Gorilla trekking!

The highlight of our trip to Rwanda was spending a precious hour with a group of 12 mountain gorillas. On Friday morning, this family decided to come to the edge of the forest and wander in the adjacent potato fields. This meant we were able to see them so clearly and walk with them as they ate berries and eucalyptus trees. The gorillas walked past us several times within just a few feet, including two amazing silverbacks (one was 23 years old and the alpha; the other was 18 years old). It was a magical and blessed hour. 

Chimpanzee trekking in Rwanda…

We spent most of our March break this year in Rwanda. We have wanted to go to Rwanda for a very long time to see the mountain gorillas and we were so excited to finally book this holiday. Along the way to see the gorillas at Volcanoes National Park, we visited the Nyungwe Forest and also hiked in to see chimpanzees in the wild. We also saw mountain monkeys, Syke's monkeys and Angolan Colobus monkeys. It was an amazing week.

Transforming a few more pieces of furniture...

Speaking of creativity (see post below), I have been inspired to rejuvenate a few more pieces of old furniture around the house. This time I tackled two small end tables and one small bedside table, going with a giraffe motif for the first two and a butterfly design for the latter. It's been fun to pour some energy into a creative project.

A little bit of culture and creativity...

Sometimes it's hard in Nairobi to get to cultural and creative events (plays, concerts, etc.) because of the sheer difficulty of traffic and the impossibility of getting to certain parts of town during the evenings and weekends. Last week we were lucky, though, to go to two fun events. One was a Saturday afternoon concert at ISK that featured an Argentinian singer with two painters (one Kenyan, one Iranian). The artists painted in response to the music over a period of about an hour and talked about the process. It was really interesting. Then, on Monday, a small troupe of actors from the Globe Theatre in London presented Hamlet at the Oshwal Centre in Westlands. It was so nice to see a live performance! The Globe aims to present Hamlet in every country of the world, and Kenya was 71st on the list. Wow! It was really nice to attend these events and charge the creative batteries a bit.