Tree house

This past weekend, we got out of Nairobi with our friends Mel and Kerry to celebrate Mel's birthday. Together we camped along the Malewa River in a beautiful tree house perched in an Acacia forest. The tree house was built by the owners of the Malu farm (where we had gone for our anniversary earlier this year) as a secluded getaway. We are so thankful for such a restful time together.

Along with our groceries we packed some birthday goodies!

Mel and Kerry were even able to bring some "American" junk food (much to the pleasure of Tristan)

All weekend, the forest was always alive with birds and monkeys. The Malewa River that flows just below the tree house was swift and chocolate brown. Ava was enthralled over it singing out "drink, drink". On Saturday, we tried hiking back to a waterfall about two km away, but the trail was too steep and slick with mud. Although hippos had been seen in the river in the last few months, we weren't so lucky to see any on our walks. We were also told that several leopards and Genet cats live in the forest and that one Genet in particular liked the tree house and would no doubt show up. We were encouraged to keep our food secured and not to be alarmed.

The Genet never came inside, not that we would have heard him anyway: As we were treated both nights to some terrific thunder storms. The rain beat a wonderful rhythm on our roof and the wind (not to mention just the seven of us moving about) made the tree house gently sway like a ship on the water. Our family slept in the loft which seemed to give us just a little more motion -- it was great!

Emma and Tristan had lots of fun playing hide & go seek around the tree house and at night we all played board games: Settlers was the favorite!

The forest was filled with troops of Vervet, Colobus, and Sykes monkeys: From the balcony we could watch the monkeys playing in the tall tree canopy all day long. Some of the Sykes monkeys got very curious, peeking in the windows and snatching any stray muffins or fruit. Aaron caught a picture (above) of one large male sneaking up to grab a banana we had left as "bait" on the ground beneath the tree house (It was sort of like seeing a wendigo walking out of the forest).

A solitary Sykes monkey keeping an eye on the tree house.

We could often hear his loud repeated call "peoo! peoo!"

We enjoyed a great lunch at the Malu lodge and had our family picture taken with a friendly zebra, who the locals affectionately named Bob.

We're so thankful for our team leaders, Malcolm & Patty Card, who loaned us their 4x4 for the weekend; after the heavy storms, we could never have made it back down the slick mud track to the main road without it. At one point we met a delivery truck stuck in our path. While we worked with some local men in overcoming the mud, from behind us emerged two shepherd boys (no more than 9 or 10 years old) bringing a flock of rain weary sheep down the hillside -- the sheep were much better suited for the terrain!