Alarms went off at 5am to get ready and meet our guide Patrick.  We signed up for a guided hike up Lirhanda Hill the highest elevation overlooking the Kakamega Rain Forest to watch the sunrise.  Kakamega Forest is a tropical rain forest situated  northwest of the capital Nairobi, and near to the border with Uganda. It is Kenya’s only tropical rain forest and is said to be Kenya’s last remnant of an ancient rain forest that once spanned the continent.

It was spectacular.  When we got to the top there was another guide and two other hikers from Germany and Italy.  Of course the Covid-19 seems to be the conversation of the day for everyone.

As the sun rose above the rain forest below seemed to come alive.  Different sounds of animals slowly started to get louder and multiply.  It was one of those moments when just sitting in silence and watching, listening and just being was completely joyful. Of course we couldn’t sit there too long before we had some fun with Patrick and the panorama setting on the phone.

We taught the other two hikers and their guide the same trick of standing in one place and when you are out of the camera’s lens you run to the other side so it looks like you are in two places in once.

On the way down Patrick pointed out plants in the forest that are both poisonous and  medicinal.  Like the one plant that cures prostate cancer. Another one that is deadly when eaten but placed on an open wound helps it heal. And still another one that when you crush and inhale it clears your bronchial pathways when you are congested.  We also so some monkeys and a baboon carrying her baby.

We were so impressed with the rainforest and the conservation efforts they were making to save the forest we planted a JOI tree.

Patrick will be taking care of it and sending us pictures as it grows.  The type of tree we planted will help the canopy of the rain forest and provide much needed food for various insects that help the forest.  It will take about 20 years for the tree to reach full size and we were invited back at any time to visit it.  (hmmmmmmmmmm – interesting thought!)

Tiling Report:

Upon returning from our respite we got back to work. We had our usual audience of 7 babies and 8 children sitting and watching us tile and grout.  Of course Auntie Karen – or as the kids say it Aunti Karo – downloaded Frozen 2 soundtrack for additional entertainment.

At one point I had to stop on account of crying babies that wanted changing and love and will start again first thing in the morning-starting at 6 as usual.



We can’t believe it is Monday already and we still have a lot to do.  You can see the progress made above. Mr. Tom’s challenge today was trying to figure out how to cut tile without a tile cutter.  Stay tuned……