Saturday, 3rd March 2007

To: Marsabit

Ooooohhhhh! Too cute! Got a lift with some government officials, working for something like "arid relief" (it's a desert up here in northern Kenya). Anyway, as we were rolling along, heading toward Marsabit, we saw 1 momma ostrich, 1 daddy ostrich, and 14 little baby ostriches! I've never seen such a sight! My government friends said that those babies couldn't be more than a week old. We drove real slowly past because the ostriches were on the road. One of the adults was making lots of protective gestures for the babies. Lifted its wings off the back, pranced around the road, craned its neck back and forth, looked like it would resort to charging the car if we tried to harm the babies.

As we passed, I said, "Way to go, momma! You protect your babies!" One of my government friends said, "That's not the momma. It's the daddy." I said, "Really? That's unusual. Usually, it's the momma that protects." Two of my friends laughed and one said, "The momma only protects when there's no real danger. When it gets serious, the daddy steps forward." This sounded so much like something John Wayne might say that it made me laugh. It also got us onto the topic of lions and which lion parent protects the offspring. One of them said, "The father." I said, "Ha! The father sleeps all day and does nothing. The mother does everything, including protecting the babies. One of my government friends came to my side and said he thought I was right, but the other one still wasn't convinced.

So, I've had a nice day. Now sitting in a little garden. Have to pee because I've had about 32 cups of tea. After that, may head across the road where I hear music and a version of pool (with an L-shaped table).

-------------- TODAY -------------- TOTAL
Cycled ------- 0 --------------------- 3,030 km (1,902 mi)
Sagged ------- 87 km (54 mi) ---------1,375 km (963 mi)
Total -------- 87 km (54 mi) --------- 4,405 km (2,865 mi)