Pics from Masai Mara 2007 - 1

This is the first in a series of posts on our safari in the Masai Mara Game Reserve in Kenya this past July. We went to Kenya primarily to attend the All-Africa Missionary Conference, a bi-annual meeting of Church of Christ and Christian Church missionaries. Once we were over there, however, how could we not resist taking in a safari?

Our trip was pretty low-budget as far as safaris in East Africa goes. We slept in tents, ate in pretty rustic dinning hall (the food was great though) and shared a bath house with the rest of the campers. Our friends from Dallas, Suzanne, Anna and Will Sager were with us along with another Dallas friend Ro Diaz. It was definitely the trip of a lifetime.

We saw lots of lions during our 4 day, 3 night trip. I think the total was 15. This lion was sitting in the middle of the road at high noon, trying to stay cool. She moved over to the shade of our van pretty soon after we stopped to take some pictures.

These cheetahs were probably the ‘crown jewel’ of our trip. We spent 2 1/2 days looking for these guys before we saw them on our last game drive. There were actually 3 cheetahs (we were told they were brothers) but I didn’t get any picture of all of them together. You’ll see more of them in future posts.

While the lions and cheetahs were awesome, I think my favorite animals to see were the giraffes. I was blown away by their height and grace. I loved seeing them, whether they were up close or far, far off in the distance. Maybe the fact that I don’t have any chance of seeing them in our ‘home’ game park of Pendjari made me appreciate them more… Anyways, this picture was taken as a herd of 12 giraffes crossed in front of our van. It was really cool. (The picture in the header of the blog was taken at during the same encounter.)

Well, that’s it for now. I’ll post a few more pictures in a day or two. Let me know what you think!

Pics from Pendjari 2007

Our teammate Becky Reeves returned from a trip to the US this past week which means that I was finally able to see the pictures I took during our last 3 safaris — 2 at Pendjari in Benin and 1 at Masai Mara in Kenya. (Film processing here in Togo is not very good so I always wait to have my film developed back in the US. Maybe someday we’ll get one of those nice 35mm digital cameras…)

Anyways, I’d been anxious to see how the pictures turned out and I was happy to see some good ones. I’ve scanned a few of my favorites and I’ll be posting them throughout the week. (I’m also hoping to use some to change the header of the blog from time to time too.) Here are a couple of pictures I took in Pendjari - along with the stories behind them.

We saw these elephants at Mare Bali during a trip in mid January. Isaac, Graham and I went with David & Elijah Reeves and Brett Emerson. I think we later met this group while driving back to our campsite.

Another highlight of that trip was getting lost and having to drive around the park until 10pm - a big no-no. We stayed at Mare Bali until it was almost dark waiting to see the lion we heard roaring nearby would reveal itself. It didn’t. Since it was dark, we drove by the turn off for the park campsite, searched for it for about 2 hours and we eventually found to be abandoned. So we drove for another hour and camped at an unmanned guard post.

While it doesn’t sound like much of a ‘highlight’ it really was. We saw lots of animals which aren’t out during the normal park view hours including 1 cerval, 4 jackals and a crested porcupine. We also came across a big buffalo who looked like he was more lost than we were! I digress…

Here is a picture of the buffalo kill and 2 of the 4 lions we saw near it during our February trip to Penjdari with our teammates and friends from Tabligbo. The kill was maybe 20 yards off of the road so we had a great view.

The buffalo was killed during the night so we got to watch the ensuing post-kill drama throughout the day. We watched as the lions kept a wary eye on a nearby herd of buffalo (mourning relatives?) and took turns chasing off the increasing numbers of opportunistic vultures. In the afternoon, the vultures had free reign of the carcass but the lions were back at the kill around sundown. By the time the next morning rolled around, the kill had been reduced to a pile of skin and bones.

Lions are difficult to see at Penjdari so this was rare treat. That the whole family - indeed, the entire group of 35 people - got to see these lions up close and with a kill made it all the more sweeter.

Hitting the Book

Now that Tracey and the boys are back to school this week ”hitting the books,” I will have the home office all to myself at least 3 mornings a week. Today I decided that this new-found peace and quiet left with me no more excuses to not avoid hitting THE Book in personal Bible study. (As if I had any real excuses before hand!)

I’m planning to memorize a part of scripture each week using this list of “Fighter Verses”, meditate on that Scripture and pray over constant, long-term and short-term prayer requests.

This week’s verse is just what I need to hear.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness so that the power of Christ may rest on me. — 2 Cor. 12-9

I’m excited about this new start and wanted to blog about it so as to help keep myself accountable. Feel free to ask me how it is going. It’ll help keep me on my toes.

Emergency! - Update

Good news on both fronts!

Ezra & Esther are doing well at the Tsiko hospital. The doctors are pleased with their progress and hope to be able to release them by the end of the week.

Rosaline, from Po Wayi, had the infection in her foot surgically removed on Saturday night. No need for amputation!!! (She did say, though, that the doctors were amazed at the size of the wound.) She is being cared for at a hospital here in Kara. She’ll be there is doing well. I visited her today and she looked better than I had seen her in some time.

Please continue to pray for these precious people and for God’s healing power to be a witness here in Kabiyeland.

Emergency!

Remember the late 70’s tv show Emergency!? I don’t remember all that much about about the show except that it was about paramedics and there were lots of sirens.

When I was little, I had an irrational fear of sirens. (I think some older kids in the neighborhood told me the sirens meant the police were coming to take me away.) So, I would run crying to my mom whenever I heard a siren, whether it was nearby or far off in the distance.

Anyways, my parents thought it would be a good idea for me to watch Emergency! so that I could learn that the people driving those vehicles with sirens were actually the good guys. Evidently it worked. I’m not afraid of sirens any more. In fact, I wish my truck was equipped with one.

It would have come in handy as I played the role of ambulance driver over the past two days….

On Friday, I took our day worker, Joseph, his wife and their preemie twins, Ezra (pictured here) and Esther to a mission hospital in Tsiko, Togo (a 4 hour drive). The twins were born here in Kara on August 17th at least 6 weeks early. They were released from the hospital last week on Tuesday, but they were taken a back in on Thursday. Esther was having trouble breathing and here heart rate had dropped precariously low.

God had providentially led us to ask Edith Friesen - an SIL missionary who lives in Kara and has experience working as a nurse in a neonatal ward - to help with the care of these babies. Edith noticed Esther’s complications during a house call and rushed her to the hospital. She also twisted arms (diplomatically of course) at the hospital until they gave Esther the care she really needed.

Once we realized that the twins weren’t going to get the best of care without our continous badgering, we decided to take them down to Tsiko where they’d be watched by American doctors and a more competent staff.

It was the right decision for sure. The looks of relief (and hope) that washed over Joseph and Germaine’s face as swarm of nurses placed the twins in a incubator, took their vitals and set up IVs told me so.

The twins are doing okay. Esther is being treated for malaria and Ezra may have it as well. They are eating well and are staying hydrated via the IV. They will remain in the hospital until their health improves and they make steady weight gain over a 4-5 day stretch. Please pray for these little ones, their parents and the medical staff at Tsiko. Thank the Lord for his providence which is working in their lives.

I drove home on Saturday morning and then headed out to Po Wayi - a good ways out in the Kabiye bush — in the afternoon. I went there to visit Rosaline, one of the Christians there who had a nasty infection in her foot. We had given her some antibiotics but after consulting with a doctor in the US, I decided that she needed to come to the hospital here in Kara to have the infection removed surgically.

Sadly, the infection had only gotten worse since I had last seen her. She now has a huge abscess in her heel and it appears that her skin is being eaten away. (No pictures. Trust me, you wouldn’t want to see them.) Myself and couple of other Christians visited with Rosaline and prayed for her while we sat and waited for her children to come in from the fields. Once they arrived, one of the men carried her piggy-back style to the truck so I transport her back to Kara. (Cue the siren…)

She was admitted into the hospital last night, but I do not yet know what has been done about the infection. I’m afraid that the infection may be so bad they will have to amputate her foot. Please pray that Rosaline will be healed completely and will be able to keep her foot.

Thank you for your prayers. I’ll do my best to keep you posted on these situations.