Wow. Over a month and a half of 2022 already gone so fast.  I may be late saying it, but Happy New Year to you all!!  Wishing you all a fabulous 2022.  So, with that out of the way, how has my 2022 started?  Nomadic chaos as usual!!  Haha! Mainly I have been traveling up and down the country for various reasons starting on the 2^nd January to get my son and his fiancée back to civilization after their stay with us over the holidays.  I was back in the village by the 4^th again only to travel to Maralal the following week for a few days before heading to Nairobi.  Definitely nomadic.   The most exciting news of that trip is that several new sections of tarmac (black top) have opened up on the Maralal to Rumruti road.  That means that there is only a very short section of road just between Kisima and Maralal (about 18 Km) remaining to be finished and we will have a continuous sealed (tarmac) road all the way from Maralal to Nairobi! A momentous event!  

While having tarmac roads makes travel easier, it is not as adventurous as the back roads can still be.  The end of January my husband, dogs and I traveled on the ultimate back road between Maralal and Ngurunit, the Milgas riverbed!  While the total distance is 50 km shorter than the normal way (150 km compared to 200 km) the time factor increased by almost 3 hours!  Getting lost a bit and having a long lunch stop added a bit of time, but also the nature of the road really slowed us down.  But the beauty!  So beautiful driving along the riverbed.  It was worth it. 

The environment in the north part of Kenya is still very very dry.  The bit of rain we got in December was not enough and everything has dried out again very quickly.  Cows are dying.  The cattle in the several herds we passed yesterday were very thin and weak.  We passed several carcasses in the riverbed.  The clouds gather and we get a sprinkle now and then but nothing more.  Praying for more rain.  We definitely need lots of rain.  After only a week in the village, we left the dogs and headed to Nariobi again.  

This time to catch a plane to the coast to visit our son who is finishing up his commercial pilot license.

3 nights in Malindi visiting beaches, going to a really amazing snake park and getting a ride by my son in his 2-seater training plane was fabulous.  Very hot on the coast with much higher humidity than the North. I enjoyed the pool at our friend’s house where we stayed, as well as soaking in the ocean every day. 

After a few days in Nairobi on the way back, we traveled up to the village home again this last Wednesday.  9 ½ hours drive to get here.  It is Saturday already and I’m still resting up from the trip.  It is very hot here and no pool to soak in. The dogs and I just sit in the shade and pant.  Walks are early morning or late evening when the sun is a bit less burning.  Hard to sleep at night with the heat. Still praying for rain.  Today there is a bit of cloud cover.  If the seasons are normal this year, rains should start by March, hopefully the beginning of the month.  Though with climate change, we have very rarely had normal seasons for very many years.  The weather is completely unpredictable now.  I remember a time when I first came to Kenya over 25 years ago when the seasons were like clockwork.  Each rainy season would start almost to the day it was expected, rain the usual amounts until it stopped at the expected time.  Pasture would grow enough to last to the next rainy season.  Everything worked.  In my first 10 years in Kenya we had one bad drought around 1999.  Then from 2006, climate went haywire.  Haven’t gone 3 years without at least one failed rain.  One year it never stopped raining and flooded everywhere, wiping out part of Ngurunit town.  Mostly it is lack of rain that brings the biggest issue.  2021 long rains failed in March to June.  Our 2021 October short rainy season was very spotty.  

Since December we have had out of season showers which have helped a bit but not really soaked the land as needed.  Pasture and water are scarce.  Mostly depending on the Rotary hand pump well for clean water.  The Samburu County bore hole well is still under construction.  The solar pump is finally being installed since yesterday.  Tanks still need to be built.  Hopes are that once done, that source of water will alleviate some of the water issues in this area.  It has been under construction since July last year…yikes!  So slow.  We might get water out of it by end of this month?  Fingers crossed. 

So, we are in Ngurunit only a few more days then back South to Nairobi again for a week or two.  Feeling a bit like a yoyo – up and down, up and down the country since the beginning of this year.  Haha.  That seems the nature of life for now.  Nomadic chaos is my call name for a reason!  Will end my babblings here for now.  Until next time….peace to you all!