Day 11 - Tuesday 17th April 2012

Taveta

Fr Francis' house in the early morning sun.

The ducks

Timbila Church

Cat plays hide and seek

Inside the church at the end of Mass.

Donkeys seem widely used around here.

We stopped at one of Francis' outstations, where a group of ladies welcomed us.

The church which is under construction - at present they gather under a tree.

We headed along a gravel road (which was bumpy enough) before turning up this "road" to Lake Chala.

At the top, a hotel complex abandoned some years ago.

The lake is in fact the crater of an extinct volcano, and we're on the rim.

Joe rests while we go off to explore.

A colourful gecko.

Francis admires the view form the ruins.

The water below looks very tempting.

We head down to the water's edge.

Cattle are herded all over - largely by masaai

This railway's going nowhere, but we still have to cross it repeatedly (and bumpily!)

After lunch back at the parish house, we headed out again, passing a man with a bicycle covered in baskets.

The road had dry fords and culverts at frequent intervals. The culverts are pipes across the road to carry rainwater, ramped with gravel on either side, if the gravel hasn't washed away> Some, like this one, have broken. This was the scary view from the passenger window - I couldn't see that we were on a solid section of pipe!

Eventually we reached the side of Lake Jipe where fish were on sale.

The fish are dried in the sun.

Francis tests the fish.

Poultry.

The lake - this is about as close as you get, there are reedbeds on each side.

One of Francis's outstations, Jipe Moyo.

The drainage channels give some idea of the water volumes expected when the rains come.

Baobab

Maps of today's activities.