Utah. It has been a great time to be here with them, especially working on the measles mission and living among the wonderful people of Africa. It has been a glorious experience, which we will always be grateful for and never forget.

We love you all very much and hope things are going well with all of you. Though very busy, our thoughts and prayers continue with you.

Have a Great Day!

Dick and Lawana

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LAKE NAKURU SAFARI 21st of 27 Emails

“JAMBO!” from Safari Time at Lake Nakuru

We drove the beautiful road into the Great Rift Valley from Nairobi to Lake Nakuru, all which again showed an entirely different and awe-inspiring part of this great country.

The Great Rift is known worldwide for it's wide, lush, green valleys and high cliffs. It runs clear down Africa from north to south and was created by a huge upheaval thousands of years ago. It is miles and miles across with hundreds of volcano cones within the valley floor. Nothing like it anywhere in the world. Tall, big tree forests on tall mountains overlooking the valley and cliffs. More rainfall and, therefore, seems more prosperous with it's farms, orchards, and gardens. And, herds of sheep everywhere.

Excellent road, even with a short “two carriage” section! The Ogborns cheered for joy as we drove peacefully along amid little traffic and few big trucks, almost like were we on a Sunday drive. Don't get me wrong. It was not like a nice I-84 Interstate, but more like Hi-Way 55 to McCall, but without the traffic. It was absolutely great for Africa!

Lake Nakuru was very different terrain from our Tsavo West and Tsavo West safaris. Lush, green forests and grasses. Rivers and waterfalls. Rolling hills and rocks and caves where you expect to find a lion den every time.

And, of course, the beautiful lake with it's thousands of famous pink flamingos that you see in every video or pictures of Africa. And, we finally saw rhinos...many of them including a baby that was only a few weeks old. That completes our seeing the “Big 5!”

We made two game drives, all in our own vehicle, rather than bothering with a formal safari guide. We just found the animals ourselves or followed a fast moving safari land rover to a super game sight or kill. That again saved us very big bucks. We again saw leopards in the trees, many elephants, cape buffalo, giraffes, zebras, all kinds of gazelles, antelopes, bucks, warthogs, baboons, monkeys, etc etc etc.

We also incredibly saw the elusive and rare Columbus monkey with its black and white body and long tail. And, again we saw the mating giraffe ritual, only this time it was a different, beautiful variety of giraffe.

We stayed at the Sarona Lion Hill Lodge, a beautiful, old, romantic, and historical place at the base of the foothills with gorgeous grounds on Lion Hill overlooking the park. Great, historical artifacts were everywhere from the old big game hunting days. Excellent, gourmet dining and tribal dancing and singing entertainment in the evenings.

We stayed in individual lodging units winding from the dining and swimming area up the hillside. Beautifully spread out, giving it a very intimate, historical and romantic feeling. Although it was surrounded by an electric fence to keep out the predators, it's name gave us a rather exciting, but frightening feeling, especially as I walked the long path from our place to the main lodge to ask them to wake us in the morning for the game drive. Maybe that was because three workers were killed in the area not too long ago by lions!

It was a great time and we are grateful to Corwin and Peggy for the opportunity to safari with them this way. They are old safari pros and have truly delivered on their promise that we will see many, many animals, even though much of our time in Africa has been given to the measles program, rather than sightseeing. It is hard to believe that the animals mentioned above are so numerous that they have become kind of common place as we look for the more exciting big cats and kills. And, we have only been on four safaris and 8 game drives, with 1 more safari and 2 game drives to go (which will be in the famous Masai Mara, which reportedly has the most animals of all!). And, all of this just in Kenya, which is world famous for it's animals. We'll just have to come back sometime to see the rest of this unbelievable, vast country.

Well, I'd better close for now and get ready for bed. Safari drives are tiring, but it's nice to return to a nice lodge, great food, a nice shower in precious water, and a good bed. At many lodges, especially in the drier countries, they save the shower water for watering the grounds. But, not here in this more lush place at the base of the hills. It seems like a paradise for both us and the animals.

We love you all. Don't forget us. And, say a prayer now and then that we don't become dinner for a hungry pride of lions!

Lots of Love to you all,

Dick and Lawana

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GREAT RIFT VALLEY & INTREPIDS LODGE 22nd of 27 Emails‏

Hello again from the Dark Continent!

Time is flying over here on the other side of the earth. The missionary measles work is basically finished, except for some last phone calls that are still coming in for more Church financial support. That's been one of the interesting, and sometimes disappointing, parts of the work. In this country so poor for just the simple things of life, like a job or even food for the next day, many are desperate for any possible source of assistance.

The Church is always so generous, but has to be very careful to guard against corruption in the country's government it is assisting and also be fair to all, whether in gov't, Church members, or elsewhere. It takes being here and seeing it firsthand to really understand that...for example, a dollar will feed a big family for several days in the poorer areas.

We drove the 6 hour drive from Nairobi to the Maasai Mara today through the Great Rift for our last safari and game drives. Greatly differing from the trip to Lake Nakaru, we at first drove the top cliffs of the Great Rift, and then went down into the vast valley floor and drove it for miles and miles. The Great Rift is world famous, running north and south through Africa. It was created by a huge volcanic upheaval that created high cliffs on its sides and a long, wide valley in the middle. Volcano cones are everywhere in this almost magical geological marvel. Big, candelabra trees and beautiful, flat-topped Acacia trees were everywhere, which, besides the fat Baobab trees, are landmarks in Africa. We took many pictures of them all, silhouetted against beautiful African sunsets and sunrises, which are different than anywhere else in the world.

Masai cattle herds were everywhere, big and small, being herded and guarded by Masai warriors in their brightly colored robes and carrying their herding & walking sticks.

Their colorful robes and blankets stand vividly out like bright jewels amid the tans, reds, browns, and greens of the valley and the beautiful vast blue sky and white clouds. Masai villages, with their round huts and surrounding stick & brush fences and corrals, spot the huge valley floor in every direction. These tall, proud people are nomadic as they maintain their age-old fascinating culture...herding their prized cattle, killing lions to qualify for manhood & marriage (now outlawed), dancing their strange, jumping dance, etc.

To them, cattle is like gold, their most prized possessions and a symbol of their wealth and ability. The bigger the herd, the richer the warrior...and, the more wives he gets! These intriguing, tall, straight men rest by standing with their legs crossed at the ankle and sleep at night on the ground guarding their cattle with their heads resting on a carved, wooden little stand that acts somehow as a pillow. This unique pillow also acts as an elbow rest when they are laying and chatting around the fire.

This is the first time we've not driven the Church truck, so Corwin, especially, enjoyed sitting back and letting our safari guide fight the traffic, pot holes, goat & cattle herds, etc. We again saw a big semi-truck flipped on it's side with it's contents scattered down the hillside. We've seen around a dozen like that so far. It happens because the roads are so narrow, with little shoulder space on the sides and many times falling off into steep dropoffs, especially in the hills.

No markings, no lights, no traffic signs and very fast speeds in heavy traffic. Much swerving and weaving in and out. The big trucks, with their high, heavy loads, easily tip over as they weave in and out around others ,as they all race down the highway. Very scary as little cars, scooters, bicycles, and trucks like ours try to speed along with them. You can't go too slow or they simply push you off the road...very scary!

All along both sides people are selling stacks of charcoal bags, sticks, and sugar cane and little carts, piled high, are being pulled by one, two, or three donkeys amid the small herds of goats, cattle, and even camels. And, even along the narrow sides of the so-called highways, carts are being pulled by men with shirtless, straining backs and legs, just as they so commonly do in the towns.

Many car washers earn a few shillings at the dirty, busy truck stops, frequently getting their water from muddy puddles to do the washing. Corwin & Peggy laughed with genuine empathy and concern as they talked about the new missionary couple, soon to take over their missionary truck, and what their first few days driving these roads will be like.

Despite the driving conditions, which believe it or not, were much better than those on the Mombasa Highway, it was a wonderfully beautiful drive, especially as we caught our first glance of the Great Rift Valley from it's high cliffs at the top.

It seemed to go on forever and forever. As we climbed to the top and then began descending to the valley floor, there were green terraces, smaller valleys and streams, little farms and orchards and gardens. Big forested areas and intriguing roads breaking off the highway made us want to take side trips, but there was no time for that.

As we descended onto the valley floor, it became drier and then more arid as we approached the Maasai Mara. We began seeing wild animals even before we entered the park!

After going through the park gate and being surrounded by little, brightly clothed Maasai women selling Maasai things, we drove another 2 hours over very rough roads before finally arriving at our destination, the Intrepids Safari Tent Lodge. It is one of the premier places for lodging and wild animals in the Maasai Mara, the most famous park for animals, especially big cats, in Kenya and all of Africa. It has 26 luxurious tents overlooking a beautiful river with a slate-like, big-bouldered river bottom, especially in low water times and just before the Spring rains.

Each tent has a balcony overlooking the river. Beautiful hunting lodge with slate walkways through the bush to the tents, swimming pool, restaurant, swinging bridge across the gorge and over the river, firepits. Airstrip with small planes coming frequently in & out. Our tent is like a palace in the bush.

Large, 4 poster, king-sized bed with surrounding mosquito netting, exotic African wood furniture & floor, tiled shower heated by burning charcoal & wood outside, and separate bathroom.

We arrived around 2 PM, had a great late lunch, and excitedly headed out on our first safari. We all wondered how it could be any better than what we had already experienced in Tsavo East and Tsavo West and at Lake Nararu. We quickly found out. More on that to come!

Love to you all. We are too exhausted to continue on. But, stay tuned...especially if you like big predator cats and other wild animals!

From one of the wildest places on earth...the Maasai Mara,

Dick & Lawana

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FIRST GAME DRIVE IN THE MAASAI MARA 23rd of 27 Emails‏

“Jumbo!” from the Maasai Mara!


How can we describe this wild, beautiful, and dangerous place to you? Although we immensely enjoyed our previous safaris, the Maasai Mara quickly has become my favorite, both for the terrain and the wild animals within it. It is vast and varied, exotic and beautiful, and contains much of what people dream about when they think of Africa. High mountains and rolling hills; vast, wide, and long savannas, rivers, lakes, and ponds, high grasses and plains going on forever. Parts of it reminded us of the great old John Wayne movie, “Hatari!” (meaning, “Danger!”), which is one of the old African movie classics. No wonder...it was filmed here!






In our first safari here, only 2 hours, we quickly learned why it is famous for big, predator cats. We were thrilled to see:
A mother leopard with her two kittens feeding under a tree on a Grand Impala she had killed.


They all ate, played, and climbed the tree while we watched from around 25 yards away. The young kittens chased her tail and climbed all over her. They wrestled with each other and we could hear their little growls as they tumbled around on the ground and all over her.









They climbed up and down the tree and were still pretty awkward at it. But, it was awesome when she climbed up...so, powerful and strong, but with such graceful movement. Later, we thought about that as we walked under the trees to our tents in the dark night! Her glistening, spotted coat was beautiful, more dark and silky-looking than her babies' lighter, spotted bodies.

Sleeping in tall grass, we next saw a pride of 8 lions. Soon, coming from a long way in the savanna, came a lioness who practically brushed our bumper as she passed by...a very big cat!

We watched her come toward us all the way. It was as if she was stalking us and rather spooky as she looked up at us as she passed by. We wondered about the wisdom of sitting there with
open windows. Meanwhile, the pride of 8 just kept sleeping, occasionally rolling over, stretching, or yawning with big, open mouths. It was apparent they had full stomachs from a recent kill, because it was around 5 PM and they were making no motion to go hunting before dark. We decided to move on, because it didn't even look like they were going to get up for water while we were there.

Soon, after driving for awhile longer, we came across 3 cheetahs, also sleeping in the grass only a few car lengths away. Cheetahs are exotically spotted animals with dark lines on their faces. As they stood, we could see their powerful, big chests, sway backs that sloped downward to a very narrow waist, and then their big, high haunches and powerful legs that make them the fastest animal on earth, especially in short bursts. That's what makes them successful 75% of the time, compared to leopards at 60% and the lazier and slower, but more big and stronger lions, at only 35%.

It was at this cheetah sighting that we first saw the Disney Nature Films truck with it's big, disguised camera on a high, mobile boon. They were waiting for the cheetahs to move on to hunt for the night.

What a phenomenal first game drive in this world
famous safari park! It truly is the home of the big cats! I'm so excited that I didn't even tell you about all the other animals along the way. But, it's time for bed, because we're up at 5 AM for the morning game drive.
Lots of Love, Dick & Lawana

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GREAT MIGRATION AND 2ND GAME DRIVE 24th of 27 Emails‏

Hello Loved Ones and Great Friends!

How are you all doing? Well, we hope. We have heard that colder weather has come to Boise and elsewhere. It will be tough for us to come home to winter, but we do miss all of you very much and are looking forward to seeing you again. It seems like we have been gone forever and become part of Africa ourselves. The wonder and majesty of this land continues to awe us. We just want to breathe and absorb it in. After being amongst the people for most of our time here, we are now enjoying wild Africa on exciting safaris and game drives. We've not gone on that many, but what we have seen has been beyond our wildest dreams. Here's what happened on our 2^nd game drive in fantastic Maasai Mara:

We awoke early a 5:30 AM to the gentle voice of our steward bringing hot chocolate to our zippered tent along the river. Throughout the night we had heard elephants trumpeting nearby, some poor animal screaming in pain or distress, and all kinds of other strange and sometimes melodic sounds.

The early morning hours are full of beautiful and exotic bird sounds, sometimes drowning out the sounds of the big bull frogs and other little creature sounds of the night. We were glad we had tightly zippered our tent and even blocked the zipper with the floor mat and patio table outside. Corwin & Peggy had not done that yesterday after we all arrived and the baboons & monkeys got into their tent & sacked through everything! But, their steward quickly came over and straightened it all up.

What a phenomenal morning safari it was! We first saw the mother leopard with her twin kittens again. They were having for breakfast the big Grand Impala she had killed that we had seen them dining on yesterday afternoon. But, this time there was only about half left and she was moving the remaining part up the tree to keep it from the hyenas and other scavengers.

It was amazing how strong she was. Along the way, she tore off pieces of meat as the Impala got wedged in the trunk and provided leverage for her to tear off a piece of meat. She was very hungry this morning. She had probably not hunted last night, because the Impala was providing several meals for her and the kittens.

We next came across 7 lions, but still no male yet...until, the big lioness walked into a nearby thicket to join a big, Black-maned male...the King of Beasts!

He was magnificent. We thought of the black-maned maneaters of Tsavo, who were males and killed 143 railroad workers in the late 1800's, as depicted in the movie, “The Ghost and the Darkness.” This animal's paws were huge and you could see why one powerful swat would knock over a zebra easily.

It was fun to watch the obvious affection between the two beautiful animals. The lioness is usually the hunter. Whereas, the big male is somewhat lazy, until some kind of danger arises. Then, he is the strong protector of the pride. It's amazing how close we are able to get to them. The animals have become quite accustomed to vehicles. But, our guide continued to give us strict warnings about not getting out of the truck and that animals have the right of way all the time.

Later that morning we saw another group of cheetahs, this time on the savanna. They were obviously hunting and sleek in their movements.

We decided not to try to follow them, but regretted that later in the day when we learned that the Disney Nature Film truck had done that and filmed a kill.

Finally, before taking off for the river, we saw a huge, male lion asleep under a tree. We could have practically reached out and touched him. He was yawning and stretching and rolling over on his back, which sometimes made him look a little foolish.

But, when he got up and looked at us with those big eyes and huge, powerful body, we remembered just what this magnificent animal was capable of. The males do a lot of sleeping during the day, more than the females, especially when her sleep is being disturbed by the kittens. Many times the male will go off by himself, so as not to be bothered by the kittens. We wondered where the rest of the family might be.

A major highlight of the day was traveling for an hour to the Mara River for a viewing of the wild we will never forget. We drove through thousands of wildebeest's and hundreds and hundreds of zebras. They were in groups and long lines heading for the river as part of the Great Migration known all over the world.

They are leaving Kenya and headed for Tanzania and reach around 2 million wildebeest annually. They are looking for fresh grazing ground and actually go in kind of a circle, crossing rivers along the way.

It's been called the “8^th Wonder of the World.” Fortunately, we are here during the closing days and watched thousands of wildebeest's and zebras push in groups and walk in many long lines over the savanna plains and down to cross the Mara River. There was also on display many elephants, hippos, giraffes, cape buffalo, warthogs, impalas, topis, gazelles, etc. Huge crocodiles were waiting in the river.

We waited for a couple of hours as the wildebeest and zebras would push toward the bank, drink, then seem to lose courage to go any farther and move back. Then, a crossing started. It was not as big a mass of confusion with water swirling as it would have been a month ago when the migration was in full swing. But, we saw a huge croc slide off the bank and glide mostly underwater toward the crossing animals. It was suspenseful to watch and a bit terrifying.

Fortunately for them, he was a little too late. If there had been a longer line of just 5 or 6 more in that particular group we would have seen an attack. He continued in that spot, waiting for the next group to try to cross. We wanted to stay, but had to hurry back for lunch and the next safari at 4 PM. Frankly, the girls were happy about that, because there were many baby zebras and younger wildebeest in the crossings. It was a FANTASTIC event to watch.

On the way back to the lodge, we drove by the leopard kill in hopes of seeing the mother and her two kittens again. But, they were gone, as was all of the Grand Impala, except it's head and horns. Either the leopard family, or the jackals, hyenas, vultures, or other scavengers of the wild had completely finished that meal off, or dragged it elsewhere to eat. The bloody dirt was kind of gruesome...but, it's the law of the jungle, as they say.

Well, better close for now.

Have a great day!

Dick & Lawana, hoping we don't become some big cat's meal out here!

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