<b>Saturday 10th September 2016: </b>This turns out to be an eventful day. It's a clear, crisp morning with Mt Kenya in view, even though on the equator it does have snow on it at times. We are enduring another 'African Massage' on a very rough road when Hassan's vehicle in front of us has a stone go through a tyre - plenty of men to give advice etc and then one vehicle misses a turn and isn't answering the two way, but finally we are all in convoy again.
The Kikuyu Tribe live in this area and they are farmers, they can own land individually and are very smart and have been buying up land from adjoining tribes eg the Maasai and becoming more dominate. We stop at Thompson's Falls for a comfort stop and at the Rift Valley Lookout which stretches from Lebanon to Mozambique and is very green and fertile here with lots of cropping. We pass through some good looking towns with excellent schools and nice Churches, Nakura is the 4th largest town in Kenya and the main agricultural centre with machinery dealerships that we have in Aus. 

The orphanage or Mission in Action as it is called is high on a hill overlooking Nakura. We are met by Ivan Badulica the founder, Michael the Manager and 3 children who shake your hand, tell you their name and actually read ours off the name tag. Ivan tells us some of the history of the place. He came here 21 years ago and saw the AIDS, and the needs of the elderly and the children. In 2004 he sold 3 properties in Melbourne and brought his family; wife, 2 daughters and his son to Kenya. Purchasing this land cheaply, it took 8 years to build - firstly stage 1 for babies; then Stage 2 for older children and finally a school. His youngest daughter got breast cancer at 13 years of age and so his wife and children returned to Australia and unfortunately never returned, but he soldiered on with his project. Three years ago he married Douer an African girl. There are currently 88 children here and a total of 35 staff. We hear the story of Sandy, the 9 day old baby - she was left in the park - Blake was found in the bush with his umbical cord still attached - children that come at an older age have been abused in other ways. We are served a scrumptious lunch in their restaurant (Scenic would have paid for this) and then taken on a walk to where we meet all the children - they are just so friendly and loving and their living quarters and surrounds are a credit to Ivan - it is just one big happy family it seems - we meet Dean & Anne who are over here from Australia for the 6th time volunteering for a couple of months. As Ivan explained, because they have everything in the way of excellent buildings, grounds etc people tend to look and not think they are needy, but it costs $4000 per child per year and now 12-½ years on they are starting to have children of secondary age and they have to go away to board, which is another cost, as some of us well know and then they come 'home' for the holidays. In the end I guess they want you to sponsor a child or donate. Their mission is also to support the local community and in this sense they have 35 outside children attending the school and have supplied dozens of water tanks to needy families - they love what they are doing ( saving children) and it really shows. Ivan's son came back last year, first time in ten years and intends to come each year now. The girls haven't been back. Ivan now has a new granddaughter and says he didn't realise what a pull this would be in the heart strings.
We finally arrive at the Sarova Lion Head Game Lodge at 3,15, get into our rooms and go on the afternoon/evening game drive which will concentrate on the Nakuru Lakes edge. Steve tells us there are lions here that climb trees, so we go In search of them, driving straight past the zebra, buffalo etc etc that we have seen before. The call comes that a leopard has been spotted so we take off at speed, along with everyone else and jockey for the best advantage spot. He is laying on the back side of a log and does no more than put his head up occasionally, so we have to be content with a photo of that.