Saturday

We get tea and a cookie and head back to Outspan for breakfast.
elaine and peacock
Elaine makes friends with the peacock and the cat by feeding them pieces of her omelette. I’ve never seen a peacock beg before.

Job picks us up and we go for a 250 kilometer drive to the next lodge. Halfway we stop on the exact equator. A young man demonstrates to us that draining water rotates clockwise 5 meters north of the equator and counterclockwise 5 meters south. (If I remember the directions correctly.) He fills a small bowl that has a hole in the bottom and floats a match on the water, which rotates one way or the other depending on where we are, and not at all on the equator.
equator
For as far I can tell he does not cheat, and this is indeed a great demonstration of the Coriolis forces.

woman at work
Along the road we see the usual children guarding cows and goats, and women carrying enormous bundles of branches or vegetables and other wares on their backs. There are also lots of potatoes and peas for sale.
kids


Another hour or two takes us to lake Naivasha which is home to a herd of hippos and some fish eagles. We take a boat tour which takes us close, but not too close, to the hippos. The guide has some fish with him; he whistles to attact the eagles’ attention and throws the fish in the water. Two of the eagles are hungry enough to make a beautiful swoop for the fish. Majestic animals.

A short drive and we are at a resort on the lake where we will stay the night. Lunch is pleasant, that is, after I shut up an Indian gentleman is attempting to play the piano with one finger and not succeeding. For a moment I contemplate asking the waitress if the guy is a gangster, an important politician, or the ower of the hotel, but in the end I just shush him. He obliges.

The resort has a pool, so Elaine does a few laps and then lies down in the sun. As she’s reading a book, a monkey drinks from the pool and the walks off, passing a few feet in front of her.
elaine and baboon
The monkey seems interested in the guests’ belonging. A little boy grabs the monkey by the tail but the simian turns around and hisses at him. I’ve never seen a little boy run so fast. We go for a stroll through the grounds; we come across several giraffes who are quite shy, and some smaller animals. In the distance waterbuck are grazing by the side of the water. It’s all quite idyllic.