Walking Safaris in Lake Naivasha

After Lamu, we got back on the bus (six bumpy hours), and then back on the train from Mombasa to Nairobi for another 15 hour train ride, or so we thought. The train did indeed pull out of the station at 7:00, much to our surprise, and then stopped at 7:01! (for about four hours). Some people were in a panic because they has planes to catch the next day, but we just enjoyed the trip. In fact, looking out the train window is quite an experience, as you realize that many people in rural Kenya still live in basically what looks like a small mud hut, with no running water or electricity. And yet, when you stop at a train station, people seem to appear out of nowhere, and they're all impeccably dressed!
A few days in Nairobi to fill out requests for visas for India, then back on a bus for a week in an region 100 km west of Nairobi called Lake Naivasha. Here we stayed in a small cabin and did all of our cooking on a coal stove called a giko (which is what most locals use, since they don't have electricity): we went to the market every day and started to recognize a few of the vendors! We went to several parks (Hell's Gate, Crater Lake and Crescent Island) where you can walk or ride your bicycle through the park. The animals just walk around you or run away if you get too close. Although there were no lions, I think I really preferred this type of safari to the driving one- it's much more peaceful. We were practically the only people in the park!
We also had a great guide, Marcus, who ended up inviting us to his house for lunch one day (I don't know why we elicit these invitations, but we are so thrilled every time - I think it's the kids) It turns out Marcus' wife is a hairdresser so Noemi finally got her hair braided, in front of many interested bystanders. All of this happens outside of course, and this is a small village that doesn't get many mzungus (tourists). The kids came flocking to see us, yelling the one line they've learned in English : Howayou! Howayou! It's pretty funny. Julien even got invited to play soccer with the local boys and had a great time - proof that even if you can't speak the language, sports are universal!
Finally we went to see Joy Adamson's house, a woman who raised a baby lion called Elsa and managed to set it free back into the wild. She wrote a book about this experience, and there is a movie too, called Born Free. You probably know this already but I did not! Anyhow, they serve amazing afternoon tea at this place, which we all pigged out on, having had nothing which resembles cake for several months now. What a treat!