ABERDARE WEEKEND

Nice getaway...

We had a great trip out to the Aberdare Park last weekend, with a group of friends mostly from Sweden and Denmark.   It was a new place to discover and our friend, Patrick, planned the trip which made it easy for us.   We had never been there so it was great just to follow along with his recommendation.   We hope that his idea of starting a new venture - Last Minute Safaris - takes off!

We drove in a caravan of 3 cars, which made it simple to follow the directions and once we got off the crazy Thika Highway with all the traffic and pedestrians dodging in between, we were driving through the hills and valleys of Aberdare country.

Sam was a bit disappointed because there were no sellers of "roasted corn" on the side of the road as in other adventures heading out to the Rift Valley.   These folks were mostly selling bananas and the banana fields were visible as far as the eye could see....

Once we arrived and had a nice lunch - all of these places out of town supply food and catering for the whole trip - we set out on a really nice hike down to the Mathoiya River, where most people went swimming...

But some of us hiked for a few hours through the tea fields along the river.   What a beautiful place with tons of hills!

When we arrived backed to the camp, we had happy hour/sundowners in the open field next to the camp with a great bonfire and lots of sheep and goats:).

There were about 30 of us who ate dinner together along side a nice indoor fire...No real stars to gaze upon because a bit of a cloud cover came over the camp but it was beautiful and peaceful anyway.

On day 2, we hiked in the opposite direction of the river, which meant up the hills, through more tea fields and we saw lots of different farms and even a few villages.   The church/library area was pretty cool and of course central to village living.

It was a bit hot and dry, so we all stopped by the local convenience shop and had some refreshments:).

After lunch on the second day most of those who were staying for the second night went back down to the swimming hole in the river and had a little more fun, but my favorite place was the "grass" bench, a great place to relax and read a book!

My friend Stine on the grass bench:   She was a little nervous that there might be some critters in the bench but we inspected before we sat down:).

And of course Jeanette was relaxing with her buddy, Max.   The village kids loved him and I don't think they ever saw a cute little dog before because they kept asking what it was... But Max went on all the hikes with us and had a grand ol time....He of course was dog-tired at the end!

Lily and her friends Josephine and Matilda went swimming in one of the rapids, but found some interesting friends in the water...They were quickly covered by some kind of ant/worm form so they removed themselves very quickly....But the water was peaceful and gorgeous for the most part....

We met a few interesting critters, cows and kids along the way.....

And our kids were happy to get out of town:).

Here is where we had breakfast....in the treetops!

And more shots of the Aberdare cottages...

We didn't make an appointment in advance with the chief, but we probably could have stopped in...

We had a relaxing weekend, but the car over heated on the way home so just as we were getting into town - had to divert our course because of student "protests" on Thika Highway - city life and all that it entails came back in a hurry....but until then we were all smiles:).

Can't wait for our next adventure...Amboselli?