Vacation in Kenya with Duane and Sharon Judd

Today I would like to introduce you to friends I meet years ago. They are on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the second time. Here is part of the letter that they sent to us:

Sharon and I have just spent about a month traveling to Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Kenya. We were traveling with Jadmaire Ndivo, a Kenyan, who is a supervisor in the Nairobi Kenya Service Center. This center directs the administration and the finances for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for these countries. Our job has been to train church leaders how to handle financial matters and membership records in their individual branches and wards.

Jadmaire, our guide and has been very helpful in getting us to our appointments. He has helped us cross borders while helping us to know and obey the rules as we travel. We have all worked very hard. And now we get to play for awhile.

The Masai Mara Game Reserve is our playground of choice. It’s our second visit here. The first one was about three months ago when we visited with a group of senior missionaries from the Nairobi, Kenya Service Center and the Kenya Nairobi Mission.

This visit is especially exciting because the Great Migration is taking place.

In July and August, every year, it is estimated that about 1,300,000 wildebeest, 500,000 Thompson Gazelle, and 200,000 zebra migrate north from the Serengeti Plains in search of pasture. They migrate through the Masai Mara because it of its plentiful grass.

The animals, especially the wildebeest, are vulnerable to the dangers of the Masai Mara Game Reserve.

One danger is when they cross the River, they sometimes jump from the high riverbanks into the river, breaking their legs in the shallow water, or sometimes they falling on each other and drown.

If they survive into the river, there are hungry crocodiles waiting for them down stream to say nothing of the hungry cheetah, lion, leopard, and hyena that are waiting for their next meal of wildebeest.

I am excited about seeing the migration, but not the grisly scenes of animals being killed.

Here are a few pictures that I was able to capture.

Sincerely,

Duane and Sharon Judd.

Duane writes a blog at http://heylucy.typepad.com/johndeere/