A Saturday Safari

Friday was my last day of teaching at the seminary. We closed the Pastor's conference with a Divine Service. Bishop Obare officiated and Dr. Quill preached.


After the Divine Service and lunch, we packed up to go on safari at the Maasai Mara. That is what the part of the Serengeti National Park is called in Kenya. It was a rather long drive to get there, but well worth it!

On Friday afternoon, we drove about half way, stopping in a little town called Kilgoris, where we stayed at a Roman Catholic retreat center. The nuns there were very nice - they served us a wonderful dinner when we arrived, we each had a place to sleep, and then they cooked us breakfast in the morning, all for about $20 a person. We had some time to unwind and let loose also after a week of teaching, which we did.

Dinner at the retreat center.

The Rev. Thomas Aadland making one leg disappear!

I neglected to mention Professor Aadland in my previous post of folks I met at the conference - a most glaring omission! For I now count Rev. Aadland a good friend. He opened his home to me for my week at the seminary, and we had many good and long conversations in the evening. Pastor Aadland is the past "Presiding Pastor" of The Association of American Lutheran Churches (The AALC) with which the LCMS recently entered into full pulpit and altar fellowship. He is a very kind and knowledgeable man, and is now teaching at the Matongo seminary for a few years.

Rising early in the morning, it was off to the Mara! Due to the quality of the roads, it took us a bit longer to get there than we anticipated - three more hours of driving! So we arrived at approximately 10 am. Although that is usually a bit late to see the animals out in the cool of the morning, we were blessed with a cloudy day, and so got to see quite a lot of animals (as you will see).

Before we even arrived at the Mara, we got to see:

A family of Baboons (They're in there! A little hard to see . . . click on the picture for a better view. )

. . . and Zebras.

When we got to the ridge of mountains that border the Mara, you could definitely see the change in topography! A vast plain opened up in front of us. It took us a few more minutes to get to the entrance gate . . .


Tomorrow: The animals of the Mara