elephants!!!

well kids, i'm in kenya, and it's pretty great. instantly once we crossed the ethiopian border at moyale into the country (though this in itself was slow, typical 1hr+ waiting time to do a couple exit stamps...sigh) the landscape and people were transformed. samburu warriors with beaded collars, pink skirts, and feathers on their head strolled by casually on one side, past the bars with yellow tusker (beer) signs, soon to be followed down the road by sightings of incredible birds and wildlife. well not quite just down the road, but once we got to our bushcamp at the cat and mouse crag south of marsabit, we were doing rock climbs above a group of grazing elephants, pretty spectacular! though their trumpeting is quite loud, and possibly distracting during a climb!

from there, we've made our way more or less smoothly (got bogged down in mud last night, luckily there were 20 people to push the truck out) to lake baringo, seeing giraffes, fat zebras, gazelles, and more elephants along the way. we're camped next to the lake, site of many a wandering hippo and nasty crocodile, as well as lots of interesting endemic bird species and bats that fly around with their babies tucked underneath them (awesome photos to come soon hopefully, courtesy of a researcher i met taking pics of them). we're off to try some deep water soloing tomorrow, should be exciting.

internet is about to give out, so that's all for now. bottom line, kenya is awesome, you guys should come out here for a visit in the next month..!