Wednesday was the day many were looking forward to as we
were promised an opportunity for hiking around the area.
Our good friend Francis had been born and
raised in ‘them thar hills’ and was an expert guide.
We set out at 9:00 to visit one of the nine
volcano craters that dotted the slopes of Eburru’s mountain.
Just as always, travel down the road to the
crater was moderately harrowing, causing my life to flash before my eyes only a
half a dozen times during this particular transit.
Once safely arriving, we made our descent to the interior of
the crater, finding acres of flowers and unique African plants.
On the opposite slope of the crater we saw
several indigenous colobus monkeys jumping from tree to tree.
It is always a delight to see an animal in
its natural habitat and this time the area provided for a better viewing of the
monkeys than even the NC Zoo can match.
As we reached the top of the rim in our departure, our guide
was no where to be found.
A few minutes
passed and I heard his voice calling from an incalculable distance within the
forest.
A brief walk carried Brandon and
I into a clearing where Francis stood with his shirt off amidst a massive steam
vent.
We quickly saw the benefit in this
and lost our shirts, bathing in the earth-generated steam.
Francis told us we will never get sick due to
the strength gained from the steam vent and it indeed proved to be healthy for
the skin and the sinuses.
Upon leaving
and talking it over with
Brandon,
I think we actually found something akin to the fountain of youth rather than
an ordinary steam vent.
However, we have
decided to keep the location secret and just between us.
In leaving the volcano’s crater, we journeyed up the highest
peak which promised a great view of the Rift Valley.
As we reached the top we were in no way
disappointed as we could see for miles and miles in every direction.
Some large caves caught our eye and it only
took one mention of them for Francis to go bounding down the slopes, leading us
to the caves.
The particular cave we
entered was about fifteen or twenty feet deep, opening up into a room spacious
enough for a good card game.
However,
since good Christians don’t play cards we stood there and talked for a bit and
came back out.
We were told that a
certain species of spitting cobras like the caves as they are fairly warm from
excess geothermal energy.
Not wanting to
meet one in a tight place, we forsook the caving and came back to the camp.
We packed up in a relatively speedy fashion and hit the road
with able vehicles and a promising journey back to the slums.
The travel went well and without any major
glitches, leaving us arriving back right at 5:00, the time I am to be in class
at the
Bible
College.
Parking the vehicle I quickly gathered my books and left to go teach,
making it just before the students began to despair over my absence.
All in all the time in Eburru was a delight
and I have no doubt that we will soon return.
